Microsoft Innovative Schools Program

Microsoft Innovative Schools Program

Application for Pilot Schools

Part 2: To be completed by the nominated school

Kaohsiung Municipal DAYI Junior High School

Tao-jen Pan

Submission Date October 27.2006

School Criteria

Complete all information in this section.

NOTE:

• It is necessary that all schools in the program commit to following the prescribed development process so that pilot schools are in the same step of the process at the same time and can learn from Microsoft, partners and each other.
• Schools need to commit to a process of whole-school reform. This project is not just about technology integration or a new building. It is a process of whole-school reform - from hiring and staffing and other back-office processes, to curriculum and instruction, to classroom setup etc.
• The Innovative Schools Program will accept public or private schools, as well as primary or secondary schools.

1. What is the name of this school, and where is it located? If this is a new school, describe the proposed location.

The name of our school is DA-YI Junior High School. DA-YI is located in Kaohsiung , the largest commercial harbor and the second biggest city in Taiwan. Our school is located along Chui-hua Road in Tsoying District between downtown Kaohsiung and Nan-Zih District.Various Chinese-style structures and historical sites located in Tsoying give it an intensely traditional Chinese flavor.

1. Is your school public or private? It’ s public

1. Is the nominated school primary or secondary? What are the ages of the students who attend this school?

DA-YI is a public secondary school. The ages of the students are 13-15.

1. How many students attend this school?About 900 students at present time.

1. Indicate whether your school agrees to fully participate in every aspect of the Innovative Schools Program. In the box below, provide the name and title of the person who is committing that your school will:

• Work within asystematic process for design and implementation of innovations that will be proposed to the selected schools.
• Commit to a process of whole-school reform.
• Sign a memorandum of understanding with Microsoft to indicate commitment to the project for a period of two years.
• Attend all meetings (virtual or in-person) with other pilot schools.
• Meet deadlines of the project, participate in an online community with other schools, and work with Microsoft representatives at all levels.
• Involve a range of community members and leaders in decision-making and planning.

Our school has skilled administrative, enthusiastic faculty, brilliant students and always-support parents community working together to the Innovative Schools Program. Their names and titles are provided below:

1. Complete the table below with information about the project team that will participate in the Innovative Schools Program. Please keep in mind the following points:

• We recommend that the project team consist of three people from the school and the district/authority in charge of the school.
• Note that the actual team working on the school project needs to be larger; however, this three-person project team should be the “leadership team” that attends meetings and phone calls, etc.
• Because all calls, meetings and materials for this program will be in English, at least ONE member of the team must be proficient in English.
• The roles of team members should be as follows:
• One person with decision-making authority (from the district or authority level)
• One person from the school leader level (could be the principal or head teacher if they exist)
• Third position could be filled on a rotation basis – could rotate between curriculum expert, IT expert, etc

If you plan to build a new building for this school, please complete question 7. If you have an existing building and plan to renovate that building as part of this program, please skip to question 8.

1. If you plan to use an existing building that will be renovated as a part of this program, answer the following questions:
2. When was the school built?

The school was built in 1970.

• Has it been remodeled since then? If so, when?

Yes, it is going to be remodeled in 2006-2007.

• Does the school plan to remodel all or part of the building as part of this program?

Yes, we plan to remodel it and build a new school building, named Ming Yuan, as a part of this program. The new school building will be completed in 2007

• If yes, please describe the extent of the anticipated remodel.

The Ming Yuan Building, the red rectangle in Figure 1, is between the Administration Building and the Activity Center.

Figure 1 The Extent of the Remodeled Ming Yuan Building

• What is the amount of the budget that has been set aside from the school/district/authority to pay for the renovation of the school as part of this program?

We’ve received about 2 million U.S. dollars for remodeling the building from the Ministry Of Education and the Kaohsiung Bureau OfEducation, and another 80 thousand U.S. dollars for supporting the program.

• Has any work or planning already begun on this project? If yes, please explain.

(1) Setting upwireless network system in the campus and the neighborhood

We are now building the wireless network environment in campus, including the library, administration center, faculty rooms, teachers’ offices and so on. In the future, we plan to expand the extent of Wireless Network to the whole neighborhood community.

