Chief Learner's Thoughts
Connecting the dots between what students want, enjoy and need.
Archive for Technology
December 3, 2009 at 11:29 am · Filed under 21st Century Skills, Technology
Recently I followed a discussion amongst educators that was focused on typing speeds and if their is a value to higher words per minute. Other topics started to reveal themselves in the discussion that related to improving the writing process.
The first point that was discussed was if any current profession requires people to type the written word of another person. It appears that in the current work force most authors write as they type the words into the computer. This means that one only needs to be able to type as fast as they can formulate their ideas. The process of developing ones thought into a sentence and inputing the new sentence into the computer cannot be done at a hight rate of speed. This does require knowledge of the keyboard and where to find each letter. In other words basic keyboarding skills not a fast typing speed is required to be successful in the 21st century workforce.
The second point discussed regarded editing on the computer verses printing out a copy. Most of the educators in this discussion felt that they needed to print a paper copy to do a good job of editing. This is where the generational differences of people shows. Most digital immigrants and some Millennials do prefer to edit from a paper version. However the Generation Z children who are now in our schools do not prefer the printed word for editing. Actually research has demonstrated that writing on a computer from the original draft all the way through the editing process to the final draft has increased the writing skills of students. This makes sense if you think about it. As you write and you misspell a word you know immediately so you can stop and fix it. Every time you need to edit or rearrange a sentence you can cut and paste the words to the new location. You can highlight and delete a part you no longer want instead of erasing each word. During the editing process you can have the computer read your words out loud hearing what you actually wrote. You can continue to rework each sentence or paragraph until it sounds good. Finally when you are done editing you are done as you no longer have to start writing the “final copy”.
One more point I would like to offer about writing. We all know that if a person writes more they will improve as a writer. With that goal in mind here is a fact to be aware of. In 2007 a Net Generation Survey* of 7,705 college students in the United States informed us that 28% author a blog and 44% read blogs. These students are a part of the Millennial generation. The next generation of students are part of the Gen Z who are now sometimes called Generation C because they are even more connected to others through the use of technological tools. Since I am reaching you through the use of a blog I would like to challenge you to see if you are impacting students’ writing skills. If you are a parent are you helping your children to read and participate in blogging? If you are an educator have you had your students blog about their learning in your classroom? If you are an educational leader have you had your faculty blog about what is going on in their classrooms? We all can impact students’ writing skills. With the proper emphasis on using the technological tools available our students will be more skilled at writing than previous generations. This will serve them well in the 21st century workforce.
*Leading 21st Century Schools by Lynne Schrum and Barbara B. Levin page 33
February 11, 2009 at 2:00 pm · Filed under 21st Century Skills, Core 6, Leadership, Technology, Toolbox for learning
Last week at the State of the School, I communicated how St. Raphael is leading the way in Catholic Education in the 21st Century. This leadership came through the hard work of everyone at the school. If you missed the meeting please watch the presentation on our website.
The changes that we have made in the last few years are what propelled us to the front. As educators we researched and implemented new teaching methods, purchased new teaching and learning tools, and have worked to include the 21st Century skills by embedding them in the core subjects. Throughout this process we have expanded our focus on the spiritual development of our students.
At the middle school level we have added laptops. One goal for this addition was to improve the students writing abilities. Now the students are able to spend more time editing and improving their writing skills and less time simply recopying their rough draft. This has resulted in an increase in the understanding of and application of the English language. The laptops also allow our students to communicate their learning through a variety of methods. These skills are required in the 21st Century.
We recently added a document camera in each classroom. These cameras allow an image to be enlarged onto a screen. The image can be either 2-D or 3-D or a live demonstration. We are already seeing results in the form of improved understanding because all the students can see and hear the instructions, the students are able to display their work for class critiquing, and classroom management is improved because the students can stay in their desks to see the demonstration instead of huddling around the teacher.
Our most recent focus has been to expand on teaching the 21st Century skills to the students. We realize that it will take many hours of planning to incorporate these skills into all lessons. This work is exciting for us as we see the value in our continued improvement.
I am excited that our leadership is being recognized. In April I will be presenting at the National Catholic Education Association Convention in Anaheim. My presentation will focus on how the leadership in Catholic schools can transform schools to successfully educate students for the 21st Century.
