During the 2017-2018 school year at Jane Edwards Elementary School, we have helped our students develop the world class skills of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate through increased use of communication, information, media, technology, collaboration, and teamwork. This year was our first year in which we tried new technologies that fostered collaboration and communication. On the twentieth anniversary of Read Across America Day all classes chose what type of reading to do and how they wanted to share out through Twitter. Our third grade class read The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires. The students wanted to inspire other students to persevere as the girl in the story did. Another class did an Interactive Read Aloud. Dave Williams, a local meteorologist, visited and read Oh Say Can You Say What’s the Weather Today? by Tish Rabe to students in grades 3-6 and Wacky Weather by Dr. Seuss to students in CD-grade 2. Our students have access to Chromebooks and iPads. Students were able to send out emails after learning about digital etiquette and digital safety. Our 5th and 6th grade students participated in a Journalism Club. They connected frequently through Google Drive with the Club’s sponsor, a non-school district employee volunteer. They learned about creating, editing, sharing, and finalizing articles to go in the local newspaper monthly and to add accompanying photographs. They learned about meeting deadlines. They also met with Ms. Carter Coyle, an investigative reporter with local television Channel 5, and learned how to create script, edit script, and perform for the newscast.
Our students learned how to access digital content. Even our kindergarten students could access it and complete assignments on a daily basis with almost no assistance. Students in most classes could research a topic and then share the information in a digital format to the class. This was a great platform for sharing stories during our Black History Month celebration. Finally, some of our students participated in CS First and learned the coding language, Scratch. In just one semester our students participated in ninety hours of coding. Students in the media center became more proficient at finding books to read that they were interested in and that were on their reading level (using the digital card catalog). While these are all mini-steps, our students are on their way to proficiency in this world class skill of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate.
Our students learned collaboration and teamwork by participating in all the above activities. The teachers also structured many of their classroom activities to take advantage of active student engagement. Classroom observations noted students working in collaborative groups. They shared information. They huddled together closely, took on the roles selected by the teacher or by themselves, discussed information purposefully and decided if it was to be included in the task, gave rationales for including it or not, and gave each other feedback.
Susan Miles, Principal
Sarah Hennigan, SIC Chair