What’s for lunch?
Campus Parkway
Q: Who is supposed to plow the snow on Campus Parkway?
A: Campus Parkway is a county road, therefore, the Washtenaw County Road Commission is responsible for maintaining the road including snow removal.
Q: Since Saline Area Schools has snow plows to clean the school lots, why can’t you just clean Campus Parkway too?
A: Attempting to clear this street could result in serious legal and liability issues for the district.
Q: Can residents call the Washtenaw County Road Commission about the condition of the road when it is bad?
A: Yes. We often call and report when the road is significantly icy and snow covered.
Another issue with Campus Parkway is the high volume of traffic it gets, particularly before and after school at Saline High School. As part of the February 22nd Bond Extension, we are planning to address the issue by adding a third lane in front of the school. The current plan calls for adding approximately 450 feet of roadway to allow cars turning left into either the west/pool lot or the front/visitor lot to enter a turn lane. This would allow eastbound traffic to pass by and access the east lot or Harvest Elementary School.
Digital vs. Paper
One focus area of our secondary Reading Apprenticeship professional development discussions this year has been the issue of the digital interface in reading. Specifically, does the digital nature of the text impact reading comprehension?
A recent article from the Middle School Journal explored a study comparing students who read texts online and those who read conventional print versions. When asked questions about main ideas and general themes, the online and print readers performed at comparable levels. However, when asked about important details and specific information, online readers did significantly worse than print readers.
Why did this happen? The researchers found that online readers were less focused than print readers. Even though they weren’t allowed to, online readers wanted to click on links and start reading related pages, click to see pictures, go to the online dictionary, and check their e-mail. These distractions kept them from reading as methodically as the print readers. According the researchers, “We cannot assume that skill in reading conventional text will transfer to online reading without modeling and explicit instruction.”
They suggest some ways to help students read online material more carefully:
Establish purpose. Students are more likely to focus on specific content if they know why they are reading a passage. Is it for pleasure, the main idea, the author’s perspective, or specific details?
Model. Modeling and thinking out loud is especially important when gleaning information from the Internet. Here’s an example of a science teacher doing this: “This line is confusing to me. It says, ‘The water cycle has no starting point.’ How could that be? I have to find the details to support this main idea. I see a graphic here with the same words on it that are underlined in the text. I think I’ll read more about each term and then come back to the main idea to see if I understand the details that support it.”
Use graphic organizers. Even if students know how to use these with print reading, they don’t carry over to online reading. There are several programs that can help, including Inspiration and Webspiration.
Facilitate discussions. “Learning is a social endeavor, and people tend to learn better when they get to talk with others about what they are learning,” say the researchers. They suggest getting students to blog and instant-message as they read online and unpack the meaning and details of passages.
Slow down. “Teachers have to remind students that reading is not a race,” say the authors. “While fluency is important, and exceptionally slow reading will interfere with comprehension, it is important to note that different types of texts and different purposes for reading require different reading speeds… Reading more slowly and deliberately also provides readers time to activate relevant background information, make connections, visualize, infer, predict, and even disagree with the author – in other words, to mobilize all of the strategies they have been taught.”
Here are two videos, with different viewpoints, about the issue of digital literacy.
Click the link to view the second video – Reading More, Learning Less
The Dangers of Texting and Driving
This a video from AT&T about the dangers of texting and driving. A good reminder that we all need to focus on the road when driving.
Will 2011 be the year we move to a campus model?
There is a movement that seems to have started out of necessity and driven by shrinking budgets that has now become an instructional movement. The idea is to let students decide what type of internet connected device they want to use at school. For example, the Bond Extension on the February 22nd ballot contains a significant investment in our wifi network that would support this model.
There are a lot of logistical questions… Our policies would need to be changed to welcome portable technologies. We would need to continue our focus on maintaining user safety and data security. We would need to seriously invest in our wifi network to make sure students and staff could effectively access the resources and information available on the internet. We would need to develop a strategy to provide devices for those who might not be able to afford them. The list goes on….
The questions are not barriers. They are simply hurdles. I think about all of the portable technology that arrived in the hands of our students in the last two weeks. (Have you been to the local Apple Store lately? The place is a zoo!) I think about the level of excitement that our students experience when using technology…. it’s time we get serious about turning that excitement into engaged learning.
