Max: Theater (& Edge as Performance)

Max has spent much of his Edge time interviewing - and reflecting upon the words of - Broadway producers Stewart F. Lane, Bonnie Comley, and Sharon Carr as well as Playbill.com founder and editor Robert Viagas.  For his thoughts on the experience, please read below.

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Max, pictured at right, interviews Broadway producer Sharon Carr.
Image taken by Max.

"A play is like a corporation.  It's got a lot of different people all doing different jobs.  When people see a Broadway show, they think it is just one larger thing.  But it's not.  It's got a lot of moving parts.  You've got people picking the venue, picking the costumes, the director, the actors.  It's all that coming together to put the show on.  I mean, I didn't know all of that before the interviews.  I had to learn there are people they like to work with and teams that they like to pick.  Like, when they do a show, is there a certain person that they like to be with before they pick everyone else?

"Directors have people that they mesh well with.  If they need help, they can give them suggestions.  If they need help, they give suggestions on how to do things in a different, better way.  You know, how to make clearer a scene or the understanding of what is happening at that moment in the play.  Producers are like the CEO.  They help everyone do their part.  Directors ask, 'Are you doing your part?' The producers are kind of like what the Edge team does every week.  They say, 'Have you worked on this? Work on this more.  Go into more depth into your character.  Have you found this costume yet? Are you almost done?'

"The thing is - at the end of the school year - we do a performance of what we have learned.  We show what we've learned and show how Edge has helped us to pursue that and go more in-depth.  I think the depth of it is what helps everyone get as much as they want out of their searching and their project.  They're thinking about what they want to do.  It's kind of like them not having a schedule, but they can make their schedule in the structure that they're doing it.  They're making their own school in a way that works for them.

Posters of Broadway shows The Elephant Man and The Scottsboro Boys.
Image taken by Max.

"I [did] a show recently.  We listed things that are important to us.  We saw what could connect:  social art and music, social media (because you can share it), etc.  We whittled it down to three things that connected with each other, and then we made three different plays.  I'm in the first play, which is showing how social media enhances my life.  I am an actor.  I am the boyfriend in the play.

"In college, you create your own schedule:  what classes you want to take and when they are.  Edge helps kids with that because you're not going to have a schedule that someone hands you at the beginning of the year.  You have to make that.  You have to see when the classes are, what the classes are.  You have to build that schedule toward what you want to do.  That approach makes it set in the people.  It makes us more susceptible to what is going to happen in the future.  It helps us know what is going to happen.

"Edge makes me get more in-depth with what I want to do.  So I understand more about where my life is going and how I can make that happen, or how it will affect my life.  When I choose what I want to do and what I want to study, I can automatically have a sense of where my life is going to go if I choose it.  I think it's just easier to know how you're going to function in a setting like that.  Some of the Edge setting is like that.  It's better to know how to act in a setting than to get in the setting and not know how to respond to it."

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Have a thought on Max's work? Please post in the comments section below! (If you do not see that section, please click on this post's title to be brought to its individual page.  Once there, scroll all the way down to see the comments feature).

7th Annual Academic and Art Expo

The Edge Team would like to thank parents, family members, and - of course - the Edge Makers themselves in helping to make December 18th's 7th Annual Academic and Art Expo a hit.  We saw students offer a variety of compelling presentations:  artwork, a poetry reading, a survey concerning science fiction, a guided review of scientific research, a "magical" experiment in music theater, an analysis of PTSD diagnostic tests, a presentation on entrepreneurship, cupcakes, a demonstration of a hard drive in operation, offerings of Japanese food, an overview of the history of the Native American tribes of North America, and a discussion on composting and sustainability.  Thank you, everyone, for continuing to push this community within @KildonanSchool to explore ever more innovative and fascinating interdisciplinary work.

For those students, families, and readers who missed the event, please consult the accompanying photos (above and below).  All images taken by the Edge Team.

Most Likely to Succeed @ The Kildonan School

Poster for Most Likely to Succeed.  Promotional
advertisement provided and shared by permission
of mltsfilm.org.

Having completed the first month of the 2015-2016 school year, the students of The Kildonan School have realized a fundamental fact:  we (the faculty) spend a vast amount of time discovering how they learn best.  Our pupils engage in innumerable conversations with tutors, subject matter faculty, and administrators to design those conditions under which they can receive the greatest academic benefit.  In focusing on education at the individual level, the community ensures that our students experience success while developing their particular learning strengths.

Despite the benefits of this process, we occasionally forget to extend these specific thoughts toward larger questions.  Because they concern the nature and design of education on a fundamental level, these queries also deserve our attention:

• "What is school for?"
• "What does school look like right now? 
• "Going forward, what can school be? What should it be?"
• "What do students need to know in the 21st century?"
• "If we can agree that students need to know something, how should they learn that content/skill?"

Cover of Most Likely to Succeed (print version). 
Image located at amazon.com through
The Global Achievement Gap.

