You Can Get a Dalton Education at a NYC Public School

My boyfriend recently shared that his friend spends nearly $100,000 PER YEAR to put his 3 kids through private schooling in New York City. “Why?” I asked. “The NYC DOE has some of the best schools in the world.” He shared that his friend believed his “privileged” status caused him to feel this was something he was obligated to do to maintain his family’s standing among their peers. Additionally, he believes because of the world folks like his friend are involved in, there is little knowledge that a solid education is available in public schools. Unfortunately for people like his friend, and for public schools, they will continue to pour more than a million dollars in private education rather than placing their energy toward a school system that could provide the same education for free.

I visited one of those schools today. A school that Barbara Slatin says is comparable to the private Dalton-type schools of New York City. Slatin is the Principal of PS/MS 188 – The Island School where staff strives to nurture the Multiple Intelligences of all students through a rigorous program for talent development using the Schoolwide Enrichment Model. Through this model the school staff systematically identifies student’s strengths, nurtures skills, and creates authentic opportunities for students to utilize these skills not just as students, but as practicing professionals providing experiences and opportunities to work and learn with others in the fields in which they are interested. These opportunities create pathways for future study, employment and lifelong pursuits. This is one of those schools where the world inside the school walls mirrors that which students will experience out in the real world.

I was fortunate to be invited to spend the day at the school where I visited numerous students, teachers, and rooms. As I weathered the elements to make my way to the school on a cold, windy, rainy day, I nearly missed the school which was tucked away in the bottom corner of Manhattan and hidden by scaffolding. The journey was well worth the effort. Upon entering I discovered an Oasis for journalists, artists, movie makers, scientists, dancers, writers, violinists, actors, percussionists and more. Note the word “future” does not precede the description of these students. They are practicing professionals with authentic work, for authentic purposes and authentic audiences. Every student at The Island School knows “They’ve Got Talent” and they are at a school that fosters and nurtures the development of these talents. There is evidence throughout the school that this is their mantra.

As I walked through the halls I saw they were decorated with Art inspired by some of the artists I saw during my recent visit to renowned Art Basel Miami. The artwork is produced in the art class where I visited students producing amazing pieces that may also make their way as work displayed on the school walls. When speaking with the art teacher he shared that he is in talks with the local art galleries about exhibiting student work and is creating a school-based art gallery to display the student work as well.

When I entered the magnificent school theater, a student chorus was working with a professional musician from the Third Street Music School Settlement rehearsing a piece for the school show. Third Street is dedicated to providing quality arts instruction to young people who might otherwise never learn to sing, play an instrument or perform before an audience. The School is widely recognized as a training center for serious music students. While I was watching the children perform the principal explained that a couple of those students have been recognized by Rosie’s Broadway Kids to work with to develop as Broadway performers. The organization is an arts education organization dedicated to enriching the lives of children through the arts. Using professional teaching artists, Rosie’s Broadway Kids provides instruction in dance and music and a professional theater experience for children who might otherwise not have the opportunity. The organization does this at the Island School by collaborating each year with the school to produce a Broadway style show performed right in their own school. This gives them the opportunity to deeply know the students and accurately access who may be right for the limelight. They also host trips for students to attend Broadway shows.

Next stop was dance. The Island school has a dance studio complete with mirrored walls and a hardwood floor on which students can perform and practice. Students were rehearsing a self-choreographed number that they were very excited to perform for us. The dance class was facilitated by a teacher with a passion for dance who kept students dancing on beat and provided advice on stage presence and performance style.

As I continued through the school I was impressed with students who were taking a violin lesson meticulously working on a difficult piece of classical music. I then went on to watch a percussion drumming group. This group I learned was taught by a man with a psychology background who was interested in working with adolescents with anger management issues that could be resolved through drumming. The principal shared many of these students in addition to having behavior issues were also ADHD. You wouldn’t know any of this when watching them. The kids were energetic, focused and impressive. So much so that the principal explained these kids take their show on the road performing all around New York City at places like the Pierre Hotel and local retirement homes to enthusiastic audiences.

