L&LNM Approved for XQ Challenge

I was waiting for an email that told me whether L&LNM has been approved to submit our idea for an XQ super school and then realized that I should look at the website, and sure enough, there it was. Our idea was approved. Now we have little time to get it all together and submit our super school design by February.

I've been looking at some of the other concepts in NM communities that have been submitted and they all look great. There is a concerted effort to go global.
I'm all for that but I think our twist on that concept -- going local to go global -- is unique. First, we want to help NM communities become stronger. We want to help create meaningful work in those communities. The global community is already happening with the internet, social media, news feeds, etc. We will tap into that without really trying.

NEXT STEPS TO BE DONE ASAP 
We can start working on the Discovery and Design phases of the XQ challenge at the same time. For Discovery, we need input from youth in our communities:

• if you are a parent of a mid- or high-school student, what are they telling you about their experiences? 
• if you are a teacher, the questions posed by the XQ site for this phase are excellent writing and/or discussion activities. In one class period, you could get a lot of good data we can use. 
• if you are a business person or nonprofit, you can help us by letting us know what businesses are looking for in the future. 
• if you are a student, or you dropped out of school, even if it was years ago, we especially need to hear from you. 

I am setting up informal discussions with students I know in Moriarty.

I am also going to put the discussion questions out on the L&LNM page and hope people comment.

The best way to get your information to me is to comment here or on the L&LNM Facebook page. These are good places because there is the possibility of some good ideas being exchanged and more people being made aware.

Or email me at liveandlearnnm@gmail.com. 

When you talk with students, please follow the guidelines on the XQ website or if you got a kit, use the cards there. They have great questions to start the discussion.

For Design, we need (if you can help with any of these, let me know):

• a strong IT infrastructure that supports the L&LNM learning communities (LCs) across the state (what are associated costs?)
• budget
• a plan for human resources -- we want most of our money to go to salaries
• do we need transportation (buses? shuttles?) to get LCs out in the community to work on their projects?
• facilities -- I would like to do this like I did with my GED program, that is, use local resources for classrooms, etc. Schools and businesses are often generous with their facilities.
  If we don't have to pay rent in each community we serve, the money can be put toward salaries and other things. 

Those interested in doing this please submit your ideas for how this could work in your individual community. I want to submit as many scenarios as possible in our proposal. 

An example of what I'm looking for is as follows:

A learning community (LC) in Abq picks the road rage problem as their project. They will need to look at many things and talk to many people. Their team could have teachers to guide the learning, business people, someone from the police department, psychologists, someone who knows about highways and traffic flow, and the list goes on -- determined by the LC. 

The LC will report on their findings as they go and will come up with possible ways to alleviate the problem in their community.

The LC meets once a week at a room donated for their use by a business or school. They also meet in many places around the community (field trips) as they look into the issues. They also build an online community.
The teachers in the LC will guide the learning and set up classes as needed that will help student learn all the skills they need to gather and compile data needed to write up the final report. These skills will include the usual subjects like math and language arts but they will be integrated into a more realistic way of learning.

A list of the members of the LC, a breakdown of salaries, facilities needs, and any other pertinent information would be included in the proposal for this challenge.
 I'm saying it again -- I NEED YOUR HELP! IF YOU WANT TO START UP AN LC IN THIS PROGRAM, SEND ME ALL THE INFORMATION YOU CAN, DOWN TO THE POSITIONS/SALARIES OF THE PEOPLE WHO WOULD BE PART OF YOUR LC. I WILL INCLUDE IT IN THE PROPOSAL FOR THE XQ CHALLENGE.