Fortunately, we did not need to invent the wheel in order to probe this conversation on-campus.  Spurred by an insightful analysis of 21st century learning that he co-authored with Dr. Tony Wagner (@DrTonyWagner), Expert in Residence at Harvard University's Innovation Lab (@innovationlab), entrepreneur Ted Dintersmith (@dintersmith) teamed up with American filmmaker Greg Whiteley to create a fresh perspective on American education in the form of a documentary:  Most Likely to Succeed (@MLTSfilm).  After MLtS gained recognition at notable festivals such as Sundance and Tribeca, interested educators, administrators, community members, and entrepreneurs began a movement to spur screenings (and conversations on innovation within education) nationwide.  Passionate about the philosophy contained within the film and excited to bring the conversation to the Mid-Hudson Valley, Kildonan signed up and applied for a screening during the summer.

Fast-forward to Friday, October 9th:  the beginning of "Parents' Weekend."  During this annual celebration, parents and family members join faculty and administrators in celebrating student work, raising money for the school, and discussing student progress.  This year, after observing all of their children's classes and meditating upon the day's information over a communal meal, parents and families sat down with administrators, students, and faculty to watch Most Likely to Succeed in its entirety.  Eighty-seven individuals brought eighty-seven different educational perspectives with them to our screening.  Though our distinctions remained to color our impressions of the documentary, they nevertheless fell away due to a shared sense of earnestness.  Indeed, our common threads, already exposed by the day's preceding events, tightened and manifested as an expectant hush.

(What occurs within the film, you may wonder? For that, we refer you to mltsfilm.org to request your own screening.)

Faculty, students, alumni, and administrator representatives on the MLtS panel. 
Picture taken and owned by The Kildonan School.

At the conclusion of the film, representatives of administrators, students, faculty, and alumni came together as a panel to help the community reflect upon the documentary.  They began by discussing their own school-based experiences with dyslexia as well as their thoughts towards the future of education.  They then meditated upon Kildonan's programs using the film as a lens.  They highlighted the innovative, project-based learning (PBL) approaches practiced by the Kodiaks and Middle Years Program (MYP).  Additionally, because a majority of the panel members are (or have been) affiliates of Edge, the panel then switched gears to consider questions of 21st century learning using the program as a reference point.  We explored questions concerning self-directed learning, interdisciplinary content, organic collaboration, marketability to colleges, and the future of the program in relation to Kildonan and its Orton-Gillingham (OG)-based tutoring approach.

Due to time constraints, we adjourned the screening to a complimentary sale of Wagner and Dintersmith's book (graciously supplied by a local bookstore, Oblong Books and Music).  However, as with any good film or striking news story, the conversations did not end there; they took on a life of their own.  More than one Kildonan parent has expressed gratitude for the film, claiming that it has helped them align themselves with the School's vision, maintain faith in the face of the college application process, and even negotiate parent-teacher conferences with Kildonan staff more effectively.  The immediate school community has seen changes, too.  One junior has cited the film as his inspiration in electing to join Edge.  A freshman, too, felt inspired to ask his Science teacher to continue working on a project because he wished to present the very best product (to himself and his parents).

Image of High Tech High student at work.  Promotional advertisement provided
and shared by permission of mltsfilm.org.

As our community continues to feel the positive reverberations of this film, let's thank everyone involved in this event.  Thank you panel members for your participation; your words towards the film, towards the strategies that allow your dyslexia to work to your advantage, and towards your educational histories served as great pivot points for discussions between students, faculty, and parents.  Thank you, Dr. Mary Taft and Kevin Pendergast, for assisting the book sale and supporting this project from its inception.  Thank you, Admissions Staff and Logistics, for helping to embed this event within an already busy day; we could not have done this without you! Thank you, Oblong Books and Music, for facilitating the purchase of books for the event and thereby extending the message of MLtS across media.  The entire MLtS staff (Nora Parent, in particular) have proven endlessly generous in helping us negotiate the finer details of the screening; thank you for your aspirations and your film! Finally, thank YOU...the student, the parent, the faculty member, the administrator, the staff member, or the reader for proving brave enough to advocate for a new vision of education.

Have thoughts on the movie? Please post in the comments section below!

(P.S. Curious to see the film yourself? If you would like to host your own screening, please sign-up via mltsfilm.org.  If you would like to purchase Wagner and Dintersmith's book, we refer you first to the proper page on Oblong's site.)

New Edge / IP Blog!

Welcome back! We invite the Kildonan community and our other readers to join the Edge / IP program for another yearlong journey.  The 2015-2016 academic year is underway, and buoyed by a new name, new students, and several new faculty members, we look forward to sharing the work ahead.

