Davies Improves Global Insight Through Advancing Learning by Digitally Authoring Viable Inquiry of our Environmental Status (DIGITAL DAVIES) – a 21st century school where students are self-directed learners, teachers are facilitators and technology is just a tool for learning. To accomplish this, the William Davies Middle School and St. Vincent de Paul Regional School need to provide their staff with the necessary knowledge, skills, and tools. With these, teachers can encourage students to become critical, empirical thinkers who can creatively and collaboratively problem solve real-world global and environmental dilemmas both electronically and face-to-face. Our intent is to increase students’ global awareness as well as prepare them for their next level of schooling and future careers.
Environmental and global issues are the forefront of the future. Through the TALENT21 grant the Davies and St. Vincent Schools will adopt a theme-based approach to bring these issues to the foreground across the core content and related arts areas (health, world languages, visual and performing arts, and technology education). This initiative will incorporate the revised 2009 New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards which are focused on global issues, to produce creative and collaborative learning using real world problems. Our newly revised district science curriculum uses a spiral approach and is aligned with the revised 2009 New Jersey Science Standards. Each grade level curriculum currently includes a unit that emphasizes our environment. The TALENT21 grant project will provide the district with the opportunity to expand our curriculum through the development of problem-based learning units and related lessons centered on real world problems. Beginning in sixth grade, students will explore and examine our local environmental issues, how these concerns affect their lives and their responsibilities for enhancing it. In year two, the seventh grade will build upon this experience and expand its cross curricular activities to include global environmental concerns as they study geography in social studies. Moving into the third year of this initiative, eighth graders will expand on our theme by developing insights into their civic responsibilities concerning global and environmental issues which tie into their study of civics in social studies. Students will be given one-to-one mobile technology to use as a tool to solve these problems. The problem-based learning units and student solutions will be published on the Internet and presented to the community at a planned event.
One of the most important aspects of the TALENT21 grant is that it will afford us opportunities to close the learning gap between the students with technological skills and those without; enabling all of our students to be prepared to meet their future. To provide the needed professional training, we will partner with the Southern Regional Institute and Educational Technology Training Center at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey who has a proven record of success with providing professional development. We will be establishing other partnerships to assist with this project.
Our schools will evaluate our end-goals by looking at data to ensure that all activities are rigorous and promote active involvement of all students. The data used will be derive from student portfolios, student technology survey, NJ ASK results, Learnia Assessment, and rubrics developed for this particular project. In addition, interpretation of student mastery from our school’s benchmarked performance indicators will be included in the overall assessment process.
Our TALENT21 school-based planning team consists of sixth grade student, Giana Johnson; two sixth grade teachers - Patricia Stard, language arts literacy and Christy Morrison, science coordinator for grades 6-8 and sixth grade science teacher; non-public sixth grade teacher, Angela Bunting; two seventh grade teachers - Kevin Morrison, mathematics and Ericka Pitman, social studies; non-public seventh grade teacher, Jeana Davi; eighth grade language arts literacy teacher, Wendi Brown; educational technology integration specialist, Janel Schafer; non-public instructional technology teacher; Regina Alulis; technician, Terry Stoen; non-public technician, Joseph Manning; grade six Vice Principal, Melanie Cox; Principal, Michael Muldoon; St. Vincent Principal, Linda Pirolli; Board of Education member and parent, Dr. Anne Erickson; District Technology Coordinator, Scott Scott; and Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and project director, Lisa Dagit.
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In the planning stages...
Overview ~ School Based Planning Team ~ Frequently Asked Questions ~ Resources