It is an exciting time to be at St. Raphael’s Catholic School and I am proud of the work my staff has done to bring about these important changes.
January 15, 2009 at 12:05 pm · Filed under 21st Century Skills, Leadership, Technology
Recently we have had the new Superintendent and the Director of Personal from the schools team of the Archdiocese out to visit our school.
Marty Frauenheim, Superintendent, attended our special Our Lady of Guadeloupe Mass. This was a special Mass thanks to the efforts of Mrs. Marsh’s homeroom and Sister Therese Ann. Following Mass, Marty met with Father Juettner and I and then had a tour of the school. Gary Wilmer was at St. Raphael for a meeting and then asked for a tour of the school. He is a former Catholic school principal and loved being in the school and watching the students in action.
Prior to coming both guests explored our website and commented on all that we offer. They were impressed with our theater and our use of technology to teach the 21st Century skills. St. Raphael is really leading the way in Catholic education. I hope everyone can attend the State of the School to learn why we are leading the way.
November 5, 2008 at 2:42 pm · Filed under 21st Century Skills, Core 6, Technology, Toolbox for learning
The teachers cheered this morning when I completed the hookup of our fifth document camera. Why the cheer, why the sparkle in the teachers’ eyes, and why were the students equally excited? Well, let me tell you….
A document camera is a tool that allows the teacher to project an image on to a screen. The image can be from a worksheet, a book, a science specimen— anything either two- or three-dimensional. Instead of gathering all the students around the teacher to see a demonstration, the teacher can project the demonstration up on the screen so students can see it while sitting in their desks.
The addition of these tools was made possible through generous donations to “purchase something the teachers otherwise would not have” and a special rebate. The donations allowed us to purchase four document cameras, two LCD projectors, and five AV carts to support the new tools. We now have document cameras for teachers to share on each level of the school, except the basement.
The teachers are excited because this tool is very flexible. They no longer need to make a black line master and make a transparency on the copier. They simply slide the paper under the camera and it is projected up onto the screen. The teachers wasted no time in using the new tool. As the youngest students prepared to vote in the school election, their teachers projected the ballot up onto the screen. This allowed the students to easily become familiar with the format and how to indicate their presidential choice.
There are many different uses for this tool and having it available all day, each day, makes it a productive addition to a classroom. Mrs. Schulz utilized a document camera that a vendor lent us for a few weeks. Once it was gone, she realized how often she was using it and the flexibility it allowed. She was able to quickly and easily show something that added to the discussion or lesson. She really misses the daily use and is waiting patiently for her turn because the third-floor camera is currently in Mrs. Scholl’s room.
If you want to see this tool in action, I encourage you to come to the November 13 PHT meeting. Three different teachers will present how the document camera is used in their classroom and how it benefits the students.
September 5, 2008 at 1:10 pm · Filed under 21st Century Skills, Core 6, Leadership, Technology
The new school year began this week. This start was quiet as everyone fell into the routine that has been established over the last few years. While that sounds wonderful it is a little too uneventful for me. Each of the last three years brought changes and the challenges that went with them. It is this type of challenge that makes coming to school each morning exciting. This quiet start has made me realize that even though nothing big or new is on the horizon, we still have a very important challenge to face this school year.
Our most important goal is to prepare our students for their future. This includes what I call the Core Six; developing strong communication skills, learning to embrace challenges, becoming problem solvers, becoming collaborators, becoming critical thinkers, and embracing diverse ideas and people. To help the students gain these skills we as educators need to look at how our classrooms are structured, how information is presented, how we engage students and how we ask the students to demonstrate their learning.
We know that our school and classrooms should look different than they did in the past. In the 21st Century we have many more tools available for teaching and learning and additionally we need to approach students differently. Our students want to learn through real world experiences, work as collaborators and they see technology as a foundation for life, not a tool like we adults do.
This is no easy task for educators to embrace. However it can be done and the staff at St. Raphael’s Catholic School has embraced these changes over the past three years. To continue on this journey the staff will need ongoing training and support for implementing these tools and methods. School leadership has to support teachers as they try new ideas and embrace challenges. Parents need to desire an educational program that is different than their memories of elementary and middle school.
This is what I see as my challenge for the new school year: Helping the staff and students work together in new and innovative ways that will help the students gain the skills required for success in the 21st Century. I know this is no easy challenge but it does get me excited to come to school each morning.