(2) Remodeling the The Ming Yuan Building

We are now rebuilding the Ming Yuan to be the Information Communication Technology Center

(3) Constructing the E-classrooms

The E-classrooms are equipped with laptops, wireless network, projectors, VOD system, and so on.

(4) UsingWeb Platform in Teacher-Parents Communication

We have a Web Platform for the communication between teachers and parents.

(5) Building capacity for faculty and students on web-based teaching and learning.

We begin the courses of ICT training for faculty and students.

School Leadership

Complete all information in this section.

NOTE:

• In our other School of the Future Initiatives, we’ve learned that the single most important factor in the success of the program is strong leadership. This section aims to assess the level of leadership of the existing school leader.
• If your school plans to hire a new school leader as part of this project, complete this section with your vision for a successful school leader.

1. Provide one or two detailed examples of instances where your school leadership has supported creativity or innovation in your school. We would like to know what was the innovation you supported, who was involved in the process, how it was implemented, and what the process is for sustaining and building upon this work.

You Are The Best

“ The brilliance of Dayi ”–

The Arts Performance of Dayi Junior High School

Dayi junior high school holds the anniversary celebrations in April every year, focusing on the performance of arts in the neighborhoods in order to present the multiple learning of students and improve the development of the community.

For the purpose of emphasizing the connection of school and the community, the sharing of resources and the sustainable development of school, there is a special arts performance of students at the square of the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts every year. It includes Chinese traditional musical instruments club, the wind instruments club, the flute club, the chorus, etc. We hope to share a flourishing feast for senses, and to improve the interaction between school and the community, in the meantime, the appreciation of arts, quality of lives, and fulfilling the holistic management of the community.

The theme of the school anniversary celebration is “You Are The Best,” which emphasizes that the teachers and students are the best, and students can learn happily and have meaningful learning experiences. At the same time, the school can provide the stage for students to perform, aiming to inspire students’ potentiality and their confidence, and it will bring successful experiences to fulfill the vision of school – Discipline, Achievement, Youthfulness, and Innovation. And hope that students can feedback to the community what they have learned to raise the quality of the people to be outstanding citizens. Adopting the strategy of integrated marketing communication in every activity, it not only markets school but also creates a model activity to be embedded in people’s memory. It can also attract the hearts of the students, teachers, and the parents of the community, to become an excellent magnetic and sustainable management school.

Innovation-

A graduation Party at a First Class Historical Site

DA-YI is located in a district with cultures and customs, in which historic sites relics,traditional buildings, andhigh-techexist simultaneously.

In order to improve the close relation between school and community, and develop indigenous education, in July 2006, with the permission of Culture Bureau, we are the first school to hold a graduation party in the relics. Principal Pan hopesthe activity not only can bring new life to the relics but also can identify the residents to the community.

Having cooperation with local culture and history workshops, we have trained students to work as voluntarily guides. Moreover, we train students to care about the community where they liveand develop the consciousness of loving our land and township by getting involved in this multiple activities held by school and community.

There are various performances in the party, including the performances of school orchestra, Japanese drum, and hot dance by school clubs. Besides, the special performance of the school teachers is popular with the audience there. What’s more,Principal Pan, directors and the chairperson of PTA are all dressed up with Chinese ancient costumes, and that was followed by a burst of applause. Candles in students’ hands symbolize wisdom and experience inheritance; setting off sky lanterns to the sky symbolizes a prayer for a blessing to our country, people and our school. The performances are so splendid that all the students and parents of DA-YI find the graduation party unforgettable.

1. School Vision

Complete all information in this section.

The first step of the process for all schools in this program will be an introspection phase, during which schools will go though an objective self-analysis to determine their goals and desired outcomes for the school.

As part of this application process, we want to understand your views on the issues below as well as some of your ideas for the future. Please answer each question with no more than 5-10 sentences.

The School we Have versus The School we Want to Have...

1. What should education be?

At present:

To educate is to unfold and develop students’ potentials, and further enhance their achievement. Students learn happily and grow up healthily, teachers get satisfied and self-fulfilled in educating, and parents eagerly participate in schooling. In other words, the acronym of DAYI stands for Discipline, Achievement, Youthfulness, and Innovation, which represent our view of education.

