In this post, Miss Elder talks about what inspired 21CCCS to hold Community Outreach events and the importance of teachers knowing their students:
During my first year at 21CCCS, another teacher and I visited the house of a family from our school while they held a weekly meeting with other families from 21CCCS. Seven years later, I can’t recall the original purpose of our visit, but I still vividly remember how much fun we had. I remember plenty of laughter, students sitting in a circle, deep in discussion, and a vigorous debate about whether Genghis Khan or Hannibal Barca was a better military leader. I’ll admit, seven years later, that I totally lost that debate, but it was the exact sort of environment that experts say is ideal if we want our students to be deeply engaged in their education. It is also the kind of environment that is incredibly difficult to create when students are stuck in a desk at the mercy of a bell schedule, and the teacher is watching the clock, hoping to squeeze in all the essential content.
The future of education is in technology because it allows us to remove those types of antiquated constraints, and it makes it possible for a system to exist where that ideal environment is the norm and not the exception. Technology allows us to gather precise data about individual learning styles and areas of student need, and to analyze effective teaching strategies. We can use the data to meet the needs of each individual student in a way that would otherwise be impossible. Technology allows us to reach students wherever they are, even if they are, quite literally, on the other side of the world. At the same time, there is a danger that technology will begin to replace the personal connection that students feel with their classmates and teachers. This connection is crucial. It is not enough that teachers know all about their students—teachers need to actually know their students. And it’s not enough for students to know all about the content of their course—they need to know that they are part of a community of learners who care about them and are engaged in the same endeavor. One of the reasons I love working at 21CCCS is that, among all the cyber schools, ours directs more effort towards this goal than any other.
It was with this goal in mind that we began holding Community Outreach events twice a week and Saturday Socials once a month. The events are meant to give students an opportunity to make those personal connections with classmates and teachers. We choose to meet in areas where we are likely to reach the most students, send out teachers two nights a week, and hope that students will come and feel like they aren’t alone, behind a computer screen. Sometimes we have twenty-five students and everyone is loudly playing games and making fruit pizza. Sometimes we have one student and we are still loudly playing games and making fruit pizza. But either way we are always having a great time and we are always there for the students.
21CCCS has started a parent organization. Interested in learning more? Ms. Cherrier has the latest on what the 21CCCS Parent Organization has been up to.
Hi Parents,
We have lots of exciting things going on recently with 21CCCS’ new Parent Organization. The Parent Organization has been getting involved in lots of behind the scenes planning for events that go on to support our students. The Parent Organization will be actively involved with fundraising for upcoming school-sponsored events. There will also be other opportunities to join parent discussions on books, news reports and much more. With School Choice week being at the end of January, the Parent Organization has also worked to increase understanding about school choice on the whole by writing letters to local and state representatives and sharing stories about the powers of school choice. The Parent Organization can be whatever you want to make of it and is completely voluntary.
Our whole group meetings happen on the second Tuesday of each month at 7pm virtually via a link available through “Parent’s Place” in your first class email. There are also a variety of small breakout group meetings for parents specifically interested in certain focus areas. If you have any ideas for upcoming meetings or want to get involved, please contact me, Kristina Cherrier, at kcherrier@21cccs.org to get on the mailing list and stay up to date about what we have going on. I look forward to hearing from you soon!
Do you have any interest in traveling in the future? Ms. MacLuckie gathered traveling tips from members of the 21CCCS staff.
The world is a huge place filled with different climates, people, and cultures. Taking the opportunity to travel can be an exciting, but sometimes stressful, experience. Whether you have never considered hopping on a plane to some foreign location or you have already travelled all over, traveling tips and advice can always be helpful!
Many of the staff members at 21CCCS have travelled internationally and would love to share some of their tips with you. Take a look!
Have a plan, but be flexible (Ms. Leber)- It’s nice to arrive in a new city knowing some things that you would like to see or do. It is also important to allow for fun detours or exploration of something totally unplanned that you discover when you arrive. Often just exploring a city on foot can be even more fascinating and informative than visiting major tourist attractions.
