Sharing The Happenings Around Burlington Public Schools (Edition 1)

The post below is actually a copy of an e-mail that I sent our teachers today to promote our Burlington Public Schools Blog and also share the great work of their colleagues. My goal is to send a similar post weekly.

Thanks to all of you who shared the links to your class websites and blogs with me. If you have not had a chance to do so here is the link where you can share with me.

It is awesome to follow along with what is happening in so many classrooms across the district!  It is also a great way to support Standard 3 (Family and Community Engagement) and keep parents "in the know" about the latest happenings in your classroom and promote ongoing conversations between you and parents as well as parents and their students.

Here are the posts that appeared on the blog so far...

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

Day 2 - Welcome To Mr. Parkin's Blog - Robert Parkin, BHS History Department

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

Day 4 - Welcome Back - Christina Chang, BHS Art Department

Day 5 - Instagram Winners Week 1 - Lexi Djordjevic, BHS Art Department

Day 6 - Our First Week Flew By! - Mrs. Farrand - Memorial School Second Grade

Only 174 more to go...Please feel free to e-mail me something directly that you would like to share. We also welcome original posts from staff or students if you have something that you would like to share.

Blogger Tip for this week

If your blogging platform is blogger add the translation option in the top right hand corner of your blog. With the growing number of homes in Burlington that have multiple languages spoken, this is a great resource for families. Follow the steps below to do this:

Choose the Google Translate Button

The Best Of This Week's Burlington Public Schools Weekly Twitter Paper - January 13

Below are three of the top stories from our #BPSCHAT Twitter Paper from the past week along with a brief quite from each. Be sure to peruse the paper and check out all the other great resources that were shared.
Five Demands Placed On Students in A 1:1 - By Shawn McCusker

"Listening is a bigger part of the 1:1 teachers day than it used to be. It can take a while before students see the value in these explanations.  Many students still see school simplistically: Get assignment, complete assignment, turn in assignment.  Eventually classes begin to enjoy hearing how people did their work.  this is especially true when we are sharing projects.  Selfishly this change makes class more exciting for me too.  I constantly learn new tricks and tips to share in the future."

The Procedure and how it's harming education  - By Marion Brady (on The Answer Sheet)

"Here’s a fact: Information overload is just one of about two-dozen serious problems directly or indirectly connected to our 19th Century core curriculum. Sadly, no, tragically, instead of rethinking that curriculum, starting with its fundamental premises and assumptions, reformers have considered it so nearly perfect they’re determined to force it on every kid in America."

How To Lift Schools and Colleges Out of Academic Failure - By Larry Cuban 

"Over forty years ago, Seymour Sarason pointed out how creating something new was not as easy as it looked; it is incredibly complex, borrows extensively from the traditional, and often fails. Few reformers then and now heeded his insights into creating a new setting."

The Best Of This Week's Burlington Public Schools Weekly Twitter Paper

Did you know that Burlington Pubic Schools has a weekly Twitter Paper that is published each Monday highlighting the Tweets on our #bhschat hashtag from the previous week? So whether you use Twitter or not you can stay up to speed on the top tweets and blog posts that appear on our hashtag. Click on the tabs on the right hand side of the paper to check out the top posts in each category. I have also shared a few of my favorite excerpts from the blog posts highlighted in this week's paper below.

"The idea that we could cram all we hope our students could learn and know into a “common core” set of skills would be laughable if it weren’t for the fact that we’re trying to do it. In the end, the problem with the Common Core isn’t that it is too broad, it is that it is too narrow. It makes no attempt to teach kids the most important thing there is to understand: "The idea that we could cram all we hope our students could learn and know into a “common core” set of skills would be laughable if it weren’t for the fact that we’re trying to do it. In the end, the problem with the Common Core isn’t that it is too broad, it is that it is too narrow. It makes no attempt to teach kids the most important thing there is to understand: There is always more we can learn." (from Chris Lehmann's post - We Really Don't Know What To Teach)

"If we don’t help kids connect to the entire world, not just information, but to people, are we not limiting the opportunities for these dreams to become reality? There are more opportunities for our students, not just in their future, but right now, then we could have ever envisioned. When we don’t help our students connect to those opportunities for learning and the experiences that they can have, then we are doing them a disservice." (From George Couros' post - Our Thinking Has To Change)

"Our school system doesn’t need to create kids who are good at school. Instead, we need to create an environment that engages learners, fosters creativity, and puts responsibility for learning where it belongs – with our students." (From Shelley Wright's post - Academics: What Is It Good For?)

