Tag Archives: Region 13

Madison students using restorative justice to resolve conflicts

April 11, 2016Stand Up for Public EdMadison Metropolitan, Region 13

Madison.com: On a recent Friday morning at Madison’s O’Keeffe Middle School, nine students gathered in a circle to reflect on their experience. Some shared their happiest memories during the three years while others described challenges they faced. They also shared what their goals for high school were and where they see themselves in ten years.

“I enjoyed the fun field trips we had, it brought everyone together and made us closer,” one student said.

“In ten years I see myself at the UW-Madison or University of California in Berkeley,” said another.

The activity is called a restorative circle, an aspect of restorative justice programs. Actual restorative justice programs are closed to reporters, so O’Keeffe set up a mock circle to illustrate how they work. Students’ names were withheld to protect privacy.

Restorative justice is a popular practice nationally, if not globally, to resolve conflicts and repair harm caused by criminal behavior or wrongdoing. The practice has been implemented in jails, prisons and schools, including the Madison Metropolitan School District.

Westosha Central Students Run High School Coffee Shop for Credit

March 21, 2016Stand Up for Public EdRegion 13, Westosha

CBS58.com: Students run the show at Central Perk, a coffee shop at Central High School in Paddock Lake. Students who work at the coffee shop, get credit in Culinary classes.

The coffee shop has been up and running for four years, but Central Perk has seen some major changes recently. They raised enough money last year to purchase an espresso machine for the 2015-16 school year. Now, student baristas can brew lattes and specialty iced coffee. Next year, they hope to offer blended ice drinks.

“One in three people end up working in the food service industry in their life, so it’s a good thing for them to get introduced to just to see what it would be like to work behind the scenes,” said Jamie Lutz, the Family and Consumer Sciences teacher.

Kenosha’s Lincoln Middle School Headed to National Contest

March 3, 2016Stand Up for Public EdKenosha Unified, Region 13

CBS58.com: Lincoln Middle School of Kenosha has been named a national finalist in the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Contest, earning the school $40,000 in technology from Samsung.

The Lincoln Middle School Project ICE team is one of 15 national finalists competing for one of five top spots and an addition $120,000 in technology for their school. The team and their teachers will present their video and concept to a panel of judges, who will evaluate the student’s project on video content, student engagement, the ability to answer questions about the project, and the impact the project has on the community.

Forget cubicles: Pardeeville ag students see futures ‘outside’

February 23, 2016Stand Up for Public EdPardeevile, Region 13

Portage Daily Register: Students who cut small holes into cardboard receptacles in Amanda Seichter’s second-period horticulture class Wednesday shared their understanding of how plants respond to light, finding answers that weren’t gleaned from a textbook.

“I knew they’d grow to the light, but I didn’t know different colors would influence them, like red and blue,” said Pardeeville High School sophomore Kayla Guenther.

“With even one thing wrong,” observed senior Drew Alfaro, “they can’t grow.”

Seichter’s class recently started a unit on plant growth, conducting experiments that are part of a more hands-on approach to agriculture and science than in past years at Pardeeville. Her students, in two weeks, will bring items from home to conduct personalized experiments on plants, in which they’ll use mediums of their choosing: using different soils, fertilizers, stones — or perhaps orange juice, milk or soda.

“They need to see something, do something, feel something, in order to understand it better,” explained Seichter, in her first year at Pardeeville and ninth as an agriculture teacher.

Racine student receives $5,000 grant for Robotics Club

January 11, 2016Stand Up for Public EdRacine Unified, Region 13

The Journal Times: An eighth-grade student from Walden III Middle School has won a $5,000 grant for his robotics club, the Racine Unified School District announced this week.

“I try to fix little problems and then just see if I change this a little, how does it change the whole thing. It’s really cool to look and say, I created this, I did this myself,” Nolan Tremelling, who won the $5,000 SC Johnson grant, said in an article posted on Racine Unified’s website.

Last year he went to a state competition and placed 15th, which is about half way. This year he is trying to win first place, but to do that he knew he needed updated equipment.

