Principal's Message
Welcome to Highlands!
Education is a journey. As educators and parents it is our job to learn about educational programs and determine the programs that will benefit our children. Creating a learning environment requires the proper blend of essential programs that will produce the desired result. Our blend of people and ideas makes Highlands Elementary a unique learning community.
The four core programs at Highlands each address an important area of the development of children. They can be seen in the diagram below:
PROGRAMS
Creating a learning environment is an exciting and rewarding process. The programs in the learning environment at Highlands must meet the needs of our children, fit with the Highlands philosophy and compliment the other core programs. We are indebted to a number of educational thinkers for their contributions to the educational program at Highlands.
Cooperative Learning is the base of the Highlands learning environment. We use the model of cooperative learning developed by David and Roger Johnson. We also use the Peacemakers program developed by David and Roger Johnson. Learning to work together and learning to solve our differences is critical to the success of our learning community.
The model of Integrated Thematic Instruction developed by Susan Kovalik is valuable to us because it outlines brain compatible elements of an effective learning environment and helps to us organize our curriculum thematically and conceptually.
Diane Gossen’s work on Restitution Self Discipline helps our students develop self discipline and become internally motivated to act on their beliefs. Highlands is a living and growing community. Our journey continues and we continue to explore new ideas that may fit with our learning environment. We welcome you to join us on the journey.
Sincerely,
Peter Hodne
Principal
952-848-4599
pethodne@edina.k12.mn.us
Suggested readings for your journey:
The Nuts and Bolts of Cooperative Learning by David W. Johnson and Roger T. Johnson
Teaching Students To Be Peacemakers by David W. Johnson and Roger T. Johnson
Exceeding Expectations: A User’s Guide to Implementing Brain Research in the Classroom by Susan Kovalik and Karen D. Olsen
Restitution: Restructuring School Discipline by Diane Gossen
It’s All About We: Rethinking Discipline Using Restitution by Diane Gossen
Links to sites
www.co-operation.org (David and Roger Johnson)
www.kovalik.com (Susan Kovalik)
www.realrestitution.com (Dianne Gossen)