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ARP Committee Meeting

September 11, 2001

Present: Derrel Fincher, Glenn Hoskins, Dan Smith

Purpose: Discuss my ARP to help me develop a focus.

 

• Glenn described the ARP as a yearlong project to effect a positive change in the community. Glenn set up the Intranets.com site last year to help his students and also got Dan involved in it.
• My goal is to try to get to a paperless environment as well as build more community. How do you do project management with students? How do you build a sense of community?
• I've asked them to journal thoughts and ideas, but I will get back with them on the best way to do it.
• Glenn is working at getting Manila installed, which may replace some of the functions of the Intranets.com site. (Intranets.com wants $150/month!) There was some discussion of hosting at the school and how to do it.
• Dan liked the Intranets.com last year because it wasn't replacing paper with a computer. He would like to see something along those lines this year.
• Glenn pointed out that the ARP has to come from me as it is my life that will be consumed.
• So, Glenn suggested that whatever I do should become student-centered rather than teacher-centered. They brought up the example in Dan’s class last year where kids were sitting side-by-side, arguing and typing as they tried to resolve who got kicked out of the bomb shelter.
• It boils down to community and communication, building ideas, and getting feedback.
• Glenn used chat last year with some of his students, and they mailed him the transcript.
• Cross-class communication is a plus. Glenn used it during the Izu trip last year where students could work on the project asynchronously. (Izu is a two-week extended campus trip where half of the seventh grade is gone each week.) Glenn pointed out that it forced the students to communicate, collaborate, and plan.
• We discussed the stuff Dan and I did a year ago where he had a joint reflections page created and his students put their reflections up on the same page. We discussed the fact that things like that should become more automatic and asynchronous.
• We discussed web logs and other ways of reflecting.
• Dan sees technology as way to help make out-of-class work as more community oriented rather than replacing his class time. The best use of the computer is to extend what is being done, not merely to replace the good things that happen already.
• Glenn mentioned that my ARP will change as I become more focused. He changed three times last year. He said that I would have to find the "key" need and focus on that.