2009 - EPIC GOLD GAIN SPOTLIGHT TEACHERS-On Saturday, May 2, 2009, the Higgs, Carter, King community of educators, partners and parents joined together with local educators from around town and other states including New York and Mississippi, to recognize the 26 HCK educators who earned recognition for being a significant part of raising reading and math scores for students in middle school grades. Mr. Mike Capobianco, National EPIC Director, flew from New York to hand the teachers their hard earned incentives. This special evening was made possible through the Birdies for Charities fundraiser. Held at the prestigious Plaza Club, a grand time was held by all in attendance including parents, students, local educators and out of town guests.
Mr. Roberto Alfaro for 8th grade reading gains (highest among the nation's 37 EPIC middle schools) and
Ms. Sara Milhoan for math (highest among the nation's 37 EPIC schools). Congratulations to these two awesome educators. May they continue to inspire their students to greatness in all academic areas!
Each day our teachers train, prepare, plan and organize for 90 minutes to add rigor to every lesson so that all students can reach their full potential! This is the first year we have been able to schedule time for daily collaborative planning time for all of our kinder through 12th grade teachers. Listen to what they have to say after three weeks of school. "The past three (3) weeks have gone well!" "I am doing well! It's very hard work and time consuming work! My students are interested in learning!" "Each day gets a bit easier - the routine seems to be falling in to place. The children are eager to learn and there is a lot of work to do, but I feel pretty good about it!" "Parents have been very supportive!" "Parents are great!" "Kids are turning in homework!" "Kids know procedures!" "Binders are working great!" "I have learned so much over the last three (3) weeks...so much!" "Teaching my lessons has improved greatly!" "I like my progress in classroom management!" "It's a pursuit of happiness!" "I feel we have had a great start to the year... The challenge is getting the students back into the school mode." "I anticipate great things from my students this year!" "My parents are awesome this year very supportive! My students are open for learning and full of energy! They keep me on my toes! My time so far is wonderfully over-whelming and full of fun!" "We're working, working, and working!" We are expecting great learning to take place everyday in every classroom so that our students can perform their best and be ready for the SAT tests and for college! Hip, hip, hooray!
An UNFORGETTABLE TEACHER strives to... #1) Be Present in the Moment; #2) Listen attentively and completely; #3) Share Yourself; #4) Focus on student strengths and talents; #5) Admits mistakes and makes amends; #6) Hold high expectations for students and yourself; #7) Show interest in and for students and last but not least #8) Imagines with students what the future holds for them.
Another opportunty exists for prospective Pre-Kinder applicants to apply at HCK for our expansion program. A mandatory informational session will be held on Tuesday, September 29, 2009, at 6:30pm at 511 Fredericksburg Road. We will add several additional pre-kinder classes through the Pre-kinder expansion grant. All applicants must attend the session in order to be considered for a position. Please fax resume to 210-733-6434.
PARENTS ROCK! Twelve parents now make up the inaugural Parents Advancement Process (PAP) initiative training program at Higgs, Carter, King Gifted and Talented Charter Academy. The second PAP group will begin in Februray after these first twelve parents receive their Parent Advancement Process certificates and welcome the second group of parents to this awesome learning journey we began last Thursday, September 17, 2009. Starting with Dr. Dennis Kimbrow and moving on to Dr. Ben Carson and his mom, our parents are welcoming the opportunity to advance themselves in their thinking as they continue their quest to guarantee that each student at HCK is ready for college! Yeah! One parent, Mrs. Melinda Rodriguez, is a returning PAP program parent from May when she was awarded for being a HCK parent for twelve years! Mrs. Rodriguez is the only one who can say she has worked at HCK and being a parent of HCK students for all twelve years that HCK has been educating students! Congratulations to Mrs. Rodriguez and the rest of the inaugural class of parents as we work together to more effectively impact the lives of all of our HCK students as we prepare everyone for college! Yeah!
A Great Day at HCK! Yeah! As 100 volunteers from five different cities, countries and churches converged on Higgs, Carter, King to paint, stuff 700 backpacks for
children, clean ten (10) bathrooms, move over fifty pieces of furniture and help serve the 100 other volunteers lunch, we all marveled at how blessed we were to experience such hard working young people who care enough to give of their precious time to help our school! We, indeed, are thankful for the experiences we shared
today in every way! Yeah! Then we experienced the intensive student research presentations from over 50 Intensive Summer Program students as they shared the knowledge they gained during a summer program full of learning from wonderful students and staff and especially our Americorps Volunteers! Wow! What a great day for
HCK! Yeah!
Please review the information below to make sure your child stays healthy during this changing weather season.
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Powerful Learning happens everyday at HCK! Interactive instruction where students and teachers are hands and minds on learning! Authentic instruction where learning is connected to the real world and is applied! Inclusive instruction where all students are encouraged to actively participate in all assignments together in a variety of learning environments! Learner-centered instruction focuses on helping students make learning a life long process! Continuous learning happens as students build upon the knowledge gain each day to be used the next day and on and on! Powerful Learning makes it happen everyday at HCK!
Higgs, Carter, King's Founder, Superintendent and Principal, Mrs. Yarbrough, was selected as one of 100 Texas school principals to attend
Harvard University's Art of Leadership Institute offered by
Harvard's Graduate School of Education's Principal Center. Four hundred (400) principals applied for selection and only 100 principals were selected by
RASIE YOUR HAND TEXAS (RYHT) a group of Texas Leaders who sponsored the 100 principals selected. Mrs. Yarbrough will learn more about leading Higgs, Carter, King Gifted and Talented Charter Academy's 70 staff/teachers, 700 students and 1,000 parents so that all students improve academic performances achieving proficiency in all subject areas.