JISD begins new program in fall

JACKSONVILLE — Jacksonville Independent School District has set a series of meetings for parents who want to enroll their students in the district's new East Side Applied Learning Community next fall.

The program will include two kindergarten classes and two first grade classes, and will teach the state-mandated and approved curriculum for both grades, but in a “new” way.

“We realize we need to create alternative learning settings to engage students,” said East Side Principal Chuck Lowery. “We realize not all students learn the same way and not all students learn at the same pace.

“We want to make school educational but also engaging for the student.”

JISD materials define the program: “Applied Learning provides opportunities for students to learn content, use what they have learned and practice advanced problem-solving skills that are necessary for success in the 21st century.”

JISD Assistant Superintendent of Instruction and Curriculum Judy Terry said the applied learning program will help teach students how they learn through brain-based, project or performance-based and technology-based teaching methods.

“This program will give concrete, hands-on, student-centered instruction that will teach our students how they best learn, so they can, in the future, know, 'I learn best by listening,' or 'I learn best by reading,'” she said.

Terry said by teaching students to recognize how they best learn, the district can lay a foundation to help them continue to learn at their most effective level throughout their academic careers.

“It's the Shakespearean, 'To thine own self be true,'” Lowery said. “That's what this is about — creating better learners. Some may be able to watch a video and retain 99 percent of it, while some like to see material in print. Some need it in both ways. Some students like to read text on a screen and some like to still see it in print.

“If I know how I best learn and I'm a student in a class of 22 or 25 students, and my teacher has 180 days to teach me, then I can help the teacher develop ways that I learn the best.”

He said these skills will not just benefit students in the classroom, but for years to come as they enter the workforce.

“If I enter a job knowing the tasks I'll perform are going to appeal to my learning nature, I'm going to be happier and more engaged,” he said.

In addition to teaching students how to be better learners, the program will also aim to incorporate technology into instruction that is, today, commonplace — technology that is so commonplace, in fact, most students do not know the world without it.

“In order to catch the student, you need something to reel them in, and in this day and age one of those ways is technology,” Lowery said. “My fear is that some of today's technology is so commonplace, children will not question it, learn the genealogy of it and how we got to this point.”

And so teaching students how to look at problems, ask questions, then find the answers to those questions will not only prepare students for their future educations and careers, but their lives in general, he said.

“I think, in our world, we have so many difficult issues we face. We have obstacles and problems we face,” he said. “My theory is we're not educated about those. For example, if you know depression is a chemical reaction your body goes through, and you know what makes you feel better, you can better battle the symptoms of depression.”

Terry said JISD administrators, and even some parents who asked the district to develop an applied learning program, made trips to other schools around the state with similar programs in place to see what the structure would be and how students reacted to the program.

“A lot of the things we saw at these schools were things we're already doing in our district,” she said. “This will just be an intense focus on research and staff development in these areas. What we're successful at (at JISD) is looking at what's out there and picking the pieces that benefit us.”

She said the program will begin with four teachers who will develop the curriculum for the classes. She and Lowery began interviews Tuesday of the 12 JISD teachers who applied to be part of the program.

And education in the ES ALC will not stop inside the classroom walls. Parents of students in the program are required to attend one of the informational meetings beginning next week and must commit to 15 hours of volunteer service per school year.

“It's very important for parents to know their students are learning in a very hands-on way,” she said. “But they are still learning the basic curriculum.”

The program will accept up to 44 kindergarteners and 44 first graders into the program in the fall. Fifty percent for each grade level will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis, while the remaining 50 percent of student slots will be filled on a lottery system.

“I'm very excited about the program, and it's an opportunity for our students have a more active role in their learning environment,” Lowery said. “One of the things we do as educators is to prepare children for tomorrow. We have to teach in the present and prepare them for the present world, too, but these students today are our future.”

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