I will continue to add to this post as I read through my notes and synthesise things, but I will start with my two favourite quotes of the week which summed up many of the aims and achievements of HTH.
Student (when asked about how High Tech High compared to her state middle school):
"The teachers here care more about us than their subjects"
Teacher:
"We expect each other to be extraordinary, and we have systems in place to help each other do that"
Tuesday 22 March 2011
Accountability
Its funny how many times the point of accountability has come up over the last couple of days on my return to school.
I think I work in a great school which does a tremendous job in taking a comprehensive intake and helping them to be better and more independent thinkers and learners, yet I still perceive a shift in emphasis from the beginning of my short career.
It may be the "rose tinted glasses effect" but it seems that the locus of accountability in quality assurance has moved further from the student towards the teacher. Coursework (seems funny using that word in the new spec vista) was the responsibility of the student to hand in on time to a good standard, now it feels like it is the teachers' responsibility to get coursework from students. This is not a specific observation to my school but from conversations with colleagues in other schools also.
What is the determining factor here? I don't know is the honest answer. League tables maybe and pressure upon teachers to meet targets (self imposed or otherwise), and I'm sure that students recognise this. Kids are canny.
Anyway, what struck me about accountability in HTH was one instance where a girl had not completed her engineering project but was still expected to stand by her empty table in exhibition and of course every visiting member of community asked the same question: "Where is your project?"
What a powerful thing to have to describe the mistakes you made, a real learning experience and extremely formative!
I asked the question many times at HTH, "What would you do if you didn't have Carte Blanche?" and the first response was invariably "Get carte blanche".
A reframing of the question to "If you could change just one thing in the inherent system..." yielded similarly homogenous responses:
"Start with public exhibition."
Oh and DTPF!
I think I work in a great school which does a tremendous job in taking a comprehensive intake and helping them to be better and more independent thinkers and learners, yet I still perceive a shift in emphasis from the beginning of my short career.
It may be the "rose tinted glasses effect" but it seems that the locus of accountability in quality assurance has moved further from the student towards the teacher. Coursework (seems funny using that word in the new spec vista) was the responsibility of the student to hand in on time to a good standard, now it feels like it is the teachers' responsibility to get coursework from students. This is not a specific observation to my school but from conversations with colleagues in other schools also.
What is the determining factor here? I don't know is the honest answer. League tables maybe and pressure upon teachers to meet targets (self imposed or otherwise), and I'm sure that students recognise this. Kids are canny.
Anyway, what struck me about accountability in HTH was one instance where a girl had not completed her engineering project but was still expected to stand by her empty table in exhibition and of course every visiting member of community asked the same question: "Where is your project?"
What a powerful thing to have to describe the mistakes you made, a real learning experience and extremely formative!
I asked the question many times at HTH, "What would you do if you didn't have Carte Blanche?" and the first response was invariably "Get carte blanche".
A reframing of the question to "If you could change just one thing in the inherent system..." yielded similarly homogenous responses:
"Start with public exhibition."
Oh and DTPF!
Wednesday 16 March 2011
A consequence of teacher autonomy
I have noticed that some teachers seem to be very loose on the content even allowing some of them to be curriculum designers, while others do rely on set text books and having sessions dedicated to them. Book work then test. Both have stated that they therefore cover a wide curriculum.
Linear planning
The Biology relies upon BIo Rad practical kits and methodology including the questions suggested by the company.
The picture shows the linear nature of the planning. It was drawn and explained in response to how do you design for developing different types of knowldge. Facts, concpetual, Procedural, metacognitive.
How close to David Perkins Aboutitis is this model?
Planning Management Exhibit
Jeff Robin is a great advocate for PBL. Read more here and here
Jeff talked us through his approach for a mesmorising passionate hour. A couple of things struck me. Firstly that he believes that the real content learning that the students do comes not when the students are doing their projects but when they teach each other about their projects explaining the content behind their ideas. This seems to be benefited by the cross curricular nature of it. Much of the output from the students is art based- as the man says " Engineers draw plans that only communicate with other engineers. Artist communicate" How often do I act as an engineer in teaching.
I popped into his cuurent project the students route was
1. Identify a Physics principle then create a representative picture ( they ar eso much than this he has them choose a genre etc)
2. Then show it works in the real world in a building etc so he showed them Gaudi etc
3. Then find the principle in San Diego and again represent this as a movie or painting.
Jeff talked us through his approach for a mesmorising passionate hour. A couple of things struck me. Firstly that he believes that the real content learning that the students do comes not when the students are doing their projects but when they teach each other about their projects explaining the content behind their ideas. This seems to be benefited by the cross curricular nature of it. Much of the output from the students is art based- as the man says " Engineers draw plans that only communicate with other engineers. Artist communicate" How often do I act as an engineer in teaching.
I popped into his cuurent project the students route was
1. Identify a Physics principle then create a representative picture ( they ar eso much than this he has them choose a genre etc)
2. Then show it works in the real world in a building etc so he showed them Gaudi etc
3. Then find the principle in San Diego and again represent this as a movie or painting.
Time
Martin worked out last night that each project( semester) has the same amount of teaching time as a GCSE course.
Think this a useful concept for contemplating two things:
1. The High Quality Outcomes the students attain.- how big a factor is time?
2. The amount of learning that the students do- is the amount of learning sufficient? Is the balance of real, apllied, deep and connected learning more important than the coverage. HTH certainly belive so. So how do we amend this to our context?
Think this a useful concept for contemplating two things:
1. The High Quality Outcomes the students attain.- how big a factor is time?
2. The amount of learning that the students do- is the amount of learning sufficient? Is the balance of real, apllied, deep and connected learning more important than the coverage. HTH certainly belive so. So how do we amend this to our context?
Intellectual Rigour
A few snippets from conversations of students, just to try capture the intelectual challenge inherent in many of the tasks/ projects students. Completing a PMI on this may be interesting
"I didn't have enough emotion in my play....the main character didnt have enough about him....it wouldnt have been long enough"
"It was my first idea...we just went with it...im not sure what my teachers going to say when we get our one to one feedback"
" we could apply this to studying pollution, our hypothesis is right, we were able to collect some of the protein"
"i have a feeling you think theres something more" ( Its not that pure really, its all the hydrophobic proteins, is it not?)
" each of the practicals build on the previous one so they are all connected"
" when we research we read through the info, sometimes we print it out, and then make notes down the side, then we discuss it"
"I didn't have enough emotion in my play....the main character didnt have enough about him....it wouldnt have been long enough"
"It was my first idea...we just went with it...im not sure what my teachers going to say when we get our one to one feedback"
" we could apply this to studying pollution, our hypothesis is right, we were able to collect some of the protein"
"i have a feeling you think theres something more" ( Its not that pure really, its all the hydrophobic proteins, is it not?)
" each of the practicals build on the previous one so they are all connected"
" when we research we read through the info, sometimes we print it out, and then make notes down the side, then we discuss it"
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