Where is our emphasis?

During our 2011 Grandparents Day activities back in October, Mr. Luehmann asked the grandparents in his classroom, "What kinds of changes in your lifetime have you seen that have made a real impact on the world?" The results are not surprising. Above is a picture of a Wordle™ based on the number of times a certain words or ideas came up in the class conversation (For those unfamiliar with Wordle, it makes a tag cloud out of key words. The more times a word is used on a website or in a selection of text, the bigger the word appears in the cloud).

As you can see, grandparents over-overwhelmingly identify computers and other technology tools as significant agents of change in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. So how is St. John dealing with this significant shift?

First, we've made a conscious effort to adopt the International Society for Technology in Education's (ISTE) National Educational Technology Standards for Students (NETS-S). They address issues such as Creativity & Innovation; Communication & Collaboration; Research and Information Fluency; Critical thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making; Digital Citizenship; and Technology Operations and Concepts. Technology has come to impact not only what students are learning, but how they are learning as well.

Second, we've intentionally set aside professional development for our teachers to learn about those standards and to identify ways they can address those six standards in their regular classroom curriculum.

One of the things you'll notice by looking at the NETS-S is that they are not dependent on a certain type of software or type of computer. It doesn't matter whether we are a Mac campus or Dell campus. Teachers are free to address these in the context of their curriculum. Context for us is huge!

We want to make sure that our students leave St. John with more than just the skill of how to insert a picture onto a PowerPoint slide. Instead, we want them to know what an effective presentation look like. We want students to be able to  create effective visuals that can represent their ideas or share opinions. We want students to be able to make the best use of their time and resources while using the Internet, as well as use technology tools in ethical and God pleasing ways.

It's important for you as parents to know that when you support the technology program at St. John, you are not just buying fun toys for your students to play with and use. Our staff is always looking for ways to intentionally use digital technology tools to prepare your kids for a life of service both now and in the future.

Below is a video created by one of our Kindergarten teachers Ms. Wilcox. She produced this as part of a graduate program assignment. Ms. Wilcox does a fantastic job of describing how our Kindergarten and 1st Grade teachers are utilizing the gift of classroom iPads with their students.