September 20, 2000

Douglas Huntley, Superintendent
Massena Central School District
84 Nightengale Avenue
Massena, New York 13662

Dear Mr. Huntley

The Active Learning Prep School (ALPS) in District 27 Queens is thrilled to continue with the Learner Centered Classroom/Standards Focused Initiative under the Targeted Instructional Staff Development Grant.

The ALPS first joined the Learning Centered Classroom Project last year, when two ot our teachers and myself joined a dedicated group of teachers and leaders at the Constructivist Conference in August 1999.  It was at that time that we planned how we would make our school and classrooms more learning centered. Throughout the year we received hands-on instruction and modeling as well as spiritual support through email, telephone calls and newsletters.

Fifteen of our students presented their work at the Culminating Gallery last May.  The students and parents came back so excited about how proud they were of their work and the warm welcome they received at the Exhibition. It truly was a memorable event.

The ALPS' participation in this Initiative is an integral component of our Comprehensive Education Plan.  Two teachers received training at August 2000's Constructivist Conference.  They shared what they learned as well as their plans to make their classrooms more student centered at our Staff Conference on September 5, 2000. They promised their colleagues they would continue to share their exciting work at their team meetings and monthly staff conferences.

The Learning Centered Classroom Initiative compliments our already existing philosophy of expeditionary learning.  Being an Outward Bound Expeditionary School. the ALPS has a school designer that oilers our teaching staff onsite assistance in implementing this philosophy three to four days a month.  The ALPS believes that if we make our classrooms more learning centered it will better meet the needs of our heterogeneous student body. To this end. the ALPS staff participates in an annual Summer Institute, whereby they design their curriculum into engaging, student centered learning expeditions. We also spend three weekends a year together planning to make our school more engaging to our students through exciting, academically rigorous learning expeditions.

Every year we conduct an annual School Review, where we reflect and critique our year and set goals for the next one.  At last year's Review the two teachers who participated in the Learning Centered Grant spoke about how their partner teacher was a great asset not only to their students, but also to their own professional development. They expressed how working so closely with a colleague helped them to reflect on their own practice.  They found that component an invaluable resource

The teachers also spoke about the phenomenal ideas and strategies they learned as well as friends they met at the LCC workshops.  Although distance was an issue to meet in person, they continued to share resources and email their colleagues throughout the year.

The ALPS has budgeted three additional days of substitute coverage to the three they received from District 27, so that our teachers can go to Learning Centered  Conferences, other conferences or intervisitations. District 27 has also provided the ALPS with a two full days a week Professional Development Academy Specialist to help train new teachers in innovative teaching strategies. In addition the ALPS has budgeted $600.00 from its New Visions for Public Schools to support the Partner teacher for their two participating teachers.

We are hopeful of being awarded a $50,000.00 NYS Technology Grant that we submitted with a private school and another public school. The essence of this grant is collaborative professional development, which we will be pleased to share with all our Learning Centered Classroom colleagues.

The ALPS is extremely committed to the type of work that the Learner Centered Classroom/Standards Focused Initiative is doing. We have been very proud to be a part of this initiative and will continue to support the goals of this Targeted Instructional Staff Development Grant.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you and your professional staff for
supporting these initiatives.

 

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