Dr. Randy Watson is the Kansas Commissioner of Education (KSDE). From the beginning of his career, Dr. Watson has been reached out by schools, districts, education organizations and others for his educational insights as well as his clear thinking around the issues and challenges facing policymakers, educators and students. Most recently, Dr. Watson served the community of McPherson for 22 years, working as an assistant superintendent from 1993-2005 and as superintendent from 2005-2015. In 2015 he was named Kansas' Commissioner of Education. Dr. Watson has been incredibly involved within the community through social media. Down below, I have located his Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube account that he uses to share new and exciting information.
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On Tuesday February 28th, Dr. Watson came to Kansas State University to speak to us future teachers. The event started off with the wonderful children from the Woodrow Wilson Elementary School Choir that sang a couple songs for us. The Student Union Ballroom was packed, almost all the seats were occupied and people had to stand in the back. Joining Dr. Watson in listening to him were lot of education professors there and students of all grades within the College of Education. As I sat in the audience, I learned that everything he does is important and affects the schools that I could end up teaching at. What really intrigued me was how he mentioned a study done at Kansas State University that consisted of asking the relative question "What does Kansas need to change about the Education System?" There were 27 different focus groups and out of all the groups, they were able to conclude five major things that should be done:
1. Community service needs to play a bigger role throughout school. 2. The schools need to be reorganized around the student and not just the system. 3. Kansas needs quality Pre- Kindergarten and all-day Kindergarten. 4. Changes need to be made to address different types of cultures within the school. 5. There needs to be a collaboration between businesses and schools. Within the presentation, a video was playing and the University of Maryland's School President said that "If we don't train, teach children of different back grounds then we might be scared of them because ultimately this is what we become as a nation." I really enjoyed Dr. Watson speaking at the event because he made me feel motivated about becoming a teacher. I liked how his presentation was informational and provided tools and research so we could have valid proof of what has actually been happening in Kansas. I really enjoyed this. |