April 14, 2006
Wish Week
Our 5th Annual Wish Week was another great success. We raised $8,000! We will be sending two young ladies on their Wishes. Carissa will go on a Disney Cruise and Rachel will be going to Hawaii. Thank you to our students, staff, parents and community for their support this past week. We had a great turnout at our CU Buffoons Concert and at the Senior vs. Staff Basketball game.
Parenting Gifted Kids: Tips for Raising Happy & Successful Children
Dr. Jim Delisle will be giving a presentation on Friday, April 28th, 2006, 6-8 pm at the ESC Board room titled: "Parenting Gifted Kids: Tips for Raising Happy & Successful Children.” This presentation is based on his new book with the same name. Space is limited. This presentation is co-sponsored by the LPS Gifted and Talented Advisory Council, LPS Twice Exceptional Task Force, and the Special Serviced Advisory Committee. Priority will be given to parents, teachers, and administrators of LPS. To attend, call Barb Bolen at 303-347-3473. Any other questions, please Call Melinda Ness at 303-347-3477.
Technology Staff Development Grants
Arapahoe has recently received two grants involving staff development and the use of technology. The first grant allowed us to start our project last September, and the second grant will allow us to expand it dramatically starting in August. We wanted to share with you some of the details of what we are doing. This is a brief summary, but you can read the entire grant application at http://www.lps.k12.co.us/schools/arapahoe/21c/ahslpsgrant.doc .
The goals of this project are to improve teacher and student use of technology to achieve curricular goals, to help transform our school to a more student-centered, constructivist approach, and to prepare our students to succeed in the 21st century.
The heart of the project is staff development. What our teachers need most is the time and opportunity necessary to transform their instruction to meet the needs of our students and utilize the tools of the 21st century. In order to bridge the gap between how students live outside of school and how they learn at school, teachers need the time to work together to explore new technologies and techniques; the time to discuss and collaborate with each other; the time to transform their lesson plans to a more student-centered, constructivist approach.
The grants allow us to provide teachers the time – and the necessary technology – to accomplish these goals. The teachers selected for staff development each year meet formally at least once every two to three weeks (typically for three hours, and then two longer sessions in the summer). As a constructivist group, we focus on students as active participants in their learning - as constructors of knowledge. Together, we explore ways to use technology to enable a more student-centered approach to instruction and to create a culture of learning where students take a greater role in producing and managing their own learning.
In order to use technology as the “enabler” for this approach to instruction, we need each teacher to have access to the appropriate technology and resources in their classroom. We are providing each teacher with a computer and mounted LCD Projector in each classroom so that they can use technological tools to focus on student needs. They will have access not only to specific pieces of software that are useful in their curricula, but to the vast resources that the Internet offers them and their students. They will be able to practice “just in time”, “anytime, anywhere” teaching – accessing information when all of those teachable moments occur. They will be able to foster a collaborative environment among students – sharing not only with other students in their classroom, but with other classrooms around the world. Students need not only to be able to present information to their classmates, but to share their work with the much wider – and often more authentic – audience that the Internet provides. We are moving from an isolated to a connected classroom.
We are also implementing three classrooms of laptop computers with wireless connectivity to the network and the Internet. These computers will equip three “demonstration” classrooms where students and teachers will truly have the tools necessary for a 21st century education. These will be “model” classrooms where teachers can demonstrate the most effective use of 21st century technologies for the rest of the faculty.
The first cohort of teachers that began last September is very excited about the work we are doing and is looking forward to the additional technology resources that we’ll have in place in the fall as a result of the second grant. Students in those teachers’ classes have already noticed positive changes in their own learning. We are currently forming the second cohort of teachers that will come on board in August. These grants formally last three years, but the changes they will inspire will continue for years to come.
Department Spotlight – Media Center
April 2-8 was National Library Week but you still have time to celebrate because April is School Library Media Month. The Arapahoe High School Library has recently received many new titles that will provide some fresh reading for this spring. A sampling of these new titles include Colorado author Stephen White’s newest novel Kill Me, James Patterson’s 5th Horseman and an interesting non-fiction tale of an American teenager who travels back to his family’s native country, Afghanistan, after the fall of the Taliban entitled Come Back to Afghanistan; a California Teenager’s Story. Other titles that students might enjoy are Marley and Me; Love, Life and Drywall Repair with the World’s Worst Dog, Black Storm Comin’ and Crunch Time. Come check out a new title or visit the AHS Book Shelf for other good reads.
This is my last contribution to the Weekly Warrior as I will be retiring at the end of this year. I would like to thank those of you who have made my 17 years here a pleasurable experience and wish you all continued good reading.
Photo of the Week
Wish Week basketball players. Photo by Katie Abner.
