Student-run TV Network in South Burlington Interviews Veterans

The Burlington Free Press has an interesting article in today’s paper about the South Burlington News Network, run by Frederick H. Tuttle Middle School eighth-graders. The video made by students will be broadcast on RETN, and is part of a national project by Comcast and the History Channel.  Check out the article here.

Twilight Program “best thing the school has ever done for me”

Mount Anthony Union High School’s Twilight program is getting some good press lately, and rightly so. The program, an alternative education path designed to improve graduation rates, give students the skills to obtain and maintain employment, and build partnerships with the local community, was recently featured in the Sunday Rutland Herald. See the article here.

But sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. Check out the before

Before (photos courtesy of Sue Maguire)

(above) and after (below) picture of a mobile home some students in the program, with a local contractor, improved over the summer. Thanks to Principal Sue Maguire for the photos and information.

After

Vermont Innovation Jam 3.0

Can’t take your students on a field trip to Silicon Valley? Get them out of the classroom and into the real world at the Vermont 3.0 Innovation Jam. This exciting and informative day-long event will bring representatives from Vermont’s creative, tech and “green” companies together under one roof.

The event will be held Monday, October 26, 10-6 at the Sheraton in Burlington. Admission is free. School groups are welcome. Your students will have an opportunity to: • See and participate in state-of-the-art tech demos • Meet video game designers • Listen to local CEOs explain how they got their start • Learn how they can train for a career with Vermont’s coolest companies • Connect what they do in the classroom with cutting edge technology in use right here in the Green Mountain State For more information visit http://www.vermont3.com/. Contact: Jonathan Young at the Vermont Department of Labor at (802) 652-0307 or john.young@state.vt.us.

I Challenge You to a Dual…Enrollment

Over the summer, Community College of Vermont received a grant to design and implement a

Courtesy of CCV

website for the Vermont State Colleges Dual Enrollment Program. We would like to share it with all of you, so that you can use it as a resource for answering students’ questions about the program.  Dual enrollment is the formalized arrangement of a high school student enrolling in college courses in addition to high school courses.

The link to the site is www.gotocollegevt.org. You will see several questions and answers animate the screen, and then you can choose to view the information as a student, parent or guidance counselor. Whichever view you choose, there will be a “Contact Us” link.

Read, enjoy, share with students. Thanks to DOE’s John Fischer for this update.

Education and Health: A Clear Connection

So often we advocate for education in terms of other social outcomes, but this new issue brief from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation clearly links educational attainment with better health.

Thanks to Physical Education Consultant Lindsay Simpson for sharing this with us. Check out her blog when you get a chance here.

Commissioner Vilaseca Checks Out Advanced High School Program

The Brattleboro Reformer has a great article about their Windham Collegiate High School program, which gives high school students college credit for work they complete in advanced high school classes.

An excerpt: “This has been a dream of mine for over 40 years,” Vilaseca said after Stahley and project director Tom Yahn talked about the program. “This is exactly what we are talking about when we talk about transforming high school. This is a way to make school relevant.”

Check out the full article here.

Content is King in Vermont Education Technology

The following article, written by DOE Education Technology Coordinator Peter Drescher, appeared in the June 2009 edition of eSchool News:

As education technology moves steadily into the 21^st century, we see positive shifts occurring in Vermont in how schools and teachers think about technology and learning. Schools have become more tech savvy, and more cognizant of the ways that technology impacts instruction best, so a continuing trend has been to more mobile access of technology.  One-to-one computing where possible or mobile computer carts provide great ways for students to have access to technology and resources as needed in classroom learning settings.  Along with this “mobility influx”, there has been a concerted effort at both the state and local levels to more closely tie specific content areas and technology together.  Vermont’s VTcite, (vtcite.org) and the 21^st Century Classrooms project have made significant steps in making technology tools play a significant learning role in content areas.

Making the Most of the Middle

The Department’s own 21 Century Community Learning Centers Coordinator Holly Morehouse was recently published in the national magazine Afterschool Matters. Published by the National Institute on Out-of-School Time, Afterschool Matters is a national, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to promoting professionalism, scholarship and consciousness in the field of afterschool education.

Holly’s article is Making the Most of the Middle: A Strategic Model for Middle School Afterschool Programs (Be patient - it may take a while to load). “Building on—rather than trying to overcome— the unique characteristics of early adolescence, Vermont’s 21st Century Community Learning Centers are using the ‘five Rs of program design’ to improve middle schoolers’ attendance and youth development outcomes.”

Holly continues with a point that pretty much sums up Transformation. “The most effective programs for middle school youth strike a balance between exposing young adolescents to a wide variety of activities and experiences while providing opportunities for youth to develop mastery and focus.” Take some time to read this important article about Vermont middle school afterschool programs.

Vermont Business Roundtable Blog

The Vermont Business Roundtable, according to its site, was “created in 1987 as a nonprofit, public interest organization.. comprised of 120 CEOs of Vermont’s most active and committed for-profit and not-for-profit employers. Our mission is to make Vermont the best place in America to do business, be educated and live life.”

They have made themselves a friend to the Transformation effort, as they play a critical leadership role in the future of our state. A future, we might add, populated by today’s students.

We stumbled across their President Lisa Ventriss’ blog the other day, and were struck by how much of it is directly related to the young adults in Vermont who are educated here and work here. Well done and full of good factoids about Vermont’s economy and workforce, it is worth stopping by there on a regular basis. We certainly will.

Reading Books You Actually Like

What a concept! The New York Times has an interesting article about a new approach to reading. The example of a class in Georgia, “in which students choose their own books, discuss them individually with their teacher and one another, and keep detailed journals about their reading, is part of a movement to revolutionize the way literature is taught in America’s schools,” according to the Times.

Agree or disagree, it is worth checking out.

I recently got hooked on the television series “The Tudors,” about Henry VIII, enough so that I have been scouring Amazon for books on the subject. It isn’t often that TV inspires one to read, but the idea is the same. I am pursuing a book on 16th century England for personal interest. Would I have done that in 11th grade like these kids? I will never know. - Jill