Super Schooling It to New Ways of Learning
This is an updated post from a while back. I'm re-posting it in the hopes that more people will read it and join L&LNM in the XQ Super School Challenge. Below are the questions we were asked and the answers we submitted in the Concept phase, which was approved to move on to the next steps of the challenge.
LIVE AND LEARN NEW MEXICO! SCHOOL
CONCEPT
Q:
A bold and compelling idea will be at the center of our
school: what is your idea and why does it have the potential to transform high
school learning?
A. L&LNM
hopes to serve the whole state of New Mexico by using the technology available
to make communication across distances easy and by using technology our young
people use. We will use the internet as much as possible to run the program,
communicate across sites, and plug into professional development and learning
opportunities for staff, faculty, students, and parents.
At the local
level, in each town and village we serve across the state, we will have site
coordinators, teachers, volunteers, and staff who reside in and work closely
with that community’s residents. They will coordinate learning teams to build a
community learning system.
Each community system will develop a list of project-based learning opportunities for their
students, working with teachers, parents, and businesses/community
organizations, to address problems/issues their community faces.
The overall
concept is to strengthen New Mexico individuals, families, and communities
through meaningful project-based learning, building opportunity for greater civic
participation and meaningful work close to home. Stronger communities leads to
a stronger and more unified New Mexico.
Q: To ensure that our school truly serves the needs of our community, we plan to get input from young people by: How will you find out what young people think about their school experiences and their future?
A. Most of us have been on a journey as we have worked with and listened to young people over the years. Action research, the natural research teachers conduct daily just teaching their classes is what we will rely on here, as well as online and in-person surveys and group discussions. It's impossible to create a learning environment that allows for individualized instruction without teacher input and expertise. Quantitative data is good for many things but not for determining the need of a single child in a class with 30 others. That takes a subjective eye.
Q: To ensure that our school truly serves the needs of our community, we plan to get input from young people by: How will you find out what young people think about their school experiences and their future?
A. Most of us have been on a journey as we have worked with and listened to young people over the years. Action research, the natural research teachers conduct daily just teaching their classes is what we will rely on here, as well as online and in-person surveys and group discussions. It's impossible to create a learning environment that allows for individualized instruction without teacher input and expertise. Quantitative data is good for many things but not for determining the need of a single child in a class with 30 others. That takes a subjective eye.
Q: To get insights into how we can prepare our students
for postsecondary education and the future of work, we plan to: How will you get input from educators,
employers, higher education, and other constituencies about the knowledge and
competencies students need?
A. Quite
honestly, it isn’t only the high school experience that must be redefined;
colleges and universities are already starting to change how they do business.
Some offer class credit for work experience. Online degrees are abundant. Some
colleges now say you don’t need to take the ACT or SAT to be admitted. It’s
hard for anyone to say what can be expected in that area.
The same can
be said about the workplace, which has already changed by leaps and bounds
because of technology. Many jobs once done by people are now done online, and
yet, we still hold onto the 40-hour work week in work places that we are
required to commute to, contributing to ever-growing environmental problems.
There are no jobs in many of our smaller communities so too many of us must
commute to the closest city. This makes no sense.
In other
words, we feel that this whole issue would be a good project for an L&LNM
learning team to participate in. It’s all up in the air so let’s get a team of
students, parents, business people, and university people to start the
conversation and work together to find solutions. How much time would we save
by doing this rather than approaching each faction individually and trying to
put it all together by ourselves? We think it would be a lot of time saved and
everyone involved will learn something valuable.
Q: Our school will also build on the inspiring examples, research, and ideas of others: What 2-3 resources, from the XQ website or elsewhere, would you encourage other in your community to read/watch and why?
A. Flipped classroom: Internet, Khan Academy, clickers in the classroom
Sir Ken Robinson
Q: All the elements of our school will come together in powerful learning experiences for students. Describe 4-6 core experiences that exemplify what it will mean to be a learner at your school, and especially how students will be encouraged to take ownership of their own learning.