There really isn’t a moment where opportunities for talent development don’t exist at the school. At lunch time the learning continued where I witnessed students focused on working in their area of interest in the lunchroom. I saw a group of students working on a craft project with a teacher. I also noticed that many students were using internet accessible computers in the lunchroom which the principal explained were the result of their school custodian who refurbished old computers so they could be used by students at lunchtime. Students were also engaged in playing various sports they were passionate about.

As an instructional technology specialist with a background as a literacy coach and library media specialist, I was very excited about my visit to the Internet Café which serves as a technology center by day and a Scholar’s Lab by night. In the Café I met the school’s Techbrarian, Lou Lahana whose blog my colleague the Technomnivore recognizes in his post, “Techbrarian’s Blog is a treasure trove of amazing tech integration ideas.” Mr. Lahana, now a doctoral student at Teacher’s College was the founder and brains behind the creation of the center.

There I spoke with Sabrina who was one of Mr. Lahana’s many students who has a blog. You can read her blog, as well as the blogs of other students at Techbrarian: Talent Through Tech. Sabrina shared that the blog has been a terrific outlet for her to capture all her thoughts, ideas, and musings that previously were bursting to come out...sometimes, as she shared, much to the chagrin of fellow students and teachers. She explained that she often just had so much on her mind that she was excited about, that at times, others found her sharing a little much, but the blog has noticeably changed her personality for the better in the eyes of many at the school. Her blog has recently received some attention garnering a request to be a contributing blogger from the Gotham Schools which is a news source and online community for teachers, parents, policy makers, and journalists interested in learning about what works and what doesn’t in New York City schools.

Another place I encountered students with literary aspirations was in the schools beautiful library where we had a chance to speak with the journalism team who puts out the school’s monthly newsletter. When speaking with the students some shared that partaking in this group and having the opportunity to produce something that is the buzz in the school has provided an interest in possibly pursuing journalism as a career. One student mentioned how great it was to have teachers and students approaching to comment on and discuss the articles they produce.

Mr. Lahana explained one way that he masterfully combines the literary and digital talents of his

students is by involving them in digital movie making. He shared that he collaborates with the literacy and social studies teachers around the movies that students make. Most recently he challenged students to Turn your ELA Story to a Movie. He shared with his students that their writing was, “so good, they should be made into movies. He encouraged students to, “use this really cool site called XtraNormal, to create a scene (or many scenes) from your story.” You can visit his post for an example of this work. He also shared that students have produced iMovies that are entered in Film Festival contests and that the school is proud to have winners of the TriBeCa Film Festival. Another great example of bringing student work into the world outside the classroom.

Not only does great work happen during the day in the Internet Café, but it also occurs from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. each night as the Café turns into the Scholar’s Lab available for middle school students to increase academic success. On hand in the lab each night are pedagogues to foster academic growth across the content areas. It is at this lab that students can dive deeply into content areas with support from subject area instructional specialists.

The school has a many structures in place to allow for all the wonderful things happening there to occur. Classes at the school are taught by a mixture of NYC DOE pedagogues all with their own special talents to share with students, and experts from more than a dozen partner organizations. This allows the class sizes to be quite small since the number of those working with the students is increased. The principal also fosters talent development in her staff and encourages and funds professional development opportunities for staff members to develop various talents. Staff and students are surveyed on interests to inform the development of the school offerings. The school is in session from 8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. each day allowing for a well balanced day of enrichment classes and the traditional academic curriculum. In addition to enrichment opportunities available during the traditional school day, everyday from 3:45 – 5:15 students can select from a variety of enrichment activities including Playwriting, Sewing, Cooking, Songwriting, Chess, Football, Gymnastics, Basketball, Computer Animation, and more.

The principal shares that she serves as her student's Jewish-mother advocate—like those commonly seen at the Dalton’s of the world—for all her students and, she wants to ensure her students get the same type of education given to those students. I thank Principal Slatin and dedicate this post to those like the friend of my boyfriend who may be surprised to learn that a public education can rival, and even surpass, that of a costly private one. Perhaps if there were more people who didn’t fall into the vortex of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on an education so they could maintain their social status, and instead invested that time and energy into an education that would benefit both the advantaged and disadvantaged, all of New York City’s children and their families would be better off.

For more information visit the The Island School website and be sure to watch the school videos or the Techbrarian’s Blog.