Pack lightly (Ms. Leskinen)- Make sure items that you pack are easy to wear and clean. I purchased all my toiletries while abroad to save room in my luggage.
Be open-minded, but aware (Mrs. Coletti)- Being flexible and open-minded will help you adapt to your new surroundings and cultural norms. Also, if you are going to be in an under-developed area, be diligent about safe drinking water.
Learn a little bit of the language (Ms. MacLuckie)- When I was traveling in Costa Rica, it was very helpful to learn some key phrases like “How much does it cost?” and “Where is the bathroom?”
Don’t be afraid (Ms. Hoyt)- There are going to be plenty of new things to try— new foods, new activities, new languages, etc. Don’t be afraid to experience new things!
Make it happen (Mr. Meyer)- Seek out and take any opportunity you have to go somewhere you’ve never been. It’s absolutely amazing what you can gain and experience by simply removing yourself from your usual surroundings. Wherever you go, don’t forget to take a journal and write everyday!
No matter where you decide to go, or what you decide to do, always keep these small pieces of advice in the back of your mind. They will help make your next traveling experience the best it can be!
Keep an eye out on our Facebook page for our post series, “Where in the world is…” Teachers will be sharing some photos and stories from their travels. If you have a “Where in the world is…” post that you would like to share, please send a short (1 paragraph) explanation of your experience and a picture to kmacluckie@21cccs.org. We look forward to hearing about your traveling adventures!
As a Social Studies teacher, one of the most common questions I receive is “Why do we have to learn history?” At first, I used to suppress the need of my inner teenager to sigh heavily when hearing this question. But then it hit me; you are asking this question because you really don’t know! And shock… it is MY job to teach you this. I always thought teaching was just about content- wars, people, inventions; the list could go on forever. It had never really occurred to me that students needed to know why it was important before they learned how it was important. Can we say face-palm moment?
I can share with you the experiences I had where I personally figured out why studying history was important and it didn’t happen in a classroom. It happened in a regular conversation I had with my Nana and Pop-Pop when I was about 15 years old. We used to have weekly lunches at their house (picture a small house that would jam pack around 30 family members each Saturday), and in this house I learned to love history. In this house there was one strict rule at lunch—never put anything on your plate you didn’t intend to eat. Our eyes were not allowed to be bigger than our stomachs! One day I dared to ask my Pop “why”? I was 15 and questioned everything that impacted my right to make an independent decision. You can probably insert some teen angst with this question too.
What my snarky teenage question did was open up a conversation with my grandparents about what it was like to grow up in the 1930s. More specifically, what it was like to do without a lot of things during this time. Until they opened up about their experiences in the Depression, I never really considered what it was like to live without, and to be used to this! Food was a luxury some people didn’t have, and it wasn’t to be wasted. Their home was something they could lose, and they were thankful to have a roof over their heads. Out in the real world, people were losing their homes and begging for food. How could they consider wasting when so many did without? It was from them I learned the why. College only taught me the how.
From then on, family get-togethers were history lessons. They still are! My Dad’s dad talked about WWII more frequently, because I asked. It’s not like it was a new revelation he had served during this war, but history was now alive for me. People I knew and loved experienced many great and fascinating things. No textbook could teach me this! Each get-together inspired a new appreciation and fascination for history. Taking out old family photos, hearing stories of when my great-grandfather owned a pub in Philadelphia and how he was connected to a small Irish mob (just ask me about my Nana’s engagement ring sometime!). These were moments that I will cherish forever. History was about people. History was about life. History was about ME, and it is about you, too. Next time you are with your family members, ask them about their past. See if you can figure out why it is important to learn history from them!
Yesterday was more than another day off from school. In this blog post, Miss Elder talks about why it is important to remember what Martin Luther King Day stands for.
