Day 3 - New Adventures - Diana Marcus, BPS Mobile Learning Coach

This post originally appeared on Diana's Blog

 

After 7 years as a Special Education Teacher and 7 years teaching 5th grade, I am embarking on a new journey as a district-wide Mobile Learning Coach (MLC). Technically, I will be employed half-time as a MLC and half-time assisting Burlington teachers with implementation of the new educator evaluation system. Realistically, I will be employed full-time supporting educators with planning and showcasing instruction and learning across the district.

Some ways in which I hope to assist teachers:

Workflow & Organization

• Google Classroom
• Edmodo
• File Transfer, Storage, Organization
• Paper Reduced workflow and assignments

Communication

• Classroom Websites, Blogs
• Social Media in/for the classroom
• Email Management: Lists, Folders, Services

Student Learning

• Lesson Augmentation/Tech Integration
• Routines for Device and Classroom Tech Management
• Documenting Student Learning
• Differentiation / Intervention Tools and Techniques

Evaluation and Professional Learning

• Productivity Tools
• TeachBoost: Evidence Curation for Evaluation
• PD/PLN Development: RSS Feeds, Twitter, Google+
• Teacher Learning Resources

What have I missed?  In what other ways can I assist you in my new role?

Day 1 - First Day 2014 - Eric Conti, Burlington Public Schools Superintendent

This post first appeared on Dr. Conti's Blog

The first day is always filled with excitement and lots of smiles.  Burlington students are fortunate to oftentimes be picked up by the same driver for their entire career at a particular level.  The familiarity and the comfort of the students and parents is evident on my ride with Dottie Yeadon.  She and I often comment that largest smiles at the stops on the first day are always on the parents.

Thank you to all of our bus drivers from A&F Transportation.  The school day starts when students step on the bus.

Day 154 - Spring Update From Burlington Public Schools - Patrick Larkin, Assistant Superintendent

This post originally appeared on Assistant Superintendent Larkin's Blog 

There are so many amazing things happening in our classrooms on a daily basis that it would be impossible to highlight all of them. However, we shared a quick video of some of the interesting things from around our district with School Committee at a recent meeting and you can see it for yourself below.

Day 153 - Sunflower Growing Contest - Burlington Science Center

This post originally appeared on the Burlington Science Center Blog

Every other year the Science Center holds a growing contest for Burlington’s elementary students.  This year’s contest is the largest sunflower!  Every classroom K-5 receives a greenhouse growing kit from the center so each student can sprout their own plants to take home.

The Science Center will send out entry forms in the fall.  We will award prizes for the tallest plant and the largest seedhead.  All growers who participate in the contest will receive a certificate and goody bag.  Good luck and don’t forget to take a picture of your plant for us to share! (no matter how big or small it is)

These our winners from our last sunflower contest in 2009.

Day 141 - A Rant On Reading Online vs. Reading Paper - Assistant Superintendent Patrick Larkin

This post originally appeared on Assistant Superintendent Larkin's Blog

ebook-vs-libros (Photo credit: melenita2012)

About a week back the Washington Post ran an article titled Serious reading takes a hit from online scanning and skimming, researchers say.  Immediately, I saw a number of tweets from people touting the article as a groundbreaking piece of research.  (I'll provide my own hyperbole alert since this is online and the research says readers may just skim over this).

Anyway, just a close reading of the title would have tipped folks off that this article was nothing significant.  The keywords of course being "researchers say" in the headline which is a far cry from "researchers prove."  As I scanned and skimmed the article numerous times other phrases popped out at me, phrases like the following:

"I worry.."

"comprehension seems better...with paper" 

"Researchers say that the differences between text and screen reading should be studied more thoroughly..."

Why is it that as we seek the best way to accomplish a task, we cling to the false belief that we are going to find one right answer? Personally, I love reading online and the fact that I can click on hyperlinks, bookmark key points/articles, and interact with others interested in the same topic/novel. Am I distracted or adding a level of interaction to this task that was not possible for previous generations of readers?  

Of course, the answer here is that sometimes I am distracted and less productive and other times I am able to utilize the online resources in a way that adds greater depth to my experience.  My main problem with the alarmists who would prefer that all students read paperbound texts is that they deny these students opportunities to experience the power of Interactive reading, as well as the chance to find their own individual sense of balance in this area.  We need to embrace the struggle that is part of this and have meaningful conversations to guide our own learning and the learning of our children.

Denying these opportunities benefits no one! 

