When our district public relations committee created the architecture for this year's Laconia School District Education Fair, finding a theme to suggest for Woodland Heights School was no difficult affair. It was determined in short order that our theme would be '21st Century Learning, Each and Every Day'.
Since the announcement was made, our students and staff have been excitedly making arrangements for their opportuunity to showcase the products of our technology in education initiative this year. Every WHS classroom, department and program will have information to share, student work to show and demonstrations to make in order to share with our guests some of what we have been working on this year. We are proud to share our accomplishments, and we hope that you will be pleased and impressed.
One interesting example of how this project has unfolded, and right in step with 21st Century Learning, our 5th Graders formed a cooperative work group and have been brainstorming, organizing, and preparing their pod's EdFair displays and demonstrations. Other examples of 21st Century Learning in Pod 5 were also readily observed last week; students could be seen around the school mapping out video 'shoots', and in the Commons uploading and editing their work. They were recording audio commentary on their netbooks to accompany a recent Social Studies civics project. Providing a global education aspect, our 5th Graders conducted online research on the recent tragedies in Japan and then organized and publicized a school-based relief effort. Some of this experiential learning has been recorded by the students on their class blog, which is linked from their class wiki. All of this is representative of just one grade level, and just some of the projects and examples of 21st Century Learning that I noticed in Pod 5 over the past week.
Elsewhere around the building, students are alerting their teachers at every turn that "We can show this to our parents at EdFair!" Their enthusiasm for learning beyond the textbook, workbook and basal is unbridled, and has been hugely satisfying to watch take root and grow here at Woodland. Our growth process has been 'organic' and student-centered, unfolding at a natural pace in response to increasing student capabilities in all the diverse ways that learning can take form in a modern, technology-infused, opportunity-enriched, and student-centered elementary school.
Technology and learning go hand in hand here at Woodland Heights School, and as the teachers and students will tell you at EdFair, there is no turning back now. Once students and teachers have experienced 21st Century Learning with 21st Century Learning Tools, they can't imagine living and learning any other way. Our learning process is absolutely an appropriate and natural result of 'moving with the times' to best prepare our students for success in the world in which they currently live, and to prepare them for success in the world that they will soon inherit. Any other approach would be unethical, and a breach of our professional responsibility to provide a meaningful education for our students.
Laconia 'EdFair - 2011' should be a great night at Woodland Heights School. Please join us at 5:30pm. on Thursday, March 31st, for an hour of wonder and marvel as our students show you what is special about their school and how they learn. WHS is a very special school community, and we are not afraid to tell you about it. As we have grown accustomed to saying: "We are Woodland Heights, ... and this is what we do."
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Professional Development Opportunities Abound at WHS!
Due to a number of skillfully written grants, Woodland Heights is pleased and proud to offer its staff a number of 'powerful' learning opportunities this spring to further their professional growth and promote their effectiveness with students. The opportunities fall under the following categories:
A.] Book Study Groups > Over the course of the spring, our staff will read, study, and discuss the following important works in our field: Mosaic of Thought, Second Edition (reading comprehension and thinking), Leading and Managing a Differentiated Classroom (accounting for student differences in ability and interest), and Enhancing RtI: How to Ensure Success with Effective Classroom Instruction and Intervention (refining school processes for addressing the needs of struggling learners).
B.] Professional Learning Community (PLC) Meetings > Our school's Literacy Coach (Joanna Bergman) is meeting weekly with our grade level teacher teams to study the book, Strategies that Work. Mrs. Bergman and WHS teachers are discussing the book and planning for direct application of its 'strategies' into our school's evolving literacy program.
C.] Work with Consultants > We will soon begin work at WHS with Mahesh Sharma, a nationally-renowned consultant in the area of mthematics instruction. Also, we anticipate doing work with professors from our partner school, Plymouth State University, in the area of literacy model development (reading, comprhending, and writing) a little later in the spring and upcoming summer.
D.] College Coursework > Through the Plymouth State University Writing Project, a number of our teachers will have the opportunity to take a writing course designed to meet their specific needs in the strengthening of writing instruction strategies and techniques at Woodland Heights.
E.] Workshops > There have been, and will continue to be, opportunities for our teachers and staff to participate in day-long workshops to promote their growth in key, discrete areas. The most notable upcoming opportunity will be in mid-April when Dr. Richard Allington (a nationally acclaimed and prolific writer, thinker, and trainer in the area of improving student literacy) will be featured in a New Hampshire Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (NHASCD) conference relating to methods for assisting struggling readers ("RtI and What Really Matters for Struggling Readers").
F.] Conferences > There will be two major conferences held after the close of the school year that we will have the opportunity to attend in order to further advance key schoolwide initiatives. We will continue our work in these areas into the coming (next) school year, and beyond. WHS will be sending a team of staff to the annual convention of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) to participate in a series of rigorous trainings in technology integration and 21st Century Learning. We will also send a team to the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) regional conference where teachers will participate in an institute relating to the commonality and shared goals of Response to Intervention (RtI) and Differentiated Instruction (DI) -- "Differentiated Instruction and Response to Intervention: Shared Goals for Student Success".
