The Buckaroo Express
October/November 2016
Welcome to the First Issue of the New Buckaroo Express!
Hi, my name is Jamie Curtis. Axel Puebla and I are the editors of the new, online newsletter called "The Buckaroo Express." Our illustrator (see the beautiful art work above) is Tommy Meredith, and our faculty editor/producer is Calvin Best. In this, our first issue for the 2016-2017 school year, we are going to showcase Bucks-of-the-Month, The New Academic Teaming Program, Three, New, Project Based Classes, the Life Skill's Star "Bucks" Coffee shop on wheels, and a Homecoming 2016 Photo Gallery along with the PDF files for the Homecoming edition of The BHS Dynamo Newspaper. We are also going to introduce the new Buckaroo Bistro season with their Italian Feast episode. Buckaroo Bistro is the BHS online cooking show with student chefs Mia Hughins and JW Linden, both freshmen.
October saw the first of this year's Bucks-of-the-Month. Liz Tidwell: Teacher of the Month (nominated by Cheryl Hubble); Fernando Gallegos: Student of the Month (nominated by Jeana Yarborough); Colton Whitaker: Buck of the Month (nominated by Brittany Edgar); Taylor Caraway: Buck of the Month (nominated by Cody Lockhart); Jayden Riley: Student of the Month (nominated by Pat Mitchell) Thank you Coaches Hubble and Chatham for organizing and managing the Bucks of the Month program!
Academic Teaming
Breckenridge high school has implemented a new, large-scale program this year called Academic Teaming. I conducted an interview with Mr. Dieterich, BHS principle, and Mr. Armstrong, BHS Assistant Principle, to learn the basics of this new initiative.
Conversation with Mr. Bryan Dieterich
Express: What is teaming to you?
Mr. Diterich: Teaming is a new process that is allowing us to get to know students better, cause better communication with staff, and create a time for students to become better prepared for life after high school. Hopefully, students will have a better understanding of what lies ahead for them.
Express: What are some of your goals for teaming?
Mr. Dieterich: Fewer dropouts, better attendance, and a program where we better serve kids.
Conversation with Mr. Paul Armstrong
Express: What is teaming?
Mr. Armstrong: Teaming is a coaching approach to learning but for academic skills rather than sports.
Express: How long have schools been using teaming?
Mr. Armstrong: Teaming has been around since the 1990s. The teaming concept has been used mostly with urban school districts in large cities.
Express: What is the purpose of teaming?
Mr. Armstrong: 1. Improves Academic Performance; 2. Prepares students for college; 3. Improves standardized testing scores; 4. Meets individual needs of students; 5. Establishes relationships, which is the most powerful part of teaming; 6. It also allows teachers to know students more completely.
Express: Why do more districts not utilize teaming?
Mr. Armstrong: The benefits outweigh the cons. I feel lots of districts feel like it is too much work, and they feel there is no room for it. Educators sometimes think that they have to give up autonomy for teaming to happen, but that's not really the case.
We also conducted an interview with Mr. Best, asking him about his thoughts on the new teaming program.
Express: What is your take on academic teaming?
Mr. Best: Academic teaming has been around for many years, especially at the middle school level in big cities. I taught on an academic team in San Antonio, for example, in the mid-1990's. I had never worked that closely with other teachers, and I really liked it. We created a very tight team that served students well. We held large numbers of parent conferences over the course of a school year, ran our own ZAP or Zeros Aren't Permitted Program, addressed classroom issues, and otherwise took care of business. To answer your question more precisely, academic teaming is when a group of teachers share a specific set of students. In a large middle school, for instance, of about 1400 kids, a group of five or six teachers would share the exact same 130-160 kids. It allows a much closer relationships between teachers and students in such a huge school, but it also works well here at BHS where our numbers are, thankfully, much smaller.
Express: Do you think academic teaming will be good at our high school?
Mr. Best: I've already seen it working here because it has helped us communicate with students and their parents much more effectively. Just look at the huge numbers of parents who attended parent conferences last week when we had a special day for that. In previous years, we hardly met with anyone. Last week it was non-stop for hours. Also, at the high school, and this can happen at any high school, it is too easy to operate in isolation. That's the college lecture model whereby one college professor is completely unaware of what another professor is doing and has little if any interest to know otherwise. That works alright for post-high school students, I suppose, but it does not serve teenagers well. Teaming allows teachers and coaches to know what is going on with students across the entire curriculum, including extra-curricular classes, which is a very good thing. We teachers and coaches need to be in collaboration all of the time on behalf of our students and with their parents because that's what is in the best interest of our students and our community. It's more work, but it's a much better kind of work!
Three, New, Project-Based Classes
In speaking with Mrs. McClure, the new cosmetology teacher, she made the following remarks:
“I have been teaching cosmetology for forty years. For the 2016-2017 school year, our first cosmetology class is called “Intro to Cosmetology." This is not an official cosmetology program, but juniors and seniors are allowed to take the official cosmetology program in the 2017-2018 school year. In order for the students to get their cosmetology license before they graduate, they are required to have 1500 hours of instruction. Next fall, we are hoping to have a full-service hair salon in the high school. In high school, this program only costs $500-$600 dollars. Not doing it in high school could cost up to $20K.”
We also conducted an interview with Mrs. Smith about the new fashion design class.
Express: Please tell us about this course.
Mrs. Smith: Fashion design is a career and technology class exploring the careers of fashion with a hands on approach.
Express: What are some goals for this year’s Fashion Design class?
Mrs. Smith: We want to learn how to read different patterns, use machines, create garments from scratch, and give back to the community.
Express: What are some projects the students will be doing this year?
Mrs. Smith: We will be making receiving blankets and burp pads for people in need. Also, we will be taking old clothing and recycling them into more stylish garments. Another thing we will be doing is creating clothing from scratch.
Another new class this year is Rocket Science, co-taught by Mr. Best and Mr. Blackshear.
Express: Tell us about this course.
Mr. Best: I have taught rocket science for several years in the past and have found that kids really like it because they get to build different rockets and use applied mathematics to figure out how their rockets performed. Mr. Blackshear, who has a degree in applied mathematics, and I asked Mr. D. last spring if we could add this class to the BHS curriculum, writing a proposal to that end. Mr. D. was able to make things happen and also set in motion other new classes.
Express: What are some goals for this year’s rocket science class?
Mr. Best/Blackshear: To use math and science to understand rocketry. Specifically, we want kids to determine the center of pressure, velocity, acceleration, ascent/descent times and impact rates, thrust-to-weight ratios, thrust-time motor performance, and so on. We are also going to study the Space Race between the former Soviet Union and the USA during the 1960’s. We will also cover other aerodynamic topics, including an overview of space science. We are really pumped about this course and have already had our first successful rocket launch.
Star "Bucks" on Wheels from Life Skills
BHS life skills has initiated a new occupational skills project called "Star Bucks." We asked Mrs. Lindsey and Mrs. Tidwell a few questions about the new project.
Express: What is the purpose of new "Star Bucks" program?
Mrs. Tidwell: The purpose is for students to have an opportunity to have a hands-on opportunity to work on skills for math, ELA and so on.
Express: Who came up with the idea for this project?
Mrs. Tidwell: Both Mrs. Lindsey and I did a little research and found that many life skills kids across the United States have utilized this kind of project.
Express: How is the project going so far?
Mrs. Tidwell: It is going great! The first kickoff ran really smoothly, and I couldn't be more proud of the kids. I am so thankful for the support from the staff, the community, and the parents of our students!