Letters to Teachers from 2015-16: We are Americana

Hi Everyone,

This a second post of letters I shared with teachers in our Weekly Update during the 2015-16 school year. If you're a reader, educator, mom, dad, or student, I hope you enjoy it. Probably one of the most important things I've learned in life is we learn some of our most important lessons from the experiences of others. I hope this small piece of one of my experiences helps you on your journey.

T.

From the Weekly Update to teachers 2015-16:

We are Americana

Being grateful. Understanding your place. Seeing with a wider point of view. Being patriotic.  Gaining perspective. Yes, this is another Army story. Yes, it’s related to what we do as educators – promise…and this is the last update of 2015-16 J.  If you’ve been reading the update, you’ve come across a couple of my “Army” stories: “Sometimes You Have to Pull the Trigger” and “Failure to Adapt”. I can’t really explain why my mind has focused here as of late, but so far, so good so here goes:

Entering military service is even rougher than it appears from the outside and it really isn’t like the movies, at least not in my experience in June of 1988. After high school graduation, I still had a lot to learn about the wider world. Let me preface this piece by saying I think many of us learn over time and develop a wider view of the world and our part in it or maybe our role in it. As it happened, my learning and tempering came in service to our country.

My lessons came in several pieces of my 1988 – 1993 service. The first came during my BASIC training. The Fourth of July occurred at Ft. McClellan, Alabama and it was annually celebrated on the post. After about four weeks of training, we were getting a respite because of the Fourth of July much to the chagrin of our drill sergeants who preferred we remain on lock down with some meager celebration – in their minds no holidays for us were necessary, they were busy toughening us up. Our commander had ordered us into a beige patriotic t-shirt we all purchased with an eagle and a U.S. Flag on the front, our gray physical training shorts, white socks, running shoes, and a two-inch wide OD green combat web belt with a canteen attached. Yes, we looked marvelous. We marched a few miles to the parade field and sat closely together in the humid night air. A presentation was made as the sun sank and an officer from the post sang a song I hadn’t heard before. In 1988,“God Bless the USA” by Lee Greenwood was just four years old (how time flies). Some soldiers sang along and it was heartfelt with what appeared to be thousands sitting on the ground in the audience and a few soldiers joined arms and swayed.  The hoots and hollers during and after the song were many and in all honesty, I really didn’t get it at first. It was unlike any civilian exhibition of fireworks I had experienced as a kid growing up in St. James, Missouri. The soldiers and families there seemed to exude a feeling in the air that this night was more than just breathtaking fireworks in the air, it wasn’t just entertainment. I questioned what they were feeling, but I felt it too. I was part of something bigger – my country, and I really didn’t understand it.

Flash forward three years to 1991 and Frankfurt, Germany.  It was my first overseas post and I found myself as a military policeman guarding a large Army compound called the Abrams complex (click to see it HERE– a truly unique place in Frankfurt where the I.G. Farben Industry developed nerve agents for the Nazis, then found their offices taken over at the close of WWII by Allied Forces). During the night the air war in Iraq was declared and a virtual takeover of the Abrams complex occurred. I knew why. We had been briefed over the weeks and months leading up to the air war in Iraq that military compounds overseas would be targets for unsavory supporters of Iraq. Even Saddam Hussein had encouraged we be targeted. Our guard force went from a small group eleven guards to a force nearing one hundred with supplemental MPs and Infantry in a matter of an hour. This complex contained the V Corps headquarters and according to reports, the compound had been threatened many times. Soon the additional forces would arrive and mirrors on small-wheeled carts attached to poles would be slid under vehicles entering the complex to search for bombs and regular entry points would be shut down. Everyone entering would be funneled though a few winding, well guarded choke points. On this day I remembered feeling uneasy waiting for supplemental forces to arrive, I was sent alone to patrol the perimeter of the front of the Abrams building and I was told to take an extra weapon, my M-16 rifle, normally we carried only a .45 pistol. If you clicked the link, you know the front of the complex was a large area, it probably measured 20 acres or more. In the quiet, ill-lit night I chambered a round in my M16 as I thought - not everyone in the world loved Americans. The traffic jams of security checks began.