The third Monday of every January is a very special day, indeed. This year, that date falls on January 20th, and while it is a day off from school (and hey, we know that is exciting!), it is also important to recognize just why you have this day off in the first place. For 15 years, Martin Luther King Day was lobbied in legislation until President Ronald Reagan finally passed it into law in 1983, making it a federal holiday. This year, we here at 21CCCS would like for you to learn more about this man and what you can do on this day to celebrate his work towards finding freedom and justice for all.
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. grew up in a time that seems so vastly different than today. He grew up in a society that was segregated. Could you imagine having to go to a different school based on the color of your skin? Perhaps eat at a restaurant that was in a different section of town because it was the segregated restaurant you were told you could frequent? The Civil Rights Movement was born in recognition that this forced separation of life was not equal, and it led to the actions of many great Civil Rights activists. Among the greatest was Martin Luther King, Jr.
As a leader of this movement, he traveled all around the United States speaking and bringing recognition to his cause. He courageously faced injustice and was the leader of massive protests in Birmingham, Alabama, which was perhaps the most blatantly segregated city in America. He inspired 250,000 people to take a stand and march on Washington, D.C. in 1963 where he gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. He stated that, “Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning…We cannot be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating ‘For Whites Only’…I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”
Sadly Dr. King would not make it to see the day that America’s society no longer believed in segregation; a day where limitations on education due to race no longer exist, and where society has embraced each other for who we are as a person, not as a race. His legacy of justice, empowerment, love, and peace still live on each day. You can just look outside your window and see the impact he and other Civil Rights activists had. And that is why, on the third Monday of every January, we celebrate his legacy. When you are off from school on this day, please take a moment to truly remember what this day stands for, and to consider the sacrifices that Dr. King and many others made to change American society to one of acceptance. His legacy lives on in each of us as we strive to continue his vision of the American Dream.
Our educational system has evolved to the point where parents have a lot of choice as to how their child will be educated. First, you have formal, traditional schooling in the form of public and private schools, each with their own financial, social, and educational pros and cons. Then you have homeschooling, which allows parents to have an extreme amount of control over their child’s education and development. However, the advent of the Internet – and its constant encroachment into fields and industries that previously had little to do with telecommunications – has offered up a third option: cyber schooling.
As with any new technology, cyber schools have been met with some suspicion, and rightfully so – this is your child’s education, their welfare, their very future that we’re talking about! It would be silly not to approach a new educational method with some skepticism. Yet if you take the time to dig deeper and really learn about what cyber schools have to offer, you’ll find there are many reasons to send your child to cyber school, such as…
1. Flexibility
Our economy is moving towards a “freelance” economy, and your children will soon grow up in a world where the web and advancements in telecommunications have made the “schedule” a thing of the past. The ability to treat time as fluid, and to bring work with you wherever you go and work on it whenever you please, is a skill that every worker will be expected to have in the future. With cyber schooling, your child will be ahead of the curve, as you are able to mold your child’s educational schedule around the unique demands your family and home make on his or her time. With cyber schooling, your schedule is whatever you say it is!
2. Mobility
Mobile devices have rendered distance irrelevant as far as professional life is concerned; why should education be any different? Cyber schools will allow your student to take their education on the road, whether they’re at a friend’s, traveling abroad, or simply on an errand, they can attend to their educational duties without having to go to a campus or go back home. They are always learning – which is what the ideal student does!
3. Customization
The unique teaching style that cyber schools support allow for an incredible amount of customization for the form and content of your child’s education. Your child’s teachers will more easily be able to differentiate for your child’s needs, strengths, and areas for improvement, and respond more quickly. Because classroom management and other behavioral issues that plague so many educational institutions are not an issue with cyber schools, your child’s teacher can focus on what is really important: helping their students reach their full potential.
4. Technology
As was previously mentioned, the technology used in cyber schooling – from the web to mobile hardware – is becoming increasingly common in the professional world. Cyber school students enter college and the work force with a leg up on other students, as they are already intimately familiar with how technology can be integrated into their work environment to create a faster, more efficient, more communicative, and more productive way of doing things. After cyber school, your child becomes an innovator on the cutting edge of how things are done.
