February Newsletter - Classical Preparatory School

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FEBRUARY 2015
VOLUME: I NO: IV
MEET MS. KOLSKY
Why did you decide to go into
teaching?
MODELING CRITICAL
THINKING SKILLS:
FOCUS ON THE RESEARCH, NOT THE
HYPE, BEHIND TECHNOLOGY IN THE
CLASSROOM
My love of children led
me into the teaching profession.
Children are imaginative, funny,
inquisitive, honest and delightful to
be around. They almost never fail
to put a smile on my face, and they
say and do things that I would not
always think to say or do. They are
always surprising me and I love that they want to learn. I believe
children can be underestimated for what they can achieve and I want
to help each one experience and achieve his or her own greatness.
I want to teach because I know I have the passion to make a
difference in a child’s life. I love being creative and exploring new
ways to teach the material so that it excites children.
When it comes the education of children, extreme care should be taken to
ensure they are not used as guinea pigs for every interesting fad. Once
gone, wasted time in education cannot be retrieved, and students will spend
their futures living with the consequences.
What is your favorite subject and why?
Steve Jobs didn’t let his children use iPads.
In school as a student, I always enjoyed social studies and
spelling. But, as a teacher, I love reading books to my students and
teaching Science. With reading, I can easily get children interested
with any type of story where I have their full attention and they want
to listen to the book. It is a joy to watch my students be taken into
another world wanting to know where the story will go, ask questions, and share their thoughts about the book. With science, I have
enjoyed teaching about the water cycle, weather, animals, and all
the other subjects we have been learning about this year so far. My
class loves science, and it is easily their favorite time of day. When
we were learning about the Arctic animals, they took a special
interest in penguins. By the end of that week, we had learned more
Waldorf schools serve the children of America’s tech elite in Silicon
Valley and other areas of California. The most notable facet of these
schools? No computers.
Ms. Kolsky continued on page 2
“Americans had tricked out classrooms with interactive white boards,
high-tech projectors, and towers of iPads. However, there was little
evidence that these purchases paid off for anyone other than the
technology vendors.”
Amanda Ripley
The Smartest Kids in the World (2013)
A parent of two Waldorf students, Alan Eagle, has a computer science
degree from Dartmouth and works at Google. He says it is a waste of time
to teach students to use an evolving technological tool like the computer.
“It’s super easy. It’s like learning to use toothpaste,” he said. “At Google
and all these places, we make technology as brain-dead easy to use as
possible. There’s no reason why kids can’t figure it out when they get
older.”
Research backs up this stance. A host of studies, including several from
the last few months, show that if learning, comprehension, and analysis
are the goals for students, computers should not be in the classroom.
Technology in the Classroom continued on page 3
Parent Standing Committee Meeting
Wednesday, February 18th
Topics to be discussed: Upcoming Events and Volunteering Opportunities
Please join us at the Lunch Tables after drop off
**Please be sure to sign in at the front office**
16500 Lyceum Way, Spring Hill, FL 34610
(813) 803-7903
board@classicalprep.org
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CLASSICAL PREPARATORY SCHOOL
STUDENT COUNCIL MEMBERS
President - Steven Allen
Vice President- Hailey Hannigan
Secretary- Morgan Dussault
Treasurer- Olivia Schaeffer
Historian- Alexandra Postlethwaite
Committee Members - Rylee Matrino,
Justine Smith, John Villasenor, Amanda
Marrero, Kate Corcoran, Zara Supatan,
Cecelia Coll and Zac Brown
CLASSICAL PREPARTORY SCHOOL
SAFETY PATROL
Captain - Zac Brown
Lieutenant - Micah Hughes
Lieutenant - Jordan Alvis
Sergeant (Secretary) - Christina Graziano
Patrols - Hannah Young, Morgan Dussault, Dylan
Marrero, Ronna Snellberger, Christina Graziano,
Presley Basile, Ella Wolthekker, Riley Penner,
Diya Patel, Preston Jarvis, Alex Reed Tori Kuehn,
Ben Blaylock
Ms. Kolsky continued from page 1
about penguins than I had ever learned before, and we made a What's the best part about teaching kindergarten?
special penguin craft that they proudly show off to everyone.
