Once a month, I meet with my Parent and Student Cabinet. Students range in age from 6th to 12th grade. Parents are those that are interested in keeping informed about district issues and initiatives. This month, in addition to district business, I thought these groups would be an excellent forum to discuss our journey into the read/write web and Web 2.0. I thought the best way to get a message across was to share 3 presentations from the Fischbowl- "The Trilogy". Well, the presentations did provoke thought and conversation amongst both groups.
Students that have been involved in blogging and social bookmarking love the use of these tools that are being made availble and integrated into their instruction. Their chief "complaint"....they are overwhelmed! Because we have attracted teachers to the use of these tools in "pockets" across the district, the same teachers are teaching the content as well as the "how to's" for using the technology. Students feel that they need to learn the newest technology in another class BEFORE using it in these selected classes. A point well taken and one that I will be given much thought to. Consensus however is they love the approach. They are motivated by on-line collaboration such as internet conferencing such as SKYPE and video conferencing. Before this year, MySpace was a close as they came to social networking. Now they see an educational value.
Parents were also interested and surprised to see the work of Karl Fisch. How could you not be. The "Did you know" presentation is a wake-up call at the least. The conversation had begun with what we need to do to better prepare students. Challenging them to high order thinking skills: in essence, critical thinking skills. It is no surprise that many high school teachers feel that critical thinking is the main skill deficits students have. Content isn't the issue. Between a very structured curriculum both at the local and state level, not to mention accountability in the form of mandated state testing, students are very good at learning "information". It is the ability to take their learning and use skills of analysis and sythesis that they lack.
So, I have to ask the question. Has the changes in our instruction over the years resulted in the loss of creativity and creating students that just parrot back the information in it's original form? Many teachers, some due to their subject matter, will not settle for just regurgitating the information. They insist that students take the information learned and apply it in a more generalized, high order thinking model. As the discussion progressed with the parents, it is oftentimes the basics they see their children lack, common sense, taking the conversation about what they learned in school to how it will impact their life or what it means to them. Basically, we get "the facts". Worth mentioning is the comment that just having the conversation as many of us had when growing up is a challenge. We talked about the disintegration of the American family. How just getting the family together around the dinner table at the same time is a challenge.
No surprise that we didn't come away with all the answers. Most important to me is that it started the conversation. What is it that we want our students to leave high school with. Does it go beyond just the content (in the case of New York, proficiency in the NYS Standards)? How do we introduce Web 2.0 technology to studnets? What about the next generation?.....Of that generation, I refer to the incoming kindergartens....the graduating class of 2020. Do we not want a different approach to learning from the start?
We have some work to do. From the start, reading and writing. There are still some that believe that reading and writing must be done with paper and pen, reading books. I agree, there is a place and need to do so. However, does it mean that there aren't other ways to accomplish the same goals? What about e-books on-line? What about the read/write web? I would advocate that we can do both.
Just food for thought. Something that will help us keep the conversation going and in the end, help us better meet our mission of providing the best for our students.
2 comments:
Superintendent--
I am organizing a community parent cabinet and am interested in what structure you use in organizing your cabinet.
Thank you for your help.
Anonymous......Thanks for checking out the blog. Without more information I'm not sure if you mean parent selection or structure of the meeting topics when you ask about 'organizing' the cabinet.
In terms of "membership", all are welcome. I find that our PTO parents and officers were members I inherited when I came to Iroquois. As time goes on, parents talk to each other and as a parent hears about the information we discuss, I inevitably get a call requesting if they can attend. As I said, all are welcome.
With respect to topics, I share everything. Rumor control, facility improvements, state budget proposals and the impact the budget may/will have on our district. We talk about the staff development our teachers receive, new curriculum initiatives as well as revisions made to existing curriculum.
Finally, I look to the parents as my eyes and ears in the community as well as ambassadors. They inform me/ask about rumors they have heard and then take the information I present back out to the community.
Please let me know if I've answered your question. I can elaborate more if you would like. Or, contact me directly by e-mail or phone.
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