Technology & Learning - December 2008 - (Page 6)

LEADEROFTHEYEAR Achievements in Alaska SHANA BLANKENSHIP Director of Instructional Support, North Slope Borough School District (AK) What They Use ■ Extensive professional development through Apple, a necessity for teachers. ■ Diagnostic assessments from AIMSWeb, NWEA-MAP. What does a child who faces a 67-day-long-sunset, stray polar bears wandering through town, lack of household electricity and running water, and a reality where whaling is a financial necessity have in common with a NYC student? Since Shana Blankenship and her dedicated support team launched their 1:1 program, a whole lot more. Overseeing a district-wide computer program designed to put an Apple laptop into the hands of every 5th-12th grader demands enormous time and energy resources, even in the best of circumstances. When your “district” covers 89,000 square miles (the size of Minnesota) and a simple tech call involves flying by small aircraft for hours over the frozen Alaskan North Slopes, the size of the task becomes Herculean. Blankenship took on that position out of frustration with the district’s devastating teacher turnover (40%) and poor graduation rates (50%). “The school board had a vision for their children to have equity in their education,” says Blankenship, “and that included access to technology. “It was a daunting process. We receive our Internet via satellite. Something as simple as a sunspot can throw the whole system off. We had 1800 computers to deliver to remote villages accessible only by small aircraft.” Blankenship credits dedication and compassion to overcoming difficulties like cross- SOFTWARE Accelerated Reader/Math Achieve 3000 Teen BIZ and KID BIZ Cognitive Tutor Comic Life Final Cut Pro GIS: Global Information System iLife: iTunes,Garage Band, etc. InspireData iWork 08 Kid Pix Kidspiration Maps 101 Microsoft Office National Library on Virtual Manipulative netTrekker NoteTaker PowerSchool Read 180 Visual Thesaurus training teachers to program their own servers from thousands of miles away and broken laptops that can necessitate someone hopping on a plane to address the problem. The idea of widespread cyber connection had other challenges. In a resistant culture with concerns that Western culture threatened the traditions of generations of Inupiaq Eskimo Indians, selling the plan needed a delicate touch. Blankenship and her team incorporated the culture into the program, integrating Inupiaq ways into day-to-day lesson plans and offering students a multimedia opportunity to explore what it meant to be Inupiaq. Not only did the community put forth the effort required to join, 100% of parents or guardians arrived at the school to accept responsibility for the laptops. Continued interest has bridged a gap between the generations, creating a motivation for elders to stay on par with students. As one early sign of success, the first sixweek period of school saw 11,157 tardies. Post1:1 launch, the numbers dropped dramatically to 2,787 for a similar six-week period. “We used technology as a carrot,” said Blankenship, “and it worked.” LAST BYTE: “IT’S THE WHALE & THE SUPERCOMPUTER: TECHNOLOGY & CULTURE MEETING IN A SYNERGISTIC WAY. THE CULTURE LIVES THROUGH AN AMAZING SET OF TECHNOLOGY TOOLS CALLED iLIFE.” 6 | TECH & LEARNING

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Technology & Learning - December 2008

Technology & Learning - December 2008 Contents Leader of the Year Award Awards of Excellence Portraits of Learning

Technology & Learning - December 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.