Potential School Activities - Chapter 2 'Blended - Using Disruptive Innovation to Improve Schools'
In my school community I would rake the following activities in this order from most critical to least critical: wraparound services, fun with friends and extracurricular activities, safe care, and deeper learning. I believe all of these activities are important for student learning, but the wraparound services stuck out to me the most. My school is a title one school and the majority of students live in a trailer park. About 40% of students do not live with their parents and instead live with grandparents, other relatives, or foster care. In order to create an ideal learning environment for our students, my school could integrate practices "to help not only the students but also their neighborhoods and even the child-rearing practices of their parents" (Horn & Staker, pg. 83). I think that by helping the whole surrounding community it would help students to feel safe and loved and they would feel more encouraged to learn and not worry about what is going on at home.
I think a potential barrier for this activity would be the man power to make it all happen. Setting aside the thought of money to support a community, it would also take a lot of time and work. Based on what I have seen in the community, large or new projects do not always start off great. There is a lack of interest in most things and people do not want to help if it does not benefit them. Creating a better community environment is something that would not be easy to start, but I think once people start to see the outcome of what could happen they will be more willing to pitch in and help make everything possible.
Fun with friends and extracurricular activities is another aspect of child development I think students in my school community miss out on. I have heard of some fourth graders who go home and essentially have to take care of the rest of their family on their own. This does not give them any time to have fun with neighborhood friends and extracurricular activities are completely out of the question. With online learning, students would potentially have more time at school to have fun and still be a kid.
I think that safe care goes along with wraparound services in a way. Students need a safe place to come during the school day, a place where they can learn and receive their basic needs throughout the day. I believe that my school does a decent job with this, but it could always be improved.
I ranked deeper learning last in the four activities, not because I don't think it is important, but because I don't think it is the focus of my community. In my school I think if we had more online learning available, we would already be accomplishing more deeper learning than we currently have. Most online learning is set up to be student paced, causing deeper learning to be available to those who are ready. Learning could still go deeper by teaching students to do and to be (Horn & Staker, Pg. 81). The current state of my school community needs more emphasis put on student services and care before students will be able to fully focus on deeper learning.
I think a potential barrier for this activity would be the man power to make it all happen. Setting aside the thought of money to support a community, it would also take a lot of time and work. Based on what I have seen in the community, large or new projects do not always start off great. There is a lack of interest in most things and people do not want to help if it does not benefit them. Creating a better community environment is something that would not be easy to start, but I think once people start to see the outcome of what could happen they will be more willing to pitch in and help make everything possible.
Fun with friends and extracurricular activities is another aspect of child development I think students in my school community miss out on. I have heard of some fourth graders who go home and essentially have to take care of the rest of their family on their own. This does not give them any time to have fun with neighborhood friends and extracurricular activities are completely out of the question. With online learning, students would potentially have more time at school to have fun and still be a kid.
I think that safe care goes along with wraparound services in a way. Students need a safe place to come during the school day, a place where they can learn and receive their basic needs throughout the day. I believe that my school does a decent job with this, but it could always be improved.
I ranked deeper learning last in the four activities, not because I don't think it is important, but because I don't think it is the focus of my community. In my school I think if we had more online learning available, we would already be accomplishing more deeper learning than we currently have. Most online learning is set up to be student paced, causing deeper learning to be available to those who are ready. Learning could still go deeper by teaching students to do and to be (Horn & Staker, Pg. 81). The current state of my school community needs more emphasis put on student services and care before students will be able to fully focus on deeper learning.
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