Read Techbrarian’s Blog is a treasure trove of amazing tech integration ideas for an overview of the work of the school techbrarian and Techbrarian and Inspiration for your classroom blog.

You have read this article Innovative Schools / promising practices / school visits / Schoolwide Enrichment Model with the title Innovative Schools. You can bookmark this page URL https://benncam.blogspot.com/2008/12/you-can-get-dalton-education-at-nyc.html. Thanks!

The Power of 21st Century Teaching and Learning Brought to Life at Bronx Middle School CIS 339’s Open House

Today I had the pleasure of attending an open house at CIS 339, a middle school in the Bronx that shared how they were using 21^st Century learning tools to engage students and staff in all content areas across multiple platforms (iBooks, Asus Eee PCs, iPods, Dell laptops, SMARTBoards).

At the helm was the school’s technology coach, Christina Jenkins who did an incredible and professional job of putting this event together. Ms. Jenkins put together a program for the day that included the opportunity for visitors to see how a variety of tools such as blogs, digital video, SMARTBoards, Garageband, Google Docs, Google Maps, SMARTNotebook, and more were used in lessons to enhance instruction. Pulling off the event was not a difficult feat since the staff was showcasing the work that occurs on an ongoing basis at the school, and inviting the outside community to take a peak is what made this event special. Under the leadership of principal Jason Levy and AP Dan Ackerman, Ms. Jenkins with support from Cyber Consultant Pat Wagner spent the year putting the structures and professional development and support in place that was necessary to enable visitors to walk into an environment where it was instantly evident that 21^st Century tools have transformed the way teaching and learning occur. This has become ingrained into the fabric of the school to the point that this is just the way they do business. What has become second nature to the school in a short time is something that few other educators, administrators, or community members have seen or could even imagine. In addition to taking visitors on a learning walk to see how technology was used in lessons, the visit also included a comprehensive presentation that provided an overview of how they are enhancing teaching and learning with technology.

While talking about, reading, and attending professional development are all valuable endeavors, there is little else as powerful as seeing this in action to open other’s minds to the possibilities and clear many fears and misconceptions people have about using 21^st Century tools. You could see an example of this as we entered one classroom that was using wikis. Visitors were able to see how this teacher was using wikis to enhance instruction. Many people did not know that wikis could be used as a free content management system full with the ability to have unlimited file storage, and allow students and teachers to have moderated and private discussions about their work. To many, wikis had only the association of Wikipedia and they saw them as simply a tool to collaboratively write entries about various topics.

Showcasing A 21^st Century School is A Win-Win
CIS 339 invited educators and administrators interested in using 21^st Century tools from across the city. Not only did CIS 339 gain a tremendous amount by hosting this open house, they also gave a tremendous amount back. Hosting this open house provided staff and students an opportunity to share and celebrate the great work they have been doing all year. It also provided them with a realization that they are engaging in 21^st Century education in unique ways that others are interested in and hungry to learn more about. Additionally, by inviting the public to this open house they make a clear case that demonstrates how 21^st Century infrastructures such as ubiquitous computing and laptops for all is transforming education. This type of showcase also informs the way schools can be doing business. For instance visitors could see that they have transformed the work they do using mostly a full suite of free applications including email, word processing, presentation software, excel etc. They really do not need to buy any applications and don’t need a server for students to access their work anytime/anywhere. Google serves this need for them. Taking note of things like this informs visitors in ways that will transform the way they operate and the school makes a case for ongoing support and funding to keep 21^st education going. Here are some other lessons learned.

Web 2.0 Tools Enable Ongoing Feedback and Dialogue for Teacher Professional Development
Visitors also were able to see how the school uses collaborative documents to simplify and enhance administrative duties such as providing teacher feedback and professional development. All the school administrators and coaches have a feedback sheet that is shared with teachers. The feedback language is consistent across the school. When visiting a class feedback can be instantly provided for the teacher and the sheet is created in such a way that it is interactive and the teachers can respond to coaches and others so that dialogue and coaching can occur long after the lesson is over.

