Chris Lehman

Notes from the Canyons School District Ed Tech Retreat:
A Conversation With Chris Lehman

Principal at the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia
1 to 1 laptop school

We don't do a blog project or a wiki project. We do a project about a subject and choose the tools that will work best.

Twitter - used naturally

Acceptable Use
A vision statement about whether what we are doing with the technology is for an academic use.
Teach them to be good digital citizens.
There are less "Thou shalt not"s and more vision statements.

Project-oriented school
What if high school wasn't preparation for real life? What if high school was real life?
Have the students work on projects that really matter.

Core values of the school:

• Research
• Collaborate
• Create
• Present
• Network
• Reflect

(Similar to our Big 6)

Amazing projects!
Every teacher shares the same core values and goals, so the language is the same in every class no matter what the subject is.
An incredible amount of scaffolding must take place each year and from year to year.

Words of wisdom:
Do it for a reason!
Don't use something just because it's a new tool, use it for a reason.
Don't put the tools first. Put the pedagogy first.