EP 26 Impacts on Teachers and Students as North Dakota School Moves to 4-Day Week This Fall

The Alexander Public School District made a bold decision this spring (after much investigation and consideration) to move to a 4-day school week beginning in the fall of 2018.In this episode of The Cutting Ed podcast, we’ll hear about the decision through the lens of a kindergarten teacher.Deb Hankins started her teaching career as a paraprofessional in special education in Oregon. Following a stop in Utah, she and her husband moved to North Dakota where she has taught for five years beginning in Watford City and now in Alexander as a kindergarten teacher.Hankins says the idea for the 4-day school week came from students in an innovations class. They pitched the idea to Superintendent Leslie Bieber in 2017. She liked the idea enough that administrators and students visited other schools with 4-day school weeks. Next, a presentation was given to the School Board which provided consent to take the next step, which included a parent survey and public meetings. The School Board approved the application in February and NDDPI approved the application in early March.The school staff have been trained over the last two years in Project Based Learning. This is so totally my style of learning and wished back in the day when I was in school I had this. I love hands on projects that bring the real world experiences to life in the classroom. Almost everything we do is connected to more then one subject and can be connected to real experiences. I take the fantasy world Kinders come with and try to move them into real experiences.I believe that a child educations is like a triangle. The two points at the base represent the teacher and the parents supporting the top point the student. Some times a student come to us with a missing base point but that doesn't matter. The end goal is the top point the student. I will use all resources I have to build their base so they will be successful. Relationships are the key in education, I a child feel needed, loved and a safe place they can learn anything the world has to offer them.Resources:http://www.ndplaylist.orghttp://www.ndunited.org/thecuttinged@thecuttinged@NDDPI@kirstenbaesler@tdintersmith@bistom@PrairiePublicEd@ndunited