The focus of today's meeting was next year...
how to take the program to the next level.
Here were the major ideas discussed:
1. We need to work on the schedule first, and the overview of the program second.
2. Nmuta will work on starting the schedule
3. Nmuta will work on the project manual (this summer)
4. Pascal and Tre will help start putting the Program Overview together.
5. Focus on short (two week) projects in general. The project manual will have a detailed, step by step
description of how to execute a project.
6. We are strongly considering BRINGING BACK MAJORS to New Media. But before we know this, we need to know what type
of resources we have in terms of Lincoln Interactive and other tech staff.
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I am excited to have our whole tech team returning in the fall. Tre, Shoana (for four months) and Pascal all
are slated to return this fall. Our next major goal is the marriage between outstanding technology and rigorous content.
The content part is not a small issue, as it speaks to a much larger, systemic issue of rigor in academics for public school children
who have not been used to that much rigor at all in the past, and who have certain deficiencies that we need to address. Of course, this is all stating
the obvious, but we have our work cut out for us this coming year.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
New Media's New Curriculum
In 1969, Brown University introduced what they called "The New Curriculum". Brown's "New Curriculum" was designed to revolutionize the learning process by encouraging students to take more academic risk without fear of these risks affecting their GPA.
Amongst other things, the NEW CURRICULUM also helped usher in the era of independent concentrations and a more project-based approach to learning.
New Media Technology Charter School is on verge of unleashing its own NEW CURRICULUM this fall. In addition to the great impact the new schedule will have, there is another new development that will serve as a catalyst to the project based learning process at New Media, and this is the development of New Media TV.
After observing project based initiatives at several schools over the years, I have come to the following observation:
Contrived projects don't work.
Well, sometimes they do. With choice students and ideal advisors under certain circumstances. The problem is that arbitrary deadlines for projects with no or little real world connection create a culture where students don't understand the need to meet deadlines.
My full intent is to follow through with the technology team's declaration to make New Media TV the central delivery mechanism for all project work next year.
The reasons for this are numerous:
Our next step is to sit down as a team and work out the details of the schedule, and how to provide the support for this new schedule to work. I suggest we be the first team to address the issue, because we need the projects and the technology to be the central piece of the curriculum around which everything else is built.
Amongst other things, the NEW CURRICULUM also helped usher in the era of independent concentrations and a more project-based approach to learning.
New Media Technology Charter School is on verge of unleashing its own NEW CURRICULUM this fall. In addition to the great impact the new schedule will have, there is another new development that will serve as a catalyst to the project based learning process at New Media, and this is the development of New Media TV.
After observing project based initiatives at several schools over the years, I have come to the following observation:
Contrived projects don't work.
Well, sometimes they do. With choice students and ideal advisors under certain circumstances. The problem is that arbitrary deadlines for projects with no or little real world connection create a culture where students don't understand the need to meet deadlines.
My full intent is to follow through with the technology team's declaration to make New Media TV the central delivery mechanism for all project work next year.
The reasons for this are numerous:
- Short projects are best for the amateur and intermediate level students.
- Having an 'Broadcast deadine' (i.e. "Your show will air next week, tuesday at 11 a.m.") provides a tangible, non negotiable deadline for our students.
- Students know that their project is "for real" because it will be seen by hundreds or possibly thousands of viewers.
- The incentive to do well is fueled by public exposure.
- The incentive to learn the technology will be fueled by the desire to look good on TV
- Pressure is put on the advisors to support their students, since work broadcasted on the station will be a reflection of them as well.
- The station will help us to define our identity in the community as a high school.
Our next step is to sit down as a team and work out the details of the schedule, and how to provide the support for this new schedule to work. I suggest we be the first team to address the issue, because we need the projects and the technology to be the central piece of the curriculum around which everything else is built.
Senior Exhibitions
Senior Exhibitions ran from Monday, May 5th to Monday, May 12th, 2008.
I attended all of them with the exception of Tuesday morning, May 6th, and a few others on Monday, May 6th due to time spent helping a few seniors with last minute glitches which required me to run to 7800 to fix, and in one instance, having to help a senior re-create a project that had been accidentally damaged.
Overall, the level of academic rigor was not up to the New Media Standard of what we're looking for in a senior project. However, there were a few bright stars in the bunch, and overall, the work was BETTER than the work we're used to seeing from many of the students, especially those with a history of low performance academically.
Many of the issues with academic rigor are the result of students not getting ample input from multiple academic advisors. In this case, that is especially true in the areas of English/Language Arts and Math.
