Design School

Sharing a document worked on today during our design school development meeting.  We used today to get some ideas on paper in regards to a core philosophy and driving principles behind a potential Design School.  Most of the ideas were internal but a few came from Bruce Mau's Incomplete Manifesto for Growth and from the Thompson School District Innovation Lab. We view these bullets are core principles that would guide develop of the school.


Driving Principles

• process over product
• 
  
• action before analysis
• learn from doing
• value PLAY, live like a Kindergartner
• learning is natural if we give ourselves and each other permissions to:
• pay attention
• listen deeply
• listen differently
• notice the unlikely
• stakeholders embrace mistakes, experimentation and failure
• fail often
• cognition over content
• consciousness over conditioning
• mindfulness, stop and think, observe, analyze
• learner owns the learning, when respect for every voice is the soul of the learning community
• goal of instruction is to push and lift students
• no end in terms of growth
• Love your experiments
• Joy is the engine of growth. Exploit the liberty in casting your work as beautiful experiments, iterations, attempts, trials, and errors. Take the long view and allow yourself the fun of failure every day.
• Everyone is a leader
• Growth happens. Whenever it does, allow it to emerge. Learn to follow when it makes sense. Let anyone lead.
• Collaborate
• The space between people working together is filled with conflict, friction, strife, exhilaration, delight, and vast creative potential.
• embrace conflict, paradox and ambiguity
• it’s about asking questions
• consider perspectives, lenses
• every movement leads to more questions
• learning occurs everywhere
• live the wide-awake life
• learning is a collaborative process
• we are all responsible for helping one another grow
• nothing is ever finished or permanent
• there are always questions to ask, improvements, places to go...
• Go deep
• The deeper you go the more likely you will discover something of value.
• Begin anywhere
• John Cage tells us that not knowing where to begin is a common form of paralysis. His advice: begin anywhere.
• Work the metaphor
• Every object has the capacity to stand for something other than what is apparent. Work on what it stands for
• work is a naturally extension of your life
• blurring boundary between school and not school
• Do what matters most
• grit, curiosity, flow, eudaimonia
• pursuit of happiness

Worth Reading...

Sharing some articles, posts and videos from the last couple of weeks.


1. The Case For A Campus Makerspace (Watters)- a talk that makes a case for creating a makerspace on college campus.  Certainly applies to the K-12 world where these spaces value small group discussion, collaboration, participatory, project-based, and peer-to-peer learning, experimentation, inquiry, curiosity and play.

"Making" rather than "writing" final projects for a class still demand students research and plan. But it also demands they prototype in ways that neither an essay or an exam really do. Making projects can be -- horrors! -- relevant and relevant. It can be experimental. And it can be technological -- or it can have used tech tools in its construction. It can be technological whether you're a classics or a computer science major. And arguably, these days it should be.

2.  Where I Work: Creative Serendipity (Brown)- building a space that invites serendipitous interactions

we continue to create new spaces and work arrangements that invite inspiration, collaboration, and serendipity. Our spaces are ever-evolving prototypes.

3.  Meet The Champs (Kristof)- article written about the success earned by the chess team at ISS 318 in Brooklyn.  This middle school chess team is to focus of a documentary Brooklyn Castle and has been referenced in several publications as well.  

More astounding, these aren’t even high school kids yet. In April, New York’s Intermediate School 318 in Brooklyn, where 70 percent of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, became the first middle school team ever to defeat kids about four years older and win the national high school championship. The champs are kids like Carlos Tapia, a Mexican-American in the eighth grade, whose dad is a house painter and mom a maid. The parents can’t play chess and can’t afford to give Carlos his own room, but they proudly make space for his 18 chess trophies. 

4.  Self-taught African Teen Wows M.I.T.
 

5.  Internet of food: Arduino-based, urban aquaponics in Oakland 

6. Mine Kafon | Callum Cooper-  A short documentary portrait on a designer who has created a low cost solution to landmine clearance.
Mine Kafon | Callum Cooper from Focus Forward Films on Vimeo.

