New Hampshire Alliance Schools to Pilot Mindflight
The four Alliance Schools in New Hampshire are getting a chance to pilot a new curriculum that is based on the successful summer Mindflight program. Since 1994 Plymouth State College (PSC) has offered Mindflight, a technology intensive, week-long summer residential enrichment program for sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade students. Participants choose to enroll in one of four programs (or themes) that integrate different concepts and skills. The interdisciplinary themes - The Sights and Sounds of Space, Ecological Expeditions, The Mythical Masks of Creative Expression, and Multimedia Madness - are taught by teams of PSC faculty and New Hampshire schoolteachers. Artists, musicians, and college student mentors are also an integral part of the Mindflight experience. (See Mindflight on this page.)Although Mindflight students often produce elaborate multi-media presentations during their week of research and exploration, the Mindflight program does not focus on producing a product. Instead it emphasizes collaborative, discovery learning. The overriding philosophy of Mindflight is to fully immerse students in a resource rich, collegiate environment that creates a community of learners where the traditional student-teacher hierarchy dissolves. By participating in a college community, students can enhance their desire and resolve to pursue post-secondary education.
Mindflight staff are also committed to involve the arts in each of the Mindflight themes. Too frequently math and science education are separated from the arts, and technology is disproportionately seen as a tool for educational reform in math and science. Each year Mindflight has included music, dance, and art as essential facets of the studentsŐ overall experience.
When Mindflight was first developed, it was designed to also serve as a vehicle for teacher training and a mechanism for developing technology-based curricular materials. To fully explore the programs potential as a model for in-service teacher training and technology infusion, James McGarry, Mindflight director and Regional Alliance state partner for New Hampshire, began developing a school-year component for Mindflight. Last spring, during a phone conversation with Alliance Schools coordinator, Jeanne Harmon, James started describing a proposal for the program that he was submitting to the NYNEX, now Bell Atlantic, Foundation. They soon realized that the school-year program could really serve the reform goals of Alliance Schools. Mindflight was recently awarded the grant, and the Alliance has agreed to provide support for the four New Hampshire schools to pilot the program. The schools can select one of the Mindflight themes to be offered to a group of teachers and students. Teachers will receive content and technology training from the Mindflight faculty at PSC. Students will receive instruction at their local schools from their teachers and Mindflight faculty facilitators. The students will also have the opportunity to come to Plymouth State College.
To learn more about Mindflight, visit mindflight.plymouth.edu/, or contact James McGarry, jamesm@oz.plymouth.edu
Learners and Leaders Gather for Alliance Schools Institute
On a warm June day this past summer, 143 educators checked into the residence halls at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, for the second annual Alliance Schools Institute. Representing 34 Alliance Schools, they came as learners and leaders expecting to further their own professional development, while gathering resources that could help them define and meet their reform goals for the upcoming academic year. The school teams were not disappointed. Although the days were hot, and traveling the campus provided plenty of aerobic exercise, conference participants overwhelmingly enjoyed the workshop sessions. The food was good too.The conference design centered on the dual role of every Alliance Schools educator - as learner and leader. Participants were given the choice to attend one of ten content workshops that met for two hours each morning. Devoting six hours to one topic, such as inquiry-based science investigations or performance-based learning and assessment, allowed more in-depth coverage than the traditional half-day workshop. Besides these longer sessions, the conference offered one afternoon for a learning exchange, where people gathered to explore topics like cooperative learning, gender equity and reform mathematics, and integrating classroom and work-based learning. A resource center was opened throughout the conference so that participants could review curriculum and staff development materials. Since each team attending the conference is responsible for planning and leading reform efforts at the Alliance Schools, the schedule included sessions for the teams to meet separately to draft plans and as a group to identify possible areas for collaboration. A role-alike session brought together people with similar professional responsibilities to talk about ways the Alliance and they might support each other through the coming year.
For some people, it may be hard to imagine that three days in the middle of a busy summer could lead to major initiatives at each school. For those attending the conference, however, the days were essential to building relationships and renewing the energy that sustains the reform efforts throughout the year. The Regional Alliance staff looks forward to working with each school during the year and is committed to helping the schools achieve their goals.