ADDIE: Analysis

ANALYSIS

Introduction

New School is a community day high school serving a rotating population, approximately 80 students per term. Seventy-eight percent of our students are English Language Learners (ELLs). The school employs an equal number of Youth Services (mental health) counselors as teaching staff. Teachers and counselors work as partners is a systems approach to education. New School provides a holistic support system for youth who are trying to distance themselves from gang-related crimes and violence, are teen parents, battling drug addiction, and/or are victims of an array of domestic issues. Currently, the lowest level math class incorporates 2nd grade standards; our most challenging is CAHSEE preparation. New School is a triage unit for the high schools and alternative schools in the district. The school accepts students with the goal of curing what ills with the hope that students will return to and graduate from a traditional high school setting.

Wiki Planning

Given the shifting student population, the most successful implementation of a classroom wiki that students contribute to will be one that incorporates familiar classroom teaching strategies such as:

• Vocabulary; incorporating SDAIE techniques to teach vocabulary to ELL students
• Solution guides for bell work or the problem of the week
• Examples of math in the real world

Our classroom contains eight work stations which yields a student-to-computer ratio of about 1:2. Hardware is reliable. Wireless and high-speed Internet service is available throughout the school.

The implementation of a classroom wiki should meet the following objectives:

• Alignment with state standards for mathematics across several grade levels
• Cognitively demanding contribution requirements across several grade levels
• Development of fluency in written English language
• Contribution topics that encourage student conversation in the discussion area
• Contribution topics that students can join immediately as new students

Barriers

New School’s instructional minutes are negatively impacted by individual behavioral issues or by issues involving large groups of students. Class periods can be canceled in to hold group counseling sessions to resolve issues before they escalate into physical confrontations. The principal states a desire to increase academic rigor at the school, however, in the absence of a strong plan the focus may not change. The lack of a definitive academic plan leads to barriers to the success of the implementation of a classroom wiki. Each stakeholder’s performance barriers are listed below.

Students

• Emotional or physical distress that detract from academic focus in the classroom
• Enrollment process delayed leading to lag in creation of New School computer user account
• Low English language fluency prohibits confidence and ability to contribute to written body of work
• Student has low academic skill level and has developed work avoidance behaviors in an attempt to cover up skill deficiencies
• Emergencies for which the timing is impossible to predict such as student confrontations, issues at home, or personal emergencies

School Environment

• Absence of academic strategic planning
• Misalignment of counseling and academic goals for students
• Absence of pre-determined calendar for the school year that lists dates for field trips, special events, etc., that remove students from the classroom

Conclusion

There are considerable challenges to the success of an on-going academic project at New School. However, I believe that the implementation of a classroom wiki project can be successful. Careful planning and communication of the plan in our academic meetings will promote success.

I believe that students will enjoy contributing to the classroom wiki and viewing their contributions on the web. A unique opportunity exists in a school whose enrollment is in a state of constant flux. We are able to gather a larger number of student input that a school with a stable population. Additionally, students may choose to remain active contributors to the wiki once they return to their “home” school.