Back to School

It’s hard to believe that the new school year is just around the corner. As we look forward to another successful year, I would like to reflect on where we’ve been and some of the challenges that lay ahead for the district.

This past year, Guernsey-Sunrise schools began the process of becoming a strengths-based organization. The focus on strengths started in the fall, with the teachers taking a survey that provided them with their top 5 signature themes. These themes provide individuals with potential strengths – areas where a person can excel. The idea is to focus on strengths and manage non-strengths, which has been shown to lead to more productivity and better engagement at work.

Students in grades 5-12 have taken or will take a similar survey, which will enable Guernsey-Sunrise staff to better differentiate instruction. By varying the type of teaching, a variety of learning styles – seeing, hearing, hands-on - are addressed and ALL students learn better. Knowing strengths and interests helps students and staff establish better relationships, a key to school improvement.

Another way I believe strengths will help our district is in helping students achieve 21st century skills. As the world of technology creates a different world from the world I remember growing up in, our students will have to be prepared to adapt to an ever-changing business and career environment. Some of the skills necessary include working together, critical thinking, self-direct, technology literacy, the ability to gather, assess, and interpret information, and cultural competency.

Those that read Mr. Griffith’s article in the August 14 issue of the Guernsey-Gazette will see that he focuses on effort. By focusing on our strengths, those things that we individually do well, I believe we can amass the effort to provide a bright future of education at Guernsey-Sunrise schools. Everyone giving their best effort – students, staff, parents, and community – gives the district an advantage that few districts will find. As we seek input on a strategic plan that will carry us into the future, no matter what that future may bring, I look forward to seeing the excellent results that working together can bring. We want not only our students, but the district itself, to be prepared, in order to provide success for all.
(this article also runs in the August 14 edition of the Guernsey-Gazette)