Armour, South Dakota

Today, Sheli and I went to Armour, South Dakota - home to the Packers. Armour is a great little town and after meeting the teachers there this summer we were anxious to see the community and schools. Armour was founded in 1885. The city was named for Philip D. Armour, who was founder of Armour and Company, a meat packing company. Contrary to popular belief, Armour was never home to a meat packing plant; the town was so named because Mr. Armour was also the chairman of the railroad that went through Armour and donated a bell to the local congregational church (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armour,_South_Dakota). Armour is home to 699 people today.


Like our previous South Dakota locations, Armour boasts both and Elementary/Junior High and a High School. These rural schools do a lot of facility sharing and like the other locations, the gym and cafeteria are located in the elementary school building.

We were most anxious to get to Armour as we were promised an opportunity to accompany Slim Schneider (10th grade biology) and Mary Schneider (10th grade language arts) and their 11 tenth graders on their first STEM field trip of the year. Slim and Mary opted to combine their two classes this year to create an integrated biology/English class. After spending the first few days of school learning about the scientific method and creating protocols around experiments the students were anxious to see real science in action, the local taxidermist, Larry Wold was just the ticket.



Larry not only discussed his career and education but helped the students understand the complexities of taxidermy from the business side to the actual application. The students saw Larry's lab, his process, and his final products. They had the opportunity to see and hear the scientific method in action - with none of the day to day details left out. Each student left the field trip with a better understanding of a unique career option in rural South Dakota.




We then spent the afternoon working one on one with the teachers, helping them refine the projects they planned during the summer, brainstorming ideas around student engagement, and just plain seeing these wonderful folks in their native habitat. We learned that there should be absolutely no parking of trucks on the grass but bikes were just fine!

Location:Armour, South Dakota

Platte, South Dakota

The second town on our tour was Platte. It is a great town boasting an historic downtown that is still graced with beautiful buildings including the old bank and a three-storied hotel, today home to Fergie's Pub. Founded in the late 1880s by Bernard Pratte, the town was spelling challenged from inception. An early typo turned the town to Platte from Pratte and the mistake stuck.



The High School and Elementary School are located just east of downtown within a block of one another. Like their fellow pilot sites they work together sharing resources, personnel, space. In fact, the National Guard share space with the Elementary School.


Annalies and I got the chance to meet and plan with Tony, Steve and Joel the district's Superintendent, High School Principal and Elementary School Principal. They gave us great tours affording us the opportunity to reacquaint ourselves with teachers we worked with over the summer and see a number of the kick-off projects in action. Sandy's Science Safety Rules Project is in full swing. Steve showed us the Fab Lab with its shopbot and 3D printer. What a remarkable asset, one that made our eyes twinkle as we considered projects at Springs, Armour and Bonesteel, as well as Platte that might take advantage of such and educational gem.

Not that Annalies and I are afraid of cafeteria lunches but let's just say our memories are long enough to take us back to our school days, so off we went to explore Platte and find a lunch spot. It took no time at all to discover the hotspot -- Boom's Drive In. We are not sure but it is possible that we just may have seen half of the town's 1200 resident's at lunch.

Early in the evening we had the pleasure of meeting a number of parents at a meeting called by Superintendent Glass. Dr. Melody Schopp joined the evening speaking about STEM and South Dakota's Innovation Labs, as did Sam Shaw from the Curriculum Division of the Department of Education in Pierre. There were lots of great questions about the process and some of the things that have been published in the Argus Leader. What a great opportunity to hear what is going on in the community. Joel noted that Platte would like to further tailor the name of the program to better express Platte. He put forward Project Connect.

After a long day we made it back to the King's Inn where we found a note on the room's mirror that motel towels were not to be used to clean boots, guns, motorcycles or boats. Makes perfect sense to us.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Boulevard Redesigns, Remixes, and Ramps up for the first days of STEM!

Though my road trip was not as far as the travels Sheli and Annalies are making, it was a road trip none the less! I just returned home from the last of the pre-planning days with the folks at Boulevard Elementary. The school is located in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, in close proximity to historic architecture, museums, colleges, and reputed medical facilities. Did I mention the art? And, there is fab art everywhere you look!

