Technology & Learning - December 2007 - (Page 6)

LEADER of the f the h Year School to Career with Digital Arts ith the large population of at-risk students front and center in her mind, Ellen Towers set about designing and developing the Academy of Information Technology at Hoover High. In 2003, while she continued to teach, Towers opened a small learning community with 60 students, five teachers, and two computer labs. Four years later, the academy boasts 300 students, 11 full-time teachers, and eight computer labs. More important than these physical signs of progress, however, is the cultivation of a powerful and cohesive personalized learning community at Hoover High School, where Leader: Ellen Towers Director Academy of Information Technology at Hoover High School San Diego, CA District Snapshot: W students are eager to join the academy largely because of what colleagues term “an inspiring recruitment process” created by Towers. Once accepted into the academy students take courses in Web design, business and computer applications, tech support services, multimedia, and graphic design. Students receiving an A or B in these courses are awarded college credit through San Diego City College. Towers has been innovative in integrating core curriculum into these technology courses, as well, with world history, English, biology, and other areas incorporated with digital skills. Strong partnerships have been a hallmark of Towers’s 6 | www.techlearning.com success. Local busiIn the heart of the largest immigrant nesses and education neighborhood in the city of San Diego, Hoover serves about 2,200 institutions are part of students who speak more than 30 an active advisory languages, with 66 percent from nonboard that meets English–speaking homes. Suspension monthly. Through and expulsion rates are above averthese partnerships, age, and poverty is a significant businesses play a valufactor, with 100 percent of students able role in helping qualifying for free breakfast and lunch. students gain work experience through mentoring activities and internships. They also advise teachers on the skills necessary for today’s workforce. Additionally, Towers organizes monthly luncheons between advisory board members and AOIT students, with a total of 45 students meeting advisory board members for lunch last year alone. Towers’s spearheading of field trips out into the community changes student lives as they return with heightened curiosity and motivation, and an increased ability to practice behaviors necessary for positive personal interactions and productive teamwork. Other efforts she’s taken on include fundraising events, grant writing, team building activities, and establishing a positive working environment for all. Towers’s students have received local and national recognition for their efforts, winning out over 60 competing entries in a multimedia filmmaking project sponsored by the Los Angeles–based City Project. In addition, the countrywide iVIE Awards recognized two AOIT films this year, including one that explores the lives of Latina workers. Ellen Towers’s innovative solutions and her refusal to be limited by traditional challenges means her students have a fighting chance for success in the digital century. Learn More: http://hoover.sandi.net Last Byte: Says a former student in a letter to Ellen Towers, “It would be a lifetime before I could finish thanking you.” http://hoover.sandi.net http://www.techlearning.com

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Technology & Learning - December 2007 Contents Leaders of the Year 2007 Awards of Exellence Portraits of Learning

Technology & Learning - December 2007

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