It was a smooth entry into the 2010-11 school year at Lakelands Park Middle School (LPMS) August 30, according to Principal Deborah Higdon.
“It was excellent,” she said. “Staff and students were excited to return.”
In her second year as at LPMS Higdon said she and the staff will continue to build a purposeful, measurable and successful school by focusing on critical thinking, student discourse and student use of technology.
The 884-student school was also selected to be a part of the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) technology grant. “The grant is to increase student use of technology to positively impact achievement,” said Higdon. “It is supplying seven classes with wireless laptops for students use. These classes are also getting video cameras to document student use of technology. A team of our teachers are being trained on the latest technology and will train the other staff.”
In addition, students in Kirsten Corprew’s contemporary communication are getting a lesson in what technology like Twitter and texting means in today’s world. “It [UDL] is an incredible opportunity for teachers to build their repertoire of strategies for using technology to engage students in learning their content,” she said. “As such, we will be trying out a lot of new things and receiving constant support. Students will benefit greatly from this.”
The class will also do on a field trip to the Newseum to sit in on the museum’s photo ethics class as part of a unit on photojournalism, explained Corprew.
For Higdon the grant is an extra boost to help the school move in a forward direction. “We are committed to closing the achievement gap using equitable classroom strategies,” she said.