Twitter in the Classroom?!

February 8, 2015July 15, 2015 / HSE_21

When my children were young, reading class newsletters was always a highlight. These newsletters were my window into the learning activities my children had been experiencing throughout a given week. Weekly newsletters prompted great interaction at home, because I then had ideas of questions to ask my children about their learning! But I had to wait until Friday.

Today’s digital tools, however, have changed the communication game. Through social media, communication happens simply and quickly–even ‘in the moment’. Some of HSE’s elementary teachers are making the most of new digital communication venues to give parents glimpses into their children’s learning in nearly real-time.

Twitter has become the preferred venue for real-time classroom communication. With a quick camera click, a short typed phrase, and an ‘upload’, a teacher can give his/her students’ families a window into learning that day. Instead of dinner conversation like this:

Mom: “What did you do in school today, Jimmy?”

Jimmy: “I dunno. Stuff. It was fun.”

Conversation suddenly becomes much richer:

Mom: Jimmy! I heard that your class Skyped with a third-grade class in Alaska today. Was that fun?”

Jimmy: “Yeah! Their class had 28 people and they get to wear snow shoes to school sometimes and once they had a moose on their playground and…”

You get the idea. Using digital tools to deepen the home-school connection. Another aspect of HSE21.

Catapults, Collaboration and Creative Design

November 18, 2014July 15, 2015 / HSE_21

Young children are naturals when it comes to creation and design. Catapults, rockets, roller coasters…just mention these words, and creative constructions are not far behind! Sand Creek Elementary recently provided a wonderful opportunity for budding engineers and designers to explore science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The event, known as Family Engineering Night, brought together over two-hundred-and-fifty members of the SCE community.

Family Engineering Night came about through the vision of SCE third-grade teacher Holly Miller, who was awarded a grant for the project from the Hamilton Southeastern Schools Foundation. Attendees of the event witnessed a packed gymnasium where students and their families visited their choice of thirty hands-on engineering stations. Side-by-side, children and adults practiced creative design, critical thinking, and problem-solving. What type of boat will hold the most pennies? Can we design a roller coaster that will keep a marble moving for 5 seconds? Which materials make the most powerful catapult? Inquiry, design, and family interaction were highlights of the smashingly-successful evening…the photos shown here tell the story best.

Day 63 – The Reading Royals Partnership

November 17, 2014 / HSE_21

Being a large and growing school corporation may have its challenges (for instance, higher traffic volume at certain times of day!). But size also has its advantages. School buildings are popping up close to one another, which opens the doors–literally–to connected learning opportunities! HSE Freshman Campus Media Specialist Kristen Distler decided to take advantage of her advantage, in that her building sits right next door to Fall Creek Elementary. Knowing the impact that motivated older students can have on our youngest learners, Distler designed the Reading Royals partnership.

The new club is open to all freshman campus students with a desire to share their love of learning with their younger peers. As of this month forty freshman are involved in the partnership. Freshman Lauren Swenson sums up what motivates Reading Royals: “I joined because I thought it would be fun to help out kids. I like spending time with them. It’s fun because all of the freshman are together reading with the kids.”

Reading Royals walk next door twice monthly to read and learn with Mrs. Robinson and Mrs. Blount’s classes. Says Distler, “The high school kids usually do a learning game for the first fifteen minutes and then read with the third graders for fifteen minutes. We hope we can foster the love of reading along with building some good mentoring relationships.” Learning together and sharing our learning. HSE21.

Day 62 – HJH Is a Blue Ribbon School

November 14, 2014November 14, 2014 / HSE_21

Congratulations to the Hamilton Southeastern Junior High school community on being named as a National Blue Ribbon School for 2014! Today, in Washington, D.C., Principal Tim Mankin and English Department Chair Jeff Libey took part in ceremonies to honor this year’s Blue Ribbon winners.

The National Blue Ribbon Schools program, an important initiative of the federal Department of Education, has a thirty-two year history of highlighting excellent schools across the United States. Earning Blue Ribbon status is a great honor, and HJH is the only junior high school in the state of Indiana to be named a National Blue Ribbon School this year. To learn more about Hamilton Southeastern Junior High’s Blue Ribbon Status, please visit their award page on the National Blue Ribbon Schools website.

Day 56 – 131st Street Connections: FHS & SCE Read Together

November 3, 2014 / HSE_21

One of the advantages to having several school buildings in close proximity is the potential for ongoing connections between our youngest and oldest learners! These important connections happen twice weekly on 131st Street, when the Fishers Reading Tigers walk across the road to meet their reading buddies at Sand Creek Elementary.

The FHS Reading Tigers program, now in its second year, pairs young readers with high school students who serve as peer tutors. This year, before reading buddy matches were made, Media Specialist Renee Isom and senior Alicia Macchione, club president, educated potential peer tutors on the basics of young children’s literature and literacy instruction in order to prepare students for their role.

FHSReadingTigers3 Walk into Sand Creek during the last half hour of the elementary school day on a Monday or Wednesday, and you’ll be sure to see reading partners throughout the halls, engrossed in stories and conversation. Each FHS teen reader connects weekly with his or her very own reading buddy. New friends are reading and learning together. Connections within a learning community. Part of the HSE21 educational experience.

Day 54 – First Grade Inquiry Impacts Families

October 31, 2014 / HSE_21

Students in Mrs. Beck’s first grade class at Geist Elementary recently completed personal inquiry projects around the topic of fire safety. With help from experts at the Fishers Fire Department, the students first learned important lessons about what to do in the event of a fire. With this base knowledge, inquiry and application of learning began! The first-graders went home to survey their own homes and develop fire escape plans with their families.

