This is a ‘10,000 foot view’ of something I’ve thought about for a while. It should be an essay, not a handful of bullet points, but I’ll put a few ideas down now and come back to this at a later date.
If I were to start a school…
- It would be K-12, with under 1,200 kids. Three classes per grade.
- Kindergarten to grade 5 would be Reggio based, and resource and support rich. There would be a lot of intervention at these grades to ensure students who struggle are given proven strategies and structures of support.
- Grade 6 to 9 would not be IB, but would run with a similar model to Middle IB. There would be significant focus on cross-curricular, big thematic projects, a lot of opportunity to mentor and lead younger students, and a focus on doing projects that matter in the community.
- Grades 10-12 would be inquiry and passion based. Some students would reach out into the community to explore trades and careers, others would focus on academics and the pursuit of Arts and/or Sciences. All would have passion projects, time to pursue them, and mentors to inspire them.
- Teachers would teach for 60-70% of the day, have 10% prep time, and the rest of the time would be to collaborate, and/or to support students working on projects that go beyond the scope of anything teachers teach in class.
- The school would be broken into separate pods, divided by the grade groupings suggested above. Students at those different levels would be separated except for planned events… but these would happen regularly, with many student leadership opportunities.
- Teachers would be expected to connect with teachers and/or students in at least one other level.
That’s not earth-shatteringly different than what can exist, but it is cost prohibitive with class sizes and staffing needs. The driving forces are:
1. Students having autonomy, choice, and support to do big projects and follow their passions.
2. Educators having time to collaborate and work with students beyond course content and a fully ‘blocked’ and timetabled schedule.
3. A sense of community support, student leadership, and a focus on meeting the learning needs of students.
If you were to start a school, what would it look like?
Thought provoking as always David. In part, this reminds me of a recent post I read on what constitutes ‘normal‘. The consensus was that normal is about looking backwards at ideals, whereas what matters more is that fact that we will continue.
This has me looking back at a post I wrote years ago about my edudream. Thinking about it now, I think that if I were to start a school I would start by building a vision with the staff and community. I feel that this has been what Greg Miller has done with his school.
I have been wondering lately, as I read Paul Browning’s book on trust, how we create the right environment for such work.
Also on: Read Write Collect
If you get this school off the ground let me know where I can submit my resume. 🙂