December 2004

Dear Parents and Guardians,

At this time of year I usually report on Highlands� student achievement as reported in the annual Illinois School Report Card and how that data compares to years past.  This year the State of Illinois is delayed in reporting this information to the schools and you the public.  I will share what we learn from the findings with you in our next edition. We will post the Highlands Report Card on our school website (www.ncusd203.org/highlands) as soon as we get the information. 

Speaking of our website, it has new look after being updated by our webmaster, Lori Tucker, Computer Support Associate at Highlands School.  All grade levels post monthly newsletters which we hope are valuable for you or a resource for your extended families to learn what is happening within our grade levels and school community.  It is our goal to post minutes from our Home and School meetings as well as other notices of school activities for your quick reference.  If you have any suggestions for our website, you can share them with us in the school office. 

During December, three teacher groups will participate in a collaborative lesson design process known as Japanese Lesson Study. Each group created one lesson together, anticipating student questions and planning teacher responses.  The concept of this lesson design is for one or two teachers to teach the research lesson in one classroom, while other team teachers observe student learning.  After this lesson is taught, the team of teachers will reflect on the stages of the lesson, revise the lesson to improve its effectiveness and then reteach the lesson to another group of students within a week.  The key to this process is the collaboration with peers and discussion of what makes a lesson stronger, then applying this knowledge to lesson designed in the future.

Highlands is the only school in District 203 that has taken the challenge to work through this lesson design process.  This is our second year of working with research lessons.  This process of reflecting on what we do only helps us to improve our skills and better the results we receive from our students.  I am very proud of our teaching staff!

Have a safe and restful holiday season!

Susan Stuckey