During the Monday Assembly, the middle school participated in a Town Hall meeting on the topic of the uniform.
Prior to this meeting, a panel of faculty and students was selected to shape the conversation, listen to all suggestions, and create a proposal for the appropriate decision-makers. This panel created a list of questions to help students shape their opinions on two fronts: the uniform itself and the enforcement of the uniform code. This document was sent to the advisories, where the ensuing conversations allowed students and faculty to coalesce their thoughts.
During the Town Hall, the panel took notes and asked clarifying questions of students and faculty who presented their opinions, suggestions, and arguments regarding the uniform.
Over the next week, the panel will meet to create a proposal for submission to the administration and review by the Parents' Association.
The Town Hall proved to be a lesson in civics, as well as an opportunity for the community to express their thoughts on a major aspect of school life. Our hope is that we may be able to use the town hall structure to discuss other aspects, such as the Points system and laptop issues.
A special thanks to Mrs. Radway, who brought the idea to me and was a major organizer of the event.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Boomer Generation, Generation X/Y, and the New Face of Character Development
This article appeared in the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/07/education/07teacher.html?_r=1
The article above describes the growing number of Boomer Teachers who are getting ready to retire over the next ten years and how it is affecting the landscape of the teachig profession. With the attrition rate for new teachers seemingly rising at the same time, many predict a crisis on the way.
It also makes me wonder about the character education and development aspects of a school. As younger generations filter into the teaching profession, how is character development thought of? What are the values these people hope to instill and, maybe more importantly, how do they intend to instill them?
Some characteristics of Generation Y in the workforce are they demand more benefits for less work, want a role in institutional decision-making almost immediately upon being hired, and will have held five to six different jobs by the time they turn 35. It is also a generation shaped by experiences of exponential change, creativity, and brought up on open-source content and collaboration. If this is the generation set to take over the teaching profession, what values will they pass on?
I can't say I have the answers. One thing I do know is there is something to be said for a healthy mix of old and new perspectives. As a student and teacher of history, I've learned that not taking the time to look back upon moving forward often means mistakes are repeated. The same may go for how we hope to develop honor and character in our students.
Note: The characteristics of Generation Y discussed above were gleaned from a talk by Ron Goldblatt, Executive Director of the Association of Independent Maryland Schools.
The article above describes the growing number of Boomer Teachers who are getting ready to retire over the next ten years and how it is affecting the landscape of the teachig profession. With the attrition rate for new teachers seemingly rising at the same time, many predict a crisis on the way.
It also makes me wonder about the character education and development aspects of a school. As younger generations filter into the teaching profession, how is character development thought of? What are the values these people hope to instill and, maybe more importantly, how do they intend to instill them?
Some characteristics of Generation Y in the workforce are they demand more benefits for less work, want a role in institutional decision-making almost immediately upon being hired, and will have held five to six different jobs by the time they turn 35. It is also a generation shaped by experiences of exponential change, creativity, and brought up on open-source content and collaboration. If this is the generation set to take over the teaching profession, what values will they pass on?
I can't say I have the answers. One thing I do know is there is something to be said for a healthy mix of old and new perspectives. As a student and teacher of history, I've learned that not taking the time to look back upon moving forward often means mistakes are repeated. The same may go for how we hope to develop honor and character in our students.
Note: The characteristics of Generation Y discussed above were gleaned from a talk by Ron Goldblatt, Executive Director of the Association of Independent Maryland Schools.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Power Down - Are We Missing Out by Limiting Technology
An interesting article came out today from Education Week regarding missed opportunities to capitalize on Generation Y's technological learning skills. Essentially, the article laments the fact that most middle and high school students are asked to "power-down" their various technologies when upon entering the school building and classrooms.
The article offers up an interesting (and complex) question of the balance between the new social emphasis of the Internet and other "web 2.0" tools and the classical classroom-based educational system. The entire text of the article is below:
Schools Seen as Inhibiting Student Tech. Use
By Kathleen Kennedy Manzo
Premium article access courtesy of Edweek.org.
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addthis_url = story.getEncryptedURI(false);
addthis_title = story.getTitle(false);
addthis_pub = 'edweek';
Students are using personal technology tools more readily to study subject matter, collaborate with classmates, and complete assigments than they were several years ago, but they are generally asked to “power down” at school and abandon the electronic resources they rely on for learning outside of class, according to a survey of educators, parents, and teenagers.
Teachers, for the most part, are not taking advantage of the tools that middle and high school students have widely adopted for home and school purposes, according to the sixth annual report of the Speak Up National Research Project. Those students should be given a more formal role in determining how new technology—particularly mobile devices, such as smartphones, and Web 2.0 tools, like social-networking sites–can be tapped to improve schooling, a report on the survey findings suggests.
“Our nation’s students are in fact a ‘Digital Advance Team’ illuminating the path for how to leverage emerging technologies effectively for teaching and learning,” the report says.