Flash forward again only a few months later and I found myself in Northern, Iraq. The area ISIS terrorizes and murders the Christian Kurdish people today. It was in a place called Zakhu I had one of the most profound moments in my service.  I was stationed at a community water faucet; these were hotspots for arguments and possible tampering. A pipe coming out of the ground looked like a US home’s outdoor faucet, minus the house and hose. Groups of young girls in pale colored one piece dresses of faded blue, white and red appeared to be in grade school and came to fill up their “buckets” at the pipe. These buckets were essentially any dusty plastic container that could hold fluid. Amazingly, one of the young girls spoke English very well. She couldn’t have been more than 11. We were able to ask simple questions and even joke with her. She enjoyed talking to us, seemingly eager to use her English with American soldiers. She and the other younger girls with her made the trip regularly to the faucet. It appeared the entire block used the same faucet and sent their young girls to fetch water. As she left and faded down the dusty path in her pale blue cotton dress with her friends, her smile and the light in her dark eyes warmed my heart. I still see her face smiling and framed in thick raven colored tousled hair today. In that moment as she departed, my Sergeant said, “Just think, she’ll never know America, this place is all she’ll ever have in life.” My heart dropped as I scanned the dry foothills and the meager buildings that passed as homes. My nose filled with the smell of sewage and trash that trickled down the street the girl walked down. She would likely NEVER know America. The world as she knew it was Iraq and possibly still is today, now the ruthless terrorist hunting ground where ISIS gathers young girls to do with them as they please and murders Christian men. On that day in 1991 I had the same model of OD green web belt around my waist as I had used in the BASIC training July 4^th celebration, along with two canteens this time, not one. I knew other trained soldiers had purified my water or I had one of the many bottles of purified water the Army had purchased from Turkey in my Humvee. However, my advantages went far beyond clean water. I would leave Iraq via my Humvee and then on a U.S. Air force C-5 Galaxy airplane. I realized I would return home and the young girl in the faded blue cotton dress would never know my home; Iraq was her only world.

Gaining Perspective – we really are in the greatest country in the world. We celebrate games with different size and shape balls, crown homecoming queens, hold classes in air-conditioned rooms with connections and windows to the world at our fingertips. We encourage and maybe even spoil our kids some in the America of plenty.  The tool to balance living in a world of abundance and raising kids that value little is teaching Americana. We are the teachers of Americana. We are important in how students develop in our culture. As we were acculturated in high school as teens we began and later many of us had tempering experiences that made us value what we have achieved as a country – an imperfect, but constantly looking for ways to improve and lead the rest of the world country.

I don’t pretend to have the world figured out or even our country, but I’ve seen enough to know our humble school system is a key element in who our young people become and how they interact and relate to the world. A high school filled with encouragers did it for me in St. James, Missouri and their lessons weren’t lost – they were an essential beginning. As you hit the summer break, keep your head high and think of your own tempering in life and the times you gained perspective. Remember how you were able to impact students and what you’ll do to improve for the coming year. Next school year, remember you’re a part of the acculturation and encouragement of our future citizens – leaders in our world; hopefully leaders of how to be learners that are grateful, resilient, flexible, altruistic, kind and innovative.  Americans.

Letters to Teachers: "Failure to Adapt - April 10, 2016"

To All,

My writing has veered from this blog in recent years, but I've never stopped writing. I've had a habit of writing once a week to MHS teachers via our Weekly Update. Since it is all internally disseminated and I've neglected this blog, I decided to share a few of these letters to teachers from this past year and I hope readers enjoy them. I've learned I enjoy writing and sharing stories I think will help others in their lifework and journey.

T.