Asus Eee PCs in Action
CIS 339 is among the first schools to use the new Asus Eee PCs in the classroom. They have a couple hundred devices. A visit to the school enabled attendees to see first hand their effectiveness. I spoke to a couple teachers and several students who were very happy with the devices. Despite the reaction of some adults, the kids did not take issue with the keyboard or screen size. Many of them said they preferred the small size of the device and it fit their needs well. The class I visited keep all their work in Google Docs and that is where all student work is stored. All students share their documents with their teacher and the teacher explained how much easier it was for students to manage their work and for the teacher to find work from students because he could get all student’s work by simply typing their name in the search field of his Google Docs site.

Cyber Consultant
CIS 339 truly embraces and models 21^st education practices in much of what they do including with cyber consultant Pat Wagner who is based in Australia. While Pat does spend time across the year when he is physically at CIS 339, he also stays in constant connection and contact with students and staff. He does this in many ways including through virtual lessons and messages he provides to students through videos embedded into blogs that they can comment on as well as Skype online video conferencing professional development for teachers. This really drives home the idea of The Flat Classroom as students and teachers can see first-hand how with technology there really are no more barriers to connecting with experts, friends, and others anytime, anywhere, around the world.

Final Thoughts
I was already impressed with how CIS 339 Brought Professional Learning Communities Into The 21st Century. This open house enabled others to see how they accomplish this as well as engage in other transformative educational activities. As a result of this sharing, I am confident the practice of other educators will be transformed and will benefit all who have the opportunity to be involved. What impressed me most was how 21st Century tools were seamlessly embedded into the work they do at the school. It wasn't something that was spoken about it was just there. Like air to a human, it seemed the students and staff would only notice the technology if it was taken away. This school could not operate as it does if not for its leader, Jason Levy, who put together a strong team (tech coach-Ms. Jenkins, innovative AP-Mr. Ackerman, tech savvy consultant-Mr. Wagner, 21st century instructional dean-Mr. Prinstein, and, of course, a staff of dedicated teachers and administrators to support this work. Equally important is Mr. Levy leads by example by creating and integrating these practices and structures into all he does and all he expects from his students and staff.

Visit these links for more information:

339HARDLINE – STUDENT NEWSPAPER
http://339hardline.com

GOOGLE APPS HOME PAGE
http://cis339online.org

PRESENTATION ON GOOGLE APPS AT GOOGLE NYC
http://www.nycempowerment.org/CIS339

You have read this article 21 Century Schools / CIS 339 / Educating Innovatively / Flat classroom; / Innovative Schools with the title Innovative Schools. You can bookmark this page URL https://benncam.blogspot.com/2008/06/the-power-of-21st-century-teaching-and.html. Thanks!

Vision & Planning – School of the Future Case Study

I’m at a briefing series at Microsoft provided to share key learnings from the Partners in Learning projects with the education community and equip attendees with practical resources to be implemented in their organizations. Here is how they developed Philadelphia’s School of the Future. Take a look and think about if you think this type of process takes place in the school(s) you work in or with.

Developing a Vision
Can everyone involved in your effort articulate the vision? Is everyone on the same page? Get a glimpse inside the visioning method for the School of the Future and talk about how and why you might implement it.
Note: Everyone at SOF articulates that learning must be continuous, relevant, and adaptive.

Using a Process
To guide the creation of the School of the Future, the 6i process was developed. This session will take you through its use in Philadelphia and offer guidance as to how you can use it in your organization.

People & Hiring
Microsoft follows a very particular hiring process resulting in high acceptance rates and low turnover. Many aspects of Microsoft’s people strategy were utilized during the School of the Future’s hiring – understand how you can update your approach.

Public Private Partnerships
Absolutely critical to the success of the SOF project were the multitude of partners involved. Schools, community organizations, government and the private sector all have a role to play. This experience demonstrated a new type of partnership for Microsoft – see why we have changed our approach.

Scaling Success
Scaling-up an education innovation means being able to adapt an innovation in almost any education context. How do you do this? What are the steps and traps? How can technology help? This session will help you answer these questions, become familiar with a scale framework, and come away with a scale planning process.

Related Websites
http://www.microsoft.com/education/schooloffuture.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/Education/SchoolofFutureDownloads.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/education/competencies/default.mspx

You have read this article Educating Innovatively / Experts / Innovative Schools / Microsoft with the title Innovative Schools. You can bookmark this page URL https://benncam.blogspot.com/2008/03/vision-planning-school-of-future-case.html. Thanks!