We’ve had a pretty exceptional start to the school year; we welcomed over 600 new Lancers with two days of orientation, highlighted by an incredible student panel, sharing their advice, memories and recommendations with the Class of 2020. They even put together this welcome video, sharing their best “Dear 8th Grade Me” moments.
Our opening Institute Days kicked off with a spirit march for our all of our staff, where over 250 students lined the hallways and our teachers and staff were paraded to the Auditorium, lead by our drumline. Pretty remarkable moment.
From there, the year took off. Our Superintendent, Dr. Lynne Panega, inspired all of us with a simple message, continuing to build on our vision that “We Are One.” Our new Principal, John Gouriotis led with a message echoing that vision, showing that our teachers make a difference for our students. He had a video to prove it.
This energy-and excitement-has permeated into the start of the school year and it’s evident no matter where you go at Lake Park. Proud to be part of this community.
Amongst everything else taking place our first week, Lake Park embarked on a historic moment. We began our 1:1 journey, after 2 years of research, discussions, data collection and pilot experiences. But, that was not the focus last week, and that’s what I am most proud of. Rather, it continued to be about our core message and values; great teaching and learning. Period. Instructional technology, along with our other major initiatives in assessment literacy and differentiated instruction, is part of what we always strive for. They support it. We want great teaching and learning, and going 1:1 is about supporting that.
So, what did we learn in our first week as a 1:1 school?
We learned that it’s imperative to create a culture where teachers are comfortable taking risks, going outside their comfort zones and know that as an administration, we not only have to encourage this, but model it. Throughout the last couple school years, we have been consistent with the message of launch and iterate, Google’s mantra. We’ve stressed Simon Sinek’s invaluable message that we must “start with the why,” that we believe in collaboration, critical thinking, teamwork, engagement, rigor and great teaching and learning. Why go 1:1? Because these are most important to us and instructional technology truly supports these ideals. And we described that everyone has a path to travel, from their point A to their point B, but know that it’s never a straight line.
We learned that all of the professional development that we have been offering, and that teachers have been eager to embark on-over 60 teachers took part in different instructional technology professional opportunities this summer alone-is essential to ensuring 1:1 begins successful. We also know that we are just getting started in this area and have already begun planning for this school year and next summer.
We learned that it was crucial to research, go on site visits, talk with schools that are 1:1, plan, pilot and prepare for how 1:1 will affect our students, teachers and school. Seriously, this is a must. It's also something we will continue to do.
We learned that we must have plans in place to ensure our students are prepared, learn key information and can take full advantage of this opportunity from day one. Our 1:1 Ignite! program, where students go through four days of modules (Tech Support Center & Digital Citizenship, Gmail & Calendar, Chromebook & Chromebrowser and Google Drive) was designed to do just that. This was an outstanding program that the York High School Tech Diva’s created which we used as a model.
We learned that it’s important to collect various forms of “data” from the beginning to continue growing, iterating and bettering our program. All students in our freshman class were asked to complete a Google Survey that served as a our “baseline data” on day two of school, providing information and feedback on not only day to day information, but also how engagement grows as a result of the Chromebook, focusing on the 4 C’s (creativity, collaboration, critical thinking and communication.) This is what we value and what we want to continue to grow.
At the end of the day, we’ve learned that this is an amazing, important, momentous, engaging and honestly, normal moment. 1:1 is about providing opportunities for students to engage, collaborate, think critically, communication, challenge themselves and explore their passions. It’s about great teaching and learning. That’s what we do as educators, as Lancers, and as we head into week two, I can’t wait to see what’s next.
