I sat in on a meeting today of the organizers of our school district’s Innovation Academy, a summer STEM enrichment program that’s a partnership between the district and IBM.1 #
The DLC will be embedding a teacher research group within the Innovation Academy and its planning in order to see if the work they’re doing, and that students and district staff are enthusiastic about, has something to teach us about how we can make positive change in the classroom. #
During the meeting, two statements really caught my ear and got me thinking about the work ahead. #
The first was a statement, made during the meeting and repeated by several folks in the conversation, that the goal of Innovation Academy was to create an environment that didn’t feel anything like school. Both our district staff and our business partners felt this was important. I find that both makes sense to me and is, well, rather odd. That we’ve a shared understanding of school as something that isn’t conducive to learning is troubling, but I get where they’re coming from. #
The other thing that caught my ear was a mention, in passing, by one of the IBM partners that during last year’s camp, he noticed that the younger students involved in the camp, Kindergarteners, were plenty able to think in creative and nontraditional ways. That’s not quite how he said it, though. He actually said that sometimes, the youngest students were the best able to be engaged in the work of the camp2. #
If, of course, we are trying to build learning experiences that are not at all like school, then it makes sense that our least schooled students would be the best at them. Of course, it’s also possible that the Kindergartners at Camp Innovation are students who’ve not yet had their imaginations stamped out by school. #
I’m eager to begin the observational work of documenting what makes the Innovation Academy exciting and engaging for students and staff. And also I’m looking forward to teacher researchers teasing out if they can fiddle with their classrooms in ways that make school less school-y. #
There is something worth going after in the space between the school-y and the not so school-y. I hope it’s a piece of the possible future of public schools. #
- Last year, the project was called Camp Innovation. Names change. I like the camp metaphor, but it wasn’t my call. [↩]
- And now academy. [↩]
@budhunt New blog post: Schooling That Isn’t School-y http://t.co/p0otVZv1
New Post: Schooling That Isn’t School-y: I sat in on a meeting today of the organizers of our … http://t.co/LjXryVzN by @budtheteacher
Why is it that the innovative stuff often happens in after-school and summer programs? Have you noticed that? (I noticed it most acutely during one of the Digital Is Conferences, where most of the model programs were after-school initiatives). I guess it is the smaller scale of the model makes such innovative ideas for doable but we need to be doing more to bring these projects into the school day for ALL students.
I’ve struggled with the same thing and have seen the same engagement in our WMWP summer programs (which is partly a result of a self-selected audience — they want to be there).
I’m not criticizing the program you describe here. In fact, you note that this is part of a research project, which might lead to the shift to the school from the summer. That’s good news.
Kevin
Kevin Hodgson´s last [type] ..Digital Learning Day: The Tech We Use
RT @budtheteacher: New blog post: Schooling That Isn’t School-y http://t.co/ERYTQUhY
My feelings are much like Kevin’s. Is there any sense that Camp Innovation will lead to conversations about the academic year? This also made me realize that my own child will likely have her creativity stamped out in her schools.
In case you were wondering, here’s a little preview of one of our next teacher research studies. http://t.co/Ab73vdnm #educon
Schooling That Isn’t School-y http://t.co/DkoVfLF9 @budtheteacher #edreform #edchat
RT @baldy7: Schooling That Isn’t School-y http://t.co/fp91zQt5 by @budtheteacher
I comment on this post as someone who has seen a loved one struggle in the U.S. traditional school structure. School was a point of contention in my family for many years as my parents and I watched my younger brother struggle in K-12 public schools. My brother and I are over 7 years apart; so by the time I was heading off for college, he was just entering his transformational middle school years. I thrived in traditional public schools. I headed off to college with a straight A average and never looked back. However, for my brother school was not easy and it was definitley not fun. For years my Mom was told that he had a learning disability and that he had behavioral problems. In fact, one teacher (whose name will not be mentioned) went so far as to tell my brother that he was “stupid” and would not amount to anything. By his 8th grade year, my brother was physically ill over having to attend school and emotionally distraught after feeling as though he was not good enough for his teachers, counselors, and principals. At the end of his 8th grade year, my parents had several tests done by independent counselors and educational trainers and learned that my brother had no form of a learning disability; his IQ was actually borderline genius. He wasn’t succeeding in traditional public schools because he was not being challenged. He needed to be in an environment that would allow his brain to function in the highly creative way that it needed. My parents, luckily, found a private school that worked with children who were deemed “stupid” and “deviant” by an education system that did not understand them and worked with these kids in a “non-school y” environment that allowed them to be innovative and thrive. I am excited to hear that steps are taking place to accommodate more children like my brother and that they are starting at the Kindergarten level. Had programs like this been in place when my brother was five years old, there is a good chance that he would not have had to struggle in a school system that is great for the masses, but has no patience in dealing with the minority that thinks just a bit outside of the box.
Tiffany Reifschneider´s last [type] ..Unraveling Healthcare Reform in 2012