December 2, 2009 -- Bruce Gorrill, science
department chair, and Peter Hess, dean of studies, were among the
presenters at the TABS (The Association of Boarding Schools) Annual
Conference in Chicago in early December. Gorrill led a session on “How
Social Networking Transformed My Classroom,” while Hess led the session
“Sixteen Years as a Laptop School – Lessons Learned”
Gorrill demonstrated how Brewster’s senior
Freshwater Ecology class has been completely transformed by the
introduction of Web 2.0 social networking tools. Brewster has long
promoted itself as “student centered” and this class is more evidence
of just how student centered we are. Students are in control of their
learning and the teacher acts as their facilitator. Gorrill showed
participants how tools like wikis, podcasts, and web pages have melded
with effective teaching practices to actually increase student
investment in their learning.
Hess shared what Brewster has
learned since implementing a successful 1-1 laptop program in 1993.
Hess’ session focused on the top 10 accessible lessons for
participants. Although the issues range from management logistics to
21st century skills to social networking and everything in between the
lessons really speak to what a school needs to have in place to make
meaningful use of technology in the classroom. Hess offered
participants ideas of what they need to think about as a school to take
advantage of the power of technology as an educational tool.