Students, the report argues, are trendsetters in using technology in their personal lives and, more recently, to organize and complete schoolwork.
“Today’s students are early adopters and adapters of new technologies, creating new uses for a myriad of technology products to meet their sophisticated needs,” it says. “They can be predictors or at least harbingers of how technology could be used to transform education.”
Of course, many educators and learning experts warn against adopting new technologies in schools simply because students are adept at using those technologies. They say the primary goal of technology adoption for K-12 classrooms should be to enhance learning.
Selected findings from the extensive survey project were released March 24 by Project Tomorrow. More than 280,000 K-12 students across the country took part in the 2008 online poll, along with 28,000 teachers, 21,000 parents, and 3,000 administrators. The group will issue several follow-up reports later this year on specific topics, such as online learning. The reports will summarize survey findings related to those topics as well as information drawn from case studies and interviews.
“We’ve been polling students ... on how they are using technology for school work, but that’s not necessarily in school or directed by the teacher,” said Julie Evans, the chief executive officer of Project Tomorrow, the Irvine, Calif.-based organization that sponsors the annual survey “We see how creatively and innovatively students are taking the technology tools available for them and leveraging them for learning.”
Students Suggest Changes
Between the 2007 and the current survey, for example, there was a 150 percent jump in the proportion of students using Facebook and other social-networking sites to work with their peers on group projects for school.
Most of the high school students surveyed, however, do not believe that they are being well prepared for the technology demands of the marketplace. Large proportions of the middle and high school respondents say they are inhibited from using technology effectively in school, because of restrictions on computer time, blocks on access to Web sites, or a prohibition against mobile devices.
The findings may be particularly useful this year, Ms. Evans said, given that schools and districts will be looking for effective ways to use federal stimulus funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to expand the use of technology in schools.
The report outlines some of the suggestions student participants have offered for improving the use of educational technology in their schools, including: greater access to Web tools and lessons in electronic formats, such as PowerPoint presentations and podcasts; use of educational games and simulations; and links to videoconferences from subject-area experts.
“For most students,” the report concludes, “technology is an integral part of their toolkit for participating in the world.”
Vol. 28, Issue 27
The article offers up an interesting (and complex) question of the balance between the new social emphasis of the Internet and other "web 2.0" tools and the classical classroom-based educational system. The entire text of the article is below:
Schools Seen as Inhibiting Student Tech. Use
By Kathleen Kennedy Manzo
Premium article access courtesy of Edweek.org.
Read more FREE content!
Printer-Friendly
Email Article
Reprints
Comments (2)
addthis_url = story.getEncryptedURI(false);
addthis_title = story.getTitle(false);
addthis_pub = 'edweek';
Students are using personal technology tools more readily to study subject matter, collaborate with classmates, and complete assigments than they were several years ago, but they are generally asked to “power down” at school and abandon the electronic resources they rely on for learning outside of class, according to a survey of educators, parents, and teenagers.
Teachers, for the most part, are not taking advantage of the tools that middle and high school students have widely adopted for home and school purposes, according to the sixth annual report of the Speak Up National Research Project. Those students should be given a more formal role in determining how new technology—particularly mobile devices, such as smartphones, and Web 2.0 tools, like social-networking sites–can be tapped to improve schooling, a report on the survey findings suggests.
“Our nation’s students are in fact a ‘Digital Advance Team’ illuminating the path for how to leverage emerging technologies effectively for teaching and learning,” the report says.
Students, the report argues, are trendsetters in using technology in their personal lives and, more recently, to organize and complete schoolwork.
“Today’s students are early adopters and adapters of new technologies, creating new uses for a myriad of technology products to meet their sophisticated needs,” it says. “They can be predictors or at least harbingers of how technology could be used to transform education.”
Of course, many educators and learning experts warn against adopting new technologies in schools simply because students are adept at using those technologies. They say the primary goal of technology adoption for K-12 classrooms should be to enhance learning.
Selected findings from the extensive survey project were released March 24 by Project Tomorrow. More than 280,000 K-12 students across the country took part in the 2008 online poll, along with 28,000 teachers, 21,000 parents, and 3,000 administrators. The group will issue several follow-up reports later this year on specific topics, such as online learning. The reports will summarize survey findings related to those topics as well as information drawn from case studies and interviews.
“We’ve been polling students ... on how they are using technology for school work, but that’s not necessarily in school or directed by the teacher,” said Julie Evans, the chief executive officer of Project Tomorrow, the Irvine, Calif.-based organization that sponsors the annual survey “We see how creatively and innovatively students are taking the technology tools available for them and leveraging them for learning.”
Students Suggest Changes
Between the 2007 and the current survey, for example, there was a 150 percent jump in the proportion of students using Facebook and other social-networking sites to work with their peers on group projects for school.
