Hewitt-Trussville High School teachers Jennifer Cardwell and Tim Shull are using discussion boards to engage their English and History students in collaborative online conversations. Shull and Cardwell stimulate dialogue with weekly questions about current events, school issues, and serious questions linked to popular culture. (Find out more.)
Here’s a February 2007 sample from Cardwell’s discussion board. Note that Cardwell encourages her students to use new vocabulary words in their replies.
High School Reform
The teachers’ prompt:
Now is your time to add your ideas to our ongoing debate about high school reform. I (and many others) would like to know what you would improve about your high school education. Be realistic. We can’t call off school altogether! However, we can add to our course selection list, alternate schedules, and attempt to add flexibility to your day. For this reason, I only want you to approach this in a positive manner. This shouldn’t be a “gripe” session. Positive changes do not occur without conversations and research to promote a solution. So propose alternative solutions. Which brings me to my requirement. Use a source. I will allow you to venture from the previous list of sources; so you may use other high schools’ web pages to look for alternatives, as well as educational journals. Remember, those who CAN make changes are interested in your feedback. So, take this charge seriously.
Use only models in the U.S. You might want to look under Texas High Schools Innovative Redesign Project.
Some other websites that you might find helpful are www.riverdell.k12.nj.us and www.Koprogram.com
You are not limited to these sources.
Tyler was one of the first students to respond:
First of all, I think we go to a great school, but many positive changes could be made that would make our school much better. There are many aspects of our system that are far from impeccable. One change that I think would do a lot of good would be better class selection (especially for electives). For many of our electives, the students just end up sitting around watching movies. If there was a bigger selection of interesting electives, students could learn about more than just academics.
I believe our school should espouse some of the policies of Riverdell Regional High School of New Jersey. (The school’s website) shows some of the classes that this school offers. Some of them include Sports and American Society, Sculpture Design, and an Animation Class. With qualified teachers who don’t handle things in a perfunctory manner, students will learn so much more at school.
I also believe that many changes could be made to the dress code, such as wearing hats. Times have changed and wearing a hat in school does no harm to anyone. Though Hewitt is a great school, these changes would do nothing but make it better.
Zachery wrote:
First I would add a German class, or a medical class. Some of the classes we have here are pointless for your life when you get a job. Plus I don’t think coaches need to be allowed to teach classes unless that’s the main reason they are going to Hewitt High. Also I think there are a lot of people getting detention that do not need it, so I think we should have to have school court….
Kayci wrote:
I would have 8 periods instead of 7. I think that would help out because then the students would still learn all their curriculum that day but they would also take a period to either get help with something that is not understandable to them or they can just hang out and chill and talk to their friends….
Sarah wrote:
One thing I think would make a major difference in students’ school affairs is if we could start school later. The National Sleep Association posted an article, “Later Start Times for Secondary Students.” The article (talks about) how our brains work much more functionally if we have more sleep…