Worth Listening To...

On Monday I delivered a presentation for our Board about the high school's growth towards becoming a 21st Century Learning institution.  To help define the conversation I turned to the National Council of Teachers of English definition of what it means to be literate in the 21st Century.  I have always found NCTE's benchmarks statements to be a strong guide for preparing students.

It was perfect timing that I was working on the presentation and also came across Andy Carvin's interview on the Brian Lehrer show.  Andy Carvin is NPR's senior product manager for online communities, and author now of Distant Witness: Social Media, the Arab Spring and a Journalism Revolution.  In the interview Mr. Carvin discusses the role of Twitter in reporting and about his experience using social media to follow developments during the Arab Spring.

While listening to the interview I kept thinking about the NCTE benchmarks and in particular the following outcomes:

• Build relationships with others to pose and solve problems collaboratively and cross-culturally
• Design and share information for global communities to meet a variety of purposes
• Manage, analyze and synthesize multiple streams of simultaneous information 

There is an important intersection between the Carvin interview and what we do in schools.  I think the intersection involves the expanding definition of literacy and the implications this has on instruction, planning, and assessment. In the spirit that all of us are in essence backpack journalists,  are our students capable of being a reliable source of information?  As the Arab Spring and other developments have shown, the traditional model of media dissemination has been radically altered by something as convenient as an iPhone. Our ability to help students leverage available tools, build evolving social networks and design and share information with others is ensuring that students are literate.

Design School

I am working with a few other educators to craft a school within a school.  The end product is to craft a Design School.  We held out first brainstorming session today.  I figured it would be beneficial to share our process with others.  Hopefully, this will generate constructive feedback as our progress is shared via various social networks.

Today was an initial meeting to pose questions and ponder a few ideas until our next formal sit down.  I copied below some of the ideas we are reflecting on.  We agree to use our next meeting time to put on paper or a white board a list of core principles in the hopes of crafting a mission statement and a Bruce Mau Manifesto inspired beliefs statement.  Regardless of how the program evolves, it needs to be anchored by a clear vision and core set of non-negotiable beliefs about education, teaching, and learning.

Feel free to comment and offer any suggestions as we move through this journey.


Ideas to Ponder

• developing entry level courses around design thinking, cognition, key learning outcomes
• year one Detox sessions

•  build an experience over four years- from introductory courses to the design of self-directed inquiries
• build towards students designing spaces and engagements

•  how to build relationships between students and experts outside of the building

•  explode the idea of time in the program, make room for internships, connections with the professional world
• time for exploration within the school day
• time for teams to meet, collaboration requires time beyond a scheduled block

•  incorporating authentic observation into the program- getting out of the building the observe for both teachers and students
• key component is observation and developing true sense of empathy

•    Create the following
•  3-5 year growth plan
•  mission statement
• Manifesto of guiding principles (Think Bruce Mau)

•    creating a common language (vocabulary of roles within the program)

•    Teachers as learners- involved in personal inquiry projects as well as the students (Rosenstock concept    of rigor)

•     shifting roles of how one views their role within the program 
• mentor
• apprentice
• designer
• architect
• craftsman
• head learner
• learning coordinator
• connector
• teammate

•     public exhibition as core tenet of the program, capstone projects, learning is transparent for all involved

•    team taught courses, leveraging expertise between multiple mentors

Midterm Season Again

As we head into the craziness of midterm season I thought of an earlier post that was shared on this blog.  Again, I felt the need to question the validity and relevancy of midterms and whether this is the type of assessment strategy / system is worth supporting.

Also, think about the back end of midterm exams and the lack of meaningful conversations between teachers and students.  Where is the time for these conversation to happen?  A midterm is delivered and seemingly the next day a new marking period begins.  An assessment of this magnitude should have time on the back end for students to reflect on their performance, to self-assess growth and to examine personal goals.  This reflection can serve as a conversation starter between a student and teacher as they collectively look ahead to the rest of the year.

