Reprinted with permission from Converge Magazine.
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Generation www.Y: Students and Teachers Learning & Working Together
Sixteen-year-old Emily McCartan from Olympia, Wash. is a dreamer. But that doesn't mean she spends large quantities of time lost in idle introspection. Rather, she spends a lot of time contemplating the education system and how it can be improved. "School should equip students with the means to pursue their dreams because dreams are important," McCartan said. "The educational system, by training young generations to be leaders, is the cornerstone of our society's future, and therefore, must be the target of any dreams about social reform."Generation www.Y is a dream come true for founder Dennis Harper. He used a federal grant to establish an innovative teacher education program where trained students mentor their teachers to effectively infuse technology into the curriculum. By Kim Moyer - December 2001 Fortunately for society, McCartan has successfully completed a Generation www.Y (Gen www.Y -- pronounced "Gen Y") class that empowered her to dream and trained her to lead. This is a program where students teach teachers how to incorporate technology into their curriculum and lessons, and become catalysts in education reform. It also is the realized dream of founder and project director Dennis Harper who, five years ago, used a U.S. Department of Education (ED) Technology Innovation Challenge Grant to implement his vision to transform education and improve student learning through the use of technology. THE PROGRAM During an 18-week course, sixth- through 12th-grade students are taught technology and instruction skills by a Gen www.Y teacher. The skills they learn are directly related to helping teachers use technology effectively in their classrooms. By the fourth week of class, students are paired with one of their teachers or another teacher in their school. Together, student-teacher teams decide which lesson could be improved by the infusion of technology, and the mentoring relationship is established. For the remaining 14 weeks of the class, students spend their class time learning new technology skills and working on their partner teacher's project. When the class concludes, students and teachers assess the projects and report the results on the program's Web site. The curriculum was developed through a grant by t he Olympia School District, and is published and distributed by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). The program has been implemented in 510 schools in 41 states. At first glance, it looks like another innovative student-focused educational program. Even as students learn a lot through the program, teacher education is the program's primary emphasis. According to Harper, creating a generation of both educational and societal change agents who can utilize technology and the Internet to better humanity is the program's eventual goal. "Generation www.Y is a professional development strategy that differs from all previous models," said Harper. "Normally, one trains teachers with technology skills in hopes of improved student learning. [This program] trains students with technology skills in the hope of improved teacher teaching." It's also the only professional development model ever given an exemplary status by the ED Expert Panel on Educational Technology. "The model has undergone intense scrutiny and has withstood the most stringent peer review with the conclusion that Gen www.Y succeeds in providing teachers the support that results in real infusion of technology into the curriculum and the improvement of learning. "A major premise [here] is that teachers don't need to have technology skills to infuse it successfully in their classrooms," said Harper. A teacher can partner with a student who can provide the technology expertise while the teacher provides the content and pedagogy. "Together, the student and partner teacher infuse technology to improve student learning. Of course, there is nothing wrong with teachers learning technology skills, and Gen www.Y students are available to provide this training if the teacher so requests." Marilyn Piper, curriculum coordinator and a program teacher, said it's a model of "teachers learning in tandem with students. As a staff, we've slowly given up our 'need to know it all' and then impart this knowledge to our students. We've begun to accept the affinity that young people have for technology and the natural partnerships for learning that this creates." By nurturing these collaborative learning teams consisting of content-area expert teachers and tech-savvy students, "we are able to create new technology-enhanced learning activities. In this way, all stakeholders learn more about how to use technology, and at the same time, learn more subject-area content." STUDENTS TEACHING TEACHERS Jeff Conor, now a 16-year-old 10th-grader from Olympia, explained his experience as a Gen www.Y graduate. "In seventh grade, I taught my history teacher, John Johnson, how to effectively integrate technology into his lessons. I was initially drawn to the class