Last week marked the start of the new school year and the beginning of our 1:1 Tablet PC initiative.  All 7th, 9th, and 10 grade students (approximately 450 in total) greeted the first day of classes with a Lenovo X61 Tablet and, all things considered, the program got off to a pretty smooth start.  Now that the logistics of the physical deployment are behind us, we can turn our attention to the intellectual deployment of these tools in the service of teaching and learning.

In framing our 1:1 program, we indentified four “themes” that will guide our thinking with respect to curriculum and instruction:

• Information Management and Research
• Digital Citizenship
• Communication and Collaboration in a Global World
• Creativity, Critical Thinking, and Design

Incorporating these four elements into our daily practice will go a long way toward ensuring that we are fostering a contemporary learning environment.  To this end, our Middle School is utilizing a three-stranded approach to the themes that includes a Digital Literacy course, classroom teachers, and our advisory program.

Digital Literacy 101

During the initial planning phases for 1:1, it quickly became apparent that the knowledge and skills of our students and faculty varied considerably.  Seventh grade is a major entry point for our school, and we welcomed a number of new teachers this year.  Recognizing the importance of consistency and the need for in-house professional development, the Digital Literacy course was conceived.

Meeting once every six days, all 7th grade students and faculty will cycle through a series of nine lessons that address fundamental aspects of digital literacy.  While teaching an entire grade level (10 sections) is a challenge, having students and teachers working together as learners in the classroom is a unique and invaluable experience.  As I explained on the first day of class, “The adults in this room are not here to observe; they are here to participate.  You will all learn with and from each other.”

Although the syllabus is based on our four themes, there is a heavy emphasis on Information Management and Research because those skills were identified as (1) of critical and immediate importance for students and (2) not being well understood by the faculty.   Starting later this week, I will share the results and details of our efforts as each lesson unfolds over the course of the trimester.

Digital Citizenship: A Way of Life

Digital Citizenship is perhaps the most important and difficult theme to effectively address with a school community; so many ideas, so many shareholders, so little time.  Wanting a sustainable approach that involved students, teachers, and parents, we are building a year-long advisory program based upon the work of Gerald Bailey and Mike Ribble.  In their book Digital Citizenship in Schools, Bailey and Ribble identify nine elements of Digital Citizenship that will guide our efforts:

Student Learning and Academic Performance
1. Digital Access: full electronic participation in society
2. Digital Literacy: the process of teaching and learning about technology and the use of technology
3. Digital Communication: electronic exchange of information

School Environment and Student Behavior
4. Digital Security & Safety: electronic precautions to guarantee safety/physical well-being in a digital technology world
5. Digital Etiquette: electronic standards of conduct or procedure
6. Digital Rights and Responsibilities: those freedoms extended to everyone in a digital world

Student Life Outside the School Environment
7. Digital Commerce: electronic buying and selling of goods
8. Digital Health and Wellness: physical and psychological well-being
9. Digital Law: rights and restrictions

Each month, advisors will introduce one of the nine elements using the resources we’ve collected and created.  The conversation will then be carried home, and parents and children will explore and discuss the issue on a more personal level.  Taking this family-based insight back to the classroom, advisors and students can then relate how the 7th grade as a community understands and practices good digital citizenship.  Hopefully this school-home-school approach will make digital citizenship part of the fabric of our school’s culture and a way of life for our constituents.

Classroom Teachers: The Key to Success

For special courses and programs to truly be effective and have a lasting impact, they must find life within the content area classroom.  Our teachers are developing goals for the coming year, and our curriculum and pedagogy are evolving to reflect the resources at our disposal.  Change will not happen overnight, but the steps we’ve taken thus far show great potential.

We have adopted The Big6 as a unified research strategy.  Students are using blogs and wikis to communicate and collaborate in and out of the classroom.  DyKnow is emerging as an effective note-taking and formative assessment tool.  Systems modeling, digital cartography, storytelling, and a host of other tools/techniques are becoming part of the everyday Middle School experience. We are laying the groundwork for a 21st century education.

Begin…the Rest is Easy

As the year progresses, I’ll be using this space to share some of our stories from the classroom.  In time, I think we’ll find that instead of viewing our efforts in terms of three separate strands, the lines will blur as connections are established.  In the meantime, however, we have our plan and are prepared to see it through.  It may seem like a daunting task, but as I read in a fortune cookie not long ago, “Begin…the rest is easy.”

School has started…it’s time to begin.

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Posted: 08|24|08 at 4:01 pm. Filed under: 1:1, Digital Citizenship, Digital Literacy.
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