In order to best tell the coming story, the Edge /​ IP program has decided to embrace novelty with one additional feature:  we have launched a new blog via Blogger! Our profile boasts topic- and student-related labels on every post, a subscribe-by-email option, Twitter and Pinterest widgets, miscellaneous information about the program, and ALL posts published over the previous two years (sorted by month).  Ultimately, it has never been easier for faculty, parents, students, and interested individuals to stay up-to-date on all Edge /​ IP matters.

Please explore the site around you.  Remember to fill out the "Follow by Email" slot at right to receive regular updates.  We look forward to working with you over the coming year!

Best wishes,

The Edge Team

FINAL: Paige Explores Gamification

Paige demonstrated stellar tutoring instincts as she finished her phonics notebook.  She distilled her research into Orton-Gillingham by compiling  appropriate reading lists, and she looked to her own experience as a student to devise learning activities that visually exceeded the traditional emphasis on multi-sensory processing.  No less importantly, she did not lose sight of her intended  audience:  an elementary school student.  Early on she realized that she had to incorporate fun into her lessons:  "I started to think of the best way to make a student understand what I wanted to teach them. I wanted to make it fun because trying to teach a student - just sitting there, going over the rule - wouldn’t have been fun." She set off to bend her lessons towards a mock student's interests in order to build rapport and help solidify the lesson's content.

In order to reach these targets, Paige began to explore gamification.  According to The Engagement Alliance, this term refers to "the process of using game mechanics and game thinking in non-gaming contexts to engage users and to solve problems. Gamification leverages game design, loyalty program design and behavioral economics to create the optimal context for behavior change and successful outcomes."  If we break this definition down, gamification allows individuals to transform non-gaming scenarios using elements of games (e.g., points, tokens, virtual/​simulated reality, etc.).

As journalist and NYU (@nyuniversity) professor Adam Penenberg (@Penenberg) relates in a Forbes article, CEOs and companies have given this approach much attention in recent years so that they might improve employee competence and morale.  Indeed, as Penenberg relates, "Google (@google) engineers have been able to spend an in-house currency called 'Goobles' on server time—often a scarce resource at Google—or use it to bet on certain outcomes."  Microsoft (@Microsoft), too, "released a game, 'Ribbon Hero,' to teach users how to make better use of its Microsoft Office software."  In education, however, gamification is perhaps merely a new name for an old practice.  Teachers have long designed games in order to help students remember their timetables and alphabet, after all.  That said, their tools - and the applications for games - have changed with the advent of iPad classroom initiatves, MinecraftEdu (@MinecraftEdu), and video games more generally.

Paige began to design her Orton-Gillingham/phonics-based games with a healthy dose of design thinking.  She meditated upon their purpose and asked herself, "What should they accomplish?"  After concluding that the games would best serve her students in proving their understanding of a given language concept, she sequenced these recreations to the end of her chapters.  For the rest of the process, we invite you to consult Paige herself:

My first game [focused on] the rule of short and long vowels. At first I had no idea on what I was going to do. Then I thought I could make "Chutes and Ladders." After putting all the words [in], Mr. Bisson and I decided to play, but he wasn’t being himself. He was acting like a elementary tutoring student. He was all over the place. He was really excited and he wanted to get up and act some of the words out. This really showed me what my students might be like in class.

The next game I made focused on soft-c. This one was a little harder to try to come up with. I first thought I was going to do a tic-tac-toe game, but I couldn’t [figure out] how to make it work. Then I came up with just putting the words up and down, moving around the board that way, rolling 1-6, and having to do something based on the number you got (such as if you rolled a 4, you had to name different types [of the word]). I played with Mr. Bisson again, and this time was a lot different. He was a student that just didn’t want to do anything. He was against playing the game or even reading the words. So, I had to be very patient and not force him to play the game. I also just needed to give him time. He started to warm up a little, but he was still hard to work with. This showed me that I don’t need to always stay on the lesson plan I have. I can get off it because some days they might just be having a bad day and just can’t work.

Paige not only designed games but also tested them and grasped the value of remaining flexible as a teacher.  Having facilitated these learning experiences for herself - and as a high school student no less - she has laid the groundwork for an insightful career in education.  We are proud of Paige's progress and maturation this year, and we invite you to celebrate her work with us by posting in the comments section below.

Description of 1st image:  A graphic rendering of gamification.  Picture found at gravity4.com.  Kildonan and its Edge / IP program claim no ownership over the photo above.

Description of 2nd and 3rd images:  Screenshots of Paige's games, taken by Paige and shared with the Edge / IP staff.

Graduation!

 
Congratulations to the Class of 2015! On Saturday, June 6th, The Kildonan School saw ten students (Khaled, Paige, Jonathan, Piterson, Brad, Patrick, Bull, Trey, Sarah, and Misha) walk across the stage to receive their diplomas.  Family, friends, faculty, Kildonan alumnus Ahmed al-Rahim, and Kildonan founder Diana Hanbury King all attended to celebrate this special day.  We will miss these students, but we wish them well in their future educational journeys at Goucher College (@gouchercollege), Curry College (@CurryEdu), Columbia College Chicago (@ColumbiaChi), Oxford Academy, LIU Post (@LIUPost), Full Sail University (@FullSail), and Marist College (@Marist)! For more coverage, consult an article released by local newspaper The Poughkeepsie Journal (@PokJournal).

