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HTHL Internship and College Advising Institute HTH and HTHI Annual MANPOWER Academic Internship Showcase
October 15, 2005
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HTHL Network NewsIn Issue #2, April 5, 2004  1. HTH
Unveils Revamped WebsiteHTH Learning is proud to announce a revamped website that combines all High Tech High information and resources, previously available in several locations, in one comprehensive site. The new design is the collaborative creation of Jeff Robin, Tim Garton, and David Stephen, with new content contributed by Jed Wallace, Darlene Devaney, Rob Riordan, David Stephen, and many others. New Home Page The site features new graphics and an easy navigation system organized around critical elements of the HTH design. The new Home Page holds buttons affording direct access to important subsidiary pages:
Projects Of particular interest to teachers is the new Projects section, where visitors can search for HTH projects by grade, subject area, and duration. Each project description includes that data plus an essential question, a description of the activity, representative handouts and assessments, and teacher reflections on the project. A simple form allows HTH teachers to post projects to the site-an opportunity that we hope to extend soon to teachers in our network affiliates. HTH Learning Network Information about HTH Learning now resides in a section of the new site called "HTH Network of Schools." This section includes general Network information, a Newsletter, a growing Resource Center, and a map showing locations of HTH Network sites, as well as links to their web sites. These are just a few of the highlights. There's much more, by way of tech support, staff directory and portfolios, a Parent Association page, school application information, and pages on college advising, internships, and partners and supporters. Go to www.hightechhigh. org and see for yourself! Let us know your reactions and suggestions!  2. Deborah
Meier Visits HTHDeborah Meier, renowned educator, author, and thought leader in the small schools movement, spent the day at HTH on March 5, 2004. During her visit she met with HTH staff to discuss the importance of emphasizing depth over breadth in high school curriculum. Ms. Meier also visited HTH classrooms and interacted with teachers and students. Later that evening, she addressed a group of approximately 100 HTH students, staff, parents, and members of the San Diego community. She again spoke about the need for relevant project based learning and smaller schools. Fielding numerous questions about the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Ms. Meier expressed her concern about our society's current shift to an over-reliance on standardized measures of student performance.  3. HTH
Learning Conversations On Lesson Planning
Rob Riordan, HTH Learning Editor's Note: In this issue we introduce a new feature, "HTH Learning Conversations," to the HTHL Newsletter. See what you think. Feel free to extend the conversation below-or to introduce another topic-by emailing Rob Riordan at rriordan@hightechhigh.org. MBW: Do you think it is wrong-headed to try to make a standard lesson plan format where teachers are "forced" to respond to each element of the lesson plan? Have you in your practice ever used a standard format for lesson planning for yourself? Keep in mind that we have many new untrained teachers. Given that situation, is there a format that you would suggest-something that teachers should fill out each day/each week before teaching that week? RR: I have never used a standard format. I have found them to be too contrived and formulaic to be useful to me as a teacher. I did plenty of planning: in fact, I would spend a couple of weeks every summer preparing every assignment and handout for every class for the coming year, in sufficient numbers for my students. But daily lesson plans? No. Instead, I would write up daily agendas for me and the class. These were enough to keep us oriented. I also tried to spell out very clearly in my syllabi what content we would cover and what critical skills we would be addressing daily in my courses. I often kept daily journals of my teaching, which were my way of figuring out what to do next when things weren't going well. As for inexperienced teachers, I would say a couple of things. First, it is important that they construct a document (syllabus) that spells out the content and the skills that will be addressed regularly in each course. These, I presume, would include skills of reading, writing, inquiry, and critical thinking. It's important that they articulate what is important to them to teach, in their own words (with reference, of course to Mirta Ramirez goals, principles, and requirements). Second, it's important that inexperienced teachers develop some evolving statement of their own goals as teachers. What are their strengths? What are their needs? What are they working on right now in terms of the craft of teaching? You-or a teaching colleague- could help any new teacher develop this document by observing a class or two and giving feedback. For example, a new teacher may be experiencing difficulty in getting students to write in their journals, or figuring out what to do with that writing once he gets it. Is that something he wants to work on? If so, then there are ways to go about it. What I'm suggesting here is that there are issues of craft that are vitally important for a new teacher-or anyone-to work on, and that filling out a standard lesson plan format isn't necessarily going to help. The questions for the teacher are, "What are you working on?" and "What are your students working on?" and "What are you planning?"