As I told Dr. Walker, many of these issues will not be as acute when we are in the new building, because the senior classes henceforth will be more integrated into the larger NMTCS community and will have more access to the resources of the school.
As it stands now, two senior student groups will be presenting in our May 28th Exhibition Night: Justina Ray & Rhonda Bartlett, and Tierra Jones.
I attended all of them with the exception of Tuesday morning, May 6th, and a few others on Monday, May 6th due to time spent helping a few seniors with last minute glitches which required me to run to 7800 to fix, and in one instance, having to help a senior re-create a project that had been accidentally damaged.
Overall, the level of academic rigor was not up to the New Media Standard of what we're looking for in a senior project. However, there were a few bright stars in the bunch, and overall, the work was BETTER than the work we're used to seeing from many of the students, especially those with a history of low performance academically.
Many of the issues with academic rigor are the result of students not getting ample input from multiple academic advisors. In this case, that is especially true in the areas of English/Language Arts and Math.
As I told Dr. Walker, many of these issues will not be as acute when we are in the new building, because the senior classes henceforth will be more integrated into the larger NMTCS community and will have more access to the resources of the school.
As it stands now, two senior student groups will be presenting in our May 28th Exhibition Night: Justina Ray & Rhonda Bartlett, and Tierra Jones.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Update
1. This week, we began formal, Act 48 credit worthy multimedia classes for staff. The course overview list is on our server here:
http://www.newmediatech.net/Act48/CurriculumGuide.doc
Marcelin, Tre, and I are the teachers. The course is every Wednesday , two hours each Wednesday from 1-3 pm during professional development. We each have syllabuses for our classes available upon request.
The courses being offered are PHOTOSHOP, WEB DESIGN, and VIDEO EDITING.
After the four weeks of classes, staff will then be using those 2 hours every week to complete their digital multimedia projects that were due at the beginning of the year. It would be nice to require staff to bring any work they've done for the project to contract renewals.
2. I had a good meeting with Shoana today, I asked her when we can get the High School website together, she said she can start working on it toward the end of next week. She also suggested that blogs would work better for the home page announcement system and I fully agree with this. The blogs are prettier and they allow the user to see news "right away" instead of having to click on the links.
3. I have agreed to speak at the Middle School Open house this weekend.
4. I am excited about May 3rd and looking forward to interviewing staff for next year. I am in the process of getting student content together for that event.
5. I need to confirm travel and lodging arrangements for the National Charter School conference with Dr. Walker. I am really pushing for them to also host a student coming. I would love for one of our students to present at the conference. I will follow up on this with Leslie Talbot, who is organizing our involvement in the conference.
6. I am encouraged to see that many classes are regularly using Blogging to track student records. Today I observed several 9th and 11th graders using and their blogs but also going to their advisor's blogs to get assignments. Additionally, I observed students who are using the "networking" system to build networks with all of their teacher's blogs.
http://www.newmediatech.net/Act48/CurriculumGuide.doc
Marcelin, Tre, and I are the teachers. The course is every Wednesday , two hours each Wednesday from 1-3 pm during professional development. We each have syllabuses for our classes available upon request.
The courses being offered are PHOTOSHOP, WEB DESIGN, and VIDEO EDITING.
After the four weeks of classes, staff will then be using those 2 hours every week to complete their digital multimedia projects that were due at the beginning of the year. It would be nice to require staff to bring any work they've done for the project to contract renewals.
2. I had a good meeting with Shoana today, I asked her when we can get the High School website together, she said she can start working on it toward the end of next week. She also suggested that blogs would work better for the home page announcement system and I fully agree with this. The blogs are prettier and they allow the user to see news "right away" instead of having to click on the links.
3. I have agreed to speak at the Middle School Open house this weekend.
4. I am excited about May 3rd and looking forward to interviewing staff for next year. I am in the process of getting student content together for that event.
5. I need to confirm travel and lodging arrangements for the National Charter School conference with Dr. Walker. I am really pushing for them to also host a student coming. I would love for one of our students to present at the conference. I will follow up on this with Leslie Talbot, who is organizing our involvement in the conference.
6. I am encouraged to see that many classes are regularly using Blogging to track student records. Today I observed several 9th and 11th graders using and their blogs but also going to their advisor's blogs to get assignments. Additionally, I observed students who are using the "networking" system to build networks with all of their teacher's blogs.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Finishing strong
I want to publicly thank the entire tech staff team for making our second Student Exhibition Night a success. Its very evident that a great amount of teamwork is in effect, as many people contributed their efforts to help the students show their work.
