- March 28, 2024
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Thirteen district teachers and staff met for a brainstorm session to discuss a five-year plan.
Classrooms as you know them in Flagler County could change in the next five years, if the district’s newly formed technology committee has anything to say about it.
The committee of 13 teachers and staff met in the Flagler Palm Coast High School Bistro Thursday, Feb. 16, to brainstorm new ways of using computers to break free of the standard lecture-homework-exam learning model.
At the start of the meeting, Jacob Oliva, FPC principal and committee facilitator, showed two videos, one of a man who calls himself “The Amateur,” a non-musician who spliced together clips of himself hitting singular piano notes and drum strikes in a way that perfectly created a song.
Afterward, Oliva was excited.
“That guy made music through technology!” he said. “And he can’t play the piano or the drums. … Be the producers of content, not the consumers. … That’s the groundwork we’re trying to lay.”
According to Superintendent Janet Valentine, the committee was formed to figure out what Flagler classrooms should look like in the Internet Age.
“If you had to visualize what the perfect classroom would look like, let’s start there,” she told the group, marker in hand, standing beside a giant white note pad.
In preparation for future partnership meetings with Apple, one short session was held prior to this meeting, during which general methods for incorporating technology into study were brainstormed — methods like “flip” teaching, where lectures are conducted from home online, and “homework” is done in the classroom, with the help of teachers.
“We’re preparing our students for life in the 21st century,” said Lynette Shott, FPC assistant principal. “We need to be prepared for that, and the traditional school is not (doing the job).”
Some elements have already been changed, Valentine added: iFlagler Virtual School is growing, and certain teachers already offer real-time help to students through email. “But we haven’t changed a whole lot. … We can walk through a lot of our classrooms and still see the traditional model.”
Focusing in on the “The 5 C’s” — communication, critical thinking, creative problem-solving, collaboration, and cross-cultural relationship building — the group began forming a plan which they’ll present to Apple March 16.
The group wasn’t shy to suggest ways to improve. Get rid of standardized blocks of time, one committee member said. If a student is ready for English 2 after a semester, why should he have to stay in English 1 the rest of the year?
Lose the borders of location, another added. Why can’t classes be conducted in the cafeteria, or outside in the courtyard?
Break free from segmentation. Why can’t multiple subjects be taught in tandem, such as English with social studies, or science with math, instead of confining them to separate time slots?
In the end, transforming school into a 24/7 lifestyle instead of a 7 a.m.-to-2 p.m. activity was the group’s objective.
“We are exploring ways to utilize social media … and mobile devices to support learning throughout the students’ day,” Oliva said, in a follow-up interview. “When a student is at home, on the bus, in the classroom, at lunch … with the incorporation of mobile technologies, we can break down current (time) constraints … (and) find ways to increase communication between the school and home. If we are creating lessons that inspire wonder, then the students will continue to want to learn on their own.”
Currently, Oliva and staff are working on identifying the types of technologies needed to support their vision. New hardware and software — like the Edmondo virtual classroom and even potentially iPads — will be piloted in the classrooms of teachers in the focus groups before district- and schoolwide implementation.
“(None of this) takes away from the student-teacher relationship. That is still critical,” School Board member Colleen Conklin added. “This is just a tool and a visual.”
She also emphasized the importance of public investment.
Comparatively, she said, Flagler is currently in a great place technologically. But its progress has only been possible through the half-penny sales tax, approved in 2002 and up again for vote this year.
“This is not a luxury anymore,” she said. “This is a necessity.”
The committee will meet again March 1, to continue working out the logistics of its plan before meeting with Apple professional-development trainers.
THE VISIONEERS
A group of a dozen teachers and staff, led by Flagler Palm Coast High School Principal Jacob Oliva, met Feb. 16 to brainstorm what Flagler schools will look like technologically in future years. Those present were as follows:
Colleen Conklin, School Board member
Michelle Coolican, science teacher, Buddy Taylor Middle Ryan Deising, technology director
Candy Garcia, Northeast Florida Education Consortium director
Tara Millette, fifth-grade teacher, Bunnell Elementary
C.J. Nocella, technology department
Sue Nocella, technology curriculum specialist
Kerri Sands, technology teacher, Flagler Palm Coast High
Lynnette Shott, assistant principal, Flagler Palm Coast
Jill Stirling, first-grade teacher, Wadsworth Elementary
Janet Valentine, superintendent
Louise Wolfe, math teacher, Matanzas High