Even though we have finished the 2014-2015 academic year, please expect further blog posts! The Edge /​ IP team plans to release updates concerning students' finished pieces as well as our unfolding professional development (PD) pursuits.  Check back soon!

Our New Name

The idea began in the spring of 2012.  Sandy Charlap attended a lecture moderated by Sam Chaltain (@samchaltain) at Vassar College.  Inspired by his proposition that schools should pose "what if" statements rather than mission statements, she began to ponder how institutions might revolutionize practice and theory.  Exploring Chaltain's website during the summer, she stumbled across a video.  Recorded on-site at Monument Mountain High School in Great Barrington, MA, the film followed several students as they joined forces with faculty advisors to form a self-directed education program called "The Independent Project."  Ms. Charlap felt spellbound while watching the video, and the feeling did not leave her afterwards.  She and a colleague had a hunch that this program could give Kildonan's students a unique opportunity, so they began to work toward implementing it almost immediately.

Thus, IP was born.

Over the three years that IP has been in operation, we have found that faculty members and students agree with Ms. Charlap's initial "feeling."  IP has allowed students the opportunity and freedom to shine a light on their passions and to pursue them like locomotives.  Fantastic learning experiences have followed, and this year in particular, our students have been accepted to noteworthy institutions of higher education.  Our students have shown that IP does indeed assist them as they prepare for college.

In the process, however, our community - faculty and students alike - have realized that the name, "Independent Project," no longer reflects our philosophy or our day-to-day reality.  As one student pointed out, the IPians do not work "independently."  Yes, they launch individual pursuits that take them in directions that are, in a sense, theirs and theirs alone.  That said, this student went on, the IPians are always collaborating with one another, always learning from and supporting each other as they move forward.  In this way, the community members are very much "dependent."  Despite its claim to "independence," then, IP is a richly "social" experience.

We have also found that "project" no longer describes our status at Kildonan or our primary educational focus.  First, having grown over the past three years, IP is no longer a “project,” or pilot program, at Kildonan.  Additionally, because we support our students as they conduct multiple outcomes, or "projects," these pieces have grown beyond their inherent importance to become indicators of our learners' educational journeys, or "processes."  One student's "projects" are the result of the research and personal growth that he/​she creates for himself across several months.  One final piece at the end of the year, then, is neither accurate of, or the raison d'etre for, our existence.  With this name change, we hope to shift our concerns.  We wish to position our students in the debate concerning "project"- vs. "process"-based learning, and we assert that our students direct both features as they revolutionize learning away from a teacher-centered model.
 
Therefore, the time has come.  Earlier this month, the IP faculty published a post announcing that the program would witness a name change.  After much consideration, and after securing the approval of our students and administration, we found the perfect option.  This choice that will allow us to (1) remain edgy, (2) give our students a leading edge, and (3) function on the cutting edge of innovation in learning and education.  From here onward, the program will abandon acronyms and adopt the new name:  Edge.

"Are You Leading Change or Building a Platform for Change?," by Bruce Dixon

Please enjoy another Educating Modern Learners (EML) article below.

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Co-founder of EML and edtech consultant, Bruce Dixon (@bruceadixon) published an article on EML entitled "Are You Leading Change or Building a Platform for Change" (March 26, 2015).  Within the piece, he reconceptualizes educational environments.  He assures us that school leaders and administrators are not responsible for - and should not take on the task of - implementing educational change unilaterally.  Instead, he argues, a leader must "build a change platform—one that allows anyone to initiate change, recruit confederates, suggest solutions, and launch experiments."

This approach is radically egalitarian.  As Dixon explains, "the essence is that you are letting the team work outside of the normal hierarchy with a direct reporting line to senior leadership for the change effort."  To nurture this fledgling framework, faculty and administrators must be willing to challenge more than just traditional communication networks.  They must also be willing to question the physical environment in which their students learn, the curricula guiding student learning, and the assumptions about learning that we have held dear for over a century and a half.

Is your school ready?

For Dixon's article, please click here.  Please post in the comments section to share your views.

David Flink Visits Kildonan and IP

David Flink (@DaveFlink) is a sort of celebrity in the LD world.  He approaches dyslexia from a mindset of pride, and due in part to this upbeat mentality, he earned a Bachelor’s degrees with honors in Education and Psychology from Brown University and a Master’s degree in Disability Studies in Education from Columbia University.  More notably, still, he co-founded the organization Eye-to-Eye while still a student in 1998.  As reported on the program's website, Eye-to-Eye (@E2ENational) strives to develop:

...a network of youth mentoring programs run by and for those with learning differences, and [organizes] advocates to support the full inclusion of people with learning disabilities and ADHD in all aspects of society.