-not "Where's your daily lesson plan?" Rather than tell a teacher how she must plan, I would ask her how she does plan, and ask to see the evidence and fruits of planning (including the broader documents mentioned above). I would not insist that she conform to a specific daily format. In fact, I would be more likely to ask her to keep a daily teachinglearning log for reflection and planning. MBW: Do you have a suggestion for a daily/weekly reflection format-for thinking about what did happen in the classroom that day-what they planned and tried to teach -- what they think that students learned -- what they will then plan to do the next day, etc,? RR: I would suggest a simple journal format with a few optional suggested questions, such as:
MBW: We are continuing to work with how we "cross-walk" the standards against what skills and content we are teaching through project-based learning. Do you distinguish in your teaching between content and skill development? For me, I think of content as being closely related to topic and issue, but still there is something else-that is more closely related to the skill development. What do you think? RR: I think there are basic and critical thinking skills that belong in the lesson every day. For me, these would be named as constants in the syllabus. Sometimes these would be in the daily agenda under content, as part of the instructional agenda (today we're going to learn about revision), and other times via the activities (applications), e.g. student response groups, revision exercises, etc. MBW: You have listed the elements of lessons as Content/Purpose, Threads/Connections, Materials/Setup, Activity, and Closure. At what point do the standards come in? The reason I am asking is so that I can see where to "hook up" the teachers' understanding-as to what they are doing as teachers-to what we have said that we will do as a school, so far as developing certain thinking and working skills and teaching according to state standards. RR: Standards are embedded in both the "content" of the lesson and the activities. By content, I mean instructional focus. By activities, I mean applied learning/skill development/pathways to understanding. Standards are a reference point and measure of our content and activity, but they are not themselves the content. In all of this, the most important question for the daily agenda is, "Why are we doing this?" Inexperienced teachers often have trouble with planning, not because they don't know what they should cover, but because they don't think through, step by step, what they will say and do, particularly at transition points in the lesson. It's about sketching out the script for the day, off which one can then improvise, extemporize, and encourage students to influence the direction of the lesson. That's why, for me, the "activity" portion of the lesson requires special attention: Why are we doing it? How does it connect with what students know? How can we model the activity? What are some examples of products that might emerge from this activity? All this is particularly important with PBL, where lesson planning pertains more to project management than traditional instruction.  4. HTH
Site Review Visits to BeginThis spring four network sites will enter the first phase of the HTH accreditation process, consisting of site self-studies followed by "checkin" visits. The four sites to be visited in late May and early June are:
Overall, the key questions are:
The full High Tech High accreditation process includes annual "check-in" visits in Years One and Two, followed by a full accreditation visit in Year Three. Part of the aim of the check-in visits is to begin to document our successes and issues as we build a network culture of shared reflection and practice.  5. Sci-Tech
High Holds Press ConferenceThe High Tech High Learning Network was on hand in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on March 16, 2004 to announce the inclusion of The Harrisburg University Science and Technology High School (Sci-Tech High) within the High Tech High Learning Network. The event was celebrated at a press conference, which was held in downtown Harrisburg at the Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts, an interactive museum just across the street from the future home of Sci-Tech High. Supporters of the school on hand to speak at the news conference included Stephen Reed, Mayor of Harrisburg, Dr. Mel Schiavelli, President of Harrisburg University, and Dr. Gerald Kohn, Superintendent of the Harrisburg School District. Also in attendance were board members, community leaders and other supporters of the new school including Karen Oates, Vice President for Academic Affairs, and Lisa Waller, Principal of Sci-Tech High. During the event, Jed Wallace, Chief Operating Officer of High Tech High Learning, congratulated Sci-Tech High on having assembled a strong team of civic leaders, local entrepreneurs and instructional experts, who are well-prepared to successfully implement the essential design elements of High Tech High. At the news conference, Sci-Tech High was presented a check representing the first disbursement of funds that are provided to replication sites through support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Construction of the school's state of the art $16 million facility is on schedule for a formal school opening in fall of 2004. 