One of many Cool Globes around University Circle.

Check out the amazing Project at http://www.coolglobes.com/

So, as I had the opportunity to walk around and explore these areas I reflected on the work with these wonderful folks. The Boulevard teams are on the road to transform their building, their pedagogy, and their community! Teachers and staff came together 2 weeks ago to begin planning and designing what STEM will look like within their teaching and learning space. Teacher teams discussed, problem solved, and created an architecture for the school year for their problem based learning work. We had our final 2 days together this week before students return for a new school year and the new programs. I drove home uplifted and inspired by these teachers, the energy and enthusiasm for taking on this work is going to be even more exciting as students drive programs about a new student health initiative, a "greener" solution for schools, and a dream teaching and learning campus! I'm looking forward to the trip back up and being part of this transformation.

Wessington Springs, SD

The Wessington Springs townsite was founded in 1880 and platted in 1882, early in the era of agricultural settlement in the region. The town's boom era began in 1903, when a branch line of the Milwaukee Road railroad was constructed into the town from the east. The town was the home of Wessington Springs College, an institution of higher learning that existed from 1887 until 1968 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wessington_Springs). Today, Wessington Springs is home to 956 of the nicest and most welcoming residents.

Wessington Springs was our first stop in this weeks STEM and PBL tour of the South Dakota Innovation Labs schools. Sheli and I were fortunate enough to get to spend the day with teachers and staff from Wessington Springs that we had first met this summer in PBL training. We found luxury accommodations at the Traveler's Motel - they were most welcoming despite the very late arrival due to travel issues.





The next morning, we toured main street as the town was just waking and enjoyed a hearty meal at the Wessington Springs Cafe and Lounge where Carla guaranteed our breakfast was the best in town. We were not disappointed.












We spent our day meeting with faculty and staff at both the Elementary and High Schools, visiting classrooms and getting a feel for the work ahead. We started at the High School where we discovered the secret gem of Wessington Springs Schools - a robust and engaging program in Ag Ed that is the rival of many collegiate programs in the state. In teacher Craig Shyrock we found not only a champion bull rider but STEM and PBL at it's very best.











After leaving the High School we toured the Elementary School, met the students and teachers and talked about next steps in transforming teaching and learning.











We ended our day in Wessington Springs with a visit to the district's Hutterite Colony School. We are looking forward to returning next month to begin working with the teachers as they roll up their sleeves and run.

Location:Wessington Springs, South Dakota

South Dakota Designs the 21st Century One Room School House

We have just embarked on our fourth road trip this summer in South Dakota. We first met this remarkably creative group in Baltimore during a seminar for Race to the Top funding in 2009. We have never lost touch and this year through a consortium of partners including Sanford Health, Mid-Central Educational Co-Op, and the University of. South Dakota the PAST team has had the opportunity to work with teachers from across the mid-state region as they strive to transform education.

Four school districts, Armour, Platte/Geddes, South Central, and Wessington Springs have volunteered to be test sites for for a new type of educational delivery that draws on programs already in place and new programs being launched as we write. Over the course of two weeks in July and August teachers descended on the Mitchell Technical Institute (MTI) and worked at a crazed pace with the PAST team to embrace the STEM problem-based learning process and plan out their district approaches for the upcoming academic year. Jill Weimer and Liz McMillan of Sanford provided rich lab experiences for the teachers to draw ideas from. The teachers provided the passion and determination while the PAST team worked alongside encouraging and pushing. The results were a series of great, PowerPoint presentations delineating the over-arching themes and wild and wonderful projects they've planned.

This week we've returned to visit each of the schools and the faculties. Today we visited Wessington Springs High School, Elementary School, and Hutterite Colony School. We saw some cool things and fun ideas. Did you know that Wessington Springs boasts an Opera House and the Shakespeare Gardens at the Hathaway Cottage? Carla at the town's cafe noted that their breakfast's are great and we concur. We were the welcome guests at the Travelers Inn Motel for the evening - a welcome site after a very long and much delayed series of flights in the wake of Hurricane Irene. Tomorrow we are off to Platte to continue the journey with the South Dakota Innovation Labs.

Sheli and Annalies