Today’s kids are born digital — born into a media-rich, networked world of infinite possibilities. But their digital lifestyle is about more than just cool gadgets; it’s about engagement, self-directed learning, creativity, and empowerment.
The Digital Generation Project tells their stories so that educators and parents can understand how kids learn, communicate, and socialize in very different ways than any previous generation.
And the video to the right is one of the many offered on the site. It is Henry Jenkins, USC media professor, talking about new media and implications for learning and teaching. He describes the role of digital media in cultural transformation.
A few years ago, during one of our budget discussions, Remington Middle School art teacher Roseanne Walsh appeared before the School Committee and recommended that we read and absorb the ideas contained in Daniel Pink’s book entitled A Whole New Mind. In the book, Pink argues that business and everyday life will soon be dominated by right-brain thinkers and he identified the roots and implications of transitioning from a society dominated by left-brain thinkers into something entirely different. With Pink’s book in hand, Ms. Walsh spoke eloquently about the importance of maintaining arts in education to cultivate this right brain thinking. I like to think that we listened.
Through the years, we have attempted to strengthen our arts programs in the school system, recognizing their importance in the learning environment. Indeed, that connection was highlighted again recently by a Boston Globe article which reported on work being done by Boston surgeon to study the effects of music in the operating room. As noted in the article, surgeons have long listened to music while they work – everything from classical to Celtic to rock. They say it helps them relax and concentrate. You can read the full article by clicking here.
This recognition and commitment to the arts in Franklin received a recent boost with the announcement of plans to establish a Franklin Arts Academy at Franklin High School. As noted in the mission statement, the “Franklin Arts Academy will inspire students to learn through the Arts. As a nurturing community, the Academy will be a space where students can flourish within an academic and cultural climate that promotes creation, individuality, and critical thinking through an integrated, project-based curriculum.” The project has several goals:
To create a small learning community that provides students with the skills and opportunities that will foster artistic growth through active participation, engaging them in their own learning.
To connect with and provide culture for the community-at-large.
To teach the students 21st century skills for our ever-changing and interdependent world.
To provide a learning environment that is heterogeneous, where students can demonstrate their abilities and growth through assessments that meet the levels of proficiency for college entrance.
To introduce work experience through the exploration of employment, internships, and graduate educational opportunities.
To create a thriving art scene.
It is a teacher driven initiative and received kudos from the New England Association of schools and colleges in its November 24, 2009 letter continuing Franklin High’s accreditation. The FAA committee — which is led by teachers Michael Caple and Marushka Waters — produced a short video which describes the Academy and vision for the project. You can view it by clicking on the image below, or clicking here.
This is certainly one of the more exciting projects to emerge from Franklin school system, and I urge you to learn more about the program. You can begin by looking at the Academy website by clicking here.
At a bookstore today, I stumbled upon a book called Justice: What’s the Right Thing to do? by Michael J. Sandel. I was first drawn in by the word “justice” on the cover, and on closer examination by the faces contained in the letters. Given my line of work in my day job, this book demanded closer examination. Which brought me to the inside jacket:
What are our obligations to others as people in a free society? Should government tax the rich to help the poor? Is the free market fair? Is it sometimes wrong to tell the truth? Is killing sometimes morally required? Is it possible, or desirable, to legislate morality? Do individual rights and the common good conflict?
Great questions, indeed. Upon further examination, we learn that the author is a Harvard professor who teaches a course called “Justice” at Harvard University. In the course, up to a thousand students pack the campus theater to hear Sandel relate the big questions of political philosophy to the most vexing issues of the day. Affirmative action, same-sex marriage, physician-assisted suicide, abortion, national service, patriotism and dissent, the moral limits of markets—Sandel dramatizes the challenge of thinking through these conflicts, and shows how a surer grasp of philosophy can help us make sense of politics, morality, and our own convictions as well.
The book led me to a website (http://www.justiceharvard.org) which contains a rather innovative online course covering these great questions. In the online course, Harvard opens its classroom to the world that helps viewers become more critically minded thinkers about the moral decisions we all face in our everyday lives. And it further introduces us to some of the fascinating aspects of technology in education. It demonstrates how classrooms can go beyond the four corners of a building, and how web 2.0 tools can lead to engaging and thoughtful discussions for an unlimited audience. And it points to yet another wave in teaching and learning, things we continue to explore in the Franklin school system.
For a glimpse of what the Justice course offers, check out the video posted below. And take advantage of this course offering and see what technology can do for your mind.
Bill Gates, through his Gates Foundation, hopes to solve some of the world’s biggest problems using a new kind of philanthropy. In a passionate 10 minute excerpt from his February 2009 presentation at TED, he asks us to consider how we create great teachers.
Gates first recognizes that the economy is only providing opportunities to people who have a better education. And he notes that having great teachers is the key thing to providing these opportunities. He also discusses a recent study (which can be viewed in its entirety by clicking here) which demonstrates that top quartile teachers will increase the performance of their classroom students by 10 percentage points. As such, it should be our goal to get top teachers in front of our students.
In his talk, he also refers us to the successful educational programming done at the KIPP School in Houston, Texas. It was refreshing to hear that some of the team teaching approaches utilized in that school are part of the educational programming used here in Franklin. He also referred to the recent book by education journalist Jay Mathews on this successful school entitled Work Hard Be Nice.
It’s an engaging talk and many of the ideas should be kept in mind as we are asked to go down the path reducing expenditures on education in this town and in this country. Rather than cutting in these areas, we should be rewarding and retaining our best and brightest staff members.
