Journal # 7

Creating with Technology
By David Saygers & Savilla Banister
This article is about how the Toledo School of Arts grades 6-12 use digital technology to maintain their curriculum in both academics and the arts. The reason why this particular school was singled out is because it was rated “Excellent” in 2006 and 2007 by the Ohio Department of Education. This school puts a lot of emphasis on integrating the arts, academics, and technology, which are all important subjects in school and in the learning process.
Because this is a charter school, they have the benefit of having a lot more freedom in their learning and teaching techniques. Many charter schools cater to children individually rather then just relying on what the rules and regulation are. For instance, Toledo School of Arts music department offers a lot more to students than public schools. They provide two specialty labs to help them out with keyboards and recording. In the Keyboarding class the students learn how to understand the written language of music and in the recording studio they are learning how to take their compositions and translate them into acoustic or electronic performances. As a result of this, the sixth graders can learn how to create and produce an audio CD and by the time they are seniors in high school they are capable of becoming more professional producers.
I think that this is a great idea because it helps students to use technological advances with their studies. Along with this benefit it also gives the students something to look forward to when they graduate. When they are through with school they will have this amazing project that they have been working on for quite some time that will reflect their talents and technological skills. Some of the skills that these students will encompass while producing this CD will be their knowledge of visual graphics for CD covers, printing, and burning. I am extremely impressed with the ability and skills of these students in this program and hope that one day this is something that public schools could consider, especially since education has become very technological.

Questions

Do you agree with what this school does with their technology?

I think that integrating the arts, academic, and technology are a great idea. I feel that this is an amazing way for students to learn different techniques and skills with technology. I feel that if anything this is an asset for a student to have, especially when they go out into the real world.

Do you wish that your school had a program like this when you were growing up?

Yes, I feel that having a program like this in my school would have made me a bit more familiar with technology today. I feel that if the school embeds these types of skills early on than students would be more prepared to take on more corporate jobs after they graduate.