Site Visit: King Middle School

On Thursday, May 8th, Terry, Linda, Glenn, Eric, Ruth, and I traveled to Portland, Maine to learn about the King Middle School's 1:1 laptop program, and about expeditionary learning (EL). During our visit we toured the school and saw a class using their laptops, interacted with students showing their EL projects at the Portland Expo Center, and met with school staff to learn both about 1:1 and their EL school design.


BACKGROUND:
The school has 500 students in grades 6, 7 & 8 and is organized into 2 houses. Students loop from 6th to 7th grade with the same students and teachers. Staying in the same house, they then move on to grade 8.

I was surprised to learn that there are twenty-nine languages spoken in the school. It turns out that Portland is a Catholic Charities Refugee Resettlement area. Consequently, there is a large ELL population and many of the students have never been in school before and are not literate in their first language.


LAPTOPS:
All 7th and 8th grade students at King have laptops for use in school as part of Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI), a state mandated and funded program that was introduced in 2000. Laptops arrived at King in 2002. The laptops and supporting network are paid for by the state. The school is in its 5th year of using the laptops and this year, and contingent upon parental sign-off, 7th and 8th grade students have the option to take their laptops home. For many families the $25 insurance plan cost is an obstacle. This year the sixth grade students also have laptops because the school bought the end-of-lease laptops (4 years old) from the state for $100 each.


EXPEDITIONARY LEARNING:
From the ELS page on the King Middle School site: "Expeditionary Learning Schools Outward Bound (ELS) is a comprehensive K-12 educational design. Our approach combines rigorous academic content and real world projects -- learning expeditions -- with active teaching and community service". Each year students at King complete 2 10 - 12 week expeditions. The expeditions emphasize students as authors of their knowledge, and the opportunity to work with professionals related to their field work. To read more about ELS and see information about the specific expeditions at King go the site listed below.

http://king.portlandschools.org/files/onexpedition/onexpedition.htm


MY REACTION:
It was exciting to see students' work and interact with them at the Expo. They were very enthusiastic and eager to share their knowledge -- and were comfortable doing so. Whether it was an expedition about media literacy, warming waters, identity, or invasive species in the river, students were articulate about their knowledge and their products. Different technologies such as video, audio, posters that incorporated their analytical data and findings as well as graphics and writing were used to present their work.

It was interesting to see the combination of EL and laptops as their ways for preparing students for the 21st century. The expeditions and laptops facilitate collaboration, data gathering, investigation, and analysis as well as methods for product creation. I was also intrigued by the database course that all 7th graders take. This course is designed to help students know how to collect and determine the quality of data gathered, a critical skill in a world where the amount of information available doubles every three years. I think that this content is something for us to consider, though not necessarily as a stand-alone class.

I was a bit surprised to hear that students don't necessarily use their laptops everyday or at all in every class, although they do use them significantly to work on writing and for research. The expectation and mandate for integrating the laptops definitely seemed less formal and intensive than in other schools we've seen and what I would anticipate in Needham. It also seemed like there was less structured professional development around technology than at the Lilla G. Frederick. I wonder is this difference because of EL? Or is it because of limited resources? Or is this because in Maine since all 7th and 8th graders have them as part of a state program they don't have the same pressure to prove their effectiveness?

If we were to have them at Pollard I would like teachers to use the laptops extensively in their classrooms for a variety of reasons. To do so we would need to make this happen through ITS and peer provided professional development, embed the technology in the culture so it's not "one more thing to do". In Needham we would also have the pressure of needing to show the impact on student achievement.

It was an interesting day and a worthwhile trip. I look forward to everyone's reflections of the day.