Kildonan prides itself on having worked with David to create the first high school chapter of Eye-to-Eye in the nation.  It was a pleasure, then, to have David attend Founders' Day and mingle with assembled students, faculty, parents, grandparents, and relatives.

During his time on-campus, David gave a riveting keynote speech.  Using a humorous story, he shared kernels of advice for our dyslexic students:  self-advocacy, transparency and acceptance of one's LD, and a graceful sense of humor and patience.  He also provided a book signing in celebration of his first text, Thinking Differently.  Composed as a semi-autobiography, this book speaks directly to parents to help them understand dyslexia, successfully advocate for their children, and instill independence in them.

Finally, David toured the IP building.  He traveled between students, stopping to speak with Bull about his octopus, Clancy on nanomedicine, and Piterson on his wooden skeleton.  Ultimately, he expressed admiration for the program.  He asserted not only that IP's model could encompass an entire school but also that it should support the learning of all students, LD and otherwise.

Thank you, David, for visiting Kildonan!

Please post in the comments section below.

Description of images:  David Flink touring the IP building with Karl Oppenheimer, Sandy Charlap, and IP students.  All photos taken by the IP faculty with permission of David Flink.

Geoff Mulgan: "A short intro to the Studio School"

 
Director of the Young Foundation (@the_young_fdn) and UK government employee, Geoff Mulgan (@geoffmulgan) delivers a TED Talk on a powerful re-imagining of education:  Studio Schools.  Designed to "address the growing gap between the skills and knowledge that young people require to succeed, and those that the current education system provides," Studio Schools prepare young adults for the global economy and encourage them to take inquiry- and project-based learning to the next level (quoted content taken from the Studio Schools website).  Mulgan shares more details on these institutions below:

First of all, we wanted small schools -- about 300, 400 pupils -- 14- to 19-year-olds, and critically, about 80 percent of the curriculum done not through sitting in classrooms, but through real-life, practical projects, working on commission to businesses, NGO's and others. That every pupil would have a coach, as well as teachers, who would have timetables much more like a work environment in a business. And all of this will be done within the public system, funded by public money, but independently run. And all at no extra cost, no selection, and allowing the pupils the route into university, even if many of them would want to become entrepreneurs and have manual jobs as well. Underlying it was some very simple ideas that large numbers of teenagers learn best by doing things, they learn best in teams and they learn best by doing things for real -- all the opposite of what mainstream schooling actually does.

What do you think of the idea of Studio Schools? Do you think that they are needed? (Research exists to justify them.) Please post in the comments section below.

Description of image:  A mock-up of a Studio School.  Photo located at www.studioschooltrust.org.  Kildonan and its IP program claim no ownership over the image above.

College, Here We Come!

With only twenty-eight school days remaining in Kildonan's academic year, all graduating students (seniors and PG's) have their minds on college.  As they continue to announce their final decisions, we would like to celebrate with two statistics:

(1) Our 10 students have successfully been accepted to 30 institutions of higher education.  Please consult the full list below (and check out the sites and Twitter profiles to boot!).

(2) Thus far, our students have earned $1,121,000 in possible scholarship moneys.

Thank you, Kildonan, for encouraging these students in their educational pursuits.  A big thanks goes out to Joy Klvana (our indomitable college advisor) as well as the tutors of senior students; your guidance, organization, and support have proven invaluable.  Finally, we would like to thank the future graduates themselves.  You have won over interesting and exciting schools, and we look forward to seeing how you apply your intellectual and personal prowess in the future.