A. Whatever the project, learning teams will have to research, analyze data, and report progress and findings for their project. The work involved will require learning of STEM subjects and writing/communication skills. It is a more realistic way to learn. Students will play a large part in deciding which projects to work on, doing the research, and proposing solutions. Parents, teachers, and community people are there to act as facilitators, guides, and advisors.
Example 1: Albuquerque, NM has a road rage problem. A learning team could look at the issue from many angles. What does an angry driver look like psychologically? What things contribute to the problem? What laws about road rage exist, and are they effective? Why can't police do more to combat the problem? What are possible solutions?
These questions can't be answered without research and interaction with the community. The learning team will learn to research, talk, and write about issues but they will also listen to community experts and work toward creating effective solutions. They are responsible citizens, looking to find ways to make their home town a better place to live. Their learning will make a difference.
Example 2: Bosque Farms, NM, was once the dairy capital of the state. One dairy remains today. As we look at the issue of global warming and the fact the man's "manufacturing" of animals for food contributes more than 50% to the problem, we wonder if food production were brought back to the local level rather than at the level of mega corporations that "feed the world", would the rate of global warming be reduced? Bringing back dairies to Bosque FArms would create jobs in the community as well. A learning team could look into all of this and find ways to bring a once thriving community back to life.
Example 3: See the description in the last paragraph under the third question above.
Q. Additional people/expertise we need:
A. Financial, human resources, legal, IT infrastructure
Next Steps
We are now working on the Discover and Design phases of the challenge. We only have until February. We have set up a few discussion groups to get input from our youth and to study the high schools in our communities to see how well they are doing in meeting our kids' needs.
If you would like to help in any way, please contact Michelle at liveandlearnnm@gmail.com. If you have ideas or suggestions to offer, please comment on this post. We appreciate your thoughts.
Q: Our school will also build on the inspiring examples, research, and ideas of others: What 2-3 resources, from the XQ website or elsewhere, would you encourage other in your community to read/watch and why?
A. Flipped classroom: Internet, Khan Academy, clickers in the classroom
Sir Ken Robinson
Q: All the elements of our school will come together in powerful learning experiences for students. Describe 4-6 core experiences that exemplify what it will mean to be a learner at your school, and especially how students will be encouraged to take ownership of their own learning.
A. Whatever the project, learning teams will have to research, analyze data, and report progress and findings for their project. The work involved will require learning of STEM subjects and writing/communication skills. It is a more realistic way to learn. Students will play a large part in deciding which projects to work on, doing the research, and proposing solutions. Parents, teachers, and community people are there to act as facilitators, guides, and advisors.
Example 1: Albuquerque, NM has a road rage problem. A learning team could look at the issue from many angles. What does an angry driver look like psychologically? What things contribute to the problem? What laws about road rage exist, and are they effective? Why can't police do more to combat the problem? What are possible solutions?
These questions can't be answered without research and interaction with the community. The learning team will learn to research, talk, and write about issues but they will also listen to community experts and work toward creating effective solutions. They are responsible citizens, looking to find ways to make their home town a better place to live. Their learning will make a difference.
Example 2: Bosque Farms, NM, was once the dairy capital of the state. One dairy remains today. As we look at the issue of global warming and the fact the man's "manufacturing" of animals for food contributes more than 50% to the problem, we wonder if food production were brought back to the local level rather than at the level of mega corporations that "feed the world", would the rate of global warming be reduced? Bringing back dairies to Bosque FArms would create jobs in the community as well. A learning team could look into all of this and find ways to bring a once thriving community back to life.
Example 3: See the description in the last paragraph under the third question above.
Q. Additional people/expertise we need:
A. Financial, human resources, legal, IT infrastructure
Next Steps
We are now working on the Discover and Design phases of the challenge. We only have until February. We have set up a few discussion groups to get input from our youth and to study the high schools in our communities to see how well they are doing in meeting our kids' needs.
If you would like to help in any way, please contact Michelle at liveandlearnnm@gmail.com. If you have ideas or suggestions to offer, please comment on this post. We appreciate your thoughts.
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