Jamie Steckart

What do mean you don’t know where I live?

Posted by Jamie Steckart ⋅ April 21, 2012 ⋅ 3 Comments

It’s been a while since I last posted to the Coop. Since my last post I engaged in a global job search eventually landing a position in Qatar, working for the Qatar Foundation at the Qatar Leadership Academy. Yesterday I arrived in Qatar after 24 hours of traveling from the small town of Cornucopia, WI. … Continue reading →

Ethics/Principles – what is your compass?

Posted by Jamie Steckart ⋅ July 19, 2011 ⋅ 7 Comments

I was asked by Joe Nathan from the Center for School Change, “What are one or two of the most important ethics or principles that you use as an educator? ” Coop members can I get a sentence on this question to help him craft an article? My response: I am there to serve the … Continue reading →

20 Years in Trenches, What Keeps Me Going

Posted by Jamie Steckart ⋅ July 9, 2011 ⋅ 3 Comments

7000 High School students drop out each day, one dropout every 26 second. Averaged nation wide that is 30% of all students, and in some large urban centers this rate is over 50%.[1] In 1991, I graduated from the University of Wisconsin at Madison with a degree in Political Science. As most graduates with a … Continue reading →

Shiny Lights, Video Surveillance and the False Dichotomy of Teaching

Posted by Jamie Steckart ⋅ July 9, 2011 ⋅ 3 Comments

Let me say this at the front of this post. Not only do I like technology, I love technology and have considered myself an early adopter of its use. I had my first computer,[1] which I paid for with money I saved from delivering papers on my bike every morning at 6 am. Come rain … Continue reading →

Disco Bomb, the Penokee Players, and Creativity

Posted by Jamie Steckart ⋅ April 12, 2011 ⋅ 4 Comments

This is a repost from our Homeschooling Blog located at Homegrown on Siskiwit. For a little background. Bayfield County is located in Northern Wisconsin on the South Shore of Lake Superior. What is really unique about this area is the amount of home schooled children as a proportion of all school aged children. Between 15-25% … Continue reading →

School Redesign vs. School Reform

Posted by Jamie Steckart ⋅ March 21, 2011 ⋅ 9 Comments

Reform: To return to a good state. Redesign: A plan for making changes to the structure and functions of a system so as to better serve the purpose of the original design, or to serve purposes different from those set forth in the original design. I look at the reform movement in education and see … Continue reading →

Budgets have two sides: Revenue and Expense

Posted by Jamie Steckart ⋅ March 17, 2011 ⋅ 2 Comments

This is a repost from our Homeschooling Blog:Homegrown on Siskiwit Background: For the past two years, parents from a homeschool group in Cornucopia, Wisconsin, have been working on getting our local school district to approve a charter school. It is a parent driven initiative and we have all volunteered our time with no desire ever … Continue reading →

Magical Forests, Growth Models, and School Reform

Posted by Jamie Steckart ⋅ March 5, 2011 ⋅ 3 Comments

I sit watching the educational debate unfold in front of my eyes and the current tenor of the debate has focused on prescribing a method that will achieve the end result of high test scores. There are some that believe if we create a uniform set of procedures, scripts and decision-making trees; giving them to … Continue reading →

Rural School Districts, Design Flaws, and the Need for Change:

Posted by Jamie Steckart ⋅ March 4, 2011 ⋅ 3 Comments

As a child of the late 60’s, I grew up watching Little House on the Prairie. The idea of a small one-room classroom where all ages of children learned appealed to me then and now. I happen to live in a small community on the South Shore of Lake Superior. Some of you may have … Continue reading →

Voices of Students!

Posted by Jamie Steckart ⋅ March 4, 2011 ⋅ 7 Comments

How do you teach democracy? If we look at how schools are designed, do they promote or hinder our ability to create active and informed citizens? One of the reasons, I got into education is to help students find their voices. To create a space that welcomes and helps students become critical thinkers. On Monday, … Continue reading →

Lessons Learned from MAAP 2011

Posted by Jamie Steckart ⋅ March 2, 2011 ⋅ 9 Comments

Prior to the Industrial Revolution, people in the America lived on small farms in a self-sustaining fashion. They rose in the morning struggled for existence and made their way through life. But best evidence points that over 90% of the population was highly literate. Compulsory school laws were few and non-existent. The first U.S. law was enacted in 1852 … Continue reading →