Open Education
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to listen to Salman Khan. Mr. Khan is the Founder, Executive Director, and Faculty of the Khan Academy. He started the Khan Academy as a way to tutor his cousins remotely–while he was a hedge fund analyst in Boston, and they were students in New Orleans. He started posting videos on YouTube, and more and more people kept watching…. including Bill Gates, who has stated he uses the tutorials with his own children.
Mr. Khan made a very interesting comment during his presentation.
He stated “never before in history has information and instructional materials that are used by the richest people in the world to educate their children also been available to everyone.”
There are numerous implications of this type of open education on traditional public schools. I feel that many are beneficial, including what I see as the leading benefit right now – these resources are available to all of us…. for free!
Here are a few excellent examples of other Internet resources for teachers and students at different levels:
• National History Education Clearinghouse – http://teachinghistory.org – Extensive links to primary sources and guides for grades K-12.
• Library of Congress – http://www.loc.gov/teachers – The world’s largest library features tools for using primary sources, with links to collections of documents and images on a range of topics as well as online training resources.
• National Archives – http://www.archives.gov/education – Multiple ways to explore interactive collections of primary sources.
Does It Matter Where You Go to College?
New York Times columnist Gail Collins shared some interesting thoughts when she noted that the national fixation on where students attend college makes little sense. The discussion moved to the “Room for Debate” section and included several experts with differing views on the issue. There are some compelling arguments on both sides of the debate.
- A long-term study of 6,335 college graduates published by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that graduating from a college where entering students have higher SAT scores — one marker of elite colleges — didn’t pay off in higher post-graduation income.
- Yet researchers have long found it difficult to tease out the labor market effects of college quality versus other characteristics that employers reward. The problem is that students who attend selective schools are likely to have higher earnings potential regardless of where they attend college for the very same reasons that they were admitted to the more selective schools in the first place.
- If you attend a highly selective college, the per pupil expenditure is $92,000, compared with just $12,000 at the least selective colleges.
- Researchers found that students who applied to several elite schools but didn’t attend them — either because of rejection or by their own choice — are more likely to earn high incomes later than students who actually attended elite schools.
In a summary of the findings, the bureau says that “evidently, students’ motivation, ambition and desire to learn have a much stronger effect on their subsequent success than average academic ability of their classmates.”
Thank You – Paul Hynek
At the December 14th Board of Education meeting, Trustee Paul Hynek was recognized for his 4 and 1/2 years of service to the Saline community. Board President David Friese presented him with a plaque to honor his service and commitment to Saline Area Schools.
(Left to Right - Paul Hynek, David Friese)
Woodie Merchant
It is worthy of note this busy Holiday Season that Woodie Merchant passed away on December 8th. At 88, Woodie’s physical health had deteriorated, but not her spirit. Along with many in the community, I had the opportunity to attend her funeral on Monday and celebrate Woodie and a life well lived.
Woodie was a longtime Board of Education member and a founding member of the Foundation for Saline Area Schools. I had the pleasure of knowing Woodie and learned a great deal about the history of Saline Area Schools from my conversations with her over the years. I always appreciated her perspective, positive attitude and sense of humor. Sitting with Woodie, you quickly understood how much she loved the Saline community and in particular the students in our school system.
I think about the saying, “standing on the shoulders of giants” and how in many ways our community has been built on the shoulders of citizens like Woodie Merchant.
Her legacy lives on….
Race to Nowhere
Last week I had the chance to attend a screening of Race to Nowhere, along with Saline High School teachers Jennifer Denzin and Jeff Pike. The tag line for the film is, “The Dark Side of America’s Achievement Culture”….. and it lived up to that billing. The film focused heavily on the issue of homework and “over scheduled” families as it pointed to the negative impact that the current pace has on the health of students both mentally and physically .
I was left with the feeling that too often in the current system, particularly in communities like Saline, students focus on working the system instead of the learning. As educators we also need to reflect on the system we have created to prepare our students. Do we cultivate the “dark side of the achievement culture” with how we have set up the system?
Ms. Denzin and Mr. Pike both expressed that the film raised serious questions that we need to consider as look to provide opportunities for our students to develop a love of learning.
The film certainly raises some important questions and is worth seeing if it is screened locally. I am hopeful we can secure a screening in Saline in the near future.
Here is the trailer….
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