Parenting In The Digital Age...Join The Conversation

Dealing with digital devices in the hands of our children is a constant struggle for so many parents. How long should we allow them to be online? How can we best monitor their activity? Should we just ban certain websites or apps?  

There is not a day that goes by that I don't spend some time thinking about these issues. With this in mind, I am looking forward to our next Parent Technology Night in January (see information below) where we will have an open discussion about these questions and others.  

In the meantime, I was struck by the following quote from a great blog post on Slate by Danah Boyd and Eszter Hargittai titled How Politics, Race, and Socioeconomic Status Affect Parents' Fears About Tech.

While there is a great deal to talk about here, my takeaway is the following:

"The internet is a part of contemporary public life.  Engagement with technology is key to helping youth understand the world around them."

Over the next month and half, I plan on reading two different books to further my thinking on this important topic:

The App Generation -  by Howard Gardner and Katie Davis.

Smarter Than You Think: How Technology is Changing Our Minds for the Better  - by Clive Thompson

Burlington Teachers Highlighted In MTA Today Cover Story

 

The Massachusetts Teachers Association highlighted the great efforts of our Burlington teachers in the most recent edition of the MTA Today. You can check out the entire article here. The article on Burlington begins on page six.

Here's A Great Way To Keep Up With #BPSCHAT - Our District Twitter Hashtag

Paper.li is a great resource to create a newspaper highlighting the feed from a Twitter hashtag. We have our own weekly edition from our Burlington Public Schools hashtag #BPSChat which you can check out below.

If you would like to receive a weekly update by email, just click on the subscribe button on the top right hand side of the paper.

Our Newest Blog And Other Ways To Follow Burlington Public Schools

We are excited to announce the creation of our district's newest blog - Burlington Public Schools Blog. The word "Blog" in the title is actually used as a verb to represent all of the active bloggers throughout our school district. This space will be utilized to share a blog post daily from one of our staff or student bloggers.

Here are a few other ways you can follow our district's learning journey:

Our new district Instagram account - We will routinely post photos from around the district here.

Our new district Twitter Account - @BurlMASchools - While many of our staff and administrators have been on Twitter for quite some time, we have not had a general account for the district aside from @BPSAlerts, which we reserve for emergencies, and @BPSEdtech, the Twitter account of our EdTech Team.

Finally, we don't want to forget our District's Facebook Page which is another great way to stay on top of the happenings in our school district.

Let us know if there are any other social media resources that you would like to see Burlington Public Schools access to share information!

Edweek Highlights Burlington's EdTech Efforts

The video above appeared on Education Week's Digital Directions Website back at the beginning of February.  We are certainly fortunate to be gaining this type of recognition nationally for the phenomenal efforts that staff members have made to integrate technological resources into their classrooms.

Marshall Simonds Middle School 1:1 iPad Program Details

Thanks to BPS Director of Technology Integration Dennis Villano for the great overview of our Middle School 1:1 program that will begin next month!



Marshall Simonds Middle School will soon be Burlington’s second full 1:1 school. The BPS EdTech and IT Teams have been preparing for the deployment to students. Here are some important details about the initiative.

All students in grades 6-8 will be assigned iPads. Students will be using iPad 2s. Students will not be taking iPads home at this time. The MSMS iPads will be fully managed by Burlington Public Schools. The iPads have been set up using Apple’s Configurator program. Students will not be able to install or delete apps. Students will also not have access to the iMessage app. Safari will remain as the web browser for all devices since the iPads are staying at school. Burlington will be providing cases for all student iPads. Parents and families will not be asked to purchase insurance for student iPads.

