Living and Learning in Central Oregon

A tradition in my school district is the annual college day in which all staff members are to wear the colors from their favorite college.  Ducks and Beavers were well represented at my school but there were SDSU Aztecs, UCSB Gauchos and other non-Oregon schools showing their colors too.  It was a great way to show off our colleges and to put the goal of attending college into everyone’s mind.

Last Friday we had a discussion among our district leadership around the concept what being a world class school district really means. It was one of those times where we could share our thoughts in a very honest, non-threatening way. We did not come up with an answer but generated many ideas that will be revisited over the course of the year. So what does world class mean? Here is one idea that a small district in TN:

• At Home with HomeLink: Free Internet Access Connects Families and Schools | Edutopia

  how one small town is trying to make their schools world class

  tags: BLPwordclass

  • The Greeneville City Schools system has a logo that features a compass, a globe, and two phrases that aren’t often uttered in the same breath: “small town” and “world class.” In this context, at least, the words aren’t a paradox. They’re an expression of a community’s commitment to educational excellence.

    The 15,500 residents of Greenville, nestled in the foothills of Tennessee’s Unaka Mountains, support their 2,726 K-12 students with uncommon fervor and focus. Parents, philanthropists, taxpayers, and teachers all pitch in to ensure excellent programs, top-notch instruction, and a state-of-the-art learning environment, despite the school district’s small-town budget.

  • “We honestly believe that if we’re not preparing our students to effectively use technology, it’s the same as if we’d never taught them to add, because the world of technology for them is like a hammer for a carpenter — it’s just ubiquitous,” says Larry Jones, the lead technician and network administrator for Greeneville schools.

Do cell phones have a place in schools?  Can they help build 21^st Century learning skills? I can remember a few years ago worrying about cell phones in the school. How as a principal could I control their use? I quickly realized I could not completely control their use.  Because guess what, almost every kid has one and if they do not have one now they will have one very soon.  So what do we do as teachers?  Do we waste our time trying to police them or do we figure out ways to use them in useful ways to promote teaching and learning? Now I am not advocating kids being on their phones during class time but this is a technology I don’t think we are not currently utilizing to support instruction. Can it be used?  I recently brought up the topic of cell phone to the Hartman staff.  At the time I was just talking off the top of my head and no ideas or tangible thoughts on the subject.  But one of the today’s presentations at the k12 Online Conference talks about cell phones in the schools.   

Question – As a high school teacher is this a technology that you should look into accessing to communicate with your students and parents?  I do not have the answer to that.  But at least I think it is something to investigate and consider. 

Visit http://k12onlineconference.org/?p=152 to watch the presentation and to visit the website the presenter has set up.

Follow this link—> http://www.utechtips.com/?p=523

I came across this post from Jeff Utecht about cyberbullying. He has a link to another blog which has links to discussion questions and videos that can be used in a classroom setting. The one video from Brad Paisley did not play. It is located at YouTube so the filter might have something to do with it. The same problem was true for the others but I did go to TeacherTube and found the other videos there. I thought that this topic would be perfect to pass on to folks at this time of the year. As we review our school and class rules cyberbullying should also be reviewed. While students do not have a district email we are fooling ourselves if we think they do not have a gmail, yahoo, or hotmail account. You can bet that one of the first things they do when they leave school is access their email and IM accounts – that is if they are not already doing it during school hours!

Below is one of the videos that could be used in school and a simple google search of cyberbullying will bring back many hits. I hope this helps. Let me know if you need anymore resources.

Skip

Download Video: Posted by adcouncil at TeacherTube.com.

This week I had the pleasure of passing out laptops to the high school teachers.  The freshman academy teachers were the first recipients and they were very excited.  I look forward to passing out the reset next week.  My only regret is that we could only take care of the high school this year.  Next year the middle level and elementary teachers are on my list.  We need to make all classrooms 21st Century Learning classrooms and this is a start. Below is the slideshowI used at my presentation.
[slideshare id=97042&doc=hs-laptops540&w=425]

I came across this article and thought it would spark some thought and discussion. Being the father of a boy and a girl I can attest that there is a difference. We had the option of putting my son in a full day kindergarten class but passed on the opportunity.  This would have been too much for him to handle.  He needed more down time and time to just run and play.  My daugher however was just the opposite. She looked forward to being in class all day. 

How does this affect your classroom?  Do you plan for the differences in boys and girls?  Do you alter your teaching style or do you have students alter their learning style?