From the archives (1-24-11), thought about midterm exams.

Midterms are almost upon us at the high school I work at. The testing period has been pushed back due to the string of inclement weather the Atlantic region has faced, but by the end of the month 1500 students will be required to complete midterms in core academic courses and year-long electives. The stress level at the high school increases for both students and teachers as stakeholders try to balance midterms exams, classes and extracurricular engagements.

I wonder if midterm exams are worth the effort and stress. The schedule is overhauled to find space for the administering of midterm exams. As a result of the weather, this schedule has been reworked on several occasions. Even though educators need to be flexible, their ability to alter instructional sessions is compromised with each cancellation or delayed opening. Additionally, to a certain extent, the schedule continues as if the midterms did not exist. Classes progress towards the end of the marking period. Extracurricular activities are not halted. Students and teachers head towards practices and meetings before, during and after school. The intensity is heightened as classroom participants try to manage academic expectations.

I question the worth of midterm exams. I see value in delivering a final assessment. Students should be placed in a position where they need to synthesize information accrued throughout the year and defend personal interpretations. However, I do not think midterms serve the same purpose. Do classes need to stop in the “middle” of the year to evaluate progress? Educators are supposed to be constantly assessing students both formally and informally. Each day data is being gathered and used to personalize learning. In theory, what are we going to learn on a midterm that we do not already know about a student? This is particularly true if the midterm is uniform across a class or course. We cannot privilege a personalized learning environment and deliver the complete opposite for a midterm exam.

I would rather see classes where students are engaged in a process of continually making meaning. Prior assertions are constantly challenged through guided and organic inquiries. New information is evaluated against existing perspectives. Discovery is an extended process with the learning afforded the time and space to determine truth. As stated before, the end result should be a public exhibition in which the learner can demonstrate understanding and growth.

If we are to have midterms, the emphasis needs to be on the demonstration of skills more so than the regurgitation of content. I was excited to read a post over the weekend from the Teaching Paperless blog. The blog’s creator, Shelly Blake-Plock shared a broad description of a midterm he created for his Human Geography course. I shared the post with several teachers who were struggling to develop a midterm assessment that moved away from the traditional memorization and recall format to a structure that was authentic and skills based. The most recent post on Teaching Paperless shared the actual Human Geography exam. The examination assesses a learner’s ability to actually become a researcher in human geography through the completion of ten different tasks. All of the work is to be displayed on the student’s blog. Students are required to complete a range of tasks that are united through conducting research inquiries. My favorite questions are #5 and #7. The implications of a student being able to accomplish these specific tasks is significant. Learners are challenged to synthesize information, critically analyze a problem and make informed recommendations. A broad range of skills are engaged to meet the exam requirements. The exam has depth as opposed to a narrow focus.

Regardless of whether midterms are assigned, any assessment has to have enduring value. The hope is that over the next two weeks our students will be engaged in meaningful endeavors that represent challenges learners will face in college or the professional world. The hope is that students and teachers will view midterms as time well spent. Teachers can further the accumulation of students data and build personalized learning experiences. Students can hopefully find time to reflect on their performance and either revisit or if warranted, revise personal learning goals.

Creating Community In The Classroom: Student Blogging

MSD Teacher Academy

Creating Community In The Classroom

Session #2: Writing As A Public Act

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Today’s session will revolve around the notion that writing is a public act.  This belief pushes students to embrace a greater sense of transparency and see value in sharing one’s thoughts with a class or learning network.  New York City teacher teacher Ileana Jimenez believes writing is a public act and as a result, encourages her students to blog. According to Jimenez, rather than having students write a paper and hand it in only for the teacher to read, waiting for some kind assessment, writing should be public, it should give a sense of urgency and visibility and for students to feel that their writing has a voice in the world.  

