Building the Future

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After school today I found two lads working hard with rocks. Turns out they were trying to create “nature art”. Turns out they just saw a show about a Canadian who makes art out of nature.

I left them to their flint knapping.

I love getting a fresh opinion on something I have grown accustomed to. I got that opportunity recently due to a teacher visiting from Brazil. She is doing her Masters degree and has herself taught both Kindergarten and grade 1 in Brazil. She asked to visit our Kindergarten classes to see what we were doing as there is a strong push to expand and improve the Kindergarten programs in Brazil. 

So she spent an entire day with one of our teachers. At the end of the day we got the chance to talk. She was ebullient. I recorded some of ther reflection:

• She remarked on how well behaved and cooperative the children were and how calm the teacher was. 
• She loved the ‘centres’ the kids worked in and how dynamic the learning was in each centre.
• The Kindergarteners themselves were so independent. For example: ‘Calendar’ (an activity where the students talk about the days of the week and explore numbers and time) was led by a student. This student spoke clearly and with erudition to the whole class and used language with great facility to lead a guessing activity. 
• The K’s worked alone, in small groups, and large groups all with equal facility. Then their grade 7 buddy class came down to work with them. She loved the care that the grade 7′s showed for their K buddies. 
• She said they all had excellent phonemic awareness. There was no ‘wasted’ time in class. Transitions from one activity to another were rich. All the kids had something to do all the time. 
• Then she gave an example of what she saw as excellent teaching and learning. The kids designed structures to keep snow in. They went out side and collected snow. Then they had a discussion about why snow melted and what the effects of clouds and rain would be on snow melting. She saw this as effective play-based-learning. It looked like a simple activity but it was not teacher led – the students grappled with the concepts and turned them around in their own heads. They were progressing to confidence and autonomy in their learning. A very powerful combination.

I am so impressed with the focus on play based learning. I see rich dividends in the later grades as students are self motivated and effective learners. 

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Wandered into a class in time to see stome student work building ‘Watts towers‘ as well as a fortress structure. Interesting to see students learning about a social phenomenon – the building of the towers in the first place – and then their resultant value as a point of community pride. Understanding and appreciating the value of art and design. Also interested to see their efforts to build their own Watts Towers.

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Meanwhile some students built a pretty good fortress out of wooden blocks. I still love these hands on, tactile activities. Even in the age of Minecraft.

On Friday it was overcast and rainy. That didn’t stop the kids from working feverishly to shape the snow into interesting structures or to play a modified version of King of the Hill –> No pushing! They just try to see how many they can squeeze onto the top. Hopefully this will result in less emergency dental work.

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Lens: Helga Viking
Flash: Off
Film: Ina’s 1969

Brrr! Kids are bundled up today!

Lens: Helga Viking
Flash: Off
Film: Ina’s 1969

Yesterday our school district hosted Larry Rosenstock, the CEO and founding Principal of the High Tech High schools of San Diego. If you’ve ever heard Larry speak you’ll know that he has huge energy and intelligence. So much so that you have to make an effort to keep up as he leaps from topic to topic, story to story. As he spoke I felt like his ideas were fireflies that I was trying to catch with my bare hands, one here, one there.

He did a good job of sketching out the genesis of the High Tech High model of schools. It started out as one innovative charter high school but is now a group of campuses that encompass 11 schools from K-12. He painted a picture of what life is like for students and what the prevailing philosophy is. 

I loved it.

Like other folks from America I have listened to you have to take everything in context – that is, an American educational context.

I loved:

• the emphasis placed on equity. Approximately 40% of the students at High Tech High from K-12 live in poverty. 100% of them take the requisite courses to be considered for admission to California’s public University sytem (UCLA, Berkeley, Irvine, etc…). This is opposed to approx 34% of students in Califorina as a whole. 
• teacher autonomy. There are some checkpoints, but teachers working in teams are trusted to create their own syllabus and come up with their own plan for the year.
• no streaming, no pullouts. Every kid goes to the same classes with the same teachers. Differentiation is done by the teacher and support staff within the class. There are no pullouts. Honours level courses are done organically in the class, not as stand alone courses. Students with special educational needs are fully integrated. Extra work is done before school, at lunch, and after school for these students. 10% of students qualify as special needs students in California. Approximately 13% of High Tech High students do.
• disciplines are integrated. Everything is taught together. Math is taught with Art. History with Science. Understanding is demonstrated through authentic tasks and projects. 
• vision. It seems as if the school is part of a community with a purpose. “Together are going to get your kids into college.” If they do something else, fine, but they can pursue their dreams. And everyone is pulling for this for every kid.

But how does this impact our schools? What do we have to learn?

Tough to say. I like the ‘open source’ model that they are following. Essentially they are saying ‘here’s what we are doing – copy what you want’. Nothing is proprietary. Reminds me of the Finnish model. Also reminds me of exactly what I have always encountered here in British Columbia. I remember a visit to TREK that I made years ago to study their outdoor education program. They opened their doors and books. Gave me everything. No sense of ‘turf’ or protecting what they were doing as secret. I love and value that free exchange. We’re educators, not corporations protecting intellectual property. We’re all in this to improve the life chances of children and to build a strong citizenry.

I would love to visit a High Tech High Campus and study what they are doing K-12. See what deep integration really looks like. How do teachers plan? What is the parent presence like? What are the community links?

I would also like to examine some details more closely such as technology integration. Where do they get their technology from? How do they address equity?

I sense a roadtrip.

I was just talking the other day about how good our Kindergarten programs are in Canada in general and North Vancouver in particular. Then this morning I encountered the most wonderful thing. The Kindergarten classes were trooping around the school looking for their gingerbread men who had run away. The kids had been making these men for a while but found they had run off last night.

The kids followed the clues to various riddles printed around the school. Each riddle suggested where to look next as they followed the trail of the gingerbread men.

As they came through my office they were so earnest in explaining the situation to me. Totally cute and fun. Live to see their minds at work.

There is a very impressive layer of white frost out on the intermediate playground today. The kid rushed out and quickly used every horizontal surface as a skating rink. The slide was extra slippery. Then a game of nose tag broke out. You know how it is. Nose tag was used to determine who was “it” for a game of grounders.

Grounders is a game of tag played in an on the intermediate playground. The twist is that if the person who is it is ON the equipment they can shout “grounders” and who ever is on the ground is now it.

If you enter our gym now you will find kids tumbling and jumping and
climbing. Gym sense is here. We bring in a professional gymnastics
instructor for over a month to give excellent guidance to all kids
k-7. It’s a great program and we’re lucky to have it.

Shot with my Hipstamatic for iPhone
Lens: Lucifer VI
Flash: Off
Film: Cano Cafenol