Thursday, December 9, 2010

Chapter 6 Closing the Gap: Schools That Work

This chapter talked about a particular school in the San Diego area, High Tech High. They had three design principles for High School-1) personalization 2) real world connections 3) common intellectual missions. The schools philosophy is hands-on learning to show what they know. The students gain group work skills and problem solving skills.
Their goals were to:
1)serve a student body that mirrors the ethnic and socioeconomic diversity of the local community.
2) Integrate technical and academic education to prepare students for post-secondary education in both high tech and liberal arts fields.
3)Increase the number of educationally disadvantaged students in math and engineering who succeed in high school and post-secondary education.
4)Graduate students who will be thoughtful, engaged citizens.

What they are trying to accomplish is to create future leaders who have a sense of who they are, have a passion with purpose, and have a set of skills. They wanted them to be able to think, to work in groups, and to work independantly.
They don't teach to the test. The teaching is different, because they focus on individual students needs. Getting them work ready. They work on team-building and working together when they're working in a projecte-based environment.

They judge teachers by the quality of their students work. All teachers are on a one-year contract. They hire alot of young teachers because they get it. Many teachers who are experienced often don't get it.

Students are engaging in classes-not just being lectured to. The students have to complete a ten-week internship with a local company or organization. The skills that the students are expected to master before graduation are:
The Habits of Learning
1)Inquiry-showing intellectual curiosity and wonder about the world. You ask thoughtful questions, and seek out their answers.
2)Expression-communicate honestly what you know or want to know, and what you believe or feel.
3)Critical Thinking-analyze, synthesize, and draw conclusions from information.
4)Collaboration-contribute to the overall effort of a group
5)Organization-sift through ideas and data, arranging them wisely and maing sense of them.
6)Attentiveness-focusing on the task at hand, observing and taking in the information you need to do it well.
7)Involvement-taking the initiative to participate in the process of learning.
8)Reflection-review and think about your actions and the work you produce, with the purpose of learning more about yourself and the work.

3 comments:

  1. I thought the chapter on High Tech High was very interesting. The High Tech High CEO Larry Rosenstock realized that seperating kids by educational track vocational vs. college preparation was not the right thing to do. To keep students interested they can have input on what projects they do, they do a ten-week internship,and they work on projects with other students.One student commented that,"projects make us figure things out-we're always planning, organizing,working on a team." (pg 227).
    At High Tech High teachers are assessed by what students can do rather than how well they test.

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  2. The term that caught my attention in this chapter was "interest-based learning" page 232. Students are able to develop a learning plan according to their individual interests. The seniors in my school district have to complete a Senior Experience project to graduate. I have always enjoyed watching students engage in their own learning desires.

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  3. I really enjoyed Chapter 6, even though I felt a like I was reading fiction - schools like this really exist? How different they are from my school! I found the Teacher Viewpoint section on pages 248 - 249 to be very interesting. What makes it work?

    Teacher responses:

    1. co - taught classes with 2 hour common planning each day ~ nice!
    2. early release each Wednesday - 2.5 hours each week to : a). analyze student work b). participate in professional development c). meet with like departements ~ cool!
    3. 1 day per month teachers spend analyzing student work to reflect on effective teaching strategies ~ isn't this what we always want our students to do - look back and learn?
    4. everything is public ~ professionals coming into schools to offer 'real' feedback on real hand-on projects
    5. teachers feel valued. Why? a). they are teaching skills NOT information b). the SCHOOL shares in the responsibility of student success c). authentic relationships are built d). the tough conversations are had - no one turns a blind eye in the hopes that someone else will deal with the problem/situation

    Wow...if only....

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