July 10, 2008 at 10:30 am · Filed under 21st Century Skills, Leadership, NECC, Technology, Toolbox for learning
During the last three years I have learned the value of using a variety of tools to engage students in learning not just content but also the 21st century skills. Employers are looking for employees who have a different skill set then they did even ten years ago and schools need to prepare their students for this reality. To help me better understand how to do so I joined the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and attended NECC in Atlanta last summer. I was very excited to bring what I had learned in Atlanta to St. Raphael last school year and I saw how it benefited our students.
As I have learned the value of embracing the 21st century skills, I realized that many of my principal colleagues are not fully prepared to lead their schools through the changes needed to expand the teaching of the 21st century skills. During our Springfling and Techtober-fest I heard from various Archdiocesan teachers and principals their lack of training or knowledge on the 21st century skills. They expressed they felt unprepared to begin the journey their school needed. These experiences helped me to be elected to the Communications Chair position of the ISTE subgroup -Special Interest Group Administration (SIGAdmin) this past spring.
At NECC in San Antonio the newly elected chair, vice chair and I met for the first time. These two individuals and I are excited to be in the leadership role to help other administrators gain the knowledge and resources needed to make changes in their schools and districts. On Tuesday July 1, we led the SIGAdmin annual meeting. The meeting was attended by 23 of our members and we began to select the most important goals for our special interest group to accomplish in the next year. School administrators have the largest impact on the climate and learning that takes place in schools. Our special interest group is made up of over 4000 members so we know our leadership will have the opportunity to impact students all over the world. I find this exciting and look forward to working closely with other administrators who want to share their knowledge with the goal of preparing students around the world for their future.
July 8, 2008 at 11:00 am · Filed under 21st Century Skills, Core 6, Technology, Toolbox for learning
From June 29 until July 3 I was with more than 17,000 attendees at the NECC in San Antonio. This national conference is an exciting place to learn about teaching and learning in the 21st century.
As I sat through various workshops in addition to the keynote speakers I met people from all over the world who are equally excited about engaging students in the learning process. We all agree the success of students learning is keeping them engaged in the learning process. The tools available now for teachers make it easier for them to engage all students through their various learning styles.
A part of the conference includes students sharing examples of their work. These young participants were from both the United States and Mexico and were as young as nine. They confidently explained their newly acquired knowledge and the skills they used to obtain the knowledge. Many of the projects included collaboration with students in a different community or even another country. These students were proud of what they learned and I am confident they will remember what they learned long into the future because of their level of engagement. They did not learn it just for the test.
On Tuesday morning the keynote speakers were Jim Carleton and Mali Bickley from Canada. These two teachers worked together to have their students connect and collaborate with students in Africa. The Canadian students became so engaged in their learning and along the way they realized the African students had so little as compared to them. These realizations made the students want to reach out and help the African students by raising money to send to Africa to help the school. These students were so excited to help others and you could feel the pride these young Canadian students felt as they spoke about their experience.
Being a part of this conference reinforces to me that our students want to contribute to our world in a positive way at a young age. As educators we need to provide them ways in which to do so. We need to create learning opportunities that connect the content we need them to learn to meaningful ways to reach out to the world. In doing this our students will amaze us in their learning but more importantly to their passion for life.
May 21, 2008 at 7:22 am · Filed under Middle School, Technology
The news media continues to bring attention to the lack of interest in the hard sciences in today’s American youth. The media also brings attention to the high interest levels in hard sciences and engineering amongst the youth in Asia. Schools throughout the United States are responding to this situation in a variety of ways.
Minnesota has started to address this lack of interest by changing what is happening at the K-12 level. During the last week of March, Minnesota held its FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics competition sponsored by Medtronic, Boston Scientific and the 3M Foundation. The competition included 54 high school teams who each designed and built robots that had to perform a variety of tasks. These companies understand the value of having students leave high school interested in working in science and technological fields.
Another change has been an increase in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) classes at the K-12 level. STEM programs include course(s) or series of linked learning opportunities that enable students to discover, explore, and/or solve real-life problems through the integration of science, technology, engineering and mathematics content. Students in the early elementary grades are experiencing science and technology at increased level to help foster an increased interest in science, math and technology.
