On top of that, the location can have an outsized effect on connecting learners to place and rich learning opportunities. Farms provide a rich canvas for educational exploration, offering hands-on experiences that cannot be replicated in traditional classroom settings. The farm environment teaches children about biology, ecology, and agriculture through direct interaction with plants and animals. Moreover, it imbues in them a profound respect for nature, an understanding of the food cycle, and the importance of sustainable living practices. These schools can be leveraged, especially effectively in rural communities, to provide accessible options for families. 

I’m reminded of Lessons from a Calf, a great documentary where elementary-age students in Japan take care of a cow at a nearby farm and through the process learn valuable skills and lessons in economics and math, caretaking, and life. 

The Integration of Curriculum

Like Lessons from a Calf, at the heart of the microschool on a farm concept is the seamless integration of traditional academic subjects with farm-based activities. Mathematics can be taught through the measurement of planting beds, calculating the growth rates of crops, or managing the farm’s budget. Science comes alive in the study of plant and animal life cycles, weather patterns, and ecological balance. History and geography lessons can revolve around the origins of farming, the significance of agriculture in civilization development, and the study of landforms and climates in farm management. 

Some farm schools are fortunate to have a farm or agriculture-based asset within the district, while not necessarily being a farm-based school. A great example of this is the Dairy Sheep Project in Weston School District where students learn to care for the sheep and lambs, milking the ewes to use in the sheep milk soap and gelato they sell. 

While visiting the STEAD School in Colorado, not a microschool but located on a former farm, I learned that through four agricultural pathways (animal, plant, environmental, food science) they are able to map students to over 3,000 career possibilities. These combinations of community assets (farms) and tailored instruction are capable of meaningfully setting students up for success in what’s next.

Examples in the Wild

In Northeast Ohio, Kelly Clark runs a democratic, farm-based microschool called More Than a Farm. Her multifaceted experience includes years as a STEM teacher at the innovative Hawken School (alma mater for me and my kids), where she worked closely with education luminaries like Scott Looney (of MTC fame); permaculture design and implementation; and leading the nascent local Transition movement.

Also in Northeast Ohio, Hershey Montessori School is an AMI accredited Montessori school with the first farm-based adolescent community. Students from birth through high school learn on two campuses: up to sixth year in a traditional suburban Montessori environment and seventh through twelfth on a working farm. The adolescent boarding option attracts international students and educators from around the world to visit, observe, and attend a unique summer residential certification program for adolescent Montessori practice. 

Farm School KC offers a unique Montessori education for middle and high school students in Kansas City, focusing on the development of self-awareness, community contribution, leadership, empathy, and critical thinking skills. The curriculum includes real-world learning on a 10-acre farm, providing an educational experience that combines academic rigor with practical, hands-on agricultural and environmental studies. Located on the campus of Clay-Platte Montessori School, it provides a serene, natural setting conducive to learning and personal growth.

Koshkonong Trails School is a project-based, tuition-free, public charter school within the School District of Cambridge serving 7th – 12th grade students. Located on a working farm in Cambridge, Wisconsin the program orients around place-based projects designed by students to impact the local and regional community. With experiential education at the core, students focus on conservation, stewardship, and agriculture as well as traditional subjects as they work to support the farm.

Wild Flower Community School a microschool in Wichita, Kansas is a public-private partnership with Kansas public schools, allowing students to attend tuition free. This doesn’t cover all microschool costs, however, as they also rely on charitable donations and are a part of the national Prenda microschool network. This school currently serves 35 students, most with specialized learning needs. Thus far, the demand for the environment and personalized components has outpaced the supply. 

Co-locating and partnering with a farm can be a great way to build a more sustainable school and concept. In South Florida, Colossal Academy, a microschool, is integrating agriculture into its curriculum to nurture future leaders, entrepreneurs, and farmers. The school enrolls 20 students between the ages of 10-14, who dedicate three days each week to farm-based learning. This hands-on experience takes place in a yurt, where they acquire skills in farming, cooking, and technology, alongside their fundamental academic education. The remaining two days are reserved for online learning. Starting from the 2022-23 academic year, the academy will introduce a five-day in-person learning option.

In Conclusion

The journey through the concept of microschools situated on farms illuminates a promising horizon for education, where learning transcends the confines of traditional classrooms and becomes a dynamic, immersive experience. This model showcases how integrating agriculture into education not only enhances academic learning but also cultivates a generation of learners who are environmentally conscious and equipped with practical skills for sustainable living. As we reflect on the transformative potential of such educational settings, it becomes evident that the fusion of microschools and farm-based learning could redefine the educational landscape, making it more relevant, engaging, and meaningful for students in an ever-evolving world.