Marshall Simonds teachers have been working on developing digital content and materials. Teachers have also selected curriculum based apps to be installed on student iPads. Although student iPads will have just over 40 apps installed during the initial deployment, we have always believed that any 1:1 program should not focus on just the device and apps. iPads and 1:1 environments provide students with constant access to powerful digital learning tools. These tools can be used to help create engaging content and lessons. Burlington continues to focus as much as possible on what we call Foundational Apps. We are also committed to having students and teachers use cloud based apps and services.

Foundational Apps provide students and teachers with powerful digital content creation, distribution, and storage. Students can use these apps to complete assignments and return completed work to teachers. While not all classrooms will be paperless, the workflow provided by our Foundational Apps can enable teachers to use digital forms of content as much as possible.  These apps serve as the basic workflow for students and can be used in any curriculum area.

Please see the BPS EdTech Apps blog for a complete listing of MSMS apps. Click on the Middle School category tab to see all the apps being installed on MSMS iPads.

One of the best aspects of the Burlington High School 1:1 program has been how BHS students have take an active role in the learning process. Students have been involved in every step of the program from initial planning to daily classroom best practices. The 1:1 program has given students many opportunities for leadership in the program. A great example of this is the BHS Student HelpDesk.
Marshall Simonds will also have a similar program to the BHS Student HelpDesk. Each homeroom will have two Student Tech Leaders who will assist with the iPads and iPad Cart Management. Students will also the opportunity to be part of a new MSMS Student Tech Crew that meets during activity block periods.


The MSMS iPad program will have the added benefit of some great new classroom technology. Marshall Simonds has recently completed a major renovation as part of a Massachusetts School Building Authority project. Every MSMS classroom has been outfitted with new wall mounted LCD projectors and AppleTVs during this project. Teachers also have access to the Reflector app for iPad mirroring. AppleTVs and Reflector provide MSMS with an outstanding technology infrastructure driven by a student centered classroom.

All MSMS students will receive their iPads during introduction sessions. These sessions will be similar to the iPad Driver’s Ed sessions that we have completed during the deployment of all BHS iPads. Students will learn about responsibility, care, foundational apps, workflow, and expectations.
MSMS families were welcomed to a special 1:1 introduction night on Monday, January 7. Here are some key points if you missed the event:


Please continue to follow this BPS EdTech blog and the Marshall Simonds Middle School blog for more details and information about the 1:1 iPad program. We will also have posts about upcoming Parent Technology Events and family learning opportunities.
Dennis Villano, Director of Technology Integration 

We Can Learn A Lot From First Graders In Ethiopia About Tech Integration!

I have been using the picture and text above in a couple of recent presentations to educators surrounding the way we support learners (teachers and students) in accessing digital tools.  The picture and text come from a post on Technology Digital a couple of weeks regarding the One Laptop Per Child program.

Shouldn't the highlighted text cause us to rethink some of our overly structured ways? I'll cite it again below in case the text from the slide above is too hard to decipher:

OLPC workers dropped off closed boxes containing the tablets with no instruction. “I thought the kids would play with the boxes. Within four minutes, one kid not only opened the box, found the on-off switch … powered it up. Within five days, they were using 47 apps per child, per day. Within two weeks, they were singing ABC songs in the village, and within five months, they had hacked Android,” Negroponte said. “Some idiot in our organization or in the Media Lab had disabled the camera, and they figured out the camera, and had hacked Android.”

In my mind, we spend way too much time walking people through tedious lessons on how to do very basic things with technology in our schools. In many cases we would be better throwing the unopened boxes out to our staff and or students and let them figure it out on their own. But if we can escape our traditional upbringings here and look at the evidence here and the similar finding of Sugata Mitra with his Hole in the Wall Project, I believe we can move much faster.

We are the only ones holding us back!

Let's Share and Learn Together on #BPSCHAT

For the past few years we have had a lot of succes in building our high school's learning network with the hashtag #bhschat. We have communicated both within and beyond our school community  on issues related to our school and broader education topics.  As we continue to move forward as a school district and encourage collaboration and communication from all stakeholders, I hope that people will start to utilize #bpschat as a means for increasing engagement.  

For those of you who are new to Twitter or still unfamiliar with it as a communication and/or learning resource, please check out Getting Started With Twitter from the Burlington New Teachers' Blog.