St. Raphael’s Catholic School has made changes in the last six years to help our graduates have an interest in math, science and technological careers. Five years ago a new science program was purchased to provide students with an increase of hands on science investigation. The addition of technology to help deliver our science curricular objectives has been a great asset to helping the students understand the complex scientific concepts. For years we have had two different math options for students in grades six through eight. This allows students who excel in math to progress at a faster pace. More recently we have increase our use of technology for both teaching and learning in all subjects. We have correlated this increase with an increased level of students being engagement in learning. These changes are making a positive impact on our students. A higher percent of our current seventh and eighth grade students will express their interest in different science disciplines. Additionally our graduates are now taking the maximum number of science classes in high school and many of them are taking the advanced sciences.
We are proud of our teachers and students. It is a wonderful thing to celebrate; educating young children in their faith while preparing them for their future.
March 4, 2008 at 7:33 am · Filed under Core 6, Technology, Toolbox for learning
This past weekend I spent time with people who are from the Greatest Generation and I listened to them complain that nothing is made in the Great United States of America anymore. They went on to say that maybe our country is not so great anymore. This made me reflect on a few things.
- First, is the number of products made in the USA a benchmark for defining great?
- Second, if it is not products what defines great?
These are two very tough questions and I firmly believe there are many answers.
As an educational leader these comments and questions make me reflect on my work. I need to be aware of the world our current students will be working in eight or more years and the skills they will need.
- Should they be prepared to “make products” or to “develop products”?
- What will these “products” look like?
- Will they be concrete items such as cars, appliances, medical equipment or will they be abstract products that will help speed communication, transform medical evaluations, or help meet the basic needs of people throughout the world?
The potential answers to these questions should be influencing what is happening in the schools.
Former Maine Governor Angus King introduced the idea of a 1:1 laptop initiative state wide in Maine. Here is his reason, ” For more than 100 years, Maine has always been in the bottom third of states- in prosperity, income, education, and opportunity for our kids. In my 30 years of working on Maine economic issues, no idea has had as much potential for leapfrogging the other states and putting Maine in a position of national leadership as this one- giving our students portable, Internet-ready computers as a basic tool for learning.”
This governor was analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of his state. The greatest economic strengths of Maine are the forests and waters, yielding wood products, water power, fisheries, and ocean commerce. Currently, the largest industry is paper manufacturing. However, since the 1980s manufacturing employment has dropped. Maine’s greatest current economic weakness is its limited access to the national transportation network that links major production and manufacturing centers with large metropolitan markets. By facing these realities, the governor took a bold stance and made a change in how things are being done in Maine so the future can look differently. This governor knew that by educating the students of Maine in a different way with different tools it would open up new paths for employment. This type of courageous leadership should be applauded.
How would our schools look if all educational leaders had courageous conversation about how to educate the students? I have attended many workshops that have told me to have these conversations:
- Will the current way of doing things maintain the quality education of your school?
- If you continue to do the same thing will your children be prepared for their future or for the current work force?
When I look at what we are doing at St. Raphael’s I know we have started having those courageous conversations and we are changing how we are doing things. The staff is dedicated on helping our students grow in their skills so they will be prepared for the future. To accomplish this we are using technology to help deliver instruction, to help students learn and demonstrate their learning. We are asking the students to work in partnerships, to look for more than one answer, and to reach out to the world beyond their classroom. We are excited that the students are embracing this challenge.
It is through this hard work and making changes that the United States of America will continue to be great. I am excited each day to be a part of an educational environment that is willing to tackle the unknown future and help prepare our students for it.
December 3, 2007 at 10:32 am · Filed under 21st Century Skills, Technology, Toolbox for learning
The other day I gave a tour to a family that is exploring schools for their son who will start kindergarten in the fall. As I gave the tour, I pointed out the ways St. Raphael’s staff works with students to help them grow and develop their academic abilities. We witnessed both small and large group instruction but it was a different program that these parents recognized as a strength.
The program is our use of technology as a teaching and learning tool. We talked at length about how we use technology to meet the needs of the individual students. As an example, I told them about Mrs. Schulz use of technology in her Charlotte’s Web unit. The students accessed online activities for each section of the book, where they completed exercises that reinforced the objectives of that section. By utilizing these resources the students were able to work at their own pace. Our strength of using technology as a teaching and learning tool, allows us to provide our students with a range of instruction and access to a greater number of resources than most small schools.
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