Me--an administrator?
I've applied to join an administrative cohort, a group of teachers/people here in Fairfax who take Educational Leadership courses together to become endorsed to be principals and assistant principals. Honestly, I just want my master's, and it's UVA, so hey, why not, I thought.
Today after my panel interview, I had to provide a writing sample. From a list of about fifteen possible topics, I chose "Technology in Instruction." Duh. That's my thing.
I've also been reading some books by a professor who teaches writing (and teaches teachers how to teach writing) who vilifies the five paragraph you know what. It's a formula for bad writing, he says. And it is. He's big on voice, big on taking risks, and big on the origins of the word "essay," which comes from French and suggests something more exploratory than those wretched, horrible five paragraph you know whats.
So anyway, maybe his urgins to take risks with our writing and to let our voices shine are a little too present in my mind, and maybe I just wrote myself right out of this admin cohort, BUT I am infinitely pleased with my non-five paragraph you know what.
Imagine a school where every student carries a laptop in his or her backpack.
The math teacher posts the daily quiz on a website, and students answer the questions with a click. Instantly, each student sees results--right answers, wrong answers, percent proficiency, class results, which questions the whole class answered correctly, which they missed. The teachers asks, "Okay, based on those results, what do we need to review?" Student ownership.
The English teacher guides a peer editing session, where students conference with each other on an essay and make immediate, instant changes--before the bell rings to signal it's time to stop thinkingabout this essay and start thinking about history now. For a mini-lesson on vivid verbs, a student volunteers a paragraph he's unsure of, and with the click of a button, that student paper is broadcast onto the interactive whiteboard for a whole-class editing session. The student rewrites the sentence as peers suggest, and when the green squigglies show up under a sentence, the students read the error is "passive voice." Passive voice? Huh? The teacher provides a quick explanation, then broadcasts a link to Purdue's Online Writing Center (OWL). Later, those who need practice with the concept use the link to access short exercises on passive voice.
Near the end of the history class, the teacher poses a discussion question, and students write a response, posting it to Blackboard. For homework, these students read each other's comments and begin an online dialogue that continues learning and discussion outside of the 98 allotted minutes together. The students who are reluctant to speak in class find their voices online, gain confidence, and maybe even become more willing to talk in class. Discussions begin in the hallways before the first bell even rings!
And that's just the beginning.
Students keep online portfolios--not just folders on school servers. Using interactive media software, students create sophisticated presentations of their work, combining video, voice, and art; they take ownership of the product. Teachers begin to view technology as a means to foster interdisciplinary connections, and when curriculum is online and accessible to all, suddenly a public policy proposal becomes real, students own the project, and learning sticks.
But guess what? Student attendance increases. The dropout rate falls. Standardized test scores rise. Perception of the school climate improves. Morale skyrockets. Discipline incidents drop dramatically. Does learning stick because attendance improves, or does attendance improve because learning sticks? Does it really matter which comes first?
What matters is what happens when we put a laptop in the hands of every kid. Technology integration is an absolute must. Our world changes, and our students change. It is our baseline obligation to meet these students in the best way possible, and I believe that unlimited access to the power of technology IS the best way possible to meet the needs of all our students. Less than $1000 per student is a bargain for such gains in achievement.
What else matters?
Today after my panel interview, I had to provide a writing sample. From a list of about fifteen possible topics, I chose "Technology in Instruction." Duh. That's my thing.
I've also been reading some books by a professor who teaches writing (and teaches teachers how to teach writing) who vilifies the five paragraph you know what. It's a formula for bad writing, he says. And it is. He's big on voice, big on taking risks, and big on the origins of the word "essay," which comes from French and suggests something more exploratory than those wretched, horrible five paragraph you know whats.
So anyway, maybe his urgins to take risks with our writing and to let our voices shine are a little too present in my mind, and maybe I just wrote myself right out of this admin cohort, BUT I am infinitely pleased with my non-five paragraph you know what.
Imagine a school where every student carries a laptop in his or her backpack.
The math teacher posts the daily quiz on a website, and students answer the questions with a click. Instantly, each student sees results--right answers, wrong answers, percent proficiency, class results, which questions the whole class answered correctly, which they missed. The teachers asks, "Okay, based on those results, what do we need to review?" Student ownership.
The English teacher guides a peer editing session, where students conference with each other on an essay and make immediate, instant changes--before the bell rings to signal it's time to stop thinkingabout this essay and start thinking about history now. For a mini-lesson on vivid verbs, a student volunteers a paragraph he's unsure of, and with the click of a button, that student paper is broadcast onto the interactive whiteboard for a whole-class editing session. The student rewrites the sentence as peers suggest, and when the green squigglies show up under a sentence, the students read the error is "passive voice." Passive voice? Huh? The teacher provides a quick explanation, then broadcasts a link to Purdue's Online Writing Center (OWL). Later, those who need practice with the concept use the link to access short exercises on passive voice.
Near the end of the history class, the teacher poses a discussion question, and students write a response, posting it to Blackboard. For homework, these students read each other's comments and begin an online dialogue that continues learning and discussion outside of the 98 allotted minutes together. The students who are reluctant to speak in class find their voices online, gain confidence, and maybe even become more willing to talk in class. Discussions begin in the hallways before the first bell even rings!
And that's just the beginning.
Students keep online portfolios--not just folders on school servers. Using interactive media software, students create sophisticated presentations of their work, combining video, voice, and art; they take ownership of the product. Teachers begin to view technology as a means to foster interdisciplinary connections, and when curriculum is online and accessible to all, suddenly a public policy proposal becomes real, students own the project, and learning sticks.
But guess what? Student attendance increases. The dropout rate falls. Standardized test scores rise. Perception of the school climate improves. Morale skyrockets. Discipline incidents drop dramatically. Does learning stick because attendance improves, or does attendance improve because learning sticks? Does it really matter which comes first?
What matters is what happens when we put a laptop in the hands of every kid. Technology integration is an absolute must. Our world changes, and our students change. It is our baseline obligation to meet these students in the best way possible, and I believe that unlimited access to the power of technology IS the best way possible to meet the needs of all our students. Less than $1000 per student is a bargain for such gains in achievement.
What else matters?