From the Weekly Update:

April 10, 2016

FAILURE to ADAPT

Hi Teachers and Staff,

Ok, story time. A long time ago, in a land far, far away called the June 1988 heat wave of Alabama, I found myself in Fort McClellan sweating my way into the U.S. Army’s BASIC training and Advanced Training course.  It was just 2 ½ weeks after graduating from the safety of high school and my world was about to be rocked. If you have a prior background in the military you’ll completely understand my next statements: For a kid coming out of high school or anyone for that matter, the military is another world. It is another culture and way of operating and being in the world. It’s pure culture shock coming out of momma’s house. As I made my way off the bus to what looked like a stark gray and beige concrete prison pod – a.k.a. our barracks, I wound my way up a set of two flights of stairs within the complex to my home for the next five months – a large open room with 4 rows of wall-lockers and metal bunk beds complete with Army issued green wool blankets and no fluff feather pillows. We were asked to line up next to the bunks when the drill sergeant in a “smokey the bear” round brown hat called (or was it barked?) our last names – my first name would disappear in my Army days. Drill Sergeant Tominello was an Italian- American no-nonsense pit bull of a man…his neck and chest were thick and he barked like one too. My fate was sealed when the name “Sheppard” was barked for the bottom bunk then “Robinson” for the bunk above him. I had been assigned my “bunk buddy” a.k.a “battle buddy” by the chance outcome of alphabetical order. Sheppard was a soft, blue-eyed, pale skinned, heavy-set blonde and at 23 he was fresh out of college, but he might as well have been a tame white rabbit of a man, minus the quickness and big ears. At the time he was my “elder” since I was a mere 18 and still hadn’t cracked a book in college. At least at the onset he appeared to be the one that might lead me due to his age and college background, but as the Army set things up in training, he was to be my responsibility during training and I was to be his; if he got into trouble, so did I and vice-versa. I quickly discovered my soft battle buddy was in too deep (yes, a nice 80s reference to the 1986 Phil Collins song which still hit the airwaves regularly a lot back then, but I digress). “Shep” as he became known was always in trouble with drill sergeants and when I say always, I mean every slow hour of the day. He was late to almost all formations, late to chow, forgot his equipment, wore the wrong equipment, lined up in the wrong places, clipped his toenails when he was supposed to be getting his boots on…you name it, he did it wrong. The thing was, everyone messed up some of the time, but everyone tended to correct themselves and adapt – Sheppard however, didn’t. He made the same errors over and over and you probably already guessed it, yours truly was also the recipient for all his correction from drill sergeants. These corrections came in the form of merciless pushups during times everyone else was waiting for chow, or on a break, then add sit ups and anything else drill sergeants could cook up to get Sheppard’s attention – he always had something to be corrected. In the first few weeks, it was evident to the entire Charlie company of roughly 150 soldiers in training that Sheppard was the standout for all the wrong reasons and no matter what I did as his buddy, it wasn’t going to matter. In an environment where anonymity could be an asset to stay out of the drill sergeant’s scope – everyone knew Sheppard. In fact, after several weeks of suffering with Sheppard, drill sergeants didn’t make me share his discipline; they sent me back to the formation when he was called out to do even more pushups and I arrived with him. Yes, there was actually some true mercy in the Army, they let me cut ties to a truly special case of severe ineptitude and I was thankful. Fellow soldiers in training also had a degree of pity on me and often assisted me in my efforts to guide Sheppard the right way - we oftentimes took turns. Except when a guy can’t even get his boots laced in under five minutes, you just can’t do it for him. As time progressed Sheppard’s incidents continued to grow into legend; picture a full company of 149 soldiers geared up to move out to a field training exercise and the commander addressing the troops in formation at attention and standing completely silent when out of nowhere a clatter and clank of equipment raining and scattering down the stairwell and then everywhere across the smooth concrete with Sheppard bungling along trying to wind his way to his rank and squad in the middle of one of the four platoons of almost 50 men and then stepping out tie his shoes. Sheppard spared no volume in his voice or slamming of equipment, it was pure Jerry Lewis, and for you younger folks…think Tommy Boy or an impaired Adam Sandler.  The commander could have melted steel with her gaze that day or Sheppard’s head - I think he ducked. As our training neared its end around seven weeks, Sheppard spent more and more time visiting the offices of the Drill Sergeants and the Commander. After several meetings, it was decided: Sheppard would not graduate with Charlie company, he had failed to adapt. Furthermore, he would be granted, after much begging, to be placed next door into Delta company as a recycled soldier - they gave him one final chance before complete discharge. Delta Company was 2-3 weeks behind our training cycle. This meant Sheppard would be required to spend 2-3 more weeks in BASIC training. No one gave him a chance of completing his training requirements. However, this is where his story took an unexpected turn. Sheppard thrived at Delta company which was a mere stone’s throw away and in a nearly identical barracks with identical hardened men and women as drill sergeants. He lost 40 pounds and passed his physical training test. Further, the entire Delta company taunted my own Charlie company in weekend chants that they had made a soldier out of Sheppard – implying our company should be ashamed of the failure to do so. Sheppard then went on to advanced training and graduated just behind our company; he was a new man, made by Delta Company. He was their revival story and our washout story...it was quite a contrast.

