Russell Street School Reflection

What a great school blog! There were pages and pages showing student work, reflection, and personality. One must wonder why they take the time to put so much material on these blogs? From browsing through the website, it appears they put all this content online because they truly believe in the school-home-community partnership. The educators there know that they open up many opportunities to students when parents can see exactly what is going on in the classroom and they can support the curriculum at home. Community members (near and far) can view what is happening and know how they can contribute. I think it provides a beautiful model for local involvement in education.

In the school's e-learning strategy report they claim that "an audience for e-learning enhances and celebrates student voice." It is striking how rarely you hear or see an adult in these pictures and videos. On the student sites, there are many mistakes but they are not fixed"by adults. The adult/teacher voice was fairly quiet and usually showed up on student posts to encourage and give constructive feedback on how to improve. I strive to create a student-centered class and I love this example of a student-centered school.

This truly seems to be a 21st Century school. Information can be accessed anywhere and at anytime, much like everything else these days. But is it too much? Do teachers have to be available 24/7? Do parents still value visiting the school and having face to face conversations about how their child is doing? Is any paper sent home anymore, are some parents not able to regularly access all of this online content? With every student's work on display is there teasing about the quality of someone's work? How do parents feel about their student being so vulnerable online?

So while RSS is doing some amazing things to foster community-based (local and worldwide) education, I am sure they wrestle with many of the questions asked above and more.