The students of course! They make me laugh, frustrated,
Who was your favorite teacher and why?
smile, and proud of their hard work every day. It goes in that circle at
My favorite teacher was my eight-grade homeroom least fifty times a day. But the hugs, thank you'd, I love you's, and
teacher, Mrs. Starbucks, in middle school in Battle Ground, excitement I receive from them makes it worthwhile. They want to
Washington. She taught me in language arts, social studies, and learn, be successful with their learning, and truly be good students. I
was my yearbook advisor. She believed in me as a student and also love that I work with two extremely supportive kindergarten
pushed me to take part in many opportunities; including being teachers, Mrs. Hogan and Mrs. Dussault, and it is because of our
on yearbook and going on the Washington, D.C. eighth grade collaboration and support of each other that makes it fun to be in
kindergarten. Finally, I also have amazing classroom parents who have
field trip.
been extremely supportive, and I love when they share with me the
If you weren't teaching, what would you be doing?
accomplishments that they have seen from their children. Together, we
If I wasn't’ teaching, I think I would be doing some- have made it a supportive learning environment where my class enjoys
thing with travel. I love to see new places, and I have had the coming to school to learn every day.
opportunities to visit France, England, Switzerland, Mexico,
Canada, Hong Kong, South Korea, and live in Chengdu, China
for a year. I plan on writing a children’s book about my travels
with my Labradoodle across the United States last summer
from Oregon to Florida.
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GEOGRAPHY BEE
WINNERS
1st place School Champion - Diya Patel, 6th Grade
2nd place Winner - Tori Kuehn, 5th Grade
3rd place Winner - Cecelia Coll, 6th Grade
Participants
Dev Patel - 4th Grade
Kamil Cherkani - 4th Grade
Risha Patel - 5th Grade
Jacob Dunlow - 6th Grade
CPS Spelling Bee
for the Scripps National Spelling Bee
Finalists from each class
grades 1st - 8th will compete on
February 17th
Technology in the Classroom continued from page 1
In April 2014, Pam Mueller of Princeton and Daniel Oppenheimer of UCLA revealed the results of three studies in the journal
Psychological Science. Their conclusion: students who took
notes on laptops performed worse on conceptual questions than
students who took notes longhand. The researchers found that
laptop note takers’ tendency to transcribe lectures verbatim rather
than processing information and reframing it in their own words
was detrimental to learning. This correlation continued even
when laptop note takers’ were specifically told to try to reframe
the lecture in their own words.
In July 2014, researchers presented findings that readers using a
digital device performed “significantly” worse on comprehension questions than readers who had read the story on paper. This
study followed up the researchers findings in a previous study
that showed readers who read a story on an iPad had more
difficulty with narrative coherence and empathy with characters.
In September 2014, a study was published in the journal Computers & Education showing that college students who bring their
laptops to long lectures spent about two-thirds of their class time
for off-task activities. The same study also revealed that students’ test
scores went down when they multi-task in class on non-academic activities.
In 2013, the Computers and Education journal reported findings
that multitasking on a laptop or even sitting near someone multitasking on a laptop during a lecture resulted in lower test scores.
Among countries that take the Program for International Student
Assessment (PISA), test scores are lower among students who
use computers intensively, reports Charles Kenny in Business
Week.
Technology in the Classroom continued on page 4
FEBRUARY BIRTHDAY’S
Ava Badala - February 1st
Christian Reifenstein - February 3rd
Jaden Cherkani - February 4th
Isabelle - February 4th
Logan Reynolds - February 4th
Jack Corcoran - February 8th
Abigail Fuertes - February 9th
Venizia Suare - Cebollero - February 10th
Zoe Pierce - February 11th
Caroline Grace - February 12th
Aubrey Pytlak - February 13th
Coen Mansur - February 15th
Christopher Miller - February 15th
Katherine Corcoran - February 17th
Christian Bryan - February 20th
Madison Moore - February 20th
Juliet Cabrera - February 21st
Jenna Alvis - February 22nd
Corbin Merchant - February 22nd
Christina Graziano - February 24th
Caden Hart - February 25th
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Technology in the Classroom continued from page 3
Among countries that take PISA, the relationship between
educational achievement and the use of computers at home and
school was negative for home computers and insignificant for
school computers.
