Category: Featured

Author Jim Arnosky – Working with New Albany K-1 students.

Children’s book author, illustrator and musician Jim Arnosky is spending the week working with our students in the K-1 and grades 2-3.  Made possible by the generous support of New Albany Scholars, Lance & Carolyn White, the New Albany Community Foundation, New Albany Women’s Network and our PTO, Arnosky has been working with classes May 20 – 22.

His work with students is engaging and entertaining.  He is an incredible story teller and he does an amazing job introducing nature and wildlife to children through his work.

Jim Arnosky was born in New York City, NY Sept 1, 1946. He was raised in Pennsylvania. Jim graduated from high school in Philadelphia and joined the US Naval Reserves. His active duty took him to Maryland and Bremerhaven, Germany. In 1976 Jim and his wife Deanna moved to Vermont with their two daughters where they have lived in an old farmhouse for the past 28 years. 17 of those years were spent raising sheep.

Jim is self-taught in writing, art and the natural sciences. He has written and illustrated 86 books on nature subjects and has illustrated 46 other books written by various authors. He has been awarded the Christopher Medal, Orbis Pictus Honor, ALA Gordon Award, and Outstanding Science book awards from National Science Teachers Associations.

Jim loves to fish, boat, and play his guitar. In his work, he uses a Betacam SP video camcorder with a 1600 mm lens to record the wildlife he and Deanna find all across the country.

Learn more

Seniors begin the walk from the HS Cafe, led by Principal Ric Stranges and Senior Team Leader Lori Cheney.

Monday – May 20, New Albany High School Seniors continued the tradition of the Senior Walk.  Family, faculty, staff and friends surrounded the High School green to congratulate the Class of 2013 and send them (symbolically) on their way through the gates of the high school.  A great tradition continued!

Seniors on the Move!

Family, Staff and Friends gather around the green to wish the Class of 2013 well!

NAHS award recipients Left to right: Juniors Ama Koranteng and Ashmi Patel, Mr. David Herman and Senior Lauryn Woodyard

On Saturday, May 11, 2013, David Herman NAHS and Eastland-Fairfield Career & Technical Schools, AP Computer Science and Robotics teacher served as emcee for the annual Aspirations in Computing Awards Ceremony for 25 high school girls from across Ohio at TechColumbus.

Mr. Herman is a volunteer with the Ohio Affiliate of the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT).   “Hosting this event for these amazing young women is a tremendous honor, one which I shall not soon forget,” said Mr. David Herman.

Three New Albany High School students were among the honorees

• Lauryn Woodyard, 2013 National Award plus Ohio Affiliate Award
• Ama Koranteng, 2013 National Award Runner-Up plus Ohio Affiliate Award
• Ashmi Patel, 2013 National Award Runner-Up plus Ohio Affiliate Award

These students were 3/4′s of the team for the New Albany High School Robotics 2 pilot. They also presented at the eTech 2013 Ohio Educational Technology Conference.  Koranteng and Patel led Female Innovators of New Albany (FIONA) this year, and presented to the Board of Education May 20th on the Grant-funded scaled-up version for 2013-2014 in partnership with the OSU Department of Computer Science & Engineering.  Microsoft is donating curriculum and new Surface Tablet computers in support of the project.

Based on Mr. Herman’s multi-year involvement, New Albany – Plain Local Schools is considered a sponsor of the annual Aspirations in Computing Awards, alongside Microsoft, Google, and the Motorola Solutions Foundation, each of which contributes monetary support of NCWIT’s Aspirations in Computing Awards program.

During his closing, Mr. Herman provided the following insight for all the honorees, “Consider yourself a lens.  Gather information, ideas, skills.  Magnify and focus what you’ve learned.  Then pass it on as a mentor for younger girls.  Help shape the next generation.  That is how you change the world.”

