Option 4
Sheninger discusses the need to
transform learning spaces, and references Clark Hall as an example. How does
this newly designed space contribute to student learning? Describe your ideal
school, and discuss how you would work with community stakeholders to secure
funding for a new building.
It is no surprise that many schools are getting to a place
where they are running out of room in their schools for their own students. It
is an epidemic all over the country in many school districts. Instead of
creating a second high school some schools are just getting more creative with
the space that they already have to make this possible instead of burdening the
citizens of a district with another high school. This latter statement had to
do with Sheninger’s Shifts in this thinking. Shift one is establishing a better
vision for the school. This shift is rethinking the vision of the school with a
team. Shift two is strengthening and opening up the wireless network. Along
with a BYOD environment brings its challenges for sure, for example limited
bandwidth, or old equipment. This also brought much frustration to the school’s
staff as all of this equipment took forever to logon and so on. So the first
step to transforming the learning space is to create a very fast stable
Internet network for your school. Shift 3 is a choice to teach and learn a
different way. This example included Clark Hall, this was a part of the school
that was going to push integration of the technology into teacher’s lessons and
be at the forefront of this new push in the school. As a result the teachers
had a three day training session at Ohio State University where they learned to
use web tools like: Diigo, Edmodo, Schoology, Twitter and Google search to
learn how to engage learners better. The team also had to read Teaching Today’s Digital Generation: No More
Cookie Cutter High Schools. In this book they learned how to manage
student’s time, how to collaborate, how to integrate technology, and how to
deliver content effectively. On top of this book reading, four teachers were
sent to PBL (Project based learning) conference and were to teach the other
teachers what they had learned when they came back to school.
Clark Hall opened in 2010-2011 and it is a 51,000 square
feet, three-story work of art. It looks more like an innovative office building
than a traditional school. The objectives of Clark Hall are to: Provide an
open, bright, and flexible space for learning. Provide student choice, and
integrate technology with time to focus on learning. Also, provide students
with the opportunities to express their natural creativity, while utilizing
teachers as facilitators. Finally, to promote interdisciplinary and
interconnected projects, and make learning fun! Some of the things I liked
about the school is that the teachers had more one on one access with their
students, and the students felt more relaxed in this environment. There were
bright colors instead of beige. Instead of chairs, the classrooms had sofas.
My ideal school would be just like Clark Hall, I currently
teach at a college prep high school and the kids want to be treated as such. An
environment like Clark Hall would be ideal, as it would meet the needs of
students in this day and age. I would work with stakeholders to do lease partnerships
like Clark Hall did to pay for it, that was a great idea. As a result of that
the students could also work at the businesses and it would be a great deal all
the way around.
Sheninger, E. (2014). Digital
leadership: Changing paradigms for changing times. Thousand
Oaks: Corwin
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