The Beginnings

The General: September 2014 Issue

STRENGTHENING COMMUNICATION
I am excited to announce our first monthly house newsletters from Thomas Nelson High School in addition to a living calendar for students and parents. These additional structures were encouraged after working with the Citizen Advisory in August. During that meeting we wanted to increase transparency about the work that is going on in our classrooms to support our Generals for College, Career, and Citizenship preparation. Click on the links above for your son or daughter's grade level to learn more about what's going on in their house. Also, click on "Living General Calendar" for ongoing updates about what is happening at Thomas Nelson for both students and parents. 

Here is the key: 

MOOSE MEMO = 12th Grade 
LINCOLN LEDGER = 11th Grade
HAMILTON RECORD = 10th Grade
LAFAYETTE LETTER = 9th Grade
LIVING GENERAL CALENDAR = All grades

STUDENT ORGANIZATION RUSH

Student organization rush week kicks off Monday, September 15th with over 30 student organization for students to join. The commons area will fill up with student organizations in the morning from 7:45 to 8:15 for students to explore.  

INDICATORS OF CITIZENSHIP

The Citizen Advisory Team along with the General Assembly have been working in collaboration with myself and a group of teachers over the past four weeks to begin drafting indicators of citizenship for our Generals to aspire towards. This notion of Citizenship Readiness is working to build stronger alignment to our mission of serving as active and informed local, national, and global citizens. In 2013-2014 we had established a clear vision for college and career readiness while the vision for citizenship readiness lacked development. Click here to see the current draft with questions that the teams are exploring. The hope is to have a full draft to share in October. 

9.23.14 Meeting 5:00 - 6:30

1. Welcoming New Advisors and Celebrating Success (5 min.)
2. Quick tour of upper level to explore Citizenship Narrative (10 min.)
3. Click Here to See and add to resource brainstorm
4. Click here to see our current Visioning for  Citizenship Readiness at Thomas Nelson
Referencing Eminence Example
5. Shared Readings - Civic Mission (Disclaimer - views are those of the writer)
6. Next Meeting Time - 4th Tuesday of October. October 28th.  

August 19th - 5:00 to 6:30 PM

1. Where have we been? (5 min.)
2. Quick tour of upper level to explore Themes (10 min.)
3. Visioning for College, Career, Citizenship Readiness. 
Eminence Example  
Icarus Team - Reference
Brainstorm Citizenship Readiness
4. Shared readings - Who is in?
5. New Members and Next Meeting Time

B2SB 2014: July Issue of The General

May 2014 Issue: Lift-Off Week

MORNING MESSAGE TO SENIORS

For this month's issue of The General I found it appropriate to simply share the message that was sent to all of our seniors during their last LEADER Prep class this morning. We are proud of our first ever graduating class and look forward to a historic week. 

LIFT-OFF WEEK PLANNING GUIDE

 

April 2014 Issue: The General

ORGANIZING AND EMPOWERING FUTURE STORIES 
One of the most important phrases that has emerged over the past two years at Thomas Nelson is "FUTURE STORY." This notion of FUTURE STORY is the driving force behind our mission. To this end, we meet with our students quarterly to have one-on-one conversations about goals, current achievement, and their future story pathway. Most recently, we have started to embrace the power of technology to organize and access future story portfolio items through individual student blogs. 

We see this new use of technology benefiting our Generals in a number of ways. Most notably, by organizing information and empowering students to act. The answer to how is yes. With tools like this we should be moving closer towards YES. 

SEE EXAMPLE STUDENT BLOG HERE 

Here's further reading on the relevance of digital portfolios. George Couros on Digital Portfolios

WE NEED YOUR HELP LAYING THE FOUNDATION
An important symbolic tradition will begin for our class of 2014 as they will literally and figuratively be laying the foundation for future generations of Generals that follow. To honor every graduate at Thomas Nelson annually, we will have their name etched in a brick and placed at the front of the building creating additional sidewalk with brick pavers (See right side and below)

HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT?
To financially support the project we are seeking community partners (individuals or businesses) that would like to partner with TNHS and have their name etched in history along with our future graduates. 

The brick will say "Thank you to ________ for helping to lay the foundation."  

If interested in donating please email me at wes.bradley@nelson.kyschools.us or calling TNHS at 502-349-4650. 

Our goal is to partner with up to ten community businesses and/or individuals to donate and have their names etched in history. 

GRADUATION TICKETS - DISTRIBUTED MAY 16th! 
All Seniors will receive 8 tickets.