October Post

As this year progresses, I become more and more concerned about how we are preparing our students for a 21st century workforce. I am seeing the use of technology decrease at ACHS because teachers are having a difficult time adjusting to using technology and still adhering to Teach for Success. That's not to say that teachers aren't using any technology, the problem is they are not teaching students how to create and use technology. I think we, as Global Learners, need to create lessons to model how we can help students learn how to use technology and be innovative while still following the guidelines for Teach for Success and aligning to the curriculum.

Another concern developed this month when the English 2A teachers were told they have to abruptly end their research project. The reasoning was researching and writing a research paper does not prepare students for the district assessment and therefore does not prepare students for CSAP. The amount of time and energy the students and teachers put into the project was dismissed, and we had to have the students create an unfinished portfolio rather than allowing them to synthesize their research and write a paper. You can view the research project on my web page (the link is listed below). You will see that the skills the students were developing with the research project would have absolutely prepared students for any assessment, but more importantly would have taught them how to independently evaluate and synthesize information. What 21st century skill is more important for our students than research?

We need to be careful of the messages we are sending our students. The students' needs should always come first.

On a positive note, I had a successful interactive blog with the English 2A teachers this month and the students really enjoyed the experience. Please review the rubric posted on my web page.

http://sites.google.com/site/sophomoreenglishachs/home