We're Building a Better Pleasantdale Together!

As we welcomed our students back into the hallways and classrooms of Pleasantdale Middle School last week, there was such great energy in the building.  Staff members were smiling, and students (even 8th graders!) were commenting after the first day about how good it was to be back!  Positivity like this only happens in a place where good things are happening on a regular basis.

Even though our Pleasantdale schools are a good place for learning already, we have plans to bring our schools from "good to great", as you may have heard before, and to do this, we are going to implement the ideas in our District 107 Strategic Blueprint.  Last year I wrote a post about our district's future planning process, which brought a committee of staff members, students, parents, and community members together to shape a new district mission and goals.  Our mission "to create a community of inspired learners" is really what is shaping everything we do together in our three goal areas of building learning capacity, building human capital, and building learning environments.

On our opening district institute day, we were fortunate to have Will Richardson speak to our teachers about modern learning and how to create opportunities for deep and meaningful learning to occur in our schools, and he pointed out that "it is an absolutely amazing time to be a learner".  There is an abundance of resources available online and ways to connect with experts around the world, which means if someone has the desire to learn, the opportunity is there.  It is our goal as District 107 educators to create the conditions which will pique our community members' interests, ignite new passions, and allow for critical thinking, communication, and problem-solving.  Seymour Papert; a mathematician, computer scientist, educator, and MIT professor; hit the nail on the head when he said, "We imagine a school in which students and teachers excitedly and joyfully stretch themselves to their limits..."  I would also include families and community members in that statement as well since our goal is to inspire our entire Pleasantdale community of learners.

We are happy to have you all along for the journey as we work to build a better Pleasantdale together!