By Sam Perren
Archway Partnership Graduate Student Lenie George facilitated a visioning session for Pulaski County School District administrators on Wednesday, April 12 in Hawkinsville. Lenie, a PhD student in the College of Education studying learning, design, and technology, developed a relationship with the school district by participating in its recent evaluation of district-wide student assessment practices. After working with him through the assessment inventory process, the School District asked him to come back and facilitate a discussion and visioning session for school and district level administrators. School District leaders were interested in finding ways to continuously improve student learning outcomes and to prepare students for next steps after graduation throughout PK-12 education.
According to Assistant Superintendent Staci Vickers, the district hopes to use the session to “develop a district-wide concept of how a classroom looks that is using data to drive the instruction of the students.” The goal of the session, “is to improve student academic performance while enhancing job productivity and motivation.”
At the visioning session, Lenie led administrators through a discussion of differentiation practices, small group learning, online learning, and direct instruction, while also facilitating the development of a vision for the ideal structured classroom for Pulaski County Schools.
According to Lenie, the session will give district administrators an opportunity to “cast a vision for blended learning in their schools and begin to design a support structure that would be needed to achieve that vision. The design of blended classrooms leverages technology for increased differentiation, thereby allowing the teacher to serve a more facilitative role.”
Discussion of the use of technology in the classroom will be a major part of the discussion, as district leaders think through ways they can best educate their students and prepare them for higher education and the local workforce.