Project authenticity is at an all time high in the sense that the work reflects where the students are academically and technologically. Many students worked diligently on their projects with a small team or even alone, so I was often surprised to see their work after they emerged from their respective "labs" (at home, in the classroom, etc. ).
Of those advisors whose students presented, James , Meghan, and Michelle in particular have been working for long protracted periods with their students on the project and have a good amount of accumulated work. Others in this category, from my observation, include Shakae, Joseph, and Karla.
Tech staff did an outstanding job; Pascal, Tre, Jo Goins and Shoana all provided a great deal of support for the students they are involved with.
LOOKING FORWARD:
We still have a long way to go, and we have to figure out how to make the most of the current situation given our existing schedule and resource limitations.
There are a myriad of things I am personally involved with and would like to address before the year is over and I will have to prioritize them. These items are:
1. Working with the seniors to support them with
3. Collaborate with Shoana in compiling student work on the Tricaster and getting the broadcast full of as much academic and creative content as possible.
4. Compile that same content onto a CD-ROM for people who ask for student work and/or video clips of New Media
5. Take that same content and populate website with student project work
6. Finish the back-end programming of the website that will allow advisors to have control and feedback permissions as it relates to student profiels...("make this profile public" button, etc. See my earlier notes on this or see me for details).
7. Assist with advisor/staff recruitment effort (use time sparingly on this).
8. Finish with game design student project
9. Schedule time for administration to review student blogs.
10. Assist Kyana and Angola with getting a final product/conclusion for their projects.
11. Meet with 9th grade team and schedule and follow up with Eyes on Prize viewings.
12. Get math materials and games I created last year together and put together on website as a resource for other math teachers
13. Complete the schedule for teacher technology trainings.
--------
There are more, but this is what comes to mind immediately.
Project authenticity is at an all time high in the sense that the work reflects where the students are academically and technologically. Many students worked diligently on their projects with a small team or even alone, so I was often surprised to see their work after they emerged from their respective "labs" (at home, in the classroom, etc. ).
Of those advisors whose students presented, James , Meghan, and Michelle in particular have been working for long protracted periods with their students on the project and have a good amount of accumulated work. Others in this category, from my observation, include Shakae, Joseph, and Karla.
Tech staff did an outstanding job; Pascal, Tre, Jo Goins and Shoana all provided a great deal of support for the students they are involved with.
LOOKING FORWARD:
We still have a long way to go, and we have to figure out how to make the most of the current situation given our existing schedule and resource limitations.
There are a myriad of things I am personally involved with and would like to address before the year is over and I will have to prioritize them. These items are:
1. Working with the seniors to support them with
- Incorporating their senior portfolio data and images into IMovie productions.
- Incorporating IMovie productions into Flash Streaming video.
- Completing the chemistry project with those members of my advisory who did not finish.
3. Collaborate with Shoana in compiling student work on the Tricaster and getting the broadcast full of as much academic and creative content as possible.
4. Compile that same content onto a CD-ROM for people who ask for student work and/or video clips of New Media
5. Take that same content and populate website with student project work
6. Finish the back-end programming of the website that will allow advisors to have control and feedback permissions as it relates to student profiels...("make this profile public" button, etc. See my earlier notes on this or see me for details).
7. Assist with advisor/staff recruitment effort (use time sparingly on this).
8. Finish with game design student project
9. Schedule time for administration to review student blogs.
10. Assist Kyana and Angola with getting a final product/conclusion for their projects.
11. Meet with 9th grade team and schedule and follow up with Eyes on Prize viewings.
12. Get math materials and games I created last year together and put together on website as a resource for other math teachers
13. Complete the schedule for teacher technology trainings.
--------
There are more, but this is what comes to mind immediately.
Friday, March 14, 2008
EXHIBITION NIGHT PREVIEW
EXHIBITION NIGHT PREVIEW
As of March 14, 2008
9th grade:
OVERVIEW:
No significant progress has been made in the 9th grade Lens of the Living project overall since last exhibition night. Most of the time and resources of the 9th grade have been dedicated to the business plan projects that were started this fall.
I was given a list of five students from Mothuri Brian who have submitted good essays to him. However, when I checked the students’ blogs, most of them did not have their content posted online.
One student, Cynthia King, did have her full essay on her blog:
htt p://www.amazing93.blogspot.com/
she is still in the “fact gathering” stage, and the outline and essay both lack a clear focus. But she does seem to have done some research. I get the feeling that there may not be many students who have any more work done than she does for this project.