1. Berry College
   
   1. Twitter:  @berrycollege
2. Brevard College
3. Cazenovia College
   
   1. Twitter:  @CazCollege
4. College of St Rose
   
   1. Twitter: @CollegeofStRose
5. Columbia College Chicago
   
   1. Twitter: @ColumbiaChi
6. Curry College
   
   1. Twitter:  @CurryEdu
7. Duthchess Community College
8. Flagler College
   
   1. Twitter:  @FlaglerCollege
9. Florida Southern College
   
   1. Twitter:  @FSCadmissions
10. Full Sail University
    
    1. Twitter:  @FullSail
11. Goucher College
    
    1. Twitter:  @gouchercollege
12. Johnson and Wales University
13. Long Island University (LIU):  Post
    
    1. Twitter:  @LIUPost
14. Lynn University
    
    1. Twitter:  @LynnUniversity
15. Marist College
    
    1. Twitter:  @Marist
16. Marlboro College
    
    1. Twitter:  @MarlboroCollege
17. MECA(Maine College of Art)
    
    1. Twitter:  @mecaart
18. MICA(Maryland Institute College of Art)
    
    1. Twitter:  @mica_news
19. Mitchell College
    
    1. Twitter: @MitchellCollege
20. Naugatuck Valley Community College
21. Pace University
    
    1. Twitter:  @PaceUniversity
22. Quest University (Canada)
    
    1. Twitter:  @QuestUniCanada
23. Sarah Lawrence College
    
    1. Twitter:  @SarahLawrence
24. SCAD(Savannah College of Art and Design)
    
    1. Twitter:  @SCADdotedu
25. Sewanee:  The University of the South
    
    1. Twitter:  @univofthesouth
26. St Thomas Aquinas
    
    1. Twitter: @STAC_edu
27. Suffolk Community College
    
    1. Twitter:  @SUNYSFLK
28. Western Connecticut University
29. University of Connecticut:  Waterbury
    
    1. Twitter: @UConn
30. University of North Carolina:  Asheville
    
    1. Twitter:  @UncAvl

Have a thought to share? Please post in the comments section below.

Description of image:  Students at Reed College.  Photo located at http://www.reed.edu/.  Kildonan and its IP program claim no ownership over the picture above.

IP Meets the Board of Trustees

On Friday, April 17th, the IP community celebrated an unprecedented event.  Four students - Tim, Trey, Khaled, and Bull - organized a presentation for Kildonan's Board of Trustees.  Led by Tim, this panel sought to share their projects and request funding for the program.  Their primary reason for the presentation, however, was to educate.  They wished to discuss schooling more generally and to tout the powerful self-directed learning that occurs within IP.

The presentation was a hit for both students and trustees alike.  Equipped with talking points as well as images of students at-work, the IPians spoke eloquently about IP.  They each shared their stories in the program and disclosed the particular benefits that they continue to reap from the IP community.  The Board, in turn, provided inquiries that launched an engaging Q&​A session.  During this time, the students were able to speak more specifically to the logistics of the program, sharpen their pedagogical comments, and meditate on IP's structure for the 2015-2016 academic year.  Once the meeting broke up, too, the board members convened with individual students to engage in one-on-one discussions that proved enthusiastic and supportive.

Thank you, fellow IPians, for supporting these four students as they designed and executed this presentation.  Thank you, Tim, Trey, Khaled, and Bull, for representing your community members and for facilitating a thought-provoking, professional discussion.  Thank you, Mr. Pendergast, for scheduling IP into the Board's agenda.  Last but not least, thank you, Trustees, for proving a receptive audience and for supporting the program as it looks to the future.

Have something to share? Please post in the comments section below.

Description of images:  IP student panel, top right.  Board members listening to presentation, bottom left.  Photos taken by IP faculty.

"This Is Genius," by Ryan Lotocki

What follows is a spoken word poem by student Ryan Lotocki (filmed by: Nick Stroczkowski and Kurt Schlewitt).  Rather than provide an introduction for this video, we will remain silent and allow it to speak for itself.

What did you think? Please post in the comments section.  * If you would like to consult a transcript, please see below: *

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School Sucks. Now don’t get me wrong I believe everyone should have a general education. But when I know how to solve quadratic equations with imaginary roots graphically and am not sure how that applies to life… Or better yet, learned Cleopatra slept around, but never heard the history of my own city- you've failed. Now I’m not trying to sound cruel, but we live in a generation that would much rather smoke a joint then show up to school and to be honest, I’m tired of placing all the blame on them. I mean are we just pawns in a chess game waiting to accept their fate? Could the whole point of High School simply be just to graduate? You tell us to follow our dreams but have a plan B and don’t you see? The more you try to protect the children in this way, the more you reject the gifts they are trying to portray. See, school is a project in which students never get the chance to project their abilities. Having to follow a curriculum and take required classes, while stereo-typically the kid with high grades and glasses will make it into college and is more intelligent. Well, how about the student whose “Ingenious”, “In ordinary”, “Innovative”, “Intellectual”, “Incalculable”, “Inquisitive”, and has good intentions to change the world with his passion. I believe educating him would be something along the lines of ineluctable.

Take a musician for example: See to him, a score on a math exam will never mean as much as the score in front of him. Why waste his time trying to count and measure when he can already count each measure with just the tap of his foot- See this is genius; watch as the bow grazes against the instrument and his fingers pluck and pull at each string appropriately that creates a sound that just makes his body sway. But if he is controlled by a bell that just rings I guess you could say the school’s pulling his strings.

Or how about the cook with only a seventh grade reading level. If his ingredient list is not written in MLA format I think he’ll do just fine. Does his grammar matter when where you choose to dine is on the line and I’m not talking about margin. But when it comes to margarine and butter he actually knows the difference. He couldn't care less about the sophisticated words coming out of his mouth and more about the food going into yours- See this is genius. And if that doesn't fill the Hunger Games appetite you couldn't even think the Grapes of Wrath might.

