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Knowing Our Students

The continuous goal of the American School is to support and challenge students as they achieve their full learning potential. Though our goal is constant and unchangeable, our instructional methods used for obtaining it are not. An effective school changes as its student needs change, incorporating innovative, thoughtful programs and techniques for student learning experiences. The American School is an effective school.

In addition, to new programs, the American School also seeks to know students on a personal level. We have found that they have been changing over the years and that their world is very different from the one that we knew when we were in school.

• They have grown up with technology
• They have never known a world without some sort of media screen
• “Studies have shown that children aged 6 or younger, spend an average of 2 hours each day using screen media (TV, videos, computers, video games, etc.)
• “This significantly exceeds the amount of reading time. While earlier generations were introduced to information entirely through print, these children are also traveling the digital path” Educating the Net Generation, Diana G. Oblinger and James L. Oblinger, editors, (e-book)
• Kids, age 8 and older, now average about 8 ½ hours of screen time and technology use per day (television, computer, cell phones, video games, palm pilots, etc.)
• Beginning at an early age, Net Geners are…

• Digitally literate
• In need of being connected
• Multi-taskers, moving quickly between activities
• Experiential, preferring to learn by doing
• Social, gravitating toward things which promote interaction
• Team oriented, using a peer to peer approach
• Structure bound, wanting parameters, procedures
• Oriented toward discovery, problem solving
• Inclined toward visual/kinesthetic experiences
• Interested in making a difference

In recognition of our students’ changed characteristics, the American School is moving swiftly to adapt and enhance instructional methods. We are in the beginning stages of a new school-wide initiative designed to enlist your children’s interest in technology with their quest for learning. The school has purchased new interactive programs and is presently engaged in training teachers in their use. We would like to share some of these with you.

Technological Enhancements at the American School

The Discovery Network includes videos, audio, images, and resources developed for any of the Discovery Television Networks, PBS networks, AIMS Science and Math Corporation, and many other educational media sources. The American School has access to over 7,700 titles all of which are constantly updated as new material becomes available. As we download these resources at night, when the internet is more agreeable to this task, we store them here at the school so that they may be viewed in their entirety without interruption caused by fluctuations in the speed of the internet.

• Plato Online Assessment for math grades 2-10 and reading grades 6-12 (reading for grades K-5 is assessed using the DRA)

• Adequate Yearly Progress – these assessments are used as indicators of individual student’s progress and illustrations of the strengths and weaknesses of both students and curricular programs
  
  
• Use of online learning centers in the classrooms
• Each classroom now has a computer for the purpose of providing interactive learning to individual students or small groups of students in the areas of improving skills or providing greater challenge
  
  
• 24/7 Access to online learning resources
• Lidia Sevilla in the curriculum office has created a wonderful tool for accessing online learning resources
• Though they are labeled as “Teacher Resources”, they are applicable to parent and student use at home
• They can be accessed by going to the school website and clicking on “News and Calendars”
  

Then, clicking on “Current Events” and “Teacher Resources”

Then, scroll down to the "Link List "

and click on “Amschool Curriculum Links Wiki

Finally, click on the resource area you wish to access.

A Final Thought

Through these instructional enhancements we are striving to meet our students’ needs. But, there is another challenge which we face before our students can achieve their potential. We need to change their understanding of a true learning culture. We need to help students understand that learning is an individual accomplishment and not a competitive effort and that the final goal is actual learning and not just a grade. We need for them to understand that real learning will follow and support them throughout their lives while a class grade will be forgotten. Since parents and the school function as a team, we need your assistance in helping students understand this.

At home, you can encourage your child to have confidence in taking the risks necessary to learn new things by showing them that you value their failures as much as their successes when they are attempting new concepts and that you yourself are a risk taker. Additionally, you can model characteristics of life long learners in your home. Do your children see you reading, books, newspapers, magazines, or the internet? Do they participate in meaningful discussions with you? Is critical thinking a virtue in your home?

Though our children’s methods of learning and reaching the world may have changed from those we experienced when we were young, one thing has remained constant. Young people learn many things through imitation of those who they love and respect. Let us join technology and a true learning culture together to make our students all that they can be.

Jo Cochran
Director of Curriculum