The International Baccalaureate Study Group

• The original goal of our study group was to learn about the International Baccalaureate Program and study whether or not it was desireable and/or possible to bring the program to GHS.
• Dan McBride, Jon Kauffmann, and Derek Shuttleworth
• Our group met together and began by conducting research on the nature of the International Baccalaureate Program. Our research began with the description of the program on the IB website. We then branched out to look at websites created by IB teachers that showed full descriptions of curriculum created to meet the curriculum requirements.
• We spent quite a bit of time discussing together some of the key features of the IB program, especially the class in epistemology that is at the core of the IB. We discussed how a similar approach could be built into our existing classes.
• We discussed the feasibility of bringing the IB Program to GHS, but came to the conclusion that is was highly unlikely that the program could be created at a time when staffing was being reduced.
• Each of us took something different away from our studies. There we quite a bit of excitement at the possibility of adding a philosophy component into some of our existing classes.

Foreign Language – Curriculum Mapping

 Our original goal was to determine how curriculum mapping will impact students, the community and teachers. Also, to determine how will we as group members communicate lesson objectives and procedures to each other across languages and levels . Also, to determine what materials, resources will we use to complete the curriculum mapping.-

M Chelkowski, H Hickey, M Teixeira, M Lumley, D Barone, J Duca, E Shiland, L Diago, C Rant

Each meeting was dedicated to listening and answering questions group members had in translating the “curriculum mapping” to our content. We read through publications focused on the ins and outs of curriculum mapping. We browsed through other schools’ foreign language curriculum maps. We input our data into the curriculum map database and shared and discussed appropriate examples of essential and secondary questions as well as content to be included in the unit time line.-What is the impact on student learning? It will bridge any gaps that may exist between language levels that are offered here.

Earth Science Field Study Group

The goal of our study group was to develop a virtual field trip for earth science students who miss the physical field trip.  This alternative attempts to capture the essence and experience of the field trip through the use of technology and hands-on samples.

 

Group Members: B Gray, B Hughes, M Davis, C Snyder, K Duffy

 

Our study group developed an alternative field trip. This alternative attempts to capture the essence and experience of the field trip through the use of technology and hands-on samples.  Each station in our field trip packet for the physical trip was evaluated and reconfigured so that it could be used as part of the virtual field trip.  The final version exists as a stand alone digital document that links to text, pictures, and activities that students can do to understand what was done on the physical field trip.  Hand samples were collected to enable  students to make observations and perform the geochemical tests that are completed during the physical field trip. We are currently coordinating the uploading of the project to our district server.

 

The impact on student learning is yet to be assessed.  Once the virtual field trip is uploaded to the server we will be in a position to perform a final run and troubleshoot any remaining glitches.  Beginning next year, the virtual field trip will be put into use, and an assessment of the impact on student learning can be undertaken.

Integrating Technology

Goal of the Group: To learn about new methods of technology to use and enhance lessons with students.(voice threads, webmax, blackboard, wiki, embedding video into power points…)

 

L.Bedian, B.Baker, A. Rudolph, J. Corona, M. Duessler, K. Knapp, J. Burlingame, M. Lodico, J. Renaud, C. Holt, D. Benner, O. Mars, M. Rudolph, C. Loukides, A. Brown.

 

We meet at the beginning of each session, broke out into smaller groups to learn and test different types of technology.  We then met at the end of the session and discussed what we thought of the particular topic, discussed positive and negative impacts for each classroom.

 

Impact on Student Learning: We feel we have a variety of technology tools to use in our individual classrooms.  One should note that many of these items are difficult to navigate and use without more technology tools/items available in our classrooms and blocks removed from our system.  Our current blocks severely limit our use of technology and that of our students.  Media carts are helpful, however the limited amount of them also make using technology difficult.

Website Development

Goal of the group:  Design a website for our students to use for extra practice, animation and tutorials.

 

D Boyce, A McTiernan, C Petroff

 

We created a Chemistry Website, identified areas of weakness for students, researched websites and selected and added websites links that would enhance the Regents curriculum.   http://www.guilderlandschools.org/highschool/Math_Science/Petroff/chemistry_home.htm

 

Impact on student learning: Students have been able to check directly on the website for additional help, practice problems and to see videos, animation and simulations.  The site also links students to Regents Prep, their on-line text, teacher contact information.  This site allows students to find reputable sites easily.  This gives the students more responsibility for their learning, increases their independence and allows students to take advantage of enrichment opportunities as well as remediation. 

Math – Technology

Goal of the group: The original goal of the group was to learn how to use the new TI lab equipment purchased.  We also wanted to perform  some of the labs provided to explore whether or not they were classroom friendly and to make revisions where necessary.

 

K Kuzdzal and M Rudolph

 

We decided on which labs to do by which equipment it required and how well the labs related to our curricula.  We performed the labs as students would in a classroom setting to make a determination as to whether or not it would serve as a valuable learning tool for a student.

 

Impact on student learning: Next year we hope to present the labs and hands on experience to the rest of our department.  We hope to do this either through department meeting time or as a set of  in-service training opportunities.  Following the training, the equipment will be used more widely throughout different classes.

 

English – Technology

 

The goal of the group was to evaluate/ learn different forms of technology that can be used in the classroom.

 

O. Mars , R Zisa and C Tait.

 

Our process in this group varied. Some of our time was used to simply ‘play around with’/ try to learn different forms of technology (i.e. Blackboard). Some of our time was also devoted to evaluating web resources available from the library, and finally we devoted part of our time to discussing how we have used technology in our class, discussed what was/n’t effective about that, and strategies ways this could be improved in the future.

 

Impacts on student learning is that technology can be incorporated into the classroom more frequently and efficiently.

Technology – Curriculum Mapping

Goal of the group: To curriculum map the courses of the technology department

 

J Van Horne, C Gockley

 

To map out classes taught in the technology department and to also add to or make changes to current curriculum

 

Impact on student learning: Students taking classes with different teachers are being taught the same thing. This makes taking various classes with different instructors easier on the students. They will also benefit from changed or new additions to curriculum as well.

Improving Student Post High School Placement

To increase our specific knowledge about specific student characteristics that are a good fit for specific college programs.

A. Knapp, C. Galarneau, R. Sheehan, A. Arena, T. Dvorscak, L. Baumgartner, A. Fairbank, P. Coughlin

Music and Art Through History

We will look for examples of music and art (including political cartoons) that help to relate the main themes we teach in each unit of Global, European, and U.S. History.

A. Rudolph, L. Bedian, AM McManus, J. Renaud, W. Malcolm, D. McBride, C. Ziobrowski, C. Holt, J. Kaufman, B. Baker, J. Burlingame, P. Schwan

This year so far…..

            Study group members have utilized the PowerPoints as presentation material in class and formulated questions based on these presentations that were utilized in assessments.

 

            Song sheets have been used in class. Students sang along and then analyed key events/people from campaigns mentioned in songs.

 

            Research done on art illustrating the Divine Comedy was used in teaching and assessing student understanding of that text. (illustrations had to be identified on exam and related to reading)

 

            Students were required to analyze various pieces of art in class and relate these to historical context and were also required to do so with unseen art on exam….very successful!!

 

            Students have been asked to make cds out of songs, so they have a direct connection to the research process

 

OVERALL, STUDENTS LOVE THE CONNECTIONS TO ART AND MUSIC BROUGHT UP IN CLASS….IT ENHANCES THE TEXT MATERIAL!!!!!

           

 

Next year….

 

We plan on applying our research continuously throughout the year.