Beloit Memorial High School program builds real-world skills

January 8, 2016Stand Up for Public EdBeloit, Region 13

Beloit Daily News: “You can’t always be 100 percent sure about something until you get your hands dirty.”

That’s one of many lessons Beloit Memorial High School senior and secretary of the SkillsUSA Club Savannah Terwilliger has learned while fixing cars as part of the automotive program.

The senior is in her third automotive class. She not only changes oil, but can put on new brakes and tires as well as tinker on engines. She first learned about cars from her muse — her father Mark Terwilliger.

As she moves toward her dream of becoming an engineer one day, she plans to use her auto mechanic skills to fix her own vehicles and save money. Savannah’s already won a dinner date from her grandmother after performing a successful oil change.

To help further her skills even more she’s joined in SkillsUSA, a club designed to promote workforce and real world skills. There are district, regional and state competitions for everything from automotive and construction tasks to doing advertising, architectural and cabinetry work.

In the School District of Beloit the main emphasis has been on mechanics, construction, machining and welding with 20 kids in the club.

Union Grove High plans career academies

January 4, 2016Stand Up for Public EdRegion 13, Union Grove

Journal Times: Starting next year, students at Union Grove High School, 3433 S. Colony Ave., are expected to be able to take medical courses, train as nursing assistants and earn college credits through the school’s new “health care academy.”

The academy is one of three academies that school faculty and district administrators have been developing to better prepare students for life after high school, but also to supply the community with the skilled workers that local businesses need.

“(A) payoff for the students is that they’re getting great training and real-world experience before they leave high school, but also the other big benefit isn’t necessarily for students but for meeting the needs of what our area and our surrounding community also needs from us, as an educational system,” explained Stacey Duchrow, the district’s STEM and assessment coordinator as well as high school chemistry teacher.

Project forms unexpected bonds between students, nursing home residents

January 4, 2016Stand Up for Public EdRegion 13, Verona

Wisconsin State Journal: A special project to show the power of human connections through the arts brought together St. Mary’s Care Center residents and students ages 18 to 21 in Verona High School’s functional vocational program.

The idea was to have the two groups, often marginalized in society, work together on a one-act play that looks at loneliness and connections.

At the same time, the project would provide an outlet for creativity and help form relationships between the participants from the skilled-care nursing facility and the high school program that teaches job and life skills to graduates with developmental disabilities.

Called “Travels with the Creative Link,” the group performed at the Madison Central Library and Alicia Ashman, Meadowridge, Pinney and Sequoya branches. The final performance was Dec. 16 at St. Mary’s Care Center.

Sun Prairie’s Reality Rocks teaches skills

December 23, 2015Stand Up for Public EdRegion 13, Sun Prairie

The Star: Sun Prairie High School junior Jon Pineda is deciding where to live. He pulls out his phone’s calculator, weighs his options and ultimately decides to rent a house.

“It’s probably going to be easier and more convenient for my life,” he said.

Pineda isn’t making real-life housing decisions yet, but as part of the high school’s seventh annual Reality Rocks, he’s making the choices hypothetically.

On Dec. 16, other students in Business Education classes and Pineda made financial decisions as part of certain scenarios, many assigned based on their own goals.

‘Tech ninjas’ use coding for education, troubleshooting

December 23, 2015Stand Up for Public EdBeloit, Region 13

Beloit Daily News: Fruzen Intermediate School’s “Tech Ninjas” were sharing their bodacious skills with Dee Dee Arp’s sixth grade class on Monday. Wizzes in everything technology-related, the ninjas have hosted an Hour of Code Friday and Monday in 10 different classrooms.

“It’s a fun activity after school. We learn a lot,” said Reid Stadelman, a sixth grader who said he hopes to be the first man on Mars.

In Dee Dee Arp’s sixth grade classroom on Monday, the Ninjas were helping fellow students to maneuver a robot on their iPads using code. Seventh grade teacher and technology coach Karli Kurth explained that Hour of Code is a global movement reaching tens of millions of students around the world. It gets students to try code building in order to bolster interest in science, technology, engineering and math careers.

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