Student Voice

I have always been a proponent of student voice in the classroom and greater school community. Mrs. Royce and her Character Connection Class (CCC) invited me to attend their class. In meeting with Mrs. Royce’s CCC, the students wanted to share their insight, thoughts, and ways to improve the use of our “annual theme” at Francis Howell Middle. This year’s theme Whale Done! The Power of Positive Relationships was the focus of CCC discussion. The class created a PowerPoint presentation that outlined the strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement with this year’s theme. Using similarities and differences the class analyzed the theme in relation to last year’s theme How Full is Your Bucket? They explained that this year’s theme did not live up to the school’s traditional “theme” standards. They voiced their concern of how they were disconnected from the theme, the lack to continuity, and how the theme was not embedded throughout the school community.

Following their presentation they sat quietly waiting for my reply or “rebuttal”.  First I thanked them for making the time during CCC to discuss, plan, and create this PowerPoint presentation. Secondly, I explained that I was impressed with the way they collected their thoughts and shared their opinions about the theme in a positive and productive manner. I reminded them of the importance of “student voice” in our school and without their voiced input, we cannot truly move forward in supporting their educational endeavors. Simply stated, we need their valued input. I shared with the class that there were definite facets of the theme that we failed to roll out in a way that would connect the students to the theme.

I am so proud of this CCC and their endeavor to reach out to me by sharing their voice in a matter that is very dear to our school community. On that day, I became the student and they led me through an empowering and empowered lesson on student voice. I am proud to be the principal of a school where my students have been affirmed and know that it is “ok” to speak their mind when they have a concern, question, or thought on the subject of “their” education. 

Apps, Mobile Devices, Special Services, and PLNs

Mobile devices and apps can make a positive impact on specialized instruction. This can be observed in a myriad of positive interventions in multiple classroom settings. Apps for the iPad are numerous. The individualized Professional Learning Network (aka PLN) for all content areas is something that we must promote with our teachers and administrative teams.The link below directs you to Spectronics' blog article "Integrating iPads Into Your classroom: For learning Support & Special Education". The article provides an endless list of apps and programs that will benefit the Special Services Department and students within our schools. Through the PLN teachers can discover information such as this:
http://www.spectronicsinoz.com/online/resource/integrating-ipads-handout/.

By simply tapping into this rich resource our teachers will discover an entirely new wealth of information and support which is literally at their finger tips. As I scrolled through the article was taken aback by the depth and breadth of the information and technology that was available from this single resource. SO, just imagine what is "out there" if this is indicative of one single article, website, Blog and/or Twitter post. It's just another way for educators to take that next step into discovering new ways to enrich education for our students and themselves alike.

BYOD…meeting the students where they are

           

Green chalkboards, Encyclopedias, Poster Projects, worksheets, and flashcards are all ways we adults learned when we were in school. So needless to say, today we should not be using these “Best Practices” of the 20^th century. As educators we need to begin to “unlearn” many things in order to move forward. By doing this we can then transition into the educational side of Social Media.

Our students “power down” the moment they step off the bus and enter the “school house”. This should not be the case. We must challenge and meet our students where they are, not where we feel the most comfortable. So, with BYOD as an active learning, student engagement piece of the puzzle at my middle school we are seeing the tide turn and students are beginning to tap into social media at school in a way they could never do so before. Going green is just one positive by product of this new venue of education.

Watching the students engage via Skype, Blogging, SchoolTube, Glogster, Edmodo, and Poll Everywhere (just to name a few), it is truly exciting to see them actively engaged as digital natives. Since we are preparing our students for jobs that do not even exist, it is best that we continue to join with them in this technological endeavor so that we can, for now, provide for them an educational atmosphere conducive to their way of learning.