Day 80 - Northeast Region Tour - Aimee Warford, Memorial School Fourth Grade

This post originally appeared on Mrs. Warford's Blog

We are well into our tour of the Northeast Region. Students have explored the geography of the Northeast and the population of the Northeast through a Geography Challenge. So far on our train tour, we have visited:

- West Quoddy Head, Maine
- Mount Washington, New Hampshire
- Plymouth, MA
- Boston, MA
- The Erie Canal in NY

Yesterday, we visited Hershey, Pennsylvania where we learned how Milton Hershey used a process called mass production to produce chocolate. Did you know that the Hershey bar was the first mass produce chocolate bar? Today, the Hershey factory is the biggest chocolate factory in the world!

Students worked in teams of three, imagining that they worked the assembly line at the Hershey factory in the early 1900's. One student was the wrapper cutter, one student was the candy place, and one students was the candy wrapper.

Quinn was Milton Hershey himself, managing the assembly line, inspecting the chocolates, and keeping his workers working :)

Day 79 - Students Explore the Science of Static Cling with Digital Simulations! - BHS Science Center Staff

Students in Mrs. Doherty and Mrs. Cunha’s classrooms turned to their digital devices to shed light on the invisible world of electric charges. Using free simulations available on the web from the University of Colorado’s PhET program, students first observed how balloons are attracted to sweaters after they are rubbed together in real life with the help of a charged Mr. Musselman before turning to the school’s iPad cart.

Making the invisible more concrete with the help of online simulations that model static charge behavior.

With initial observations already made, Mr. Callahan helped students useQrafter to quickly link to the balloon and sweater simulations online. From there they were asked to simply “explore” and record any surprised they discovered as they recreated the experiment, and toggled options on and off such as introducing a second balloon to the experiment and a wall that the balloon surprisingly appeared to “stick” to as well!

Mr. Callahan introduces students to Qrafter and using QR codes. Thanks, Dan!

Towards the end of class the students gathered on the rug and shared their most notable observations. Mr. Musselman recorded them on the board, emphasizing important vocabulary words such as charge, attract, repel,positive, and negative. Students did an excellent job, with Mr. Musselman leaving very impressed at the keen observations and conclusions students were able to draw about electric charges!

Sharing what we learned. We could have gone on and on but we ran out of time!

Day 74 - European Art Tour - Notability Art Profiles - Andrew Dexter, MSMS Library/Media Specialist

To help kickoff learning about Europe, Mr. Dexter in the Learning Commons setup a European Art Tour. The purpose of this activity is to help the students make the connections between art and the 8 Traits of Culture. The 8 traits are: language, religion, social groups, history, government, economy, daily life, the arts. Using print and digital resources, students search for European art and explain how each piece of art connects with culture. Once the piece of art has been identified, students use Notability on their iPads to present the images alongside the cultural traits they represent.

By the end of the activity, students gain an understanding of different European countries through their art and they discuss the connections they discover. Students gain an appreciation for the impact art has on a society and how it can be used as a tool to express opinions and emotions about a culture. Look at a few student examples below:

  

Day 73 - College Snapshots - BHS Guidance Department

This originally appeared on the BHS Guidance Department's College Snapshot Blog

In an effort to provide Burlington High School students and their families with relevant and up-to-date college information, the Guidance Staff will be visiting various colleges and universities and providing you with information. The colleges visited do not represent a preference on the part of the BHS Guidance Department towards any particular school.

In the college search process, many things are taken into consideration. Things that are considered, but not limited to are: campus size, location, number of students on campus, majors, tuition, distance from home, athletic programs, clubs and other activities. When considering a college, students must also make realistic decisions based on personal interest, grades, test scores, etc.

The department feels that the college visit is an integral part of the process, and we strongly encourage students to visit any and all schools that interest them, especially if these schools are fairly close by. The information we provide is only a small snapshot into each respective college. We hope to add information about other schools in the future, and as always we appreciate any feedback that you have that would help us provide our students and their families useful information in the sometimes overwhelming college search process.

Furthermore we ask that students also research colleges by using their Naviance accounts and scheduling meetings with their counselor on a consistent basis. Please feel free to contact your son or daughter's individual counselor if you have any further questions.

Anna Maria College

Anna Maria College

Paxton, MA

Visited by Ms. Minty on 12/15/13

Population of school: 1000 undergraduates

Campus type: 192 acre campus surrounded by paths through woods, small farms, and nurseries about 10 minutes outside the city of Worcester. Anna Maria is a member of the Worcester Consortium, which includes 11 additional colleges.

Most popular majors: Nursing, Criminal Justice, Music, Social Work and Education.

President's Building

Unique majors: Music Therapy, Fire Science, Paramedics and Health and Community Services, a new major that prepares students to work within the health care system, but in a non-clinical setting, mainly helping patients with navigation of the health care system.

Snapshot: Anna Maria is a small, private, Catholic, coeducational Master's level college with career-oriented programs based in the liberal arts. Class sizes are extremely small (15 or fewer is typical) and most majors involve an internship.  

