SchoolMatters Blog

iPods, cameras replacing pen, paper

The morning after our schools were featured on ABC World News, Brandon Shulleeta has a nice story in today's Daily Progress that covers Albemarle County's classroom technology projects in detail... Brian Wheeler

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9/14/09 * Daily Progress [full story]

Students are playing math games on iPod touches and reading electronic books instead of hard copies. Teachers are being recorded on cameras. And principals are attending conferences without leaving their offices.

Albemarle County schools are using new technology this year in an effort to better interest and excite students.

“We’ve watched many videos where the instructor’s not engaging,” said Luvelle Brown, the school division’s chief information officer. “The students didn’t have a clue what was going on.”

School division leaders are recording teachers and posting the videos on an internal Web site this year, which they hope will encourage discussions about what teachers are doing right and wrong.

ABC World News visits Monticello High School

It was great to see Albemarle County Public Schools featured on ABC World News tonight.  Mae Craddock's classroom (English - Monticello High School) was highlighted for her pilot project using Apple's iPod touch to replace traditional hard copy textbooks. 

The students certainly looked very engaged and Ms. Craddock and our technology team deserve a lot of credit for their innovations.

Brian Wheeler

Welcome to Albemarle County's new teachers

I am heading off to Monticello High School to help welcome all the new teachers joining Albemarle County Public Schools for the 2009-2010 school year.  Here are the remarks I have prepared for them.

Brian Wheeler

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On behalf of the Albemarle County School Board, I am very pleased to be here today and to welcome you to our schools, and to those of you new to the Charlottesville area, to our community.

As school board members, it is an honor for us to work in public education in the community. 

Our job?  The School Board focuses on budget, policy and the hiring and supervision of our Superintendent.  I am in my sixth year on the board and I can honestly say that this has been the most challenging and satisfying work I have done in the community.  We have a great team. We have a very strong and collaborative working relationship with our Superintendent.

Now had I been out recruiting you, I would have told each of you, “If you are really good, you may be able to join our cause.”  That’s what the head of Teach for America tells their recruits.

We are on a mission here in Albemarle County to build a great company, a world class school division, that delivers an educational product that prepares ALL our students for the world of work, or the world of college, and challenges beyond.

Where are the Kindergarten teachers in the room?  Who can tell me what happens in the year 2022 related to your new job?  That’s when your students will graduate from high school.  Whether you are getting these special children in their first year, or their thirteenth year, you are going to be expected to build relationships.  If you are also going to be a coach or supervise another extracurricular activity, then your relationships are going to be even more significant and powerful for the future of these students.

We had a national education conference here earlier this year, Edustat.  We had a panel of our students talking about what they wanted to see in a 21st century learning environment.  You know what they all said?  RELATIONSHIPS.  No pressure, but they said they knew on the first day whether their teacher was somebody they thought they were going to be able to connect to.

You each have a unique story about what has brought you here today.  What made you want to be a teacher.  As you reflect on the relationships that brought you to this day, I urge you to build similar relationships with the young people in our schools. 

Advocate for children who may be challenged in our schools. 

Advocate for the children that might not always fit in.  Be color aware, not color blind in matters of race. 

Advocate for children that might have a different background from you, or from their peers.  Get to know THEIR journey.  Try and see the world through THEIR eyes.

This community expects every single one of them to graduate and be ready for life.

So, YOU are here today, and you have already joined our cause.  I can’t wait to see how good you are in our classrooms.  Your job is an awesome responsibility and I admire each of you for choosing this profession, and for joining our cause here in Albemarle County.  Thank You.

First student-built LEED certified home in US

Great story on the cover of today's Daily Progress about our CATEC students working on what they expect to be the first student-built LEED certified (Green Building Council) home in the U.S. 
Brian Wheeler

12/26/07 * Daily Progress [full story]

Students building 'green' house

“Going green” has become a popular catchphrase in recent years, as environmental concerns have taken a more prominent place in the national consciousness.

At the Charlottesville Albemarle Technical Education Center, carpentry students are putting those words into action. Under the guidance of instructor Jason Ritter, students are constructing a house that is expected to receive Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

“Because of the growing market for green buildings in this area, we feel like it is important to instruct our students about environmentally friendly building practices,” Ritter said.

Ritter and CATEC’s director, Darah Bonham, believe that this would the first LEED-certified house built by high school students.

Chinese surges in popularity: As economy ascends, so does language for area students

Monticello High School student Tom Campbell flattered his teacher of Chinese by declaring in class that he wants to take the language in college.

“Holy cow, you talk about having a calling card,” said Fred Tucker, the only instructor of Chinese in Albemarle County schools, to the aspiring biotechnology major. “If you know Chinese, the tech links that will evolve over time between China and the United States - Chinese will be of great assistance to you.”

The numbers support Tucker. China is expanding rapidly, and more in the academic realm are taking notice.

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Locally, the enrollment in Chinese 101 at the University of Virginia increased from 62 in Fall 2004 to 94 in Fall 2006, and 40 students were on the waiting list this past fall, said Ran Zhao, a professor of Chinese language at UVa.

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Albemarle County schools implemented a Chinese language course at Monticello three years ago, and the class has slowly gained interest. Fifteen students are now enrolled with Tucker, six more than last year.

English in demand: 2nd language classes growing rapidly

10/1/06 * Daily Progress [full story]

Both Charlottesville and Albemarle County schools have enrolled significantly more English as a Second Language students for the 2006-07 school year than last year, according to recent figures from the divisions.

Charlottesville schools have 330 ESL students, a 22.7 percent increase from last year, and Albemarle schools have 858 English as a Second or Other Language students, a 13.2 percent rise from a year ago.

Beverly Catlin, coordinator of instruction for Charlottesville schools, noted that 59 percent of city ESL students are at the lowest of the division’s three levels of English proficiency.

“This shows that of the ESL kids we have, a huge portion are beginning the language,” she said.

About one-third of ESOL students in Albemarle were born in the United States, said Courtney Stewart, instructional coordinator of the international and ESOL program for the county.

Motivating masses: Area teacher wins physical education award

9/17/06 * Daily Progress [full story]

The voice mail message of the Agnor-Hurt Elementary School physical education teacher is revealing: “Hi, this is Gwen Hairston … leave a message, and stay fit.”

Hairston, a PE teacher entering her 30th year, recently was recognized as the 2006 Southern District Elementary School Physical Education Teacher of the Year by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education.

In a country where 20 percent of children and teenagers are projected to be overweight by 2010, according to a recent Institute of Medicine report, Hairston is helping Albemarle County schools redefine physical education.

“It’s not your grandmother’s PE class,” she said. “There is no more dodge ball. There is no more taking the ball and whaling it and knocking the devil out of somebody. Years and years ago everything [in gym class] was sports-related. You couldn’t do anything unless you were a jock, but it’s not like that anymore. It’s important that school principals, board members and the public understand how important physical education is. It’s not recess. We have a curriculum we have to follow.”

Hairston showed a 2-inch-thick binder as proof. Health and wellness are the focus now.

CATEC's Newcomer Center bridges educational gap

9/4/06 * Daily Progress [full story]

Two high school students from Mexico and one from Puerto Rico stood up, placed their right hands over their hearts and, while gazing at the 50 white stars and 13 red and white stripes, joined in on the Pledge of Allegiance.

“That’s pretty powerful,” said Courtney Stewart, glancing over her left shoulder at the teenagers.

The Newcomer Center, located in the Charlottesville-Albemarle Technical Education Center on Rio Road, is open for Albemarle County students whose education has been interrupted and who need an accelerated program to catch up with their peers. Harrisonburg and Falls Church have similar centers.

The four students who attend the center spend the morning at CATEC and are bused to division high schools in the afternoon, where they take elective classes such as art, mathematics and physical education.

Schools see rise in Hispanics

8/20/06 * Daily Progress [full story]

In terms of what happens inside classrooms, knowing how to inspire ESOL students to want to learn English can be a challenge.

“Hispanic kids born in the U.S. get stuck in between languages,” said Courtney Stewart, instructional coordinator for Albemarle schools’ international and ESOL program. “We need to teach them the academic language spoken in the classroom, which is English.”

Bev Ingram, an ESOL teacher at Agnor-Hurt Elementary in Albemarle, said her students are willing and anxious to grasp English.

The key to engaging them is to bring their culture into the classroom so they see that they contribute something unique, she said.

History teachers get boost for study

8/5/06 * Daily Progress [full story]

History teachers in five local school divisions will get a chance to “live and breathe” the story of Virginia’s role in American history, thanks to the University of Virginia’s Virginia Center for Digital History and a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

Teachers in the city of Charlottesville and Albemarle, Greene, Madison and Orange counties will participate in the three-year program, titled “The Virginia Experiment: Growing Seeds of Democracy in Four Hundred Years of American History.”

About 70 local U.S. history teachers of grades four, five, six, seven and 11 will take part in the project, which will focus on lectures by scholars at state historical sites and the examination of primary documents using university online resources.

Teachers will be prepared for the program through a series of five-day summer courses that place them at the historical sites that they will teach about.