I recently received an RFP from an outstanding school that wants to truly engage their community in meaningful change. They are looking for a consultant to help on the work, and in discussing my thoughts with a colleague, she suggested I redact my response and post it for general interest. Here it is: First [...]
Can a non-charter public school in California, with near-the-bottom public funding per student, truly transform learning? As you know I have been closely following Design 39 Campus in Poway Unified, where the guiding principles are: Nurture creative confidence Practice design thinking Encourage inquiry Connect globally Use technology Promote courage Instill a growth mindset Well, here [...]
What if schools became the actual learning and innovation hub of the community, rather than an island where students and teachers go to download subject knowledge? I recently visited a school that is thinking of renovating some existing space, or creating a new building, modeled along the lines of the growing number of enterprise incubators [...]
What if every school set aside time for the students and teachers to deeply explore learning through the lenses of key all-school guiding principles? What if we aligned resources like time and teachers around those principles that we think lead to great learning, rather than silo-ed subjects? Design 39 Campus in Poway continues to blow [...]
Does design thinking run the risk of being the next buzzword in K-12 education? The theme of the recent National Association of Independent Schools conference highlighted design and innovation. One could not throw a rock without finding a session purported to link design thinking to learning. Many educators have realized that actually finding problems, asking [...]
5th graders share and record their ideas about peak learning, deep learning, and student engagement I tried something completely new today, maybe even something that no one has tried before? Could we train and engage 140 5th graders as ambassadors to their school community to gather input for a school-wide innovation design challenge? In [...]
What does deeper, richer learning look like? How might we shift to a more student-centered, student-owned school day? Is this possible only in private schools, or also in public schools that are adjusting to new standards and struggling with larger class sizes? Here are some pics from a quick stop at Design 39 Campus yesterday. [...]
Could your faculty (with maybe a bit of input from students) prototype an experiential learning unit in 14 minutes that meets the following specs?: Student ownership of the project Multidisciplinary content Observation Reflection Synthesis Action that impacts others Outside the classroom but within walking distance That is one of the fast activities we ran through [...]
Quick report: Texas public schools are organized around large regions. Today I spent a day with the professional development support staff of ESC Region One, a huge area along the Texas-Mexico border representing about 40 districts and 450,000 students. There is a strong sense that education can really make a difference in the lives of [...]
We kicked off a district-wide Innovation Design Challenge in Poway Unified School District yesterday. Here is a first report; I will continue to report on progress until we set up a #PUSDIDC web page for tracking and resources. Poway Unified is a 35,000 student district just north of San Diego. Superintendent John Collins has set [...]