RECOMMENDATION:
I would recommend that we consider showing some of the 9th grade business projects on the 26th that Mothura Megan has worked on with them. Clearly this is where their time and energy has been going. Additionally, the advisors need to be held accountable for why their groups are not producing on the year long project, and the team should be responsible for coming up with some stiff ultimatums for themselves to get back on track.
10th grade:
OVERVIEW:
Isis’s class has done very good work under the supervision of Mothuri James regarding the voice activated car project. They have continued with their plan of conducting more in-depth research regarding technology that could make the voice activated car a possibility.
The group has built a robot car and has learned about various parts of the physical machinery/circuitry, how the car works, how to program the car using a laptop, and things of that nature. Some of their work has been video taped by Mothuri Pascal.
Ms. Cook’s class has done some work toward business plans and copyright/patent laws that apply to their invention, the EZ Hair Braider. However, their essay work is not complete yet.
One student is close to being finished with her essay:, Kaisha (sp?) , and Ms. Cook believes she would be in the position to present on Wednesday . The main thing Kaisha would need to do is to perform a slide show with a narrative of the research she has done thus far. This would have to be completed on Monday.
I asked Mothuri Angola if he had seen any essays of merit coming out of the 10th grade. He is not sure yet, as he has not finished grading them. He has my number and I asked him to call me on the break when he is finished grading.
Mothur Kyana has been struggling with the content for her subject. We need an intervention ASAP to help transition that class into a doable project given their current level of academic preparation and support.
RECOMMENDATION:
I would recommend that we show Isis’s class project (really Mothuri James’ work) regarding the robot. We need to get Kyana’s group some emergency assistance ASAP, and we need to hear from Angola about the other student essay work. The 10th grade as a whole needs some research assistance from some industry people and/or scientists to help drive their research and divide the work into manageable small tasks.
11th grade:
OVERVIEW:
The 11th grade has done further work on their PSAs , and from what I am hearing, the PSAs are better now than they were last month, when the entire class was instructed to re-do them due to an overall poor performance on the part of the class. I have only seen a few of the new PSAs.
To state the obvious, I am most interested in the essays at this point….the content. I have asked Mothura Shakae to get a list of the top essays in 11th grade and she is compiling that for me today.
RECOMMENDATION:
Now that we have an internet TV station ready to go, I would suggest us putting together a 20 minute program with some news and the student PSAs interjected between them as “commercials”. The main content would be something else that students have produced…. We have to look around but we should be able to pull some content …..EVEN IF the main program is the 10th grade project featuring the robot car.
To make myself clear, here is what I am proposing:
We produce a T.V. program about the robot car. The TV program is like a show that features “the making of” a robot controlled car (within the context of the Mind to Money project and the Voice Activated car respectively). We divide the program into parts and use the 11th grade PSAs as “commercials” in between the content.
Then we present the entire “show” at exhibition night, and all of the students who are “presenting” can come up to the stage after the show is over and explain their portion. Since we have a 5 paragraph essay requirement, every presenter must bring a hard copy of their essay with them to Exhibition Night to refer to, and these essays must obviously also be posted on their blogs.
This would be a new concept and something we’ve never done before, but it would be a step closer to actual real world Television, and it would be a creative way to present our content.
12th grade:
OVERVIEW:
Mothura Shoana has done a lot of work with the seniors and has three main products:
- Photoshop work demonstrating graphic design skills they have gained through her training that she would like to have them show in the form of a slide show.
- News Video clips of students broadcasting from a live studio (actually covers 10th and 11th grade, not 12th)
- Web pages students have built as a part of their senior portfolio.
RECOMMENDATION:
Shoana does good work and this content can be shown as-is. Seniors need to come prepared to explain what their work is.
Also, we should have a section of exhibition night where some of the seniors who have been accepted to college (I think it’s over half of them so far who have been accepted) can come up and talk about their post-secondary plans, goals, and aspirations.
OVERALL NOTES:
- We need to have a school wide talk about STANDARDS ALIGNMENT and be more conspicuous and deliberate about BOTH advisors and students KNOWING the standards and aliging all of their current and future work this year based on the standards.
- We are planning on using Exhibition Night to officially launch our internet TV Station. Whatever we prepare for Exhibition Night can be then broadcast continually from that night on. We will be handing out the address to the station at Exhibition Night, which will simply be a new page on the New MediaWebsite: http://www.newmediatech.net/flashSite/newmediatv.php
-Nmuta Jones
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
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