Education taking place in the environment of 21st century technology is evolving with that technology, Southold Board of Education members heard at their meeting Wednesday night, which featured a two-part presentation by district faculty and literacy consultant JoEllen McCarthy.
The first part focused on how writing is taught and how writing skills are developed through instruction, modeling and independent practice. The second part was about how the district teaches technology skills and uses technology to teach other academic subjects.
“The teacher in me just can’t help but delight in this moment,” Gamberg said after watching a short video showing classroom instruction in the writing process, where children worked collaboratively in small groups. He pointed out how the children were “intensely focused.”
“They have ownership of the process,” he said. “They’re engaged, they’re participating.”
“Kids need to see from examples, so don’t forget to share,” McCarthy said. “It’s such an important powerful message,” McCarthy said. “Kids get to reflect on what they did, as a reader as a writer. Reflecting and sharing … strengthens comprehension. That’s engagement. That’s empowerment. That’s writing workshop,” she said.
“The ELA curriculum is a foundation. It’s fused within all subject areas,
core and non-core,” said principal William Galati. “It’s spread throughout every aspect of what a student experiences, throughout the day and beyond.”
Middle school English teacher Emilia Dakis, high school English teacher Jim Stahl presentations on the grades 7-12 curriculum and instruction process.
“We balance the traditional, old-school way — the way we learned — and more of this process approach, more of the mini-lesson, more of the student-centered kind of education that’s going to make them successful in the 21st century,” Dakis said.
“It’s really affirming to see the process approach on the elementary school level,” Stahl said.
“All learning starts with listening,” Stahl said, recalling his encounter with a woman who had the word hwæt tatooed on her arm. “It’s the Old English word that means ‘listen,’ she explained. Because all education starts with that.”
“To get students to think you have to give them something to think about. You look at really good works of fiction, poems, essays and you analyze how does it work, why does it work, and then do it,” Stahl said.
Stahl said that “in the process of doing all these bigger things, they learn what they need to know to pass the Common Core Regents.”
The superintendent said “the idea of having fun with the written word” is crucial to building a foundation for a lifelong love of the written word.
“That’s a foundational element of developing writers — love of the written word,” Gamberg said.
He stressed that the district’s approach is to blend the old and new. “When you come in here you see the words ‘Preserving the past, finding the future.’ You can still resurrect the ideas of Socrates and say, ‘That still works.’ We lift from the new and keep from the old and have them conspire to work for each individual student.”
Technology plays an important part in learning and young students need to learn technology skills to be “learning ready” when they enter high school, said librarians Melissa McBride and Mira Dougherty-Johnson, who gave the second part of the two-part presentation Wednesday night.
“We asked the question, ‘What does a learning-ready 9th-grader look like?’ and designed the curriculum, with learning benchmarks, backwards from there,” elementary school librarian Melissa McBride told the audience.
“This year’s kindergarteners are going to have a whole other set of skills when they enter high school than this year’s freshmen,” she said.
They designed technology and information literacy benchmarks that incorporate state and national standards and enhance technology fluency that already exists in the student body, McBride said.
“This is another form of literacy,” Dougherty-Johnson said.
From basic operation to advanced functions, the benchmarks set goals and standards for IT literacy from kindergarten through 9th grade.
The benchmarks are device-neutral and platform-neutral, the librarians said.
“The ultimate goals are to have our students be creators, not just consumers,” Dougherty-Johnson said.
The superintendent wrapped things up by coming back to the idea of “the zone of proximal development,” the concept of stretching each student “a little bit further” from where he or she is. The goal will be different for each student, depending on where the starting point is, Gamberg said.
“Tonight’s presentations, in depth, in breadth, in staff involvement is one of the best I’ve ever seen,” Gamberg said. “I’m deeply peersonally appreciative of the staff, administrators, teachers and students represented in tonight’s presentations.”
Chromebook learning initiative update
Technology director Ryan Case gave the board an update on the district’s Chromebook initiative.
The district began the initiative two-and-a-half years ago, distributing Chromebooks to students in 5th through 8th grade the first year. It has since expanded the initiative and next year, every student in grades 4 through 12 will be issued the device.
The district to date has purchased 661 Chromebooks, Case said. Ninety-two percent of the devices are in service. The district has been able to repair the majority of devices when broken, he said. He and Karen Kowalski have learned how to make a lot of the repairs themselves by watching YouTube videos for guidance, Case said. Students are assessed fees for damages to screens, chargers and sleeves.
Bond issuance authorized
The school board Wednesday approved the issuance of $7,766,750 in 15-year serial bonds to fund the capital improvement program approved by Southold school district voters last month.
The board simultaneously appropriated the bond amount plus $2 million of capital reserve funds for a program aimed at brining the district’s facilities, “into the 21st century,” in the words of Superintendent David Gamberg.
The district’s capital improvement program addresses upgrades to the technology lab, the library media center, computer labs, television studio, art room and photo studio and other facilites, plus the installation of a synthetic turf multisport field and six lane track construction.
District voters approved the issuance of the bonds by a vote of 257 to 192 on Dec. 8.