Analysis of the One Laptop per Child program, which hands
out specially designed computers loaded with learning applications, has shown similar and consistently disappointing results. No impact has been shown on reading, math, and
cognitive skills.
In the early 2000s, the Duke University economists Jacob
Vigdor and Helen Ladd tracked the academic progress of
nearly one million disadvantaged middle-school students
against the dates they were given networked computers. Their
findings? A persistent decline in students’ math and reading
skills.
In 2008 the journal Computers & Education published the
results of a study on laptop usage in class which found that
laptop use negatively correlated to student learning, including
attention, lecture clarity, and understanding of the course material.
A 2009 study on the cognitive ability of people who frequently
multi-tasked with technology found that chronic media multitaskers—people who spent several hours a day juggling multiple screen tasks—performed worse than otherwise similar
peers on analytic questions drawn from the LSAT.
Advocating for the measured and thoughtful use of computers in the
classroom does not mean one has a negative view of technology.
Computers should be used when they are proven to be the best option.
Here are five examples.
Practicing recall of basic facts as homework, such as math and
geography facts.
Streamlining educational administration.
Online standardized testing that provides a quick and usable
snapshot of data.
Use of a teacher computer with a projector to show texts,
pictures, and video relevant to the subject matter.
Use of a computer by students to show PowerPoints, Excel
spreadsheets, etc. for an oral presentation.
These are targeted uses for which other options do not approach the
computer’s efficacy and efficiency. However, in none of these instances
is a computer actually in a student’s hands for classroom learning.
The goal of student learning should always be front and center in any
classroom, and research reveals computers are not effective at improving
comprehension and analytical thinking in the classroom. So what does
research show matters to classroom learning?
1. Teaching the Brain to Learn
How can analytical thinking be taught? Three recently acclaimed books
reveal important research on this issue: Daniel Goleman’s Focus, The
Hidden Driver of Excellence; Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast
and Slow; and Matthew Crawford’s The World Beyond Your Head:
On Becoming an Individual in an Age of Distraction. Their findings
show that critical thinking is a process resulting from concentration
and past background knowledge. That’s why at classical charter
schools you won’t find a lot of computers. You will find excellent
books, a planned curriculum, and teachers who are experts on their
subject matter. This is purposeful. Classical schools seek to create
individuals capable of analyzing information, opinions, facts, and
propaganda – and forming their own rational conclusions.
2. Teachers
A study released this week by the Center on Education Policy found
that effective teaching was the most important factor in student
learning. This should come as a surprise to no one. Many studies
have reached this conclusion. That’s why in classical charter schools
teachers are the primary focus of a classroom. Teachers must have
a solid grasp of content and the ability to write and communicate at
a high level. Without a strong teacher, the scope, sequence, and
curriculum mean nothing.
Kentoyo Toyama holds a Ph.D. in computer science from Yale and
is currently a professor at the University of Michigan. In between
founding a computer science laboratory, championing technology in
emerging markets, and co-founding a global platform for technology
development, he has written extensively criticizing the “technological
utopianism” epitomized by the One Laptop Per Child initiative. He
has strong words for those who advocate for the use of computers in
the classroom.
[A]ny idiot can learn Twitter. But,
forming and articulating a cogent
argument…requires good thinking,
writing, and communication skills. Those
skills might be channeled through
technology, but they hardly require
technology to acquire. Similarly, any fool
can learn to “use” a computer. But the
underlying math required to do financial
accounting or engineering requires solid
mathematical preparation that requires
working through problem sets. Einstein
didn’t grow up with computers, but
modern physics would be delighted to
have more Einsteins. We need to
distinguish between the need to learn the
tools of modern life (easy to pick up and
getting easier by the day…) and learning
the critical thinking skills that make a
person productive in any information
economy (hard to learn and not really any
easier with information technology).
Until research supports putting computers in the classroom, Classical
Prep will continue to rely on texts and teachers to provide students
with the tools that, according to studies, do matter for learning.
Schools should not just tell students to use their analytical powers to
form independent, verifiable conclusions. They should model that
behavior as institutions. Not only will this result in the best
education, it will teach students that they can use their minds to
reason independently of momentary hype and gimmicks, thus
creating a better world for themselves, their communities, and future
generations.
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