Time to Catch Up.....................

I've almost lost track of this blog. Since the last time I posted I have begun several other blogs. You can quickly access some of them alongside this blog under 'links'. Since The New Face of High Schools conference in Ellicottville last July, our school has a quiet. but very strong force in taking a new look at how we educated high schoolers. The most important shift is one of the pillars of New Faces: having students take a more active role in what they learn and how they learn it.
Our high school has several initiatives going on at the same time but the y are all interconnected. Iroquois has joined The Successful Practices Network in order to become a 'model school'. The resources that Bill Daggett's organization provides is helping us reach that goal. Several committees have taken on a different facet. One committee is investigating a Freshman Academy- not that new of a concept but one that has demonstrated success. Extending the middle school concept of teaming can only foster a sense of community for our students and give them the added support to ensure they have a successful high school career. Another committee is looking at The Successful Practices Resources and investigating best practices. Hand in hand, the entire staff have submitted "Gold Seal Lessons". Once approved, our faculty will have access to an enormous library of Gold Seal Lessons developed by some of the best teachers in the country. It's always good to get new ideas without reinventing the wheel.
Yet another committee is looking at how we connect with students and are pioneers in using blogs, wikis and podcasts to help students think out of the box in terms of how they learn and access information. In this technological age, so much is available to our students. As a superintendent, while I want and need our teachers to "cover content", it is just as important to me for them to consider a change in their role as traditional teachers. I would like to see a shift from teachers as "instructors" to teachers as "facilitators of learning". There is enough literature to wallpaper a school building related to students being engaged in the learning process and that student achievement increases when students not only take in information but actually synthesize and analyze. Be it Maslow's hierarchy, Silver and Strong's "Thoughtful Education Model" or the work of Marzano and yes Bill Daggett, students will achieve at higher standards if their learning is relevant and they take an active part in the learning.
I have been fortunate and privilaged to see this type of learning from students taking AP Economics and AP European Studies at Iroquois. Students post daily lecture notes for all classmates to access, information is analyzed and debated over a class blog and students post work for their teacher to see. Many would ask if this will make a difference? Couldn't students learn the same information from their teacher in a lecture format? I will suppose that they could learn the facts and do reasonably well on both formative and summative assessments. But what of critical thinking skills. Can they take the information to the next level? Actually understand the conditions that causes a particular event and understand the conditions under which we could replicate or prevent the same conditions from happening again............
We know that students have difference learning styles. We also know that many students do not succeed well in a lecture format. Does the use of technology help other students be more creative? Do students that live and breathe for the internet have the ability to learn how to use the internet for more than fun but to access a world of information? How many more students will we 'reach' because we have found another way to engage them? If we engage 1% more students in a class is it worth it?.......5%?..........10%?....................get the idea?
There are many features that would please parents of our students. Gone would be the excuse that "I forgot the homework" or "I was absent today and don't have the notes". All the information could be obtained by logging onto the class blog. Parents could also access the same information buy checking out the blog- these blogs are public!
I have used a blog since September to keep our school community informed of special events, actions at monthly board meetings, relaying plans for homecoming and the success our athletes had this fall and finally, used the during the now historical October Storm in Western New York to keep student and parents informed about school closings, safety conditions in the area along with clean-up efforts. I have received quite a bit of feedback from both parents and students that they like this up-to-the-minute information. Another blogs allows students to ask me questions or air their opinions. How many of us had direct access to our superintendent when we were growing up? How many of us had any access to our superintendent when growing up? Times they are a changing!
As an educational institution, I believe it is our responsibility to not only teach students what is required but what they will need to be successful in the future. I don't know of any school that does not indicate so in their mission. With all the technological advances and how quickly people have come to expect access to information and use it in their daily lives, how could we not tap into this as we educate our students?
Those of us that attended Will Richardson's sessions at last summer's New Faces Conference had the opportunity to meet with him again. To see how far we have come and what the next steps could be. There are other pioneers on the horizon. I am proud to say that our school is one of the leaders in actually taking off with integrating the use of technology. It is my hope that you will take the time to check out some of the blogs related to courses as well as those used to inform or dialog in our district. It is an exciting time in education. How proud we can be to be a part of the most substantial change that has taken place in how we teach in years.