Our 5th Annual Wish Week was another great success. We raised $8,000! We will be sending two young ladies on their Wishes. Carissa will go on a Disney Cruise and Rachel will be going to Hawaii. Thank you to our students, staff, parents and community for their support this past week. We had a great turnout at our CU Buffoons Concert and at the Senior vs. Staff Basketball game.
Parenting Gifted Kids: Tips for Raising Happy & Successful Children
Dr. Jim Delisle will be giving a presentation on Friday, April 28th, 2006, 6-8 pm at the ESC Board room titled: "Parenting Gifted Kids: Tips for Raising Happy & Successful Children.” This presentation is based on his new book with the same name. Space is limited. This presentation is co-sponsored by the LPS Gifted and Talented Advisory Council, LPS Twice Exceptional Task Force, and the Special Serviced Advisory Committee. Priority will be given to parents, teachers, and administrators of LPS. To attend, call Barb Bolen at 303-347-3473. Any other questions, please Call Melinda Ness at 303-347-3477.
Technology Staff Development Grants
Arapahoe has recently received two grants involving staff development and the use of technology. The first grant allowed us to start our project last September, and the second grant will allow us to expand it dramatically starting in August. We wanted to share with you some of the details of what we are doing. This is a brief summary, but you can read the entire grant application at http://www.lps.k12.co.us/schools/arapahoe/21c/ahslpsgrant.doc .
The goals of this project are to improve teacher and student use of technology to achieve curricular goals, to help transform our school to a more student-centered, constructivist approach, and to prepare our students to succeed in the 21st century.
The heart of the project is staff development. What our teachers need most is the time and opportunity necessary to transform their instruction to meet the needs of our students and utilize the tools of the 21st century. In order to bridge the gap between how students live outside of school and how they learn at school, teachers need the time to work together to explore new technologies and techniques; the time to discuss and collaborate with each other; the time to transform their lesson plans to a more student-centered, constructivist approach.
The grants allow us to provide teachers the time – and the necessary technology – to accomplish these goals. The teachers selected for staff development each year meet formally at least once every two to three weeks (typically for three hours, and then two longer sessions in the summer). As a constructivist group, we focus on students as active participants in their learning - as constructors of knowledge. Together, we explore ways to use technology to enable a more student-centered approach to instruction and to create a culture of learning where students take a greater role in producing and managing their own learning.
In order to use technology as the “enabler” for this approach to instruction, we need each teacher to have access to the appropriate technology and resources in their classroom. We are providing each teacher with a computer and mounted LCD Projector in each classroom so that they can use technological tools to focus on student needs. They will have access not only to specific pieces of software that are useful in their curricula, but to the vast resources that the Internet offers them and their students. They will be able to practice “just in time”, “anytime, anywhere” teaching – accessing information when all of those teachable moments occur. They will be able to foster a collaborative environment among students – sharing not only with other students in their classroom, but with other classrooms around the world. Students need not only to be able to present information to their classmates, but to share their work with the much wider – and often more authentic – audience that the Internet provides. We are moving from an isolated to a connected classroom.
We are also implementing three classrooms of laptop computers with wireless connectivity to the network and the Internet. These computers will equip three “demonstration” classrooms where students and teachers will truly have the tools necessary for a 21st century education. These will be “model” classrooms where teachers can demonstrate the most effective use of 21st century technologies for the rest of the faculty.
The first cohort of teachers that began last September is very excited about the work we are doing and is looking forward to the additional technology resources that we’ll have in place in the fall as a result of the second grant. Students in those teachers’ classes have already noticed positive changes in their own learning. We are currently forming the second cohort of teachers that will come on board in August. These grants formally last three years, but the changes they will inspire will continue for years to come.
Department Spotlight – Media Center
April 2-8 was National Library Week but you still have time to celebrate because April is School Library Media Month. The Arapahoe High School Library has recently received many new titles that will provide some fresh reading for this spring. A sampling of these new titles include Colorado author Stephen White’s newest novel Kill Me, James Patterson’s 5th Horseman and an interesting non-fiction tale of an American teenager who travels back to his family’s native country, Afghanistan, after the fall of the Taliban entitled Come Back to Afghanistan; a California Teenager’s Story. Other titles that students might enjoy are Marley and Me; Love, Life and Drywall Repair with the World’s Worst Dog, Black Storm Comin’ and Crunch Time. Come check out a new title or visit the AHS Book Shelf for other good reads.
This is my last contribution to the Weekly Warrior as I will be retiring at the end of this year. I would like to thank those of you who have made my 17 years here a pleasurable experience and wish you all continued good reading.
Photo of the Week
Wish Week basketball players. Photo by Katie Abner.
posted by Karl Fisch at 8:17 AM
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