We have about seven weeks of the the school year left. I can't believe it,! Many, many things to do with priority being building our plan for next year. But, first we must reflect on this past school year and we do have a plan for that. A district facilitator will be at our school to assist us with a dialog that hopefully will lead us to next steps. What are the questions that need to be answered as we plan for the future:

What do our students and parents think about our school and how we serve them? We have results from surveys and forums?

Are we meeting goals for student achievement? Test scores will tell part of that story...due in late May.

How can we more effectively recruit students to get our numbers closer to 200? I do think that this is a priority of the higher ups.

What will our professional development plan look like next year? I must say we are seeing the benefits of the past two years professional development.

Will we add a grade level next year?

Many other questions to answer.

Input from all stakeholders is essential as we devlop our future plan. Staff, students, parents and district folks have some thoughts I'm sure. Share here if you dare!

I was perusing the presentation offerings for the NSDC Conference in Denver this summer and it made me think about a couple of things. First of all, once one gets past the data-driven models and professional learning community offerings I noticed a couple of sessions that focused on the at-risk learner. The at-risk learner is something we at Phoenix Academy have some knowledge of. All of our learners are at-risk, that being the purpose of our school.

Recent discussions at Phoenix have centered around the following concern. In our environment of relationship-based learning, where struggling (we call them striving learners) students can become successful with the right supports, what happens to them when they are "pushed from the nest" to a traditional high school without these supports? How do we react to this concern? Do we continue our supports, hoping students will eventually mature, build off of their recent achievements, and find their way in high school or do we pull the supports and go "sink or swim". Tough love you might say. Is there a middle ground that might do the trick?

Well, we have tried it all and the truth of the matter is every student has their threshhold of supports that they need to be successful. And while we get many of these "striving learners" on track at Phoenix Academy, some of them will fail in high school when their security blanket is no longer in place. You see, in its current form, the traditional high school cannot possibly provide the levels of support we do. 40:1 guidance ratios, 16-20:1 student teacher ratios, and use of high impact technology in every classroom is just not in the realm of the typical high school.

We are in the midst of a study to find what our students need to be successful at the traditional high school. Part of the study will focus on the supports that are in place for our students and the supports that need to be added. We are going to ask our former students what it is they need to be successful in high school. I will revisit this topic on this blog when we get the results of our study and perhaps we will have some ideas to share with others. In the interim, any insights one might have to offer into the topic of supports and at-risk learners please post.

Well, I finally did it. Finally, this "technological immigrant" (term, Alan November) has placed himself squarely in the midst of other bloggers. My first blog didn't destroy my computer and I didn't get arrested so I guess all is good.

After months of prodding, prying, pushing, shoving and downright evil comments from Zachary Chase, a teacher at Phoenix Academy, what finally pushed me over the edge? I am writing this as I sit post-session at the Florida Educational Technical Conference (FETC). If I heard the value of blogging once I heard it a thousand times. Alan November, noted Educational Consultant, and many other experts believe that for us to teach our students we must learn to communicate in their "media forms". Blogging, podcasting, email, IM, MySpace, You Tube, text messaging, etc... is what makes the kids tick, so we better get on board if we want to connect. Connect both educators with students and, more importantly connect students to their future.

Our school has a leg up on most schools when it comes to technology. One-to-one laptops, Intranet Blackboard System, ActivBoards in all classrooms, wireless connectivity throughout the school, a wonderful Instructional Technology Coach and, most importantly, teachers that want to use it.

As I leave FETC I think back to Michael Benno's presentation on integrating technology into the classroom. He detailed the following scene:

Walking through an airport he ran upon a college-aged student that had earphones on. He asked the young lady what she was listening to and he was quite surprised to hear her response. She told him that she was listening to a podcast of her professor's lecture in one ear, and listening to music in the other. Two MP3s, two purposes. She stated that the music "got her in the zone" to study.

The challenge for me is to break through all of our "old ways" of thinking and to cautiously move ahead into the the Next Generation of learners, making sure that our school bases its decisions on research, resources and "bang for the buck". Fortunately, I have a staff on board with this revolution and students who will help us make these decisions, and help us move into their world of communication.

The purpose of this blog then becomes more clear. Hopefully, this blog will lead
our school into more discussion on effective uses of instructional technology.
Our students' future might depend on it!