So why tell this long story this week? And why tell it 28 years later to all of you? What’s the relationship to education Dr. Rob?  Ok, here it comes…a military company is similar to our school organization – we’re the trainers and the trainees are our students. Many of our students come in “soft and ill-prepared” to engage and fail to adapt to high school – sometimes we expect them to come in completely ready to go. We can’t forget that high school differs from pre-k, elementary and middle school in significant ways. I think we have to ask ourselves if we are flexible enough, creative enough, encouraging enough and reasonable enough to catch the kids that are winnable OR are we quick to say, they’re failing to adapt…get them out of my class or my school? Maybe Sheppard, with the right flexibility and encouragement would have made it at Charlie Company and maybe with a little adjustment here and there some of our kids can make it at MHS and HCC. Surely, there are reasonable adult attitudes, corrections, conversations and adjustments we can make to help almost all of our kids. For those that our MHS and HCC organization isn’t equipped to handle, we do have other options with MEC and online courses in Edgenuity, but those could be compared to shipping a student to “Delta Company”…and maybe worse. As we wind down our school year, take a look at what might be just a handful of kids in your classes and ask yourself, “What bit of flexibility – such as meeting during seminar for tutoring or before or after school, or a call or email home, or a written academic recovery plan discussed with parents for your class, might lead to this kid to adapting and learning instead of failing to adapt and not learning? Read also: passing this class or not passing this class?”  

Many times, all it takes is our leadership and our reasonable path-making for kids that are still learning to adapt to the rigors of high school…especially FRESHMEN. It might just mean they need you to show you care about them in a small way.

Let me encourage and praise all of you for your own personal resilience to meet the needs of kids – education is tough work, we have learned to adapt to tough challenges and we make a difference.

T.

Success at MHS!

Success isn't just test great test scores; it's really the professional leadership and efforts of teachers at MHS to make our school GREAT for kids! There are so many things our high school does that go largely unseen and sometimes only loosely measured. Here are some things you ought to know about this past year at MHS:

We broke records for the number of students qualifying for district and national competition in speech and debate. 

Our Journalism Department won a Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award in broadcast journalism.

Our Speech and Drama department has been recognized for the Jellybean Festival for students with special needs with national and state recognition and $5,000 was given to use from the University of Kansas to support this effort. Our teacher, Mrs. Sara Given was recognized as the Speech and Debate Association Teacher of the Year in the state of Missouri. 

Our football team had the most wins in school history and almost every team was recognized by the Missouri State High School Activities Association with an academic recognition for their average GPA of 3.0 or better. Mr. Anderson was recognized as the Northeast District Athletic Director of the Year.

We've maintained a low failure rate of approximately 10% or less in courses and steadily increased rigor over the past three years. 

Our Student Council was recognized as an Honor Council for the 4th year in a row and the Missouri Association of Student Councils named Dr. Terry Robinson as the NE Administrator of the year. (yes, I've added my own award, but I was truly honored and mention it only because - WE won it...it wasn't just ME) :)

Our social studies department expanded connections with the Churchill Museum, the National WWI Museum Kansas City, MO and our local Audrain County Courthouse for Law Day with local prosecutor Jacob Shellabarger. Furthermore they'll be expanding technology use in their department and will be integrating chrome books in each classroom - 25 per room.They'll also offer online Dual Credit Psychology in spring 2017. 

