Dr. Matt Covington's Blog

The school year may be over, but we are still here and working hard!

Although ‘integration’ has been a buzz word in education for years, it mainly has been used in conjunction with technology.  As a professional learning community (PLC), the English and history departments met today to discuss how they will integrate curricula.

The curriculum integration aims to enhance both departments’ curricula and learning tasks for students.  The goal is to allow students to learn through integration rather than isolation.

Teachers have been tasked with selecting one type of curriculum integration (parallel, infusion, multi-disciplinary, transdisciplinary) and collaborating with the other main teacher of their grade level from the other department.  This will allow students the opportunity to learn through various instructional methods.  It also increases the potential for more project-based learning.  All of the teachers are excited about this new teaching opportunity and collaborating with each other.  We all feel that this excitement and blending of curricula will increase student engagement as well as student achievement.

We’ll keep you posted…

This site, from the National Archives, is a great source for teachers.  It allows teachers the opportunity to create lessons and activities that allow students to increase their chronological thinking, historical comprehension, historical analysis and interpretation, historical research capabilities and historical issues analysis and decision making.

If a student can do this in history, imagine the critical thinking and data analysis they can do in other subjects!

For years the Smithsonian Institute has provided resources and lessons for the classroom called Smithsonian in your Classroom.  This month’s edition is the first one that included a soundtrack.

This K-12 interdisciplinary lesson combines poetry with music and, as always, is totally free.  This is a great opportunity to show students that music is everywhere and learning a discipline should not be in solitude.

Does your Middle Schooler like to cook?  Maybe interested in one of those Iron Chef or food shows on the Food Network?

Virginia Tech is hosting a Culinary Camp!  This is a five-day, four-night on-campus immersion experience offering a taste of the chef life to 30 middle-school-aged students, held from Tuesday, June 25 until Saturday, June 29.

Interested?  Find out more information here.

Photo Credit: http://www.dining.vt.edu/culinarycamp/

Educators are always coming up with innovative ideas on how to share their love of topics.  However, many times, these ideas require funding that is difficult to find.  If you find yourself requiring some funds, check out this great grant opportunity.

Are you trying to engage your child through online education activities?  The Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies has created the Smithsonian Quests.  The primary goal of these quests is to allow students to explore their interests through a series of activities.  A secondary goal is to increase students’ cognitive abilities and skill-building.

GHS is offering many new Career and Technical Education (CTE) courses next year.  The school board has been discussing theses courses as a portion of the FY2013 School Budget.  In fact, the term “CTE clusters” has been stated multiple times.  Should you have questions regarding these “clusters” or even what CTE encompasses, please either contact Bruce Watson, Director of CTE, or browse this website.

There is a free iPad app from the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, that allows students to speed up and slow down the virtual heart rate. The app presents four views of the heart: the electrical system, the valves, blood flow and the interior of the heart. Students can experience each view with or without labels.

Years ago I could have been found playing a computer game that allowed me to build my own city, create the necessary infrastructure and see how it grew.  The game required the player to make decisions based on population, emergency responder needs and community demands.  SimCity took many hours of my time while it allowed me to learn community requirements, demands and strategy skills.

So what does SimCity have to do with STEM education?  Researchers are finding that using technology through gaming is increasing student understanding and raising critical thinking skills.  In fact, it is increasing so much so that the makers of SimCity are releasing SimCityEDU in March of this year.  The online education version will provide teachers lesson plans and resources in the STEM areas while abiding by the US Common Core standards.

I for one am interested and intrigued by this announcement.  Unfortunately I will have to schedule my computer time on this game around my children who will certainly be all over it!

I have been asked by Dr. Lane, Superintendent, to lead a committee to view/revise our Crisis Management Plan for GCPS.  In the coming weeks, we will be meeting with first responders, principals, division maintenance and operations supervisors as well as parents, staff and students.

If you would like to jot down a security concern, please feel free to email me, mcovington@glnd.k12.va.us.

Thanks!