this entry walks the fine line between "technology" and not "technology" related. my reasoning is that this is about a process, which can be defined as technology and can also be patented. it is something i have never seen before in schools, and i think it would serve my fellow MACers well to know.
we have all heard of the term "alignment." a nineth grade english teacher works with tenth grade, eleventh grade, and twelfth grade english teachers to make sure their english curriculums don't overlap and have a steady flow. this makes a lot of sense. a student would probably not want to read romeo and juliet three times in three different years in high school. but this system produces separate modules of knowledge that are discrete and often lower in relevance because they stand alone and aren't inter-connected.
at the international academy, teachers between subjects work together and collaborate. in this way, a student who learns how to analyze literature in an english class revisits that skill set in a math class and then in a physics class and then a biology class. problem solving skills learned in math are used in history, chemistry, and french. in the end, it is less about teaching students specific content as it is about teaching them skills and knowledge about how to think and use their thinking. they learn that truth as defined by math through proofs and logic cannot be the same kind of truth for physics which is done through observation and experimentation. it produces students who are intellectually well rounded and adept at learning.
after the leaving the school, i only had one thought on my mind. "sure this works with a school of 600 kids where the teacher to student ratio is AMAZING and where all the kids are extremely intelligent (some more so than even the teachers) and where parents and students alike are all highly motivated about the child's education. now how might this work in belleville or a place where these factors don't exist?"
if i could tell you all the answer to that question, then i'd quit the program and start my own school of education because i would have solved one of the greatest mysteries of our field. how do we re-tailor this hyper-effective system that is only fit for a small niche of the population? things that work there cannot work elsewhere because of the unique atmosphere and culture they have established. someone in our class once said "schools don't make communities, communities make schools." i use to fully agree, but i do think the IA has produced its own sort of community outside of the communities boundaries as kids come from all over lower michigan. how do we create a community and environment where students want to learn, feel comfortable with challenge because everyone else is in the same boat with them, and where they hold high expectations for themselves and their learning.
i cannot believe that such a way does not exist for even low motivated students.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Friday, October 19, 2007
at the international academy
the international academy is perhaps the ideal school that any student teacher can only dream of teaching at. in most of our placements, we teach classes that are upwards to forty students in size. the largest class i observed was thirty students, although they make about as much noise as a class of five (if one existed) at belleville.
it is interesting to note that they do not consider themselves very technologically advanced as a school. all of the students have access to just a single computer lab that contains roughly forty computers. in my opinion, this is more than enough for a school of six hundred students who happen to also all have access to computer and broadband internet at home.
each classroom i visited contained a ceiling-mounted digital projector. most of rooms also contained a tablet monitor for teachers to write directly onto the touch screen and notes would be displayed through the projector.
in the only room i saw without a tablet monitor, the teacher found a creative way to use the dry-erase board in combination with the projector with great effects. the notes and sample questions were displayed via projector and the teacher would write straight on the board between the lines of displayed text.
perhaps the most interesting point from today is to learn that the international academy uses internet software like zangle and blackboard. i made note of this because belleville uses the exact same resources, but with vastly different results. parents at the IA can check their student's grades at any time, and online grades are rigorously maintained. if they chose to, they could even receive a daily update to their child's progress. with blackboard, the students are able to access course materials online. it's kind of like a much more user friendly version of c-tools for high school. the students seem to do well with it.
at belleville, parents constantly call about student grades because they check one day and their students have six missing assignments that cause their grades to be well below the failing mark. irate and concerned, they call three days later. my mentor teacher then must patiently explain to them in many cases that their students have turned in the respective assignments since they last checked and that grades are in fact updated online. blackboard is also available at belleville, but to a much lesser effectiveness. this is probably due to a combination of factors that involve availability of internet access from home, internet literacy, and motivation. one senior in my honors english twelve class came up to me last week complaining that the resources for their anglo-saxon unit didn't have any information in it. "there's just a whole bunch of links." i asked her if she had clicked those links. she had not. this basic internet using skill that i have taken so much for granted may not be so common in all of my students.
as a concluding remark for today's observations; technology is good, but it is rather difficult to exceed community and social standards. highly motivated students will make due with the same kind of technology. this is not the cornucopia of wealth and technology like i had thought it was. it was not like the el durado of all things good and great. it is just another school that makes due with what it has. it's a converted kindergarten building and the classrooms are of a fitting size for only really little people. it makes me reconsider the definition of "resources" and how people and community resources all combine and meld together in this abstract and turbulent space we have come to call "school."
it is interesting to note that they do not consider themselves very technologically advanced as a school. all of the students have access to just a single computer lab that contains roughly forty computers. in my opinion, this is more than enough for a school of six hundred students who happen to also all have access to computer and broadband internet at home.
each classroom i visited contained a ceiling-mounted digital projector. most of rooms also contained a tablet monitor for teachers to write directly onto the touch screen and notes would be displayed through the projector.
in the only room i saw without a tablet monitor, the teacher found a creative way to use the dry-erase board in combination with the projector with great effects. the notes and sample questions were displayed via projector and the teacher would write straight on the board between the lines of displayed text.
perhaps the most interesting point from today is to learn that the international academy uses internet software like zangle and blackboard. i made note of this because belleville uses the exact same resources, but with vastly different results. parents at the IA can check their student's grades at any time, and online grades are rigorously maintained. if they chose to, they could even receive a daily update to their child's progress. with blackboard, the students are able to access course materials online. it's kind of like a much more user friendly version of c-tools for high school. the students seem to do well with it.
at belleville, parents constantly call about student grades because they check one day and their students have six missing assignments that cause their grades to be well below the failing mark. irate and concerned, they call three days later. my mentor teacher then must patiently explain to them in many cases that their students have turned in the respective assignments since they last checked and that grades are in fact updated online. blackboard is also available at belleville, but to a much lesser effectiveness. this is probably due to a combination of factors that involve availability of internet access from home, internet literacy, and motivation. one senior in my honors english twelve class came up to me last week complaining that the resources for their anglo-saxon unit didn't have any information in it. "there's just a whole bunch of links." i asked her if she had clicked those links. she had not. this basic internet using skill that i have taken so much for granted may not be so common in all of my students.
as a concluding remark for today's observations; technology is good, but it is rather difficult to exceed community and social standards. highly motivated students will make due with the same kind of technology. this is not the cornucopia of wealth and technology like i had thought it was. it was not like the el durado of all things good and great. it is just another school that makes due with what it has. it's a converted kindergarten building and the classrooms are of a fitting size for only really little people. it makes me reconsider the definition of "resources" and how people and community resources all combine and meld together in this abstract and turbulent space we have come to call "school."
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