Our science department will add dual credit anatomy and acted as innovators with water pressure rocket design labs and a hover craft experiment in physics. 

Students with special needs and our special education team have been busy as well. We now have a VA job skills/transition program and a new school store for job skill development connected with our positive behavior intervention and support efforts. Bright Futures (our district community connection) has also helped us with the school store. 

Our counseling department worked to focus on freshmen transition last year and added field trips and activities at Mizzou and Columbia College for freshmen. In addition they piloted a new schedule planning process for this upcoming school year that resulted in Spanish being available for our middle school. Because of solid prior planning, we'll share a Spanish teacher at MMS 1/2 time. 

There's more that could be added to this list, but these are some of the standouts that came to my mind. It's my hope you'll continue to support the kids and teachers at MHS. We need the community in partnership with all we do; an old WWII poster once displayed the following slogan: "TOGETHER, WE CAN DO IT!"  - it's true in war and in education, everyone has to work together to impact our kids. 

T.

Find your path SURVEY LINK 2016

Parents and Guardians of the class of 2020! (freshmen 2016-17)

Please help us guide your son or daughter in their coming school years. The survey below will help us guide them toward their strengths and aspirations at MHS and HCC and will become a part of their educational guidance record.

Thanks for partnering with us to help your child succeed and LAUNCH to success after high school.

https://docs.google.com/a/mexico.k12.mo.us/forms/d/1e8yKmSoRAkLps0GumutuHPivqpeIr0AUONrLkjahCFQ/viewform

Dr. Terry Robinson

Welcome Back to 2016!

To All,

We've finished our first semester of the 2015-16 school year. Teachers will open the New Year thinking about curriculum and developing units of instruction as part of the new teacher evaluation process. In this process we're asking teachers to reflect on their practices and then guiding and coaching them to engage  students. In addition, we'll be asking them to closely monitor measurable results before and after they teach students. As administrators we're placed in an instructional leader position to guide, coach and assist teachers with their professional growth in order to directly affect instruction. This can be a difficult task, but it is a valuable one. Research supports that the most significant factor affecting learning outcomes is THE TEACHER. In my heart, I'm still a teacher as well - although as an administrator, I have other hats to wear as well.

Many times I'm asked, "What does a principal do all day?" I guess the best answer is this: "A bit of everything..." from managing a building, counseling/guiding a teacher, parent or student, monitoring and making changes for safety, working collaboratively with outside agencies such as our regional professional development center, to DFS, Juvenile, and the Chamber of Commerce, to supervising athletics after school, to recruiting new coaches and teachers, to congratulating and encouraging teachers and students regularly. There's more...but I'll stop there at ENCOURAGING because above all I see my position as the "chief encourager" - no principal can do it all and it's my job to encourage LEADERS to come to the fore - both adults and students. Leadership is really all it takes to be a GREAT SCHOOL. We are blessed to have so many talented teacher-leaders and students at MHS engaged in the tough work of teaching and learning which never stops. At graduation time I joke occasionally that our senior class is FINALLY trained and ready and we're letting them GO each May. Then we get a whole new crop of 8th grade freshmen to be " new recruits" right behind them from MMS when we have just finished with the seniors! ha. Education never stops at MHS.

It is truly a privilege and a joy to be a part of MHS. So if you're reading this blog today...THANK YOU for checking in on us and we hope you'll support us in any way you can in the near future and partner with us in supporting our endeavors - we need YOUR ENCOURAGEMENT and your support.

Dr. Terry Robinson - Principal

Parent-Teacher Conferences Sept. 29 and 30, 2015

PLEASE TAKE THE SURVEY about your parent-teacher conference experience:

CLICK THE LINK BELOW:

http://goo.gl/forms/GQQOAifPFQ

Dear Parents and Guardians,

We will hold parent teacher conferences on Gary Filbert Court on the following dates and times:

1)Juniors and Sophomores - Tuesday night, Sept. 29 from 3:30 pm - 7:15 pm

2)Seniors and Freshmen - Wednesday night, Sept. 30 from 3:30 pm - 7:15 pm

*If you cannot attend on the assigned night or you have more than one student, you can choose

the alternate night.