Writing for an audience that extends beyond self or just the teacher can lead towards creating a stronger sense of community in the classroom.  Creating spaces where learners can share ideas and offer feedback, threads stakeholders together.  Students come to see themselves as valuable resources and an integral part of a learning network.

During this session, teachers will be introduced to sample blogs from classes throughout the district.  Teacher initiated blog assignments and students posts will be shared.  A few teachers from the high school have been invited to explain how/why they infused the use of blogs into their respective classrooms.  This will eventually segway into a discussion of Kidblog.  Kidblog is a blogging platform currently being used by over a million K-12 students.  Several teachers in district employ Kidblog.  It is a secure site and students can develop accounts without the need for an email address. 

After the Kidblog discussion, the session will end with the Moodle pilot program.  Next year, the district will pilot the use of Moodle in several elementary school classrooms.  This will introduce, at the elementary level, a course management system to students.  Additionally, embedded into Moodle are tools such as discussion forums that promote the publication of ideas and transparent learning.  Moodle like Kidblog is safe and secure and student accounts can be generated by a teacher or administrator.   In an attempt to support the fluid integration of technology K-12, elementary students need access and experience playing with what is often considered tools of the 21st Century. 
 
Resources for Today’s Session

Sites:

• Kidblog
• Moodle
• MHS Moodle Site

Blogging Resources

• How Should My Students Approach Blogging?- ideas for sustaining student blogging in the classroom
• Making Educational Blogging Work For You- teacher shares experiences blogging with students, helpful links and samples embedded in the post
• Books, Blogs and Videos To Transform Learning- grade 4 teacher shares how blogging changed the culture of her class
• Online Journals for English Classes of Mr. Christopher Waugh- examples of student and teacher blogs from an English classroom
• Student Blogging Guidelines- tips for posting and commenting
• Ms. Cassidy’s Classroom Blog- Six and Seven Year Olds Inviting the World Into Their Classroom
• Teaching and Learning With Social Media- small case study on use of blogs in classrooms
• Why Students should Learn To Write For The Public- pushing idea writing should be a public act and how blogs facilitate this notion
• Blogging Is The New Persuasive Essay- how blogging can help students become better writers
• Olin Student Bloggers Wanted- Olin Business School (Washington University) turns to blogging as a public relations tool

Scheduling...

I might have posted about this in the past, but I felt the need to share a few thoughts about scheduling.  We are in the process of hosting scheduling meetings for students.  9-11th graders are being called down to meet with their counselors to determine a schedule for next school year.  I'm sure a similar process unfolds at high schools across the country.

I always wonder during this time if students walk into these meeting well informed about what is available to them.  We have for students a program of studies and our curriculum is part of the public record.  Additionally, counselors provide insight into courses and I would also assume students reach out to peers as a source of information.  However, I still believe that this falls way short of what could be presented to students.

I think about access and the extensive amount of research that can be accomplished online.  Who does not turn to the internet to conduct research before making a decision to purchase a product or plan and book a vacation?  Before deciding to buy a car I could tap into a sea of online reviews and forums discussions.  I shared in a prior post What Do I Want For the Holidays how one of my daughters was researching shoes online.  I sure she did not tap into forum discussions, but she checked out several sites and images before sharing a request with her overwhelmed parents.

How can these experiences be manifested in the scheduling process?  With the access we have, a school should be able to mirror the process any of us would follow when rendering a decision.  Would it be unheard of to compile reviews about a course or post student surveys on a school's website?  Also consider the power of video.  Could we encourage teachers to make a short video about their class?  Do we provide enough opportunities for students to observe class they are not enrolled in?  Before walking into a scheduling meeting I could have done some extensive research.  I could have accessed a program of studies or peer reviews.  I could watch a series of videos about an elective or ask to observe an AP class.  These are just some potential measures we could take to position students and their families to make truly informed decisions.

Any ideas???  How is the scheduling process approached in your school?