The post Where Seldom is Heard a Discouraging Word: Farm-based Microschools appeared first on Getting Smart.

When we consider taking a vacation, we often make plans to visit our national parks. Whether it is the nostalgia from family road trips growing up, or just a desire to escape our daily routine and reconnect with the outdoors, over 300 million Americans travel to the 429 units managed by the National Park Service across the United States every year.

Instead of reserving these cherished protected areas for just our travel plans with friends and family, educators have the opportunity to take these natural and historic wonders and bring them directly to the students in their classrooms. As an instructor at the University of Tennessee over the past year, I have used our national parks as an application of the lessons I teach. Below are five reasons why I believe this works well.

National Parks Increase Student Engagement

Whether it is the wildlife, beautiful scenery, culture and history, camping, hiking, or spending time with others, it is easy for students to find something to love about our national parks. Parks are fun and relatable, so if educators can channel that potential energy via student learning, then students will demonstrate their excitement and engagement. One study shows that allowing students to express themselves and make choices based on their interests increases their engagement. 

In one assignment, I have had students use Google Earth to create a guided tour of a national park of their choice. They also play the role of park ranger as they write out descriptions for the five most important stops they make on their tours. The students have enjoyed that assignment and the others, writing in their course evaluation that “the activities we did were super fun and informative”. 

I have even met an elementary school teacher who uses ‘Leave No Trace Principles’, which include reminders for people recreating outdoors such as ‘Respect Wildlife’ and ‘Leave What You Find’, as inspiration to set the rules of the classroom. It is a very creative way to make something considered boring to listen to more relatable and fun for students.

National Parks Offer Lessons for Almost Any Subject

No matter what topic or class an educator teaches, it is very likely that those lessons can be grounded in real examples with our national parks. If someone teaches fifth-grade science, those students can learn about ecosystems and invasive species. If someone teaches high school English, maybe they can host a discussion on the writings of John Muir that helped inspire the establishment of national parks. If a professor teaches a university anthropology course, students can learn about the violent removal of Indigenous people from their homelands that would become future national parks. 

Whether a teacher is trying to teach essential science concepts or lead difficult conversations on today’s pressing social issues, our parks provide case studies to get it done. Educators can also use national parks to reinforce new content standards, such as the Next Generation Science Standards. Our parks have connections to so many aspects of history, culture, and science, there is no shortage of educational opportunities with them. The National Park Service also hosts an online portal for educators to share and use resources, all freely available to the general public as well.

National Parks are Great Places for Field Trips and Experiential Learning

What better way to teach students about our national parks than to show them directly with their boots on the ground? I’ve watched the faces of first graders light up in delight as they step off the bus to look into the woods at Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It can be a magical experience for people of all ages to have. Visitor centers at National Park Service sites also have lots of interpretive exhibits and ranger programs, some even with hands-on activities and guided tours provided. It is an amazing opportunity to teach a particular lesson in the classroom, and then take students to see that lesson in action in real time. 

The National Park Service also hosts a special initiative for fourth graders to get a free family interagency access pass for a year, so families can build on what students learn in school with trips of their own. This matters because studies show that children and young adults benefit from spending time outdoors, as it can help sharpen their senses, increase appreciation for the outdoors, improve their mental health, and beyond.

Our National Parks Have Made Great Strides in Accessibility

Although there is so much more work to do still in regards to addressing the historic racial injustices of our parks, such as the previously segregated park amenities and continued lack of representation, they are more accessible and welcoming than ever before. 

Following the COVID-19 global pandemic, all the online resources that employees and volunteers with the National Park Service developed to continue teaching students about their park from the safety of their homes are still freely available for anyone to use. A fourth-grade classroom in downtown Chicago can spend an hour virtually exploring Olympic National Park in Washington, or a high school environmental science class can use an Esri StoryMap to learn about brown bear management in Katmai National Park in southern Alaska. 

Even for educators with the resources and ability to take students to visit our parks in person, an intentional increase in accessibility accommodations and more diverse representation of park employees help to make our parks more welcoming than ever. A majority of National Park Service sites are free to visit, and there is likely a place nearby, which you can find with the National Park Service’s Map Finder tool.

National Parks Provide Opportunities to Reflect About America

Novelist Wallace Stegner famously said “National parks are the best idea we ever had. Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst.” However, I would argue that our parks reflect us both at our best and at our worst. They serve as social laboratories, exemplifying what is happening and changing in our society as time marches on. 