Most of the high school students surveyed, however, do not believe that they are being well prepared for the technology demands of the marketplace. Large proportions of the middle and high school respondents say they are inhibited from using technology effectively in school, because of restrictions on computer time, blocks on access to Web sites, or a prohibition against mobile devices.
The findings may be particularly useful this year, Ms. Evans said, given that schools and districts will be looking for effective ways to use federal stimulus funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to expand the use of technology in schools.
The report outlines some of the suggestions student participants have offered for improving the use of educational technology in their schools, including: greater access to Web tools and lessons in electronic formats, such as PowerPoint presentations and podcasts; use of educational games and simulations; and links to videoconferences from subject-area experts.
“For most students,” the report concludes, “technology is an integral part of their toolkit for participating in the world.”
Vol. 28, Issue 27
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Wooden's Puzzlers and The Spring Season
The great basketball coach John Wooden asked in his book, Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the Court, the following questions:
1. Why is it so much easier to be negative than positive?
2. Why do we dread adversity when we know that facing it is the only way to become stronger, smarter, better?
Wooden calls these "puzzlers" and the format in which he presents them suggests these questions may never be answered to everyone's satisfaction. For many middle school aged children sports and other extra-curricular activities offer a concrete experience that begins their journey towards answers to these questions.
In sports, plenty of opportunities arise to be negative instead of positive as well as avoid adversity. What we hope at Calvert is the Honor Code (encompassed in Moral Courage, Selfless Service, and Commitment) provides a framework within which players and coaches can beginn to untangle the complexity of these questions.
Whether it be the selfless act of helping an opponent off the court after a charge, the courageous act of penalizing yourself a stroke in golf because of an infraction that noone saw but you, or the commitment of a player to constant practice, sports is often the clearest way for a student to see honor in action.
As the spring season gears up, and coaches begin to implement game plans and strategies, we believe the Honor Code will be an integral part of the team's season. Onlookers will see handshakes after games, a helping hand on the field, and smiles resulting from the expression of honor in one of its most visible ways: athletic endeavor.
Please come see our athletes this spring. Schedules can be found on the web at: http://www.calvertschool.org/athletics/spring-sports/
Please also check out the link to John Wooden's webpage on the left hand side of this blog.
1. Why is it so much easier to be negative than positive?
2. Why do we dread adversity when we know that facing it is the only way to become stronger, smarter, better?
Wooden calls these "puzzlers" and the format in which he presents them suggests these questions may never be answered to everyone's satisfaction. For many middle school aged children sports and other extra-curricular activities offer a concrete experience that begins their journey towards answers to these questions.
In sports, plenty of opportunities arise to be negative instead of positive as well as avoid adversity. What we hope at Calvert is the Honor Code (encompassed in Moral Courage, Selfless Service, and Commitment) provides a framework within which players and coaches can beginn to untangle the complexity of these questions.
Whether it be the selfless act of helping an opponent off the court after a charge, the courageous act of penalizing yourself a stroke in golf because of an infraction that noone saw but you, or the commitment of a player to constant practice, sports is often the clearest way for a student to see honor in action.
As the spring season gears up, and coaches begin to implement game plans and strategies, we believe the Honor Code will be an integral part of the team's season. Onlookers will see handshakes after games, a helping hand on the field, and smiles resulting from the expression of honor in one of its most visible ways: athletic endeavor.
Please come see our athletes this spring. Schedules can be found on the web at: http://www.calvertschool.org/athletics/spring-sports/
Please also check out the link to John Wooden's webpage on the left hand side of this blog.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Information Literacy Resources
In preparation for the Internet Safety Night tonight, as well as our long term projects in 5th-8th grade, Mr. Ewen found this site on website evaluation. It is a great way to introduce your child (or yourself) to the variety of ways to validate the information they glean from the web. Check it out:
http://novemberlearning.com/resources/information-literacy-resources/
http://novemberlearning.com/resources/information-literacy-resources/
Monday, February 2, 2009
2007-2008 vs. 2008-2009 Referral Comparison
As Dean of Students, I think it is important to track the progress of the student body over the course of a year in order to determine trends in behavior. It also benefits the teachers and students to see a variety of data that provides an opportunity for reflection and discussion. Last week, I quickly ran some numbers comparing last year's referral statistics to this years. I found the total number of referrals (excluding uniform referrals - a neverending battle with middle school aged children) dropped 40%.
It is a testament to the students and teachers for striving each day to make Calvert a place for selfless servants, moral courage, and commitment to community.
Total Referrals Through January 2008: 196
Total Referrals Through January 2009: 117
Represents a 40% reduction
It is a testament to the students and teachers for striving each day to make Calvert a place for selfless servants, moral courage, and commitment to community.
Total Referrals Through January 2008: 196
Total Referrals Through January 2009: 117
Represents a 40% reduction
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