We are delighted for the opportunity to share these learning experiences with our staff. Our Woodland Heights teachers and paraprofessionals have embraced these opportunities with energy and enthusiasm. As members of the WHS learning community, we continually strive to become more proficient and more effective in our work with children, building the best school and providing the best learning opportunities possible for all of our students.
Stay tuned for more information available over the course of upcoming months about how our program may evolve as a result of these tremendous professional development and school improvement opportunities.
A.] Book Study Groups > Over the course of the spring, our staff will read, study, and discuss the following important works in our field: Mosaic of Thought, Second Edition (reading comprehension and thinking), Leading and Managing a Differentiated Classroom (accounting for student differences in ability and interest), and Enhancing RtI: How to Ensure Success with Effective Classroom Instruction and Intervention (refining school processes for addressing the needs of struggling learners).
B.] Professional Learning Community (PLC) Meetings > Our school's Literacy Coach (Joanna Bergman) is meeting weekly with our grade level teacher teams to study the book, Strategies that Work. Mrs. Bergman and WHS teachers are discussing the book and planning for direct application of its 'strategies' into our school's evolving literacy program.
C.] Work with Consultants > We will soon begin work at WHS with Mahesh Sharma, a nationally-renowned consultant in the area of mthematics instruction. Also, we anticipate doing work with professors from our partner school, Plymouth State University, in the area of literacy model development (reading, comprhending, and writing) a little later in the spring and upcoming summer.
D.] College Coursework > Through the Plymouth State University Writing Project, a number of our teachers will have the opportunity to take a writing course designed to meet their specific needs in the strengthening of writing instruction strategies and techniques at Woodland Heights.
E.] Workshops > There have been, and will continue to be, opportunities for our teachers and staff to participate in day-long workshops to promote their growth in key, discrete areas. The most notable upcoming opportunity will be in mid-April when Dr. Richard Allington (a nationally acclaimed and prolific writer, thinker, and trainer in the area of improving student literacy) will be featured in a New Hampshire Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (NHASCD) conference relating to methods for assisting struggling readers ("RtI and What Really Matters for Struggling Readers").
F.] Conferences > There will be two major conferences held after the close of the school year that we will have the opportunity to attend in order to further advance key schoolwide initiatives. We will continue our work in these areas into the coming (next) school year, and beyond. WHS will be sending a team of staff to the annual convention of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) to participate in a series of rigorous trainings in technology integration and 21st Century Learning. We will also send a team to the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) regional conference where teachers will participate in an institute relating to the commonality and shared goals of Response to Intervention (RtI) and Differentiated Instruction (DI) -- "Differentiated Instruction and Response to Intervention: Shared Goals for Student Success".
We are delighted for the opportunity to share these learning experiences with our staff. Our Woodland Heights teachers and paraprofessionals have embraced these opportunities with energy and enthusiasm. As members of the WHS learning community, we continually strive to become more proficient and more effective in our work with children, building the best school and providing the best learning opportunities possible for all of our students.
Stay tuned for more information available over the course of upcoming months about how our program may evolve as a result of these tremendous professional development and school improvement opportunities.
'ARTS ALIVE!': A Celebration of the Arts Laconia
During the week of March 14-18 a special celebration of the arts is being held at the historic Belknap Mill Museum in downtown Laconia. Visual art exhibits from each of the Laconia district schools will on display for visitors to enjoy and appreciate. Art students and teachers from each of our elementary schools, as well as Laconia Middle and High Schools, have been working hard to create and display amazing works of art that have students beaming and parents proud as punch. Additionally, the event featured musical performances (both vocal and instrumental) on Monday evening as part of the show's 'Grand Opening'.
As a school community we are especially pleased to highlight the arts in this fashion, and to participate in a collaborative project with our counterparts in other local school districts and with the arts community here in Laconia. After all, many people consider our capacity to create and appreciate art to be the part of us that is most uniquely human. The arts and the effort to create them appeal to the higher part of ourselves, the highest part of our intellect. The creative/artistic process is important in our overall school program, and complements all that we do. We strive to teach and cultivate the arts at Woodland Heights: discretely in our related arts classes, in an integrated fashion through our regular classroom coursework, and through various enrichment opportunities available in our school.
The arts are alive and well in the City of Laconia. I hope that you will have an opportunity to stop by the show and see the creative works that our students and teachers have been producing.
As a school community we are especially pleased to highlight the arts in this fashion, and to participate in a collaborative project with our counterparts in other local school districts and with the arts community here in Laconia. After all, many people consider our capacity to create and appreciate art to be the part of us that is most uniquely human. The arts and the effort to create them appeal to the higher part of ourselves, the highest part of our intellect. The creative/artistic process is important in our overall school program, and complements all that we do. We strive to teach and cultivate the arts at Woodland Heights: discretely in our related arts classes, in an integrated fashion through our regular classroom coursework, and through various enrichment opportunities available in our school.
The arts are alive and well in the City of Laconia. I hope that you will have an opportunity to stop by the show and see the creative works that our students and teachers have been producing.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)