Some Brilliance is as simplistic as hitting a ball. It doesn't matter if her science grade is an atrocity because I've never seen anyone spike a ball with so much strength, precision, and velocity, and the only elements she need know are those of speed and surprise, but to her parents’ eyes sports are just a waste of time- See this is genius. Practicing for so long she has little time to study for chemistry the only question remaining is, why can’t you be more like your sister Emily? What’s the matter? Kind of ironic though because like life, when it comes to school versus education every things the matter.

Putting children on an assembly line that has checkpoints. Where there only goal is to get us from point A to point Z but if we only get to F then we've failed. Plus our values and gifts are locked up and jailed. And why do we take tests? To tell us we’re wrong? It’s a number, not my wife. There is so much more to life than a grade in a book and what even of the SAT I just took. Because we all receive a number or a grade if you will, but our answers are locked up in vaults. Was the point to learn, or the thrill? And Common Core won’t solve anything so take a chill pill. We are not here to memorize facts but figure our future; and if the future holds taking a test to see who’s the best I want no part in that, there’s a fact. Now while I’m speaking to adults, I’m relating to the youth. I’m not pointing out your faults, but showing you the truth. Stop labeling us by standards and put us all on an even playing field. But let us choose our positions based on our passions, values, and where we can be proactive. Make schooling less multiple choice and more... Interactive. Because maybe your exponential at math, but that’s not how he functions because we all don’t have the same mechanics. Or possibly, you rock at science but in her opinion she’d rather not fill her head with space.

We are all sculpted in a different way. All made with different values, ideas, and clay; and if during my day, the only offered opportunity is continuity I could never get the chance to say: I am genius.

Brandon Busteed: "What can schools do?"

 
Speaker, author, social entrepreneur, and executive director of Gallup Education (@GallupEducation), Brandon Busteed (@brandonbusteed) possesses vision.  He has set his eyes on creating "a national movement to measure the educational outcomes that matter most, connect education to jobs and job creation, and to promote a paradigm shift from knowledge mastery to emotional engagement in education" (for the source of this passage, click here).  This is no short order, especially concerning the resistance so often seen by educators in the classroom as well as the turbulent "emotions" surrounding Common Core.  So where does a concerned student, parent, or educator start?

Busteed begins to answer this question in the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) (@NAISNetwork) video above.  Although he offers several cogent points, one in particular proves particularly striking:

There's a lot of things that schools can do. There's a lot of things that adults in any kind of mentoring or coaching role can do.  I mean, one is we need to change what we value. ... If we really care about people being engaged in what they're doing and thriving in their well-being, we would refocus our priorities on things like spending more time allowing students to explore what they're good at.

What do you think of Busteed's talk? Please post in the comments section below.

Important Update: Name Change

The IP community would like to announce that we will be instituting a name change.  Details on the "why" and "what" are soon to follow.

"Why Curriculum Constrains Learning," by Harold Jarche

We in IP believe strongly not only in championing the conditions that allow authentic student-driven learning but also in connecting with like-minded individuals and organizations.  One of these is Educating Modern Learners (EML), an educator's portal created by longtime educator and technological expert Will Richardson (@willrich45) and Bruce Dixon (@bruceadixon), respectively.  This site offers insights into the new learning contexts that teachers, administrators, parents, and students themselves must confront in the 21st century.

International consultant, speaker, and educational "subversive" Harold Jarche (@hjarche) published an article on EML entitled "Why Curriculum Constrains Learning" (April 2, 2015).  Within, he questions one of education's benchmarks.  He posits that "Curriculum is a type of confinement: a confinement of learning experiences. Defined content, isolated classrooms, and fragmented schedules of time, coupled with impersonal testing, are institutional bullying."  Though some may consider Jarche too strident, he encourages all of us - the IP community, Kildonan, parents, students, administrators, and others - to evaluate educational practice using the questions, "Do our students need to know anything? If so, what?" Once we begin to posit answers, we must consider various factors - organic learning environments, educational trajectories (their content, their presence), and others - in order to achieve the results we seek.

For Jarche's article, please click here.  Please post in the comments section to share your views.

Paige Builds a Phonics Notebook

Having conducted extensive research into the history of the Orton-Gillingham (OG) approach, programs that are off-shoots of OG (e.g., Lindamood-Bell, Wilson Reading), sample OG lessons, and myths concerning dyslexia, Paige has reached a stage at which she feels ready to apply her extensive understanding.  She has debated between options for a few months now.  This careful consideration, however, has allowed her to settle upon a project:  a phonics notebook not unlike one that a tutor would craft with an elementary student at Kildonan.  Paige hopes to compile a chapter concerning open and closed syllables; this section would contain games, lesson plans, cards, and manipulatives.