For the future:

Education is a complex idea, including not only knowledge in basic skills, academics, technical, discipline, citizenship, but also processing of knowledge, visionary ambitions, creativity, and understanding the value of knowledge.

1. What is learning?

At present:

Learning is:

1. a quantitative increase in knowledge. Learning is acquiring information or ‘knowing a lot’.
2. a way of memorizing. Learning is storing information that can be reproduced.
3. acquiring facts, skills, and methods that can be retained and used as necessary.
4. making sense or abstracting meaning. Learning involves relating parts of the subject matter to each other and to the real world.
5. interpreting and understanding reality in a different way. Learning involves comprehending the world by reinterpreting knowledge.
6. the process of changing in behaviour or understanding.

For the future:

Learning consists of

1. knowledge in basic skills, academics, technical, discipline, and citizenship.
2. 21st century skills, including
3. problem-solving
4. communication
5. collaborating
6. managing resources
7. using information
8. lifelong learning

This new vision of learning requires students’ voluntaryand active participation, and the students’ development is best self-directed.

1. Given your answer to number 2, what is the best curriculum for promoting this kind of learning?

At present:

1. The 9-year Integrated Curriculum

We have national curricular standards which the government create.

1. Six learning core networks

1. History and culture
2. Nature
3. Life
4. Arts
5. Science
6. Health
7. Textbooks and other learning materials

The school typically selects textbooks and decides the actual curriculum. Within broad guidelines, the principal and teachers can determine what to be learned.

For the future:

In SOF, The best curriculum for promoting this kind of learning, therefore, should be an evolving construction resulting from

1. ICT

Through ICT, curriculum will be instant, boardless, and tangible.

1. The interaction of teachers and students

Using the ICT, teachers and students are able to construct the curriculum together, bringing up mutual understanding to curriculum.

1. What are the best methods for bringing about this kind of learning?

At present:

1. The presentation model

It helps students acquire, assimilate and retain information, and also helps them expand their conceptual structures and develop specific habits for thinking about information.

1. The Direct Instruction

It is used when helping students learn basic skills and knowledge that can be taught in a step-by-step fashion.

1. The constructional approach

It helps students construct their own knowledge in their frame of mind, and enables students to understand the world in their own terms.

1. The cooperative method

It goes beyond helping students academic content and skills to address important social goals and objectives, and enables students to learn through helping each other.

For the future:

In SOF, except for the methods mentioned previously, we want to use innovative methods to facilitate :

1. self-directed learning
2. project- based learning and problem-based learning
3. e-Learning and e-Training through ICT
4. synchronous and asynchronous applications in web-based teaching

1. What is the role of teachers in this learning process?

At present:

A teacher used to be an authority giving knowledge to students. Knowledge usually exists in textbooks and learning materials. The job of a teacher is to transmit knowledge.

For the future:

When using the new communication and information technologies in teaching, the good start might be to forget the traditional authority of teacher. In this situation one of the challenges for the teacher is to provide information management skills to the students. The teacher can also help the students to build the global view on subject. To sum up, a teacher in SOF will be a :

1. stimulator: Tries to stimulate participation by various ICT tools and authentic events.
2. facilitator: Chairs and organizes the discussion and learning schedule.
3. instructor: Explains and clarifies important information and ideas. Asks task questions to check understanding. Gives positive and negative feedback after pupil's contributions.
4. interviewer: questions individuals to elicit their ideas, feelings, and opinions.
5. observer: observes the pupils during their participation.

1. How much power should students have in deciding what, when, where and how to learn?

At present,

A student used to be a receiver of knowledge, motivated to achieve marks or academic accreditation.

For the future,

Students should move away from the role of passive recipient to active agent in the learning process. They will be active learning project leaders, using ICT skills and their own experiences and available knowledge. They will share responsibility with teachers as coordinators.

1. How do you think your school should be managed?

At present:

We put emphasis on the S.M.A.R.T. Leading by Serving:

1. Service
2. Management
3. Attitude
4. Role
5. Teamworks

For the future: