TeacherDrivenChange

The Sun is Shining on the CTA IFT Grant

While there may be no free lunch, how about a free ride?  Imagine a car could run without you spending a dime on fuel. If you drove a solar-powered car, that dream might just come true. Like solar-powered homes, solar cars harness energy from the sun, converting it into electricity. That electricity then fuels the battery that runs the car's motor. Instead of using a battery, some solar cars direct the power straight to an electric motor. 

But how practical are solar powered cars?  Is it the next big idea? These are some of the questions that students at La Mirada High School are considering.  Not waiting for the future, these students with their teachers are exploring new technologies right now.  Moving full speed ahead, Norwalk La Mirada teachers, students and community partners are using the Green Jobs Prep School CTA IFT Grant to examine how traditional forms of energy can be converted to solar power.  This Grant is part of the Solar Energy Academy at La Mirada High School.  According to Norma Williamson, grant author and program director, students are learning the ins and outs of solar power as an alternative energy source.   Moving from theory to practice, students are working convert a golf cart through solar power. 

 
Solar Powered Cars have been defined as cars which run on energy from the sun.  This definition however is changing.  Solar power now allows people to charge plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) through solar panels installed on their homes and in recent history solar panels installed on the roof of the car itself. Click here for a brief history of solar cars. 

 

Green Jobs Prep School is a career technical education/career pathway school within a school that prepares high school students to join post secondary programs in environmental majors.  The goal is for these programs to lead to an industry recognized certificate, licensure, associate or baccalaureate degree and, ultimately, success in the green economy.  Look for updates on this great program where the future is right now.

Below is a brief video, produced by La Mirada High School students on the Solar Academy's solar golf cart process.

Technology: The People's Voice

We have entered a new page in the history of our nation and it will change how we conduct business. No longer will the voices of only a few influence the policies that drive our education system. This campaign season has established new connectivity between the public and our lawmakers. This new-school approach allows teachers to directly communicate their experiences, opinions and ideas on how education can be reformed to better serve their students and the communities in which they live. Now that the lines of communication are established, we need to step up to the table and have a proactive message for our lawmakers. One of the best ways to get started is at Barack Obama’s website http://change.gov/openforquestions and ask questions about education or vote for an existing question that you think is important. You can also contact your congressman by going to https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml and let them know how NCLB should be changed to better serve our students. A few minutes of your time can make meaningful change for our schools.

The Future of Success

Students who visualize a successful future are more likely to be successful. While, this statement sounds simple and to the point, it has gone virtually unnoticed in the world of testing and outcome-based education. Embedded in a future orientation is the belief that (1) I am not a victim of my circumstances, (2) I can control my own destiny, and (3) I have the necessary skills and knowledge to change events and circumstances around me. Unfortunately, the promise of a future is not something that all students possess and certainly is not something showcased on a standardized test. Classroom teachers are in the unique position to create a future oriented model for students. Through modeling, teachers are able to inspire confidence, self-reliance, and responsibility – factors critical to a future orientation. The challenge is to find the time and opportunity to create a learning environment that encourages a culture where all students believe they can be successful.

Our schools are much more than testing industries and classroom teachers are not proctors. In addition, if the future has taught us anything, facts, figures, concepts, and theories are transitory. Teachers, with parents and other adult figures, can create a culture of success for students through narratives, storied in a number of different ways by using various metaphoric expressions, such as vocation, hope, love, and change. Interpreted in different ways, metaphoric images offer students the opportunity to make sense of their own personal stories: stories in their own prevailing temporal and cultural context. Through narratives, students are more likely to hear and give meaning to their own voice – a voice that provides a pathway and guides them towards the future.

Social Emotional Learning

In their book, How Social and Emotional Development Add Up: Getting Results in Math and Science Education, Norris M. Haynes Michael Ben-Avie, and Jacque Ensign describe how successful math and science teachers have created innovative ways for interacting and engaging with their students. Based on their observations and conversations with teachers around the country, the authors outlined the principles of social emotional learning (SEL) that teachers can follow to help all students be successful in the math and sciences. The authors also highlighted the importance of a future orientation for increasing student enthusiasm and interest in math and science.  These findings support what teachers know about social and emotional factors had how attempts to separate these aspects from teaching and learning is likely to be counterproductive.  Regardless of what grade or subject you teach, this book is an excellent resource for explaining why it is important that the school improvement movement is teacher driven.

Future Orientation: Teaching & Learning

From a CTA IFT study of over 800 highly performing African American and Latino students and their parents, results showed that a major factor driving a high school culture of success is a future orientation. This is generally supported by the research conducted by the Cultural Change Institute. In addition, according to the African American Success Foundation, “Future orientation was defined as one’s expectations and the degree to which one is thoughtful about their future. This definition draws from Nurmi (1991), where future orientation is a multidimensional concept that includes such dimensions as planning, realism, and a sense of control.” This line of thinking creates an unambiguous approach for examining how a future orientation can be established in our schools. An important study, consistent with this view, found the relationship between future orientation and academic performance for African American high schools students was based on student perceptions of education usefulness. In other words, the extent to which students valued teaching and learning.