| TYPE IV: LEARNING AT HOME | ||
Types of Involvement · Communicating · Volunteering » Learning at Home · Decision Making · Collaborating with the Community | Involve families with their children on homework and other curriculum-related activities and decisions. (Epstein et al., 2002)For the first time, routine educational experiences are available at home. With proper guidance, students can learn how to read, write, compute, practice the scientific method, analyze historical speeches, interact with people from across the world, and collaborate on work. The Internet is going to force schools to rethink their instructional delivery methods and schools will need to ensure that their district web site is a trusted portal of information. GOAL: TEACH STUDENTS, TEACHERS, AND PARENTS HOW TO LEARN FROM HOME Benchmark 1: Survey Objective: Send out a survey to identify Internet access The school needs to identify those households who have a computer at home and what kind of access to the Internet they have. For those homes who do not have access, suggestions on where their children can access the Internet will be sent home. Benchmark 2: Curriculum Maps Objective: Develop curriculum maps to communicate the school's learning plan Technology is the great enabler. If a school couples technology with a curriculum map, a communication tool that illustrates a learning plan for all students, a powerful learning experience will unfold for students and their parents. The mapping process will unfold like this:
Benchmark 3: Homework Philosophy Objective: Publish a homework policy The School Improvement Council will research the topic of homework by using the Internet and surveying teachers regarding homework expectations. Once the data is compiled, a formal policy will be published on the school web site and sent home so that parents, students and teachers are aware of the school's expectations. The school will also link to web sites that explain to parents how to help their child with homework, e.g. Helping Your Child with Homework, a publication produced by the U.S. Department of Education. Here is a sample of homework help tips for parents:
Benchmark 4: Universal Design for Learning Objective: Publish information about the Universal Design for Learning The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) calls for:
The Universal Design for Learning is the cornerstone for good teaching. There are teaching methods parents can utilize to support three types of learning strategies: Recognition, Affective and Strategic. Here is an example of each:
Parents and teachers that know how to leverage the strategies of UDL will find that learning at home can be productive. Benchmark 5: Teacher Contributions Objective: Provide the tools to enable teachers to contribute web resources and homework tips Teachers need to be given a web site so that they can post web resources that support the instruction in their rooms. What is taught in the classroom should be able to be duplicated in the home. It is important that software be open source, so that everyone has access to it and that teaching strategies be recorded and shared with both parents and students. For example, a teacher could create a videocast podcast or webpage, of a lesson that involves teaching students the mnemonic of how to solve long division: Divide, Multiply, Subtract, Compare, RemainderBenchmark 6: Knowledge Portal Objective: Create a Trusted Knowledge Portal At the present time, most people trust that schools will be able to find the best learning web resources for students. Until this changes, the school has the responsibility to locate and organize these resources. A web based curriculum map that posts links by curricular area will be the perfect portal to the world. | |