Super Schooling it to a Stronger New Mexico
The deadline to submit any XQ Super School ideas was Sunday. I submitted the L&LNM idea a while back. Will our idea be good enough? I'm not sure because, even among those who have always supported me in my work, there is a clear non-understanding of some of what I'm talking about.
The biggest concern seems to be my belief that no single school building will be needed to run this program. People hold onto the idea that we have to send our kids to a certain place to learn.
Doesn't anyone listen to Sir Ken Robinson, my hero, who says over and over again -- Why do we put our kids in an artificial environment to teach them about real life? Jump out of that box, people!
The beauty of the L&LNM concept is that, in each New Mexico town we serve, the "learning community" (what we will call our "classes", although I think we might need to call it a "learning team" at some point) decides the projects they will work on. There may be more than one learning community (project) in a single town.
Each learning community will most likely need a space to meet in but it doesn't have to be the same space that another learning community in that town uses. It may be a room that a business person in the learning community has available. It may be a room or rooms in an existing school building. It may be someone's living room or garage. It might be a virtual environment. The idea is to save money on rent for a building we don't need.
And it works. It works really well. I know this because I've done it for years. I hope that clarifies things a little.
Another concept that seems to confuse some is the idea that this is a statewide program but again, there is beauty in that. It means that each NM town that participates in the L&LNM program defines its own system. Each learning community will be unique to the rest. It has to be that way in order to meet the needs of each town served.
In other words, if you are on another XQ team and the L&LNM one as well, and L&LNM "wins" the challenge, your school can still be a part of it all, and you don't really have to change what you want to do, as long as you support it with data, etc. and report regularly.
If your team wins the challenge, you owe L&LNM nothing. New Mexico wins either way, in my mind. Actually, in my mind, it's not about winning at all; it's about starting the conversation. Even if this challenge comes to nothing for L&LNM, I feel there will be other opportunities as a result of our participation.
Moving on to Discovery
I refuse to entertain the thought that our concept might be turned down and will forge ahead to the Discover phase. I am looking at one of the posters in the kit designed to guide us with meaningful questions, and I love that the first question starts with the community.
The biggest concern seems to be my belief that no single school building will be needed to run this program. People hold onto the idea that we have to send our kids to a certain place to learn.
Doesn't anyone listen to Sir Ken Robinson, my hero, who says over and over again -- Why do we put our kids in an artificial environment to teach them about real life? Jump out of that box, people!
The beauty of the L&LNM concept is that, in each New Mexico town we serve, the "learning community" (what we will call our "classes", although I think we might need to call it a "learning team" at some point) decides the projects they will work on. There may be more than one learning community (project) in a single town.
Each learning community will most likely need a space to meet in but it doesn't have to be the same space that another learning community in that town uses. It may be a room that a business person in the learning community has available. It may be a room or rooms in an existing school building. It may be someone's living room or garage. It might be a virtual environment. The idea is to save money on rent for a building we don't need.
And it works. It works really well. I know this because I've done it for years. I hope that clarifies things a little.
Another concept that seems to confuse some is the idea that this is a statewide program but again, there is beauty in that. It means that each NM town that participates in the L&LNM program defines its own system. Each learning community will be unique to the rest. It has to be that way in order to meet the needs of each town served.
In other words, if you are on another XQ team and the L&LNM one as well, and L&LNM "wins" the challenge, your school can still be a part of it all, and you don't really have to change what you want to do, as long as you support it with data, etc. and report regularly.
If your team wins the challenge, you owe L&LNM nothing. New Mexico wins either way, in my mind. Actually, in my mind, it's not about winning at all; it's about starting the conversation. Even if this challenge comes to nothing for L&LNM, I feel there will be other opportunities as a result of our participation.
Moving on to Discovery
I refuse to entertain the thought that our concept might be turned down and will forge ahead to the Discover phase. I am looking at one of the posters in the kit designed to guide us with meaningful questions, and I love that the first question starts with the community.
- Explore the landscape of education and the realities of the community your school will serve.
- what do local experts say about teaching and the future of work?
- what are the challenges you most want to solve?
- what do young people say about the uncertainties about the future?what are their aspirations?
- what have you read, watched, and heard about how people learn that inspires you?New research on how people learn: what ideas excite and inspire you?
Looks like we need to gather some good qualitative data here. I'm sure there exists some already that we can use. It doesn't hurt, though, to gather data on New Mexico as a state as well -- there are a lot of things NM communities have in common.
I am also looking at the team building info included in the XQ starter kit and realizing that just getting 13 other people to join my team on a website isn't enough. I'm afraid I'm going to have to blog about team building next...
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