because of the technology skills that were taught, but I became motivated in the class because of a completely new relationship with Mr. Johnson. As a student, I learned how to use the technology in our schools, and effective communication skills and strategies. Partnered with a teacher, I was charged with creating a lesson that used technology to improve learning. I used my technical know-how, and my partner teacher used his knowledge and experience gained from many years of teaching." "It is the relationship that attracts students -- the sense that their knowledge is important to their teachers," said Piper. "The same principle works for teachers. We become teachers not because we love technology, but because we want to work with kids. In the Gen www.Y process, teachers get that 'a-ha' moment about the power of technology to improve learning and connect with young people at the same time. I have been teaching for 29 years, and can honestly say that the strongest and most rewarding relationships I have developed with students have been through the Generation www.Y model." THE BIGGEST REWARD For Harper, the biggest reward is seeing students begin to have a voice in their education and the education system in general. "Students make up over 90 percent of K-12 education, probably have 95 percent of the technology skills, and are 100 percent of why we have schools. Gen www.Y has figured out (although it took five years) a strategy to fully involve students in educational reform." "Through Gen www.Y, the ways teachers teach and students learn are transformed," said Piper. "This notion is not always easily grasped. Misconceptions about the Gen www.Y process do occur. Sometimes people feel that it minimizes the role of the teacher. Nothing could be further from the truth. And sometimes statements are misconstrued to imply that teachers shouldn't learn technology skills." This is also incorrect, according to Piper. "Over time, as a school develops this critical mass of students and teachers trained in the Gen www.Y way, we find we are able to implement the 'best practices' principles that, as educators, we are always striving for: experiential, authentic, cooperative, project-based learning." Kim Moyer Kim Moyer is a freelance writer and the owner of KBC Communications, a public relations business in Fort Collins, Colo. |
Jeff Conor "I'm 16 years old, and this is my third summer working at the Gen www.Y offices. I've gone to national trade shows, been quoted several times in news stories, and I've co-taught lessons to Saint Martin's College and Evergreen State College pre-service teachers. As a result of my training, I even went back to my elementary school and helped Mrs. Hill, one of my former teachers, get her students' work online. "This summer, I had the chance to prepare new teachers to teach their Gen www.Y classes. I was a little nervous because I had never done this before. I knew that I could handle seven participants, but I'm still awed that I've gone from being taught by teachers to teaching them how to teach. Dr. Harper was unable to attend the course personally, so he welcomed everyone via speakerphone and then turned the class over to me. Three years ago, I was in the Gen www.Y class, now I train teachers so other students in new schools may participate in the program and hopefully get as much out of it as I have." Web Site: Digital Scribe Emily McCartan "My sixth-grade year at Washington Middle School marked the first year of the Technology Innovation Challenge Grant funding for Generation www.Y. I was not particularly impressed. But a year and a half later, my seventh-grade social studies teacher asked me to be her partner student for the second-semester course. At that point, Gen www.Y was offered as a zero-hour class, and, being even less of a morning person than I am a tech expert, I could see no reason to leap at the chance to get up and come to school at seven o'clock in the morning three days a week to work with computers. "However, between the persistence of my teacher and my father, I was convinced to 'give it a try.' The 'try' has lasted for the last four years, a time in which I have grown into a role as an equal participant in a movement to change the process of education in America. I'm still not a 'techie'; my technological expertise is limited to word processing, Internet use, and basic mastery of multimedia software like HyperStudio and PowerPoint. (Not to mention how to execute a force-shutdown command to a frozen Macintosh.) "While I truly appreciate the value of technology and the amazing capabilities it has brought to our lives, it is neither my forte nor my focus as a member of Generation www.Y. My vision is for the improvement of education, and I very strongly believe that the collaboration between students, teachers and families created by the program is the key to building a model of learning that will strengthen our world as Generation www.Y (and those that follow) comes of age." Contact Information Generation www.Y
Dennis Harper Founder and Project Director Generation www.Y Marilyn Piper Curriculum Coordinator and Teacher, Generation www.Y |