Please enter through the sports complex front lobby doors and stop by the counseling table to receive a grade card, communications information, assessment data, and teacher locations. This will be your initial meeting. Counselors will then direct you to teachers they recommend or you request to see.

Teachers will be contacting parents and guardians if a student is struggling with their class or classes.  In addition, some teachers may communicate with you and request to see you at an appointed time.

If you would like to have a private conference and you have not been contacted, you may email the teacher directly or call our counselors’ office at 573-581-4296 to set up a time.  All e-mail addresses are included with this letter.

If you have any questions or concerns please contact our counseling department or my office.

Sincerely,

Dr. Terry Robinson

Principal

Mexico High School 

State Assessment Information and Senior dates and times 2015

Parents and Students,

I've attached some important dates and times below regarding required state assessments and information for seniors below. These assessments are required for graduation and are part of our school accreditation. If you have any questions or concerns please contact our high school office at 573-581-4296.

THURSDAY, April 30

EOC: 9th, Physical Science 8:08 am - 11:04 am

EOC: 9th, 10th, Geometry 12:10 pm - 1:44 pm

FRIDAY, May 1

EOC: 9th, American History; 8:08 - 11:04

EOC: English I; 12:10  -  3:15 pm

MONDAY, May 4 - NO TESTING SCHEDULED

*Possible EOC Make up tests - English I, Physical Science, American History and Geometry

TUESDAY, May 5

EOC: English I; 8:08 am - 11:04 am and 12:10 - 3:15

EOC: English II; 12:10-1:40 and 1:44 - 3:15

WEDNESDAY, May 6

EOC: Biology; 8:33 am - 11:04 am and 12:22 - 3:15 pm

THURSDAY, May 7

EOC: Government; 8:08 - 11:04

EOC: English II; 12:10 - 3:15

*Last day for Seniors to turn in books to the library

FRIDAY, May 8

EOC: Algebra I; 8:08 am - 11:04 am and 12:10 - 3:15 pm

MONDAY, May 11

EOC: Algebra II; 8:08 am - 11:04 am

Senior Finals - Odd class periods

*MHS checkout sheet issued to seniors

TUESDAY, May 12

Senior Finals - Even class periods

MAKE UP Statewide ACT DAY for JUNIORS

MAKE UP EOCs

WEDNESDAY, May 13

LAST DAY FULL DAY FOR SENIORS

*Seniors Make-up finals, all assignments turned in if needed

**Seniors Pay All fines, complete the MHS checkout sheet

***SENIOR GRADES reported to Counselors’ Office by 3:30 pm

THURSDAY, May 14

Finals Writing portion 1, 3, 5, 7

1:00 Senior Commencement practice in Sports Plex and Gary Filbert Court

Cap and gowns distributed and class picture immediately after practice

*ALL FINES MUST BE PAID AND SENIOR CHECK OUT LIST MUST BE TURNED IN TO

MRS. HAMILTON AT PRACTICE TO RECEIVE CAP AND GOWN AND PARTICIPATE IN THE GRADUATION CEREMONY.

FRIDAY, May 15 8:30 a.m.

Awards Assembly in the Sports Complex

Finals Writing portion periods 2, 4, 6

SUNDAY, May 17 6:00 p.m

Baccalaureate in EMMONS

Seniors wear cap and gowns.

MONDAY, May 18

FINALS for ODD periods: 1, 3, 5, 7

8:30 a.m. Commencement Practice Sports Complex and Gooch Gym

7:30 pm Seniors report to Gooch Gym

Teachers report to first floor

8:00 pm Commencement  Hawthorne Heights  

TUESDAY, May 19

FINALS for EVEN periods: 2, 4, 6,

WEDNESDAY, May 20 EARLY RELEASE, NO LATE START

Grades Due 12 noon

Make up finals if necessary in morning

8:30 - 12:45 Celebration of Success - Field Day**RELEASE FROM FOOTBALL FIELD**