The plans shown here (graphics on the left and a short film below, are prime examples of 21st century learning at its finest, where learning is personal, connected to the real world, and internalized so that it can be transferred to new situations. Through inquiry projects like this, students (even our youngest students) can take ownership of their learning to explore real issues.

Day 48 – Skype Leads to Unexpected Excitement!

October 20, 2014October 22, 2014 / HSE_21

Untitled A few of the kindergarten classes at Brooks School Elementary had a very exciting day! We had the great opportunity to Skype with a local firefighter. Our class had not used Skype for learning in the classroom yet this year, so I thought that we should start off small by using it to reach out to someone in our community. In our social studies lessons we are learning about our community and the leaders that help us and our neighbors. I reached out to a firefighter and asked if he was interested in answering some questions from my students to help us learn more about a day in the life of a firefighter.

During our Skype conversation with firefighter Josh, the students were able to ask questions about his job, the firehouse, his uniform and the fire truck. He gave us a tour of the inside cab of the fire truck and the tools that are attached to the outside. Right after Josh put on the mask and helmet that he has to wear when entering a burning building, we heard alarms going off in the fire house. They were being called out on a run and Josh was able to take us with him for a bit through Skype. We heard the sirens and could see how fast they got to drive when answering a call. Our classes could hear everything that was going on with them but they could not hear our questions anymore. We wrote a few down and held them up to the camera so that he could answer a few more before we had to go.

Through Skype and thanks to firefighter Josh, the walls of our classroom vanished for a bit, and our students were able to experience the world outside in the middle of our day. Skyping a community helper was a perfect way to begin using this technology in our classroom!

-Submitted by Mrs Breiner, Brooks School Elementary, Kindergarten

Day 47 – TEDxFHS – Sharing Ideas Worth Spreading

October 20, 2014 / HSE_21

TED, the influential nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, made its way to Fishers High School on Friday evening! Over one hundred audience members at this TEDx event were treated to powerful talks, all centered around the theme Failures, Mistakes, and Reflections. Neurologist Dr. Linda Williams explained how perceived failure in medical research studies can lead to discovery in other areas. We learned of promising new models of global development from Butler University’s Dr. Jeff Rasley, and about overcoming personal adversity from Robanne Robin. Mrs. Lauren Glasco, FHS English teacher, put failure into perspective as she explained how the ‘failures’ of her own adolescence shaped her philosophy of teaching today. The evening’s closer featured a stellar performance by two FHS students who presented a thoughtful yet light-hearted duo on the power and way of forgiveness.

TEDxFHS was organized and planned by students in the International Baccalaureate (IB) program at Fishers High School. FHS faculty, IB students, and we, the audience, hope that Friday’s event will be a prelude to more local TEDx gatherings in the near future. The potential to have a TEDx event composed completely of student speakers is real–between student-driven Genius Hour projects, various class independent study projects and internships, AP Capstone projects and more….there are many new ideas worth spreading in the HSE Schools learning community!

Day 34 – The 7,825 Pound Partnership

October 1, 2014 / HSE_21

And the grand total is…7,825 pounds! That’s the amount of pasta that will be making its way to seven local food pantries in the coming weeks. It’s all part of PastaBowl, a joint effort between the HSE Schools Foundation and HSE school families to raise hunger awareness and build critical food donations for Hamilton County. The final collection numbers were revealed Tuesday in a joint announcement by the HSSF and Meijer, this year’s PastaBowl sponsor.

Many Hoosiers would not typically think of Hamilton County as a hungry place. Yet a recent Indianapolis Star article reported that nearly 12,000 children in Hamilton County struggle with hunger. Hamilton Southeastern Schools has observed this fact as well, through an increased need for free and reduced lunch support. And when students are hungry, it’s hard to learn. Eliminating this barrier to learning is the driving purpose behind PastaBowl.

When asked his thoughts on PastaBowl, HSE School Board President John DeLucia noted, “It is a fun way to bring the school community together to make a difference for the Fishers Community.” Exactly! Working together to solve real community problems–part of the HSE21 mission.

The mission of HSE21 is to equip students with the content knowledge, unique skills, and new literacies they will need to contribute positively in their communities and succeed in the 21st century global economy.

Reference:

Anthony, C. (2014, September 21) Need for food aid grows as donations drop. Indianapolis Star. Retrieved from http://www.indystar.com/story/news/local/hamilton-county/noblesville/2014/09/09/donated-food/15336171/

Day 24 – Change the Play, Family Style

September 16, 2014 / HSE_21

image[1] The Riverside Intermediate Physical Education Department has just begun the 8-week Change the Play Challenge, sponsored by Riley Hospital for Children at Indiana University Health. Through Change the Play, Riley has partnered with Andrew Luck, Indianapolis Colts quarterback, to promote childhood nutrition and good health. The challenge includes professional advice and video tutorials about how students, teachers and families can “tackle” this very important topic both at school and at home.

Change the Play is another prime example of HSE21 collaboration throughout a learning community! In addition to completing daily challenges at school, P.E. teachers Jill Berry and Adam Vincent are encouraging families to complete the tasks together at home. Through this fun and motivating program, Berry and Vincent hope families will enjoy working together toward better health!

-Submitted by Jill Berry, Physical Education, Riverside Intermediate School

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