School of Inquiry Community Tech Fair 12/20/12 Save the date Connected Parents OCTOBER 2012 School of Inquiry Students to Educate Community on Tech Tools Community Technology Fair On December 20th, prior to the basketball game between Plymouth and Penn, the learners at The School of Inquiry will be hosting a Technology Fair in the Multipurpose Room. This tech fair will be a project for the 21st Century Communication class and will involve students creating a kiosk demonstrating and teaching Web 2.0 tools (Skype, Facebook, Twitter, and others) that they will demonstrate and teach to members of the community as a free service. While The SOI Tech Fair is going on, we will be having a barbecue dinner in the center of the multipurpose room. Tickets for the dinner are available from Mrs. Flynn at 936-2178. If you cannot come that night, students will be presenting their projects in class that day and projects will be available for viewing at that time. Inside news: Director’s Dialogue 2 The Echo System 2 Facility Update 3 Upcoming Events 3 5-6:30 pm
Transcript
School of Inquiry Community Tech Fair
12/20/12Save the date
Conn
ecte
d Pa
rent
sOCTOBER 2012
School of Inquiry Students to Educate Community on Tech Tools
Community Technology Fair
On December 20th, prior to the basketball game between Plymouth and Penn, the learners at The School of Inquiry will be hosting a Technology Fair in the Multipurpose Room. This tech fair will be a project for the 21st Century Communication class and will involve students creating a kiosk demonstrating
and teaching Web 2.0 tools (Skype, Facebook, Twitter, and others) that they will demonstrate and teach to members of the community as a free service.
While The SOI Tech Fair is going on, we will be having a barbecue dinner in the center of the multipurpose room. Tickets for the dinner are available from Mrs. Flynn at 936-2178.
If you cannot come that night, students will be presenting their projects in class that day and projects will be available for viewing at that time.
The Echo SystemEcho is the student management system of the New Tech Network and the School of Inquiry. Below find information about logging on and features you can utilize.
Logging In:To log in to Echo go to www.echo.newtechnetwork.org Once there utilize the user name you used on your student’s application to the School of Inquiry. The default password is psoiecho. Once you log in you can change your password to your preferred password.
KudosKudos are utilized by the staff at the School of Inquiry to recognize student accomplishments. They can be given by staff to students or students to students. When your student receives one, you should receive an email notifying you of this.
Course TabOn the main screen of Echo, after logging in, you will find the Course Tab. Clicking on this tab will allow you to see your student’s courses, and within each course see the daily agenda for that course. This will help you keep track of what is happening in class, when projects are due, and hopefully give you some good conversation starters for when your student returns home.
Grade TabThe Grade Tab is also located on the Home screen after logging in to Echo. Until grades are reported by the school, all grades are kept in Echo by our staff. At the end of the grading period a letter grade will be transferred to PowerSchool to be placed on report cards. Inside the Grade Tab you can find your student’s overall grade for each course, the breakdown of each SWLO’s grade, and grades for specific assignments.
Real World Connections...Local Learning
One of the goals that we talked about extensively when we started the School of Inquiry is that we envision our learners engaging in real world projects that they will present to authentic audiences. Additionally, we wanted students and facilitators to partner with local organizations as they design and create the projects. In our recent project on religious tolerance, “How Tolerant are You?”, we were able to see many of these goals come to life in the work that the students completed.
Students were able to tackle a real life issue, tolerance, and do so in a meaningful way. They learned about the five major world religions, and were able to speak about tolerance on a larger scale due to the confusion over Mix it Up Day.
During the project, students heard from experts, locally, Dr. Sam Boys from Ancilla College, and from afar, Dr. Anna Lewis of
the University of South Florida via Skype. During these sessions they were able to learn about major world religions and how tolerance of others can help us create a more peaceful world.
As part of the project they created posters and wrote editorials incorporating the idea of tolerance toward the major religions. Even though the project has ended, the students are still working to meet the challenge given to them on the radio by Tony Ross to have an event designed to increase understanding amongst different groups within the school.
If this were the only project that has worked like this, I would be pleased with where we are so soon, but the reality is that this has occurred across all classes giving a great start to the SOI.
Construction Continues at Inquiry’s Permanent Home
Upcoming Events
Parents:
Parent Partner Meeting:November 15, 5:30-6:00 PM
All Parents Welcome Finalize plans for Tech
Fair Fundraiser
8th Grade Open Houses:
November 12, 19, and 26 6:30-7:30
Event includes:Tour of FacilityParent PanelStudent PanelQ/A Session
School of Inquiry Facility RenovationRenovations continue at the School of Inquiry for the opening in the
spring of 2013. The first floor is almost completely framed and is being wired for electricity. The entry way is beginning to look like an entry way, and the HVAC infrastructure is almost entirely in place on the second floor. Dry walling of the first floor is scheduled to begin by the end of November with the goal of having both floors dry walled by the end of the year.
Fundraising Update:Speaking of the new facility, the school recently received a
$100,000 donation to help support the learning taking place. Creating a 21st century learning environment and training staff to prepare your students for success in the future requires a multitude of community resources.
Investing in our community’s future can be accomplished through partnering with the School of Inquiry in a number of ways. The smart use of technology supports our innovative approach to instruction and culture. With access to Web-enabled computers and the latest in collaborative learning technology, every student becomes a self-directed learner who no longer needs to rely primarily on teachers or textbooks for knowledge and direction. Individuals, organizations, and groups may partner with us by sponsoring an item in our donation booklet, which can be found online.
The School of Inquiry donation booklet is available online. If you would like a hard copy to
select an item to sponsor, please contact Mr. Daniel Tyree at