To view the video, either click here or click on the image below.
Over the next few months, the School Committee will be called upon to make critical decisions about budget matters for the next fiscal year. In the decision-making process, we set guidelines and highlight priorities to assist us in arriving at a budget number. It is unfortunate that during this process, we often lose sight of the need for practical wisdom, a topic not easily susceptible to numeric calculation.
Along those lines, I was drawn to a video on this topic which deserves your review and consideration. In this 20 minute talk, Barry Schwartz makes a passionate call for practical wisdom as an antidote to a society gone mad with bureaucracy. He argues powerfully that rules often fail us, incentives often backfire, and practical, everyday wisdom will help rebuild our world.
In his remarks, Schwartz reminds us that kindness, care, and empathy are essential human interactions which are not part of the job descriptions, but are essential parts of every job. He also notes that it is difficult to teach these concepts in standards-based curricula, and that we must rely on the judgment of our teachers to deliver the messages of moral skill and moral will. He further goes on to remind us that you don’t need to be brilliant to be wise, but you must have that combination of moral will and moral skill in order to possess the practical wisdom which is necessary for success.
I urge everyone to take a peek at this video and give consideration to the big picture elements of our education system. The video can also be used as a helpful set of guiding principles for what is important to maintain in our education programs.
What does Elvis Costello interviewing Bill Clinton have to do with education, you ask? Seeing these two great minds come together for a conversation about music was an incredibly worthwhile 60 minutes of television (a one minute excerpt from the show is included above). It was especially noteworthy to hear Clinton express his displeasure with the fact that the No Child Left Behind Act has forced many school districts to reduce music and arts programs in order to comply with NCLB. He advocated for the return and enhancement of music and arts in our schools.
The President went on to describe how important music and arts are to the education and development of children. He talked of being able to read music, perform it, and see it as more than notes on a page. He even observed that he probably would never have been President if he had not participated in school music programs.
The interview by Elvis Costello with Bill Clinton is part of the Spectacle series on the Sundance Channel which airs on Wednesday evenings at 9 pm. SPECTACLE: ELVIS COSTELLO WITH… features everything from intimate one-on-one conversations with legendary performers and notable newcomers to thematic panel discussions. Guest artists not only talk but perform — demonstrating the development and creation of their music and playing new, stripped-down or solo versions of some of their best and most loved songs.
The Clinton interview was an unprecedented and revealing chat about President Bill Clinton’s early career aspirations as a jazz saxophonist; the astonishing degree to which music shaped him as a man, a politician and a President; the challenges – and critical importance – of music education; the shared skills of musicians and politicians; with observations on Elvis (Presley), John Coltrane, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Nina Simone and N.W.A..
In choosing to interview Clinton for the series, the show’s creator Steve Warden observed that they talked about including Bill Clinton in the series almost from the beginning. “Although the idea for Spectacle was to focus on great and interesting musicians, we wanted to mix it up a little with some exceptional personalities who had a connection to or involvement with music that would make sense to explore within the context of the series,” he said. “The 42nd President met the test.”
The series is also available on demand on your cable TV service.
She’s a Franklin original, and she helps get our kids safely across the street. Susan Johnson has been a crossing guard for the Franklin Public Schools for the last seven years, and she’s been affectionately dubbed the hat lady in the process.
On any given day, while working the streets, you can see Johnson along Oak Street “bearing” her animal hats, a birthday cake, a witch’s cap, or just about anything that can sit atop her head.
The Milford Daily News ran a piece about her that can be viewed by clicking here. You can view video of her haberdashery by clicking on the picture below.
What if Napster stocked textbooks? In this video (click here), engineering professor Richard Baraniuk talks about his vision for Connexions, an open-source system that lets teachers share digital texts and course materials, modify them and give them to their students — all free, thanks to Creative Commons licensing.
Baraniuk has a giant vision: to create a free global online education system that puts the power of creation and collaboration in the hands of teachers worldwide. He’s realizing that vision with Connexions, a website that allows teachers to quickly “create, rip, mix and burn” coursework — without fear of copyright violations.
Connexions’ open-source system cuts out the textbook, allowing teachers to share course materials, modify existing work and disseminate it to their students — all for free, thanks to Creative Commons licensing. Baraniuk envisions Connexions as a repository where the most up-to-date material can be shared and reviewed (it’s far more efficient than waiting for a textbook to be printed); it could become a powerful force in leveling the education playing field. Currently encompassing hundreds of online courses and used by a million people worldwide, Baraniuk’s virtual educational system is revolutionizing the way people teach and learn.
In this video from Superintendent Wayne Ogden’s cable show “Inside the Franklin Public Schools, the FY08 budget drivers are explained and identified. In this segment, he offers an explanation of the components of the School Committee’s $6.4 million budget request for the next fiscal year.
At the April 11, 2007 Town Council meeting, long time Councilor Carlo Geromini spoke eloquently and passionately about the upcoming override vote in Franklin. The video of his comments can be seen by clicking here. You can also click the video box below to view it.
Today’s kids are born digital — born into a media-rich, networked world of infinite possibilities. But their digital lifestyle is about more than just cool gadgets; it’s about engagement, self-directed learning, creativity, and empowerment.
A few years ago, during one of our budget discussions, Remington Middle School art teacher Roseanne Walsh appeared before the School Committee and recommended that we read and absorb the ideas contained in Daniel Pink’s book entitled 