5. No Bullying
At public and private educational institutions where your child must physically attend, bullying can be a problem – even at the most vigilant of schools. At a cyber school, no bully can get between your child and their education.
It can be a little scary to do things differently, but rest assured that the teachers who will be educating your child are trained professionals with as much experience – if not more – in education as the teachers in traditional schools. What’s more, even as your child is receiving the comprehensive education that you would expect from professional educators, you will still have the opportunity to be deeply involved in their education in a way that previously only homeschooling parents experienced.
Every student responds differently to different types of educational environments, but if your child is comfortable at home and responds well to education professionals, then it may have seemed impossible to find the right balance for him or her – until you found cyber schooling. You can get into contact with 21st Century Cyber Charter School today, and even travel to their headquarters to meet the teachers and staff personally if you so desire. Even after your child has begun their education, you can remain in constant contact with the education professionals there, helping your child to grow into the adult that will face the challenges of the 21st century, ready for anything.
With everything going digital and going online, it’s no surprise that education is going that way as well. Schools have always worked along the cutting edge of today’s technology, and today’s students use that technology on a regular basis every day. With the Internet as integral as it is to how we live today, it makes sense to bring your child’s education onto the web as well.
Unfortunately, some cyber charter schools can put far too much responsibility for a student’s education in the hands of the parents, rendering the experience more akin to homeschooling than cyber schooling. At 21st Century Cyber Charter School, you can rest assured that our highly qualified educators will be the ones teaching your children.
The Best of Both Worlds
Our educators are all trained and experienced teachers with a history of teaching online. They understand how to conduct classes through the Internet, but more importantly, they can use their teaching skills to give your child the educational experience that you should expect from 21st Century Cyber Charter School. This includes readings, activities, and other assignments that all correspond with their curriculum.
This doesn’t mean that you will not be involved in your child’s schooling; in fact, you will have more access to your child’s school, their activities, and their education than you have ever had before. A school e-mail account and parent-level access to the learning management site will allow you to track your child’s progress throughout the year and stay connected to their teachers in ways that are nearly impossible at a traditional school.
You will also have a liaison with the school in the form of your child’s learning coach, a trained professional who will help you to monitor your child’s grades, progress, and behavior, and whom you can discuss these things with to better help your child in their education. While you are not a teacher at 21CCCS, you are an important part of your child’s development and education, and you can expect to be treated as such!
Online Professionalism
You can also expect a professional approach to your child’s education. Many cyber schools have teachers working out of their homes, which is problematic in several ways. First, a community of like-minded professionals is great for the growth and further education of teachers; by working together out of the same building, 21CCCS teachers can share best practices and teaching techniques in order to better educate your child. At many cyber schools, the teachers are disconnected with each other, and can have a hard time learning from one another.
Another problem with working out of their home are the distractions that can occur when teachers are not in a professional setting. By working together out of the same building, 21CCCS teachers are encouraged to work hard and stay professional in your child’s education, which is precisely the kind of approach you would expect from a traditional education as well. You shouldn’t have to eschew the benefits of traditional education just to put your child on the cutting – and convenient! – edge of cyber schooling.
The Future of Education
Finally, you can expect your child to be trained using the latest educational principles at 21CCCS. The web is a sea of data; computers are already great at finding and collecting this data, but how do we make sense of it and use that data for a positive purpose? This is the great challenge of the 21st century, and one that the teachers of 21CCCS will prepare your child for. The ability to find data is common; the ability to process and make meaning out of that data is perhaps the key skill that employers are looking for today, and it is a skill that will serve them well in college.
You can be as involved as you like at the 21st Century Cyber Charter School, but you didn’t sign up for homeschooling – you signed up to have professional educators help shape your child’s mind. While you may play a large role in this process, you can rest assured that the skills and training our educators bring to the cyber classroom will do wonders for your child and their development into the ideal student of the 21st century.
It’s almost time for a new year! Are you thinking about making a New Year’s Resolution? Here are some tips to keep your resolution from 21CCCS English Teacher Miss MacLuckie!
