Our Plan for the Future of Reading Public Schools

Our Vision

Presented by: 

Richard DavidsonStephanie Horhota

Joanne AlvarezChristine Steinhauser

We propose to make the Reading Public School district one that prepares students to be active participants in their education and understand their role as a citizen of our community and world through:  • Collaboration• Critical Thinking• Community Partners• Global Awareness

  

"It is the business of education to "ingrain into the individuals working habits methods of inquiry and reasoning appropriate to the various problems that present themselves."

Source: Partnership for 21st Century Skills - John Dewey quote, page11

Collaboration: "We may be from opposite sides of the world, but our students

became one class tethered by invisible strings of bits and bytes."

 A greater focus on building social skills at the youngest levels. • Open Circle• Responsive Classroom

 Group projects and assessments • Online and face to face

 Assessing students' ability to collaborate as well as the content. • District rubrics throughout the grades 

  

Critical Thinking"We were operating under the old rules and then the old rules changed, but nobody put up a sign.” Thomas

Friedman

Develop metacognition among students• Oral and written explanations for all content areas• Projects requiring broad conceptual understanding

Emphasize problem solving• Implementation of the Engineering Design Process• Application based projects

Develop information literacy skills across the curriculum.• Information literacy class beginning in elementary• Require internet sources for all research papers

•  

  

  Community Partners

  Schools reflect the values of the community  • Mission and vission statement

  Educate parents about the 21st century• Parents need to understand their child is in competition with the world

 Hold the community responsible for our children as well as schools.• Internships - locally and internationally• Business Mentors• College partnerships

 "...delayed gratification is a punishment worse than a spanking, the sense that our kids have to be swaddled in cotton so

that nothing bad or disappointing or stressful ever happens to them at school is, quite simply, a growing cancer on American society."

Source: The World is Flat by T Friedman, page 397.  

Community Partners in the Classroom

    

What does it look like in the real world?              

Source: YouTube-Community PartnersCCPY -California Community Partners for Youth

 

 

  

 Global Awareness

• Begin foreign languages in  elementary school •  brain development, self-awareness

• Emphasize current events and global competition•  geography, professions, comparisons, connections • Communicate with members of other communities and

cultures• skype, webcams, podcasts, epals

"Arguably, it is harder to get into an Indian Institute of Technology than into

Harvard or MIT..."  The Wall St. Journal, April 16, 2003

Classroom: • Time to teach 21st century skills 

School/District: • updated technology- computers, cameras, software, webcams• greater supply of computers and technical support for trouble shooting

Professional development:• time for teachers to learn 21st century practices and develop them• time for teachers to collaborate on interdisciplinary projects• workshops and courses to develop teachers understanding of other content areas

Resources Needed to Develop 21st Century  Community

Where do we find the needed time for 21st Century learning?

Based on our proposal, extra time on learning is needed.  We would like to investigate the following : 

Extended school days Extended School year Extended HS experience

 Research on extended day schools in MA Article on results of extended day in MA

Work Cited

Friedman, Thomas L. The World is Flat. New York: Picador, 2007

 Partnership for 21st Century Skills ; www.21stcenturyskills.org CCPY -California Community Partners for YouthSource: YouTube-Community Partners Expanded Learning Time Networkwww.mass2020.org Richmond, Will; "Officials Taking a Long Look at Extended School Days", South Carolina, August 26, 2008. cnn.com: "Study: Geography Greek to young Americans"  http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/05/02/geog.test/index.html

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Work CitedLoughlin, Sean , "House cafeterias change names for 'french' fries and 'french' toast: Move reflects anger over France's stance on Iraq,"  Wednesday, March 12, 2003http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/03/11/sprj.irq.fries/

Seager, Ashley: "Development: US fails to measure up on 'human index' · Nation slumps from 2nd to 12th in global table· Richest fifth take home $168,000, poorest $11,000"July 17, 2008 The Guardianhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/jul/17/internationalaidanddevelopment.usa

"MCAS Tests of Spring 2008Percent of Students at Each Performance Level for Reading Memorial High"http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/mcas/performance_level.aspx?linkid=32&orgcode=02460505&orgtypecode=6&   

Work Cited "What does research show about the benefits of language learning?" http://www.discoverlanguages.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=4524 "What We Can Learn From Foreign Language Teaching In Other CountriesIngrid Pufahl, Nancy C. Rhodes, and Donna Christian, Center for Applied Linguistics  published in December 2000 by the ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics, Center for Applied Linguistics, Washington, DC

Talukder, Gargi, "How the Brain Learns a Second Language" January 2001 http://www.brainconnection.com/topics/?main=fa/second-language  

"Human BiologyBrain Science — We Are Wired to Learn!" March 29, 2007 http://biologybiozine.com/articles/unit-9-human-biology/brain_science_we_are_wired_to.php