One of my resolutions for 2016 is to visit a different school every Friday afternoon and then blog about the great things I see. As a 21C committee, we have been brainstorming about different ways to share the great teaching and learning happening in our schools using technology. My resolution does two things, it helps to spread some great stories of creativity and innovation in the support of student success, and it allows me to model blogging as an effective communication, sharing tool.
Last Monday, January 18, I toured three of our High Schools with two of our Apple support people. The Apple folks wanted to get a feel for the range of implementation of 21C strategies in our High Schools so they could map out a plan to support us in moving forward. Our visits took us to Castlebrook Secondary School, Turner Fenton Secondary School and Meadowvale Secondary School. Perhaps the best part of the visits was to see three High Schools hard at working creating their 21C visions but all three schools are at different places on the continuum.
We started out our morning at Castlebrook Secondary School. Castlebrook is a relatively new secondary school whose vision upon opening was to create a 21C school. As we toured some of the classes, it was exciting to see the creative, cross-curricular projects students were engaged in and how they used technology to enhance their learning.
The first classroom we went into was a design classroom where students were given a design challenge by the teacher. The students used computers to investigate the object they were to design, they drew a sketch of their design, transferred it to the computer, finally producing their design through the use of a 3D printer. It was so interesting to see students so engaged they failed to even look up when a group of visitors entered the room.
We also visited the robotics program where the staff and students had just returned from winning another contest, and our final visit was to the broadcast program. In this program, students were working with their very talented teachers to create professional quality productions. The creativity being demonstrated by the students and the sophistication of the products they produced were truly exciting to see.
Our second visit was to Turner Fenton Secondary School to meet with the school's innovation committee. Turner is at a very different stage of implementation compared to Castlebrook, but the excitement of the committee and the vision they shared for the directions they would like to take moving forward, equalled the enthusiasm we saw at both of the other schools we visited. My Apple friends were able to make suggestions and offer supports to the innovation committee. Shawn Lennie, from Apple, offered to set up some visits for the committee in order to add to their understandings of 21C pedagogy.
Our final visit of the day was to Meadowvale Secondary School. I had been told Meadowvale staff were quietly working away and accomplishing amazing things. When we arrived, we were greeted by the Vice Principal of the school and her enthusiasm and energy were mirrored by all of the other staff we met that day. While the school is in the early stages of really understanding 21C pedagogy, their progress in making tech equitably accessible and providing stimulating environments for teachers and students to work in were very evident. Meadowvale wants to make sure the foundational pieces are in place to enable their work to grow.
Meadowvale has the International Business and Technology regional program in the school and the staff involved in teaching the program are very technologically proficient. Meadowvale has leveraged the talent of these teachers to provide "lunch and learns'" and other professional development opportunities to support the growth of other staff. The Vice Principal lauded the enthusiasm she has seen on staff and the high number of teachers who have availed themselves of these opportunities. Meadowvale is definitely a school on the move and I look forward to visiting again in a few months to see the progress they have made.
For my first day of visits, I was very encouraged and excited to see such wonderful things happening in our schools. My next scheduled visit is on Friday to check out some outstanding work happening in some of our kindergarten classes. I am looking forward to sharing that story and the other amazing stories I will get to see in my visits throughout the rest of this school year.
No comments:
Post a Comment