Steps to Keeping your New Year’s Resolution
With 2014 right around the corner, now would be the perfect time to start thinking about your New Year’s resolution. Whether your goal is to get straight A’s, learn to cook, pass your SAT’s, or lose 10 pounds, there are certain steps that you can take to make that goal more achievable.
1. Write it down
Talking about a resolution is effortless, but they are difficult to maintain and easy to forget. Writing down your resolution, whether it is on a post-it or a giant poster, will be a constant reminder of the goal you had set for yourself at the start of the year.
2. Be specific
There is a big difference between saying, “I want to eat healthier” and “I want to eat 5 servings of vegetables every day.” The second goal is quantifiable and can be easily tracked. When there are clear, measurable parameters, people are more inclined to stay focused and motivated.
3. Find a partner(s)
It is always better to have a partner working towards the same goal, rather than trying to attempt it on your own. This buddy system holds people accountable for their actions. Call each other weekly, send motivational texts, or write letters of encouragement- whatever works best for you!
4. Break goals into smaller steps
Saying something like, “I am going to lose 25 pounds this year”, can seem very overwhelming. Taking gigantic, yearlong goals and breaking them down can make them seem more attainable. Try working out a plan to lose just two pounds a month instead. It won’t seem quite so scary!
5. Don’t let small setbacks lead to failure
The road to reaching your goal will often be littered with small problems and obstacles. Always remember that these are part of a natural process, and that they shouldn’t lead you to losing your motivation. Stay positive and optimistic!
Here is a list of the New Year’s resolutions from the staff:
– Write 3 things for which I’m grateful in a journal everyday
– Run 4 miles, 3 times a week
– Be more patient
– Drink more water
– Make time to read books that I love
– Make a schedule to get up from my desk and exercise
– To get back on track with eating healthier and exercising more
The first week of school will end tomorrow. We are thrilled to announce that we have kicked off the school year with flying colors. The teachers are eagerly meeting their new students, catching up with some of last year’s students, and working to keep up with all the tasks the first week brings! Some of our highlights are listed below:
1.) We are starting the new year with 800 students! That number continues to climb as additional students continue to enroll. The last day of first quarter enrollment is September 16th. Following that date, we will accept students to enroll for the second quarter! We are working hard to help students interested in getting started with us! Call today if you need more information!
2.) Our Welcome Back Picnic will be hosted at Blue Marsh Lake is Leesport, PA. We can’t wait to welcome families back on September 13th from 9-3 p.m. Friends, families, and teachers will come together for fun and games. We’re hoping for some sunshine! For more information, check in with Mr. Chu or Ms. Elder!
3.) The Tech Team successfully shipped over 500 computers to our students! A great team effort allowed us to access many of our students in need! We are still working to ship last minute orders. Keep your eyes open and call us with questions!
4.) Over 80% of our students successfully completed the orientation process in a timely fashion. This means our students are getting easily acclimated to their computers, softwares, hardwares, and other school practices. Everyone did a great job and we are glad to see everyone set a great tone for the school year to come! Remember: if you need anything, keep your questions coming. We are here to help you!
5.) Your hard work is being rewarded! We are closed on Monday, September 2nd ! Enjoy traditional celebrations of Labor Day. Will you be at a BBQ? Will you be visiting friends? Share with us upon your return! Check us out and comment on our Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn pages!
The following is brought to you by 21CCCS junior, Hannah Bisbing. Stay tuned for more blogs to come from Hannah!
It’s that lovely time of the school year again: the middle of May. With just a few weeks of high school classes left, students are spastically attempting to finish their projects, papers, and exams. I’m sure many are also downing way too many cups of coffee and being too busy to sleep, both of which I am also guilty. The overflow of work that consumes many high schoolers at this point can be extremely frustrating, horribly nerve-racking, and supremely stressful. Take it from me: Within the past two weeks, I have taken three AP exams, my AP Psych Final, completed multiple AP English Lit projects (including writing a play and reading four others), worked on an Honors Physics paper, completed four chapters of Pre-Calculus, AND taken all three Keystone tests. Let’s just say I’ve had more than a few bouts of stress-inspired angst. Unsurprisingly, stress is not just a hassle to deal with, but also the gateway to physical/mental exhaustion. Fortunately, there are several ways in which you can relieve school related stress. Here are a few suggestions:
Take a walk:
“Me thinks that the moment my legs begin to move, my thoughts begin to flow.”
