On 1/28/2020 The Academy convened for the first of several conversations centered around this idea of "What is the purpose of school?" and really to explore the how we can continue to refine and develop the process to make school more meaningful and experiential for our community. I modified the STUDENT LEADER project backpack protocol to go along with our conversation. Some criterion for selection to our committee included students who are on track to graduate early, students who have recovered a significant amount of credits, students who have not worked well at a traditional school and those who struggle. We had mostly high schoolers, but several middle schoolers joined us for our conversation.Our key takeaway was that school was fundamentally designed to prepare students to be flexible, agile, life-long learners and that our student's greatest wish was that someone would listen when they said that the process wasn't working.
A SYNTHESIS OF OUR CONVERSATION:
1. WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF SCHOOL? We began by watching THIS VIDEO to frame the conversation around this broad question. Students responses were refreshingly candid and to the point. They felt like the purpose of school - as we have traditionally thought of it through the factory model of education was to "prepare" students for life. When I pressed in on that conversation we started finding a working definition to "school and learning" which will be helpful as we continue to talk about this topic "The purpose of school is to prepare future leaders for the real world, and to educate them to better understand their own interests and how their minds work in the process of gaining meaningful, authentic information."
2. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE IN A COMMUNITY? We discussed the need for constant CARE and CONNECTION. To work towards developing a common framework that is based in mutual respect and recognition. They brought a real humanity to this work, and to hear our students discuss what they felt like was a big change in their school culture was uplifting and positive.
3. WHAT TYPES OF EXPERIENCES IN SCHOOL BRING A LOT OF VALUE TO MY LIFE? This was a powerful experience for me as a facilitator and led to some surprising insights. My students really appreciated hands-on learning experiences, experiences that served the community, opportunities to CONNECT and CARE for others and themselves, small group conversations, community circles, and our Family Meeting structures. Some of these were surprising to us as a school - because they were experiences that we felt the most pushback from the students.4. WHAT DOES THE FUTURE DEMAND OF ME AND OF SCHOOL? Not surprisingly this was an exciting conversation. The students were animated as they thought through this process - coming up with the future demands us to become learners, to be adaptable to changes, to process complex emotional tasks and situations with a core set of coping skills, to recognize and understand what success looks like, and to continue to grow. School needs to become relevant, authentic, nimble, creative, and hands-on. We need to rethink the approach to daily schedules, individual learning plans, and other experiences to help students be successful.
NEXT STEPS: We will continue to bring students into the conversation as we work to develop a unique "Learning Is..." rationale at the Academy. By inviting them into a conversation that we are already having as a staff we can continue to develop strong CONNECTions to our work and demonstrate CARE through student voice and choice.