To craft this piece, Paige is currently conducting a three-fold process.  First, she is communicating with both elementary school teachers on-staff, Mrs. Elliott and Ms. Hollander.  She hopes to observe both of their classes in order to determine how younger students respond to challenges in language acquisition, and she also plans to interview both teachers about their approaches to coaching students through these tasks.  Second, she continues to add content to a process portfolio that she maintains through iBook Author.  She manages this document in order to compile her notes, track resources, and hypothesize situations that she will face as a future elementary school teacher.  To date she has produced sixty-five pages.  Third and finally, she took time out during her break to draft sound-symbol cards.  Soon she will engage in a critique with Ms. Charlap during which the two can evaluate the layout and design of her slip.  They will also explore alternative designs for such manipulatives.

What do you think of Paige's work? Do you have a question or recommendation? Please post in the comments section below.

Description of 1st image:  A page from an interactive, kindergarten phonics notebook.  Picture located at www.pinterest.com.  Kildonan and its IP program do not claim ownership over the above photo.

Ramsey Musallam: "3 rules to spark learning"

 
As we enter the spring, the last months of the academic year hang blissful and ominous before us.  Will we have the energy to endure? Will our students succumb to senioritis?

Fortunately, an answer has come from our personal learning network in the form of Ramsey Musallam (@ramusallam).  Chemistry teacher at Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep in San Francisco, CA, Ed.D. recipient, and manager of the Cycles of Learning blog, Musallam has had time to consider this question across fifteen years of teaching.  In a TED Talk delivered in 2013, Musallam critiques contemporary trends in education and argues that teachers must assign themselves a very specific purpose:  cultivators of curiosity.

You know, questions and curiosity like Maddie's are magnets that draw us towards our teachers, and they transcend all technology or buzzwords in education. But if we place these technologies before student inquiry, we can be robbing ourselves of our greatest tool as teachers: our students' questions. For example, flipping a boring lecture from the classroom to the screen of a mobile device might save instructional time, but if it is the focus of our students' experience, it's the same dehumanizing chatter just wrapped up in fancy clothing. But if instead we have the guts to confuse our students, perplex them, and evoke real questions, through those questions, we as teachers have information that we can use to tailor robust and informed methods of blended instruction.

What did you think of Musallam's presentation? Please post in the comments section below.

Nikhil Goyal: "Why Kids Hate School?" @ TEDxBFS (2012)

At the age of 19, activist and author Nikhil Goyal (@nikhilgoya_l) has accomplished no small amount.  An activist and champion of self-directed learning, Goyal has spoken at Google (@google), MIT (@MIT), Yale (@Yale), Stanford (@Stanford), and the University of Cambridge (@Cambridge_Uni).  He has appeared on various news stations, has been named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, and has even authored the book One Size Does Not Fit All:  A Student's Assessment of School.  In this #TED Talk delivered at the Brooklyn Free School (#TEDxBFS) in 2012, Goyal begins by speaking about the shortcomings of school.  Although he is perhaps too strident and jumps from topic to topic using quotes, he does offer an organic vision of education that considers not only educators, administrators, and parents but also students themselves as its policymakers.

'Education is a process of living, not a preparation for future living.'  Let me say that one more time.  'Education is a process of living, not a preparation for future living.'  ... Because we have to get over this notion of education prep and move to life prep.  We have to create an educational society where learning is democratized and where kids are natural learners.  Where we're tinkering with the world.  Where they're changing things, they're pushing the human race forward.
...
Around the world today we're watching millions of young people that are under the age of twenty-five collectively protest for self-expression, transparency, and the sweet taste of freedom.  What we're doing to them is we're not giving them a voice.  We're not letting them speak out.  We're putting them on the sidelines.  What I like to say about public education is that we have 'the kids table' and we have 'the adults table.'  At the adults table, that's where all the decisions are made.  It's like Thanksgiving; we're separated.  And really, that's how it is.  We need to have one table where we have kids and adults.  What we offer, most importantly, kids, is a fresh perspective.

Thoughts? Please post in the comments section below.

Sam Chaltain: "The Art (&​ Science) of Great Teaching" @ TEDxYouthBFS

 
Former educator, writer, and education activist, Sam Chaltain (@samchaltain) partners with schools and school districts "to help them create healthy, high-functioning learning environments" (passages taken from URL of Chaltain's talk).  In this #TED Talk delivered at the Brooklyn Free School (#TEDxBFS) in 2012, Chaltain highlights the recent changes to education and advocates the need for balance:  between teacher and student, art and science, and - most fundamentally - between understandings and applications of freedom.

...the biologists are telling us that life - whether it's an ecosystem or a public school system - is best organized by principles of ecology, not hierarchy.  The quantum physicists would tell us that change - whether it's a human being or a sub-atomic particle - is best understood by principles of relationship, not force.  And we should take heed that freedom - whether it's a teacher or a student - is best unleashed through simple, shared structures, not unbounded prairies.  This is the lesson that exists for all of us.  This is what the natural world reminds of us every day.  This is what Dewey was urging us to think about one hundred years ago.  And this is our road map forward:  art and science, individual freedom and group structure.

What did you think? Please post in the comments section below.