Gina Flanagan- East Longmeadow High School

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Top "Apps" for Students


     With the advent of smartphones, new applications (apps) are being designed everyday to meet every imaginable interest or need.  Students can benefit from a wide variety of these tools that can help them communicate with others, reinforce content material and organize their school work.  Currently, I am a doctoral student at Boston College.  One of the benefits of my schooling is that I am experiencing first hand the many ways technology is hitting colleges and universities.  Here are some apps that I feel could really help out our students.  
  1. Homework Organization:  inClass or myHomework  Visit the Apps Store on your iPhone.  Studious is the Android version.  
  2. Collaboration Tools:  Google apps allows students to store and work on documents, presentations and spreadsheets at the same time from their own home and computer.   What is really powerful about this application is that students can also see and talk to each other while writing papers and completing presentation by using to Google +.  Go to Google.com and sign up for a free account to take advantage of this.  
  3. Storage Tool: Say goodbye to thumb drives with Dropbox.  This allows students to store and access their documents anywhere.  Visit www.dropbox.com
  4. Notes Tools:  Goodreader and iannotate allow students to scan or download documents and then highlighter and annotate.  This is great for students who struggle with reading and want to keep track of their notes in class.   Evernote allows them to take notes from their phone and organize them.  
  5. Studying Tools:   gFlash+Flashcards & Tests- allows for studying on the go with the use of flashcards 

Sunday, September 23, 2012

   
     Last week, MCAS scores were released and ELHS showed growth in many areas.  First and foremost, we increased  the amount of students who have scored in the Proficient and Advanced categories in English Language Arts, Math and Science from last year.  There was  incredible improvement in the area of Biology as we had only 12% of students in the Advanced category in 2011 and had 33% of students in the Advanced category in 2012.   Additionally, we are above the state average in the Proficient and Advanced category in English Language Arts, Math and Science.  This is all positive news, but keep in mind, these comparisons measure two entirely groups of students (class of 2013 versus 2014 and 2014 versus 2015).  What is always most important for me is taking a look at how the same group of students progress over time.  This individualizes the process to identify each class's areas of focus.  In this area, last year's sophomores have made some great gains from the last time they took the MCAS in 8th grade.  Our October newsletter will provide you more MCAS data to examine.  Until then, know that our staff is currently taking a deeper look at the data to identify areas that we can improve as a school and creating action plans for this improvement.  Enough number crunching...hope you get the chance to enjoy this beautiful weather.

Saturday, September 15, 2012


     

        September 19th is “No Text on Board ...It Can Wait Day.”  Last year at ELHS, we had a powerful presentation for our students that included a testimony of a father who lost his young daughter due to a texting related accident and a young man who is currently in prison for texting while driving that resulted in the death of a man.  The statistics on texting are frightening:
  • 100,000 crashes a year involve  drivers who are texting
  • 75% of teens  say texting and driving is “common” among their friends
  • texting drivers are 23 more times more likely to get in a car accident.  
My hope is that our students will be smarter and not engage in cell phone use while driving, however, if parents want to take that extra step to insure that texting and phone calls while driving does not happen, there is a precaution you can take.  
Key2SafeDriving is a device that is easily installed in your car and on your phone that instantly shuts down texting and incoming calls when the key is in the ignition.  The phone immediately enters “safe driving mode” which means all incoming texts receive a message that you are driving, and all incoming calls are sent directly to voice mail.  No texting can occur when the key is in the ignition of the car.  The cost of this device is $99.  For more information, check out:   http://www.key2safedriving.net

Sunday, September 9, 2012

New Cell Phone/Electronic Device Policy Rolls Out

One new policy we kicked off this year allows for the use of cell phones and electronic devices in our building for the first time.  For an administrator, it is admittedly a decision that holds many concerns but the opportunity to help cultivate responsible digital citizens seems very important and relevant in the world we live in today.

Our old cell phone policy of "not used, not visible" did not allow us to model and discuss the appropriate uses of technology.  It also did not allow use to explore how these devices are enriching the learning environment in so many exciting ways.

It's only been a couple of weeks, but I'm proud of how our students are embracing and adhering to our new policy respectfully.  Understandably, there are those out there with concerns that our students are losing their ability to communicate in live form, but if you visit our cafeteria where phones are allowed, you will  see only a few students with their phones out at different points and many use it to work on homework.  There is also the legitimate concern that these devices in schools will encourage cyberbullying.  I want to assure everyone that we will continue to uphold our district policy that does not tolerate bullying in any form.  We are also developing programs to help our students understand the effects and dangers of cyberbullying and all other types of bullying.

These devices are here to stay and the best thing we can do as teachers, administrators and parents/guardians is to continue to help students understand the etiquette and appropriate uses of digital devices through conversations and practice.  Our teachers and administration are committed to monitoring the implementation of this new policy in a way that will allow our students to grow and learn in positive ways.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

   
     Although we are only a week into the 2012-13 school year, it really is off to a great start thanks to our students and teachers.  Clubs and sports are winding up and the high school has come alive again after a two month hiatus.      The great thing about the start of  a new school year is that it gives students the chance to start anew.  If they struggled a bit last year, it's a great opportunity for them to start fresh and set some new goals.  It also gives them another opportunity to explore new things that may interest them.
     For parents, the transition back to school can be hectic, but it's also an opportunity for you to sit down with your student, reflect on last year and set some positive goals together regarding homework, organization, effort and general communication.  As we embark on a new digital landscape here at the high school, I encourage students to record their homework on their phones and email/text it to their parents to keep everyone in the loop.  Most cell phones are now equipped with alerts to remind students of when assignments are due or when events take place.  This is the perfect opportunity to start training for the adult world where these devices are used regularly for positive purposes.
     For all students and parents, Edline is the most valuable resource to stay informed about what is going on in the classroom and ELHS in general.  Please don't forget to check your student's progress here weekly or better yet, set up your account so you can receive updates whenever new information is entered into your student's grade record.  We hope as the year progresses that all our students will have positive educational experiences and enjoy a fun, happy school year.