Though only about 50% of the students on campus are Catholic, all students are required to take three religion courses and attending weekly Mass is very popular, though not required. There is a huge emphasis on community service, and Christmas is a very big event on campus. Most everywhere I went, I saw Christmas trees, wreaths and other decorations. Some of the most popular annual events are the "Giving Tree" where students buy Christmas presents for needy children in the community and host a party for them, as well as a fancy Christmas dinner put on by the college president and his wife. Two ice skating rinks were being built while I toured, and are an annual tradition, one for figure skating and one for hockey. Athletics and being "green" are also emphasized on campus. The college is heated entirely by silo and is in the process of building a large solar farm.

Admissions: Average admitted GPA is 2.6 and the college is SAT/ACT optional. Students are automatically considered for the Honors Program when they apply.  There are currently three BHS alumni attending Anna Maria.

Typical dorm

Dorm kitchen

 Bridgewater State University

Bridgewater State University

Bridgewater, Mass.

Visited 11/21/13 by Ms. Diozzi & Ms. Minty

# of undergraduates:  9328
Type of campus:  Suburban/Small town

Founded as  "Normal School" in 1840, Bridgewater was originally a coeducational teachers' college. Its name was change from "Bridgewater State Teachers' College" to Bridgewater State College in 1960. Currently, Bridgewater State University is one of seven colleges in the Mass. state university system and is made up of five colleges, Bartlett College of Science and Math, Ricciardi College of Business, the College of Education and Allied Studies, College of Humanities and Social Science, and the College of Graduate Studies.

Bridgewater has undergone many renovations on campus in recent years and the architects of the campus have done an excellent job blending old and new buildings.  The campus is very clean and pretty and easily walkable.  It is entirely non-smoking.  The student body is very diverse.

Approximately 20-25% of recent senior classes have applied. Currently there are well over a dozen BHS alumni enrolled at Bridgewater.

Performing arts auditorium

Beautiful new dormitory

New multi-million dollar science center

Day 72 - The Benefits of Blogging - Nick Merlino, BHS Senior

This post originally appeared on the BHS Student Help Desk Blog

How to spread the word: 

Many students, every day, simply show up to school, go through their classes, then go home, to their part-time job, or to a sport. Even though there are many clubs and activities that are available, most don’t know about them because word of mouth can only go so far! In this modern world of technology, there are many ways to publicize your club, group, events, etc. Here at BHS, the student council is doing exceptionally well. Of course my opinion is biased, as I am the president of the student council, but we are using social media to become a very known club.

Not only do we maintain a blog, we also have a Twitter account where we spread announcements and information to our followers. 

Many of the tweets consist of information on upcoming events such as school spirit week or the dodgeball tournament.

Many of these tweets include links to our blog where further information can be found. For example, for a general tweet about the dodgeball tournament, our followers can click of the given link and be brought to the following page

The student council blog contains much more than event information, but the main purpose is to promote what we are doing and to bridge the gap between the student council and the student body. In the past, not many people knew about student council events, opportunities, or what their class’s student council members were working on. Now, thanks to tools like Twitter and the blog itself, all information that would interest the student body can be found easily and it is very clear to navigate through the certain tabs. For example, if you want to see the attendance of each meeting, click on the “Attendance” tab. Another feature that is useful, is the information on each class’s student board such as who is on the board for each class and what they work to accomplish. 

Along with general information, the blog contains 4 very useful calendars that serve to benefit the student body.

They include:

1. The schedule for sporting events
2. The schedule for school events
3. The bell schedule
4. The lunch menu schedule

After copying and pasting those links into the search bar, the user will be subscribed to the calendar they choose. Being able to choose which calendar you want to see, it is very simple to determine what’s going on. All schedules combined, the calendar looks like thisHere at BHS we’re lucky that everyone has an iPad and access to wifi at all times of the school day, which is why this method of spreading information is very successful. Most schools don’t even allow access to Twitter or even supply wifi. The BHS student council is an example of how to use technology to spread information that helps everyone and promotes your group. Check out the blog today

Day 71 - #HourofCode in Burlington - Patrick Larkin, Assistant Superintendent

Many of our students took part in the Computer Science Education Week initiative this past week and spend an hour learning how to code.  According to the data compiled by the folks csedweek.org, over 15 million students took part in the Hour of Code initiative. Check out a few of the tweets compiled from our #bpschat Twitter feed during the course of the week. You can also check out the activity from around the world by checking out the hashtag #HourofCode on Twitter.

Thanks to all of the staff members who gave their students an opportunity to participate in this initiative! For those who did not participate, the resources are available on the Computer Science Education Week site.  There are also a number of great resources for those who want to continue coding  on the Beyond One Hour section of the website.