Dr. Ziegler Goes to China

William Ziegler

Blogger's Note: The following was provided by Pottsgrove School District

The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) is bridging the globe to conduct a July series of Great Leaders Summits in China and Pottsgrove High School Principal William Ziegler is among those leaders.

The summits are a program of the NASSP Chinese Affairs Center (CAC) launched earlier this year.

The standards-based summits will introduce the CAC as a provider of elite professional development for school leaders in China. A team of American principals will present professional development programs to over 2000 Chinese school leaders July 12-26 in five cities: Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Xi’an, and Beijing. 

In each city NASSP President Michael Allison will be a featured guest of the Chinese provincial and city government. He will address each local delegation and will discuss NASSP’s role in promoting principal development, school improvement, and student voice.

The team will also visit Chinese schools in each city to form “sister school” relationships and lead other American schools in forming similar partnerships. The program is sponsored by the Ivy Elite Education Association (IEEA), China’s premiere provider of professional development for principals.

“Our call to maximize the potential of all students to address future challenges requires a global education,” said NASSP Executive Director JoAnn Bartoletti. “That global education begins with the leaders, who must reach outside of their own schools and to the other side of the globe to create opportunities for students to expand their worldview. NASSP is delighted to work with IEEA to provide this opportunity to American and Chinese school leaders.”

The summits will feature Bill Ziegler, principal of Pottsgrove High School , and James Richardson of Buck Lodge Middle School in Prince George’s County, MD — both 2015 NASSP Digital Principals.

They will present "The Role of the Digital Principal and the Impact of Digitization on High School Curriculum." Their schools will be showcased as successful digital high schools, and they will join McCain in a panel discussion on technology’s impact on teaching and learning.

Principal Kevin Bennett, Associate Principal Mary Pat Cumming, and teacher Michael Elston, teacher, from the FAIR School in Minneapolis, MN, will lead a program on Effective and Successful Models of School Leadership and will participate in a panel discussion with Chinese principals and school leaders on topics such as parent/community involvement in schools, collaborative leadership, student and teacher assessment, project based learning, and student leadership.

The summit will also feature Ted McCain, a futurist, and author of Teaching for Tomorrow: Teaching Content and Problem-Solving Skills. His presentation, Education in The Age of Disruptive Innovation will focus on the challenge of education in the digital age. 

The team and its Chinese counterparts will present on their Great Leaders Summit experiences at NASSP Ignite ‘16 in February in Orlando, FL.

About NASSP:
The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) is the leading organization of and voice for middle level and high school principals, assistant principals, and school leaders from across the United States and 35 countries around the world.

The association connects and engages school leaders through advocacy, research, education, and student programs. NASSP advocates on behalf of all school leaders to ensure the success of each student and strengthens school leadership practices through the design and delivery of high-quality professional learning experiences. Reflecting its long-standing commitment to student leadership development, NASSP administers the National Honor Society, National Junior Honor Society, National Elementary Honor Society, and National Association of Student Councils.

They've Got a New President .....Elect

Bill Ziegler

The first time I met Bill Ziegler, he was teaching social studies at Pottstown High School and I was invited into a class he was teaching about American government.

I remember thinking to myself, "boy is this guy a little TOO positive or what?"

But the students seemed to respond to him, so who am I, an old cynic, to say about what works.

Well as many know, he moved on to become the Principal of Pottsgrove Middle School and I received in the mail recently, a notice that he has been named as the "president-elect" of the Pennsylvania Association of Elementary and Secondary School Principals.

The group's membership of about 3,800 is comprised of elementary, middle school and high school principals, assistant principals and other educational leaders.

It is affiliated with two other national organizations.

Dr. Ziegler assumed his new position on the board of directors following the association's annual business meeting on Oct. 23 in Pittsburgh.

"PAESSP has equipped me to become a stronger educational leader within my school," he said in that release I mentioned.

"In our ever-changing global economy, the need for quality education has never been more important," he said.

Dr. Ziegler began his educational career in 1994 as a social studies teacher at the afore-mentioned Pottstown High School.

From 1998 to 2002, he served as assistant principal there and then from 2002 to 2007 as assistant principal at Pottsgrove High School.

He assumed his current position at Pottsgrove Middle School in 2007 and, at least as far as I've seen, his enthusiasm has not diminished.

From 2008 to 2010, he was president of the Montgomery County Principals Association and currently serves on the board of Trinity Church, as well as being media director of Christian Educators Association International.

Additionally, he has served as an adjunct professor in graduate education at Temple University since 2007.

A resident of Boyertown with his wife Kim and two children, ages 14 and 12, Ziegler received his bachelor of science degree from Kutztown University, a master's in educational administration from Gratz College and is doctorate from Temple University.

Congrats Bill.

"Beauty" Is in the Eye of the Beholder

The Pottsgrove Middle School will present “Beauty and the Beast” starting tonight at 7 p.m. and running through Saturday, March 3.

The show, which costs $5 to see, includes  70 – 6^th, 7^th and 8^th graders in cast and crew. 

 The musical is under the direction of Tom Yenchick, producer, Carole Bean, musical director, and Cherie Fithian, choreographer. 

 An eight-piece pit orchestra will be used to accompany the musical.

 For those of you who don't know the story, here is a synopsis provided by Principal William Ziegler, who also kindly provided the photos.:

After a handsome but conceited prince treats a beggar woman poorly, the woman turns out to be a beautiful enchantress and turns the prince into a beast. 

Further, the prince's staff is all transformed into objects to do with their profession. 

The prince is given a magical mirror to view the outside world. To break the spell, he needs to learn to love a person for who they are, and get her to love him before a magical rose loses its petals. 

Meanwhile, in a nearby village, a beautiful young book fan by the name of Belle feels lonely and out of place. She lives with her eccentric but kind father, Maurice. 

Soon, Maurice goes off to compete at an inventors' fair but gets lost in the woods and ends up a prisoner at the Beast's castle. 

Belle eventually finds the castle and makes a deal with the Beast to let her father go in return for her staying there with him. 

As the Beast's inner kindness slowly reveals itself, Belle grows in love with him. 

However, a jilted, self-centered suitor from Belle's village, Gaston, takes a posse to "save" her from the Beast. 

Will the Beast survive and win Belle’s love?

Go to the show and find out!

Pottsgrove Middle School is located  at 1351 N. Hanover St. on top of the hill overlooking the district.