To this end, parks are also great venues to teach American history. Evidence of the Great Depression, the Civil Rights movement, and more can be found in the history and cultural landscape of our parks. Examples could include the historic buildings constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps as part of President Roosevelt’s “New Deal”, or the Confederate monuments erected in the 1950s and 1960s within our protected areas nearly a century after the conclusion of the American Civil War. 

Contemporary social movements in our national parks can also help to highlight previous racial injustices and offer solutions that make a difference to these disadvantaged communities. For example, the proposed renaming of Clingmans Dome to Kuwohi by the Eastern Band of Tribal Cherokee in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park will remove a Confederate name from the landscape and repatriate the sacred mountain to the original name given by the Cherokee people hundreds of years ago. 

Educators can use these moments of dispute and uncertainty as an opportunity to have tough conversations and reflect on who we are, as individuals, as a society, and as a nation. Our students will grow for the better from it, and we owe it to them and the future of our nation.

Seth Kannarr is a Geography PhD Student at the University of Tennessee.

The post Five Reasons to Bring Our National Parks into the Classroom appeared first on Getting Smart.

“Climate Change and its effects are happening now. We can not take any longer to take action. I hope to inspire others, so we can all work together to take care of the only place we call home. Everyone deserves a healthy and sustainable future,” says Farah Djama, Class of 2024 and Secretary of the Climate Action Team.

The continued sustainability focus has led to numerous opportunities for the students. One such initiative, the Climate Champions Grant Program, is a testament to the power of collaboration, youth engagement, and grassroots activism in the fight against global warming. This collaboration aims to equip young learners in urgent environmental conservation and innovation efforts. 

The Climate Champions Grant Program

The Climate Champions Grant Program was catalyzed by discussions between the Denver Office of Climate Action, Sustainability & Resiliency (CASR), Denver Public Schools (DPS) Sustainability Team, and students. These conversations revolved around how to actively involve youth in environmental sustainability efforts, specifically through the Denver Climate Protection Fund. Recognizing that students had innovative ideas but lacked the necessary resources to bring these to fruition, DPS and Denver CASR leveraged their unique partnership. 

To begin this process, students were provided with an application packet that outlined the project requirements, aligning with DPS’ Climate Action Plan and the allowable uses of funding from the Climate Protection Fund. This ensured that the projects not only addressed local environmental issues but also contributed to broader climate action goals. The application process encouraged a grassroots approach, where students, supported by teachers, classmates, and mentors, took the lead in developing their project ideas. Some schools conducted surveys to gauge interest in various project proposals, while others presented their ideas directly to school principals. Furthermore, DPS facilitated the process by offering pre-application assistance through virtual workshops and one-on-one support, ensuring that students had the guidance needed to refine their proposals.

Student involvement was a critical component of the Climate Champions Grant Program. They were not just participants but were at the forefront of conceptualizing, designing, and pitching project ideas. An interdisciplinary group of experts from both DPS and Denver CASR evaluated the applications based on specific criteria, reflecting the program’s commitment to environmental justice and the promotion of sustainable solutions across different school types and project categories. Despite being in its pilot year, the program received more project submissions than it could fund, indicating strong interest and the potential for future growth. The awarded grants are as follows: 

• Westerly Creek Elementary: Planting and caring for trees onsite
• Marie L. Greenwood K-8 Academy; Barney Ford Elementary; Swansea Elementary: Learning about recycling in Colorado and doing outreach to improve waste diversion onsite
• Valdez Elementary School: Implementing reusable dishware kits
• Park Hill School: Installing bike racks and a maintenance station, and doing biking outreach and education
• DCIS at Fairmont: Performing service learning projects like gardening and composting and hosting an Earth Day celebration
• Vista Academy: Having students attend the Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Related Sciences conference
• Centennial Elementary: Installing bike racks and a doing biking outreach and education
• Northfield High School: Installing solar-powered picnic tables
• Denver North High School: Installing power strips to reduce energy use
• University Park Elementary: Installing outdoor waste stations to improve waste diversion
• Teller Elementary School: Advocating for electrification of HVAC equipment like heat pumps
• McAuliffe Manual: Enhancing project-based learning and enrichment around sustainable gardening, nutrition, and transportation, and facilitating a multi-day outdoor education experience
• Beach Court Elementary: Creating an educational campaign on reducing, reusing, and recycling
• Lincoln Elementary: Improving onsite garden programming

This collaboration is a great example of what it looks like to give students agency, purpose and connections to real world learning experiences. These cross sector collaborations are representative of real world learning in action.

The post Denver Public Schools: A Hopeful Generation of Climate Champions appeared first on Getting Smart.

It’s a big year for democracy. In America and around the world, the justness, equity, and strength of democracy is being tested. Surrounding these debates are many questions about how to create the future our children deserve, with an education that develops their resