If Professional Development doesn't change what happens in the classroom for students, take it personally. Then take action.
This July, my teachers and I had the opportunity to attend an amazing professional learning with Future Design School. The amazing Les McBeth and team shared the Design Thinking Process with us and took us from ideas to application (solutions). As a building administrator, I wondered how this amazing learning would transfer over to our children and school. The thought occurred to me for a few reasons. First: The learning was occurring during the summer; would teachers have a powerful enough experience in July to set the wheels in motion for September? Second, I know that this was the type of learning experience I wanted to model for teachers. We had two days to explore this topic with the Future Design School and it was incredible. But would I be able to transfer the concept of Design Thinking to my staff in a 2 hour timeframe? I tried. I chose a problem that was relevant to us: How might we redesign our library space to become more of a hub of the school? This got us slightly immersed into the Design Thinking approach (and some pretty great ideas came forward); but would it be enough to change the learning outcomes for students? Then something amazing happened. I walked into a classroom and they were using an activity called Crazy Eights. This was an activity designed to iterate ideas and a teacher was using it! The activity got students to think beyond their first and initial ideas. Additionally, when their first idea didn't work, they have ways to move forward. So, from the professional development that happened in July, the learning opportunities for our students were, indeed, different in September. I'm going to count that as a win.
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I LOVE SEEING projects and things students create. This past year was no different. But much to my dismay was seeing the disparity in what students created. One noteworthy project was an amazing set of homemade, professional carpentry, crafted pulleys and levers set up. You could move a 200lbs rock with it. Right next to this project was three red solo cups. I asked each of the students to tell me the science they learned about in their respective projects. In the case with the lever and pulley experiment the student could tell me nothing about how levers and pulleys worked. In the second case, the student could tell me the total plan for the science project he wanted to do with the red Solo cups. He had planned to plant different seeds and look at different fertilizer types. The second student had anticipated how the project would turn out but because of the lack of support could not complete it. This was a project that was assigned for students to do at home and obviously one student had a lot of support and the other did not. Therefore the learning was not equitable for the second student and the first one didn’t learn much (except his father was a remarkable carpenter). Further, both students were not able to fully access the curriculum. One because of too much parent support and another because too little support. When we assigned homework this was often the case. I am fortunate enough to be an elementary principal in a great school with an amazing staff. Each person truly is here to give their best to each student and has the very best intention in assigning work that meets the standards. Given time pressures and testing, these teachers assigned this as a homework project. These and other examples have given us time to pause and re-think and reflect on our homework practices. Homework is an equity issue. The solution is to change this practice. Our school now has students read and work on personal projects, nothing else. If the standards are vital, this work will be done in school as all students need and deserve the opportunity to access the standards and materials. This must be the mission of public education. We can help student become designer but not through homework. As educators we need to help students gain understanding through design thinking process. As a public school we need to be there to support ALL students and their learning, not just those with parent support. |
AuthorGoogle Certified Innovator (#TOR16) and Google Certified Educator 1-2, principal, interested in innovation and changing systems, cyclist, Crossfit Coach Archives
October 2017
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