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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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State Rep. Keith McCall |
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Speaker McCall welcomes 'Classrooms for the
Future' students and faculty to the Capitol
HARRISBURG, May 6 – Speaker of the House of Representatives Keith R. McCall, D-Carbon, welcomed some of the state's brightest high school students to the Capitol for an exhibit featuring Pennsylvania’s Classrooms for the Future program.
McCall co-sponsored the
daylong program with Gov. Ed Rendell. Thirty-eight schools took part and
displayed their projects in the Capitol's East Wing.
"We are transforming teaching and learning in Pennsylvania high schools through Pennsylvania’s celebrated Classrooms for the Future project," McCall said. "This bold and innovative program provides 21st century tools and education practices that are relevant in today’s world.
"By participating in intensive professional development and with the assistance of an instructional technology coach, teachers bring new life and excitement to their classrooms and learning. This transformation results in more student engagement in their work, an opportunity for more in-depth academic exploration and better results in local assessments."
One participating school, Weatherly Area High School, is located in McCall’s legislative district. Social studies classes in grades nine, 10, 11 and 12 from Weatherly collaborated on a project showing how the use of blogging and Google documents in the history classroom through documentary-style video and firsthand demonstrations improve the way students learn and teachers teach.
The event brings together students, faculty, and Pennsylvania legislators and staff to share the experiences of this innovative program. During the daylong exhibit, the students explained and highlighted their projects to legislators, staff, lobbyists and Capitol visitors.
Some examples of the projects include: "F.D.R. MySpace Wiki Projects & Stimulus Blog," Allegheny-Clarion Valley Junior Senior High School; "Multi School Collaborative Holocaust Connection Project," Avella High School; "Using Wordle.net to Help Navigate and Evaluate Presidential Inaugural Addresses," Liberty High School, Bethlehem Area School District; and "Element – ary Writing Project," Shikellamy High School.
CFF is an integral part of Rendell’s high school reform agenda designed to modernize teaching and learning in Pennsylvania by giving teachers and students access to the latest technology. CFF aims to make every high school English, math, science and social studies classroom in Pennsylvania a "smart" classroom by providing laptop computers, high-speed Internet access and state-of-the-art software for every teacher and student.
CFF goals include the following: improve teaching and learning in English, math, science and social studies; changing classroom practices; improving student-teacher relationships; increasing student engagement; increasing student responsibility for learning; developing 21st century skills; and increasing academic achievement.
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