6. HTH Learning Network School Updates City High School, Tucson, AZ CHS recently formed a Student Steering Committee to provide students with a voice and a role in the school planning process. This keeps with their mission of having students become active participants and leaders in the community... beginning with the school community. The Steering Committee will address issues such as student dress code, the school calendar, and on campus lunch policies. COS is also presently working on the articulation of committed partnerships between community agencies and businesses, and the school's CityWorks Program. The CityWorks curriculum will involve students in service-learning projects that are interdisciplinary and community driven.  High Tech High Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CAHTHLA is preparing to hire six new teachers in the fall of 2004. All interested parties should contact the school's principal, Marsh Rybin, at ms.ryban@hightechhighla.org. HTHLA Humanities classes recently completed a successful unit on poetry in which students composed highly original poetry for desktop publishing. The school's Robotics team has been competing both locally and nationally, participating in competitions in Portland, OR, Atlanta, GA, and Toronto, ONT. Mirta Ramirez Computer Science Charter School, Chicago, IL MRCSCS will host its 3rd series of POL's (Presentations of Learning) and EOL's (Exhibitions of Learning) the week of April 5, 2004. Additionally, the school has three teams of students going to Northwestern University's Kellogg Management Investment Club in order to pitch their selection of stocks. Stocks approved by the IMC will receive up to $5000 position that will be tracked, and then liquidated in June. Preliminary plans and elevations have been prepared for MRCSCS's new facility. The renovated warehouse building will have high ceilings and lots of skylights. It is slated for completion in July, 2005. New Bedford Global Learning Charter School, New Bedford, MA NBGLCS is narrowing down it's site search for a new facility to house its middle and high school programs. A temporary site for their new ninth grade program has been located in a downtown building with a floor plan that lends itself well to the school's needs. NBGLCS's Board of Trustees has begun to negotiate a partnership with the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth that will provide expanded services for NBGLCS students, including access to athletic facilities and college level courses. The partnership also aims to create a professional development center for teacher training. New Urban High School, Clakamas, OR NUHS continues to hold weekly assemblies that showcase student work and talent. Lately, assemblies have included poetry readings, bagpipes concerts, violin duets, dance performances, theater productions, academic presentations, and guest speakers. During the month of March, students exhibited their Energy POL's. Additionally, a program called "Breakfast with the Pros" was implemented, in which the school invites local professionals to discuss their work and have breakfast with a handful of interested students. San Carlos High School, San Carlos, CA SCHS is in the process of visiting local middle schools and youth groups as part of its student recruitment drive. A tri-fold recruitment brochure is in the final stages of production. The school is completing architectural plans for the extension of their temporary space to accommodate next year's influx of students. The facilities committee continues to work with the local school district and city planning office to identify a permanent site for the school. Sci-tech High, Harrisburg, PA Sci-tech High principal Lisa Waller visited San Diego to learn about the HTH model and observe the school's annual spring exhibition. Chief Academic Officer, Karen Oats, plans to share information about Sci-tech High's 6-week summer learning program for possible export to HTH network sites. High Tech High, San Diego, CA For the third year in a row HTH received its Academic Performance Index (API) decile ranking from the state of California. HTH was in the top decile compared to all schools in the state as well as compared to schools with students of similar socio-economic status. HTH was one of only 4 high schools in San Diego County to receive a 10/10 ranking. High Tech Media Arts, San Diego, CA The San Diego Unified School District was unable to determine which charter school should make use of the facility that was proposed as the location for HTMA. The school is currently assessing options for opening in Sept 04 or Sept 05 High Tech International, San Diego, CA Renovation of the HTI facility began in full force at the beginning of the month. The 30,000 square foot project is scheduled for completion in August, 2004. HTI received commitments to have female students from Afghanistan attend the school. They are very close to having similar arrangements in place for students from China and Israel. |
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