NewTech High--It is Personal!

Velkommen fra i Norge: [Happy Halloween!] I am on Day 12 of 14 of my Norwegian trip. I have visited Mysen VEG in Mysen and Hadeland VEG in Gran. While in Mysen, I got a much better opportunity to talk with teachers and administrators than I did at Hadeland. However, Hadeland looks like a school that has more familiarity with me at this time due to their emphasis on School to Work transitions. Both schools have good work transition programs, and way more people assigned to them, but Hadeland appears to be a big more advanced.As I do more research, I may interweave some of these ideas into future references. At no level am I stating this as a summary of Norwegian schools, just a taste of what I observed on this trip.  I have a Norwegian Schools  photo album  to share with you from my visit.  Facilities  Norwegian schools appear to be built much like American high schools. You have the entry/atrium, kind of a commons area for socialization and eating, classrooms mu...

NewTechies:  I had the pleasure of conversation around personal, competency-based learning with Sophia Kor and Michael Hakkarinen of the  Modern Classroom  Project. Both of these individuals gave some thoughtful ideas surrounding their model of how to transform an individual classroom into one that spurs higher engagement in students, as well as a more supportive idea for teacher competency.  85% of teachers suggest that they enjoy teaching more after participating in Modern Classrooms 94% of teachers suggest that they will continue these practices after doing their pilot study and 85% of teachers feel more optimistic about their profession This graph from their presentation captured my attention:  Some of these figures are striking. Having been a principal of a school that decided to "flip" in the early 2010's, I have had some experience with the pros/cons of that practice. This seems like a similar initiative with a whole lot more support than we had in creati...

This afternoon, I hosted Cory Steiner, Superintendent at Fargo Public Schools, along with Catina Hancock, from the Learner-Centered Collaborative (LLC).  @hancock_catina and  @CorySteiner10 if you want to follow on Twitter link to the podcast :  I loved this session as there was a lot of meat here. Here are some highlights (paraphrased):  Cory, "Schools need to think about what could/can be instead of what could have been." Catina, When we think of personalization, I try to simplify it that learners have access to pace, path and product." Chat GPT version of this Cory, "The one variable that is non-negotiable is learning." Cory, "One of our portrait skills is a learner's mindset." Enjoy the podcast! 

 Good afternoon.  Last week, a student from my former District committed suicide. The young man's father was a teacher in my former District. I knew the family and the student well. It is so disheartening to even consider having to face that reality for any family.  Of course, this topic brings out feelings of "What could we have done to change this outcome?" Every school faces it at one time or another, and many times, it is multiple times over the course of a career or your life. I am going to focus on one part of this story from my past.  When I was a Principal in the largest school from my past, I had to work hard to get to know all the kids, which was my goal. We had roughly 900 students at any given time. Those 225 freshman and sophomores took a while, to be sure. I had to have multiple levels of thoughtful action to allow me to get to know almost everyone. One of those things I would do is to find small groups of kids or isolated individuals to go ask a few qu...

Episode 5: NewTech High Podcast / Blog Good afternoon, Everyone!  October 1, 2025 We had an exciting podcast this afternoon with Dr. Joseph Goins and Tom Ahern from Pathway to Careers, or P2C.  If you would be interested, you would be able to get some ancillary benefits that other schools just do not -- volume pricing, PD, etc. I would say it is because NewTech High has been working with P2C for almost two years to gain momentum in Minnesota. This is because it is a great product that meets several components of change, innovation, relevancy and engagement. At minimum, P2C is an exciting product that you all should take a look at. At the end of the session, it was great hearing from Bob Wedl, former MDE Commissioner and Jay Haugen, former Minnesota Supt, in their testaments to personalized, student-centered practices.  P2C Interview / Podcast Today Next Podcast: Tuesday, October 7, 4:30pm Cory Steiner, Fargo Public Schools Superintendent. The best way to introduce Cory, w...