Just Saying

Friday, March 13, 2015

Transforming a School into a Personalized Learning Environment

The whole idea is to transform the thinking of the staff from that of, sage-on-the-stage to a coach-facilitator, through the integration of technology, which is not going to be easy. The District initiatives that must be implemented are those of NAF and Personalized Learning. As it stands now teachers in my District are under constant scrutiny when it comes to their practice. They are in an unending cycle of testing, driven by the State Department of Public Education (DPI). This leaves teachers in fear, that their students will not make that arbitrary score on the multiple choice test. So, the first thing to do is to establish a culture of trust that will allow the staff to left their guard down long enough to try something totally new. That is where putting the the 10 Common Principles, the HIVE mentality and Design Thinking into practice, will help make the transformation a success.

Work in Progress

For the 25 years of my work life, I was in a business environment as an Human Resources manager, an office manager, a payroll coordinator and an accounts payable and receivables manager. It was not until my forties that I decided to change career paths and become a teacher. I had earned a degree in Biology and one in Studio Art. I found out that art teachers never leave their jobs, so a Biology teacher it was. At the time, I had no idea what becoming a teacher would entail, let alone a Biology teacher. I had to relearn Biology all over again, usually the night before the I taught it.

Over the next fourteen years with Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools (CMS), I continued to develop my interest in the relationship between technology and its place in education. I used the latest technology in my classroom to engage the students. Even though I was successful at teaching Biology it wasn't enough. I began to search out new technology to integrate into my classroom. My students wanted to create 3-D models, paintings, movies, and books to demonstrate their mastery of the concepts found in the Common Core. I went to countless workshops and seminars and training sessions to learn the latest technology, but it still wasn't enough, I wanted more.

So, in the autumn of my life, I set out on the last leg of my technology journey by changing positions to an Academy Coordinator of an AOIT and working at completing my Master’s Degree in Instructional Technology at Lesley University.

More about the Renaissance School of Arts and Technology.

Renaissance is a first year member of the National Foundation Academy (NAF), we are a school of Information Technology (AOIT) that is built around a small school, career and college ready environment.

There is one principal, 29 teachers and 575 students (9-12). We are equally mixed, one third African American, one third Hispanic and one third White. We are a Title 1 school with 72% free and reduced lunch and 63% female. Over 70% of our students come from single parent homes, and 47% do not have a high school graduate living in the home. But what we do have is a caring faculty, a pass rate of 90% and a graduation rate of 92%.