– Henry David Thoreau
Hooray for the feel-good power of endorphins! Step away from your books and computers to take a brisk walk outside. Getting away from the cycle of reading, writing, and researching to gaze upon nature and to get some fresh air really clears you head. Personally, I find that I can think clearer and more openly after a walk, so I actually work better in the long run.
Sleep:
“No day is so bad it can’t be fixed with a nap”
– Carrie Snow
Sometimes, the best way to refuel and to work more efficiently is to sleep. Taking a brief nap can recharge your brain, untangle confused thoughts, and enable you to tackle difficult work better than you would in a vexed, sleep-deprived state.
Take a hot bath:
“There must be quite a few things that a hot bath won’t cure, but I don’t know many of them.”
–Sylvia Plath
Step into a really hot bath, lie down, and relax yourself completely. Breathing in the steam warms you up, calms you down, and leaves you feeling unstressed and refreshed.
Read a dramatic piece of literature:
“Life is not a matter of having good cards, but of playing a poor hand well.”
– Robert Louis Stevenson
Reading classic tragedies like Oedipus Rex or Hamlet really gives your stress a sense of perspective. Most likely, the stress you are feeling is nothing compared to the dramatic horrors these characters experience. Unless you have indirectly killed a bunch of people through tormented, feigned madness or have accidentally married your birthmother, you should feel better than these unfortunate wretches.
Alternate between class assignments:
“There cannot be a stressful crisis next week. My schedule is already full.”
– Henry Kissinger
If you find yourself reading the same two sentences over and over again without retaining any of the words, experience extreme writer’s block, or get irritated over the tediousness of a particular task, exchange your current study with a different piece of homework. Work on a paper for a while, then do some math, and then read some history or science, etc. so you do not get stuck in an unproductive rut for one class. I find this tactic really helpful. Sometimes, I actually become really irritated with an assignment and want to stop doing work altogether, but switching between course subjects can really relieve this frustration and increase workflow. Of course, if you enjoy working one subject until exhaustion, do not shy away from your routine. Just make sure to work on more than one subject over the course of a few days!
Think about the moment when school will be over:
“Adopting the right attitude can convert a negative stress into a positive one.”
– Hans Selye
Even though school can seem dreadfully endless at this point of the year, studies of proton radiation, advanced trigonometry, comparative tone research papers, and finals will come to a conclusion! Imagine the freedom and possibility you will have as well as the amount of SLEEP you will get after the last day of school! Focus on this utterly joyous time and use its vision to fuel you motivation until June 6th.
Talk to someone:
“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look once in awhile, you could miss it.”
-Ferris Bueller
If stress is beginning to make you panicky, sick, or feel out of control, one of the best things you can do is talk to someone. Voicing your issues, concerns, or anxieties can make your freak-outs smaller and your to-do lists clearer. Just the act of talking pulls you out of your internal world of worry. Hang out with your friends, talk to your parents, or look to an understanding teacher like your learning coach. I cannot express how many panicked emails and calls Mrs. Vice has endured from me for the past two and a half years. No matter how stressed I was over things, she always managed to calm me down in a simplistic yet vicarious and humorous way and helped me through my struggles.
Just for kicks, I have also provided a list of coping methods you should NOT try:
• Randomly bursting into uncontrollable sobs in public
• Standing up on a library table to recite soliloquys about life’s woes and inadequacies
• Threatening to go back in time to kill Isaac Newton before he invented what we study today
• Convincing great writers from past centuries to create their brilliant pieces, but in a clearer and more concise manner
• Reading the Twilight saga. Pick some good pieces of writing, for literature’s sake!
