School is always changing. As the years go by, students graduate, teachers retire, and they are replaced by other teachers and students. Over time, other changes occur as well, such as curriculum, student behavior, rules, clubs, organizations, and technology.
“I believe technology has a connection to all of these other areas,” said Principal Mark Mischke. “As far as behavior, curriculum, rules, or clubs, the ability for people to communicate is quicker, and easier to do.”
Communication and Information
In the past ten years technology has shifted the way we communicate, gather information, and go about our daily lives. Many educators or principals would agree that technology has significantly altered the way teachers teach, and how students learn today. Due to new phone technology kids can now access the internet and obtain information way easier. You can ask nearly any question on google and boom, there’s an answer. With phones you can easily text or email people at once in a matter of seconds. This makes it easier to ask teachers questions when you’re having trouble doing homework, and in general help you to accomplish a task much quicker. When it comes to school, new technology means new rules.
“As far as rules go, there hasn’t been much change,” Mischke said. “There are some technology related rules as far as phones and stuff like that though.”
Rules and Behavior
Rules still mainly come down to the most elementary of all rules, respect. Restrictions on phones are mainly to respect the teacher simply by not using your phone while the teacher is talking, so phones aren’t much of a problem in school. A piece of technology that was recently introduced to adults and teenagers is the electronic cigarette. Just like any other tobacco product, it is not allowed in school. In all over the past decade rules have not changed. One thing that has changed a little is how students are punished for their behavior. Ten years ago it wouldn’t be a surprise to see a few punks sitting after school in detention. Today it seems punishment is taken more seriously in the sense that when students get into trouble they usually end up going down to the office to talk to the administration. Odds are if you’re going to the office after a few times you’ll find yourself sitting at home suspended for a couple of days. After a couple of suspensions or violations you might even be sent to a new organization such as wRight Choice.
“Clubs and organizations are much more abundant in my mind ten years ago,” said Mischke. “When I think about the kinds of clubs we have in our building I would’ve never even thought we’d have what we have.”
Clubs and Organizations
In Buffalo a number of new clubs and organizations have emerged in recent years. One new club is the robotics team. In robotics you are put on a team of high school students, and receive a “kickoff kit” made up of donated items and components. You are then given a number of weeks to create a robot to meet the season’s engineering challenge. Once the team creates a robot they will then participate in regional and district events that measure the effectiveness of each robot, the power of collaboration, and the determination of the students. As far as new sports there is now lacrosse and trap shooting. Two clubs that have disappeared from Buffalo are downhill skiing and cross country skiing. Another change at Buffalo High School would be the new bison times. Instead of having 20 minutes of SSR (Silent Sustained Reading) we now have a number of choices to spend the last 20 minutes of our day. These choices include, chess club, quiet study/reading time, academic writing help, card games, math help, team sports, recreational games, chemistry help, and much more! So if you are looking to learn something new, or just get help with a class bison time is a great addition to the day. Math, reading, writing, and science help are all great opportunities to improve your academics, and as the curriculum in school gets more and more challenging, this extra help will be all the more necessary.
“The type of curriculum now is definitely harder than it was when I was in school,” said Michke.
Curriculum
As teachers learn new, easier, and more effective ways of teaching the curriculum will always be challenging students to reach new heights in their academics. The main focus of the curriculum today is shifting more towards real-world readiness. Focusing more on things like collaboration, innovation, critical thinking, and communication. Also, now there are opportunities to go beyond high school curriculum, and go onto college classes. Other changes of the curriculum have to do with the new technology that is becoming more and more apart of our daily lives. Buffalo High School offers a number of different computer classes such as Computer-Aided Design (CAD), architectural house drawing, computer graphics, and computer applications, so students know how to easily use these tools that can make doing a task so much simpler.
Over the years school has changed in many ways, and will continue to change as new technology emerges. Almost all of the changes in school over the past ten years have somehow been connected to the evolution of technology.