Background regarding the Aspirations in Computing Awards Program:

• The NCWIT Award for Aspirations in Computing honors young women at the high-school level for their computing-related achievements and interests. Awardees are selected for their computing and IT aptitude, leadership ability, academic history, and plans for post-secondary education. The NCWIT Award for Aspirations in Computing offers both a national and local “affiliate” competitions to generate support and visibility for women’s participation in communities nationwide.
• Aspirations in Computing is a talent development pipeline initiative of the National Center for Women & IT (NCWIT) designed to increase women’s meaningful participation in computing careers by providing encouragement, visibility, community, leadership opportunities, scholarships, and internships to high potential technically inclined young women. Aspirations in Computing is the only national level talent development program for young women in computing and information technology.

NAHS Students are featured in the Spring edition of Pro Excellentia from the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation, read more here.

Dr. Yong Zhao

Dr. Yong Zhao is an internationally known scholar, author, and speaker. His works focus on the implications of globalization and technology on education. He has designed schools that cultivate global competence, developed computer games for language learning, and founded research and development institutions to explore innovative education models. He has published over 100 articles and 20 books, including Catching Up or Leading the Way: American Education in the Age of Globalization and World Class Learners: Educating Creative and Entrepreneurial Students.

Join us for an interactive session with Dr. Yong Zhao as he presents information for our parents and community regarding innovation in education and the skills that our students need to be competitive in a global society.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

7:00 p.m.

Mershad Hall

100 E. Dublin-Granville Rd.

New Albany, OH 43054

Learn more about Dr. Yong Zhao here.

Global Showcase with Yong Zhao – June 19, 2013

The following day, June 19, the district will co-sponsor a day-long summit with the Columbus Council of World Affairs (CCWA). Graduating the World’s Best will focus on how global competence will benefit today’s K-12 students, our community, and the region.  Keynote speaker Yong Zhao is Associate Dean for Global Education at the University of Oregon.  Outstanding providers like Primary Source and the Buck Institute will be on hand to share resources for globalizing curriculum and instruction.  Register here.

Gifted Audit Survey Overview

In the fall of 2012, the New Albany – Plain Local School District proactively launched a Gifted Study to assess our services for the gifted programs on campus.  The study has been ongoing since last fall and encompassed work with parent and student focus groups, teachers and staff and was coordinated by Vanderbilt University.  The study is now complete.  The full report is posted below.

The district hosted an overview of the report with Dr. Tamara Stambaugh of Vanderbilt University to present findings and recommendations on May 2, 2013.

Please click here to view the presentation from the Gifted Study evening event.

Click here to view the report

Consider joining the District Gifted Advisory Committee

The New Albany Plain Local School District is convening an advisory committee to focus on our gifted education program.  The committee will be comprised of volunteers representing K-12 educators, parents, and community members. This committee will meet once per month for a two hour session during the 2013-14 school year, starting in August of 2013. Additional meeting time may be arranged if the committee members determine it is necessary.  On-line resources will be available for members to review outside of the designated meeting times.  Regular e-mail communications will be shared between meeting dates.

The purpose of the committee is to:

• Study the Vanderbilt University 2013 Gifted Audit Recommendations for our district’s gifted program.
• Provide feedback on the resulting action plans as they are developed according to the needs of our district.
• Review selected literature regarding best practices in the field of gifted and talented education.
• Assist with designing strategies to educate the stakeholders the advisory members represent concerning local, state, and national issues in gifted education.

The New Albany – Plain Local School District and City of New Albany celebrated Arbor Day on Friday, April 26, 2013. This annual celebration was marked by the planting of three Red Maple trees purchased by the City of New Albany and planted at the McCoy Center.

The New Albany – Plain Local Schools Nature Preserve and Greenspace has been greatly enhanced by this annual City-School Partnership.  New Albany City Councilman Mr. Steve Pleasnick provided the ARBOR DAY Proclamation and was joined by members of the New Albany High School Environmental HOPE Club and our mascot Mr. Friend Lee Earth.