Classrooms for the Future

State College was in the right place at the right time to take advantage of the governor's "Classrooms for the Future" grant that supplied 569 laptops to the classrooms of 46 English and Social Studies teachers at the high school this past school year. Hopefully, the next year will see the initiative extended into math and science classrooms, as well.

At Monday night's presentation to the board, both students and teachers spoke to the value of collaborative tools such as Google.docs, and the impact on writing skills. It used to be that one or two edits of a writing assignment were about the limit of what teachers could expect. Technology, however, has created an "anytime" paradigm, with the result that student collaboration and multiple drafts have become the norm, and students can add to their learning by editing one another's work. (A lot of teachers are also discovering that student blogs are an excellent way to encourage writing.)

Discussions that in the past would have occurred only in the classroom – where often, only about a third of the class participates consistently - can now also occur on-line, where participation often reaches 90%. 

Access to technology is also expanding the definition of "literacy": to be literate in today's society means being able to "read" a movie or a website, as well as the newspaper. (What's that?)

A terrific example of a service learning project that was enhanced by access to technology was Deb Poveromo’s "Local Sites of Memory" assignment, for which her students researched a local historical site to learn its significance - as well as determine the extent to which the "story" is accurate. As the students described it, technology greatly enhances the ease and potential depth of their research.

Another example of technology’s impact on research was a project that asked students to examine African history from the African perspective (rather than from the European point-of-view, as it’s traditionally taught.) In the past, such an assignment would have been extraordinarily time-consuming.

As you well know from experience, such assignments typically conclude with a "report" that makes use of the traditional communication skills of writing (and occasionally, speaking) - but students are beginning to ask themselves: "what is the most effective way to communicate my message?" The answer often involves the creative use of iMovie, Powerpoint and music. In the process, we incorporate another important 21st century emphasis: the integration of the arts into the curriculum - while we demonstrate the principal that there are multiple ways for students to exhibit their learning.

With tight schedules and departments stretched across two buildings, opportunities for collaboration are often hard to come by, so the professional development that was provided as part of this initiative was essential. Particularly noteworthy was the enthusiasm that was generated among the faculty by the opportunities that technology provides for collaboration both within and across departments.

GCAs, again

Of the several interesting topics discussed at Monday's board meeting, the most urgent dealt, once again, with the governor's proposal for new state-wide Graduation Competency Assessments (read: exams).

The public comment period to the State Board of Education runs until June 16th. (Comments should be sent to: Jim Buckheit, at: jbuckheit@state.pa - you are welcome to borrow from my comments, here.)

That, however, has become almost irrelevant.  Since the state Board of Education appears to be firmly committed to approving the GCA proposal beginning with the fiscal year that starts in July, (the money for it is already in the governor's budget), it is actually more important that citizens contact their state representatives as soon as possible concerning recently introduced legislation that would give the Legislature the sole right to impose the new graduation requirements.

Yesterday, the Senate Education Committee voted 11-1 to approve this legislation, sponsored by Sen. James Rhoades. The full Senate could vote on the bill as early as Wednesday.  Similar legislation is also under consideration in the House Education Committee, on which local representative Scott Conklin sits.

Astonishingly, the chairman of the State Board has taken offense to the proposed legislation, "it's unfortunate they are doing this rather than continuing to engage in the debate."

Can you say "chutzpah?"

Teacher of the Year

A recent American School Board Journal interview with national Teacher of the Year, Mike Geisen, reinforced what are becoming some familiar arguments regarding the limited value of standardized testing and the impact the "standards movement" is having on the development of 21st century skills.

A seventh-grade science teacher in Oregon, Geisen began the interview talking about the importance of relationships; that in order to create a quality atmosphere for learning, students need to feel that they “belong” in the classroom, regardless of their natural aptitude for science - and they need to see science as fun.

He went on to claim that the typical approach to science education – with its emphasis on the logical and the analytical - is like “forced right-handedness”. Not all of his kids come to him with mathematical inclinations; some students seem to have brains better wired for creativity. (Personally, I think every student is potentially both “left” and “right”-brained, and that we need to do a better job of developing and integrating the two approaches.)

Explaining why art and creativity have such a prominent place in his classroom - he regularly plays his guitar - he said students need to understand that the most influential scientists and inventors have (also) been right-brained.

Speaking specifically about his role as a science educator, he said "we've got to educate people to be whole-minded thinkers" - as opposed to Jeopardy contestants (not that there's anything wrong with that).

He also talked about how we tend to define achievement too narrowly, constrained, in part, by the tools we have to measure it. Standardized testing is effective at measuring skills - knowledge, primarily - that were important in the 20th century, whereas the critical skills for the 21st century will include innovation, empathy and synthesis. (Empathy - the ability to see things from another person's point of view - is becoming a recurring "21st century" theme.)

Echoing the argument of Daniel Pink, Geisen noted that these are the skills "that are not going to be replaced by a machine overseas." And as Tom Freidman would say, the United States is in prime position to capitalize – if we don’t get carried away by the current craze for testing.