Everybody's Doing It
The Buffalo Public Schools is networking. They now have a Facebook Page, a YouTube channel and soon they'll have a MySpace page.
"The goal," according to Special Assistant to the Superintendent for Community Relations Stefan Mychajliw, "is to use technology and the web to increase student enrollment. Students are all over those websites. Now they can pick and choose and watch promotional videos from every high school."
So far all of the faces on the Facebook page seem to be a bit beyond high school, but with an official announcement this week, actual high schoolers may hop on in droves. As for the YouTube videos, it's a great way for anyone to see special events within the BPS system.
The thought is that when a potential high school student can network and watch videos of individual schools, they'll be more comfortable in making their school choice and ending up where they most want to be.
In addition, the pages serve as good teacher recruitment tools and job posting sites.
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mowglimowgli
Build it and they will come. Hopefully, 'they' will not be online pedophiles sending friend requests to unsuspecting students.
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buffaloteacher
How ironic is it, the BPS has blocked the very sites in all BPS schools & computers, they are attempting to use for recruitment. Can we say severely misguided?????
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getzvileone
I too am a BPS teacher frustrated with our blocks.
In the last year I heard a memorable report on NPR by a college president suggesting what a wonderful music library youtube is.
I was very happy to think I now had this resource in my classroom (along with a brand new active board) just perfect to prep the students on the repertory for their upcoming BPO at Kleinhans concert. Until I tried to get through to youtube.
Either they're going to trust us to use the technology correctly, or not.
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allfit
This is a good step in the right direction for the BPS. It is an excellent opportunity for them to leverage technology to reach out to the community. It is unfortunate that they have not gotten past the simplist of security obstacles to enable access for teachers and administrators, but hopefully they will move beyond that like other schools have done.
The Clarence School district has a website for every school, and many of the classrooms or grade levels. These pages include updates on curriculum, upcoming events, assemblies, and even lunch menus. It is a tremendous convenience for parents to reach teachers via email or to contact administrators without having to schedule a conference.
Thomas Jefferson High School in Manassas, VA was named the Time Magazine top high school of the year primarily due to their use of technology both in the classroom and with the parents / students. Teachers are required to update their classroom website daily with curriculum covered, homework assigned, and upcoming tests and exams. The parents can contact a teacher via email, webform, or voicemail to ask questions, verify children's progress or to ensure that homework has been completed. This is a good system that has received great reviews from parents and teachers alike. Students are more accountable if they know that the line between home and school is less defined. If parents receive a note from the teacher if homework is not completed, then that usually results in the parent taking a more active role in the academic life of the child.
I would love to see the BPS move to a more interactive web experience, but facebook and myspace are a good start for low effort and little investment. I hope it continues.
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Hoss
Every Teacher and Principal in the Buffalo Public Schools should have a blog, and update it daily. It needn't be open for comments or anything (or it could be closed to just the parents/students of the class) but just to give a brief synopsis as to what happened in the classroom on a daily basis. What is being learned, discussions to have with the kids, links that may be related to the class work should a student want to investigate further, etc... Maybe a syllabus for the semester so that students who are getting bored, or need extra prep can self initiate a bit. This would greatly help parents get more involved. I have a child in Kindergarten. Everyday when I ask her what she did today, I get a, "I don't know", or "I don't remember". It's like pulling teeth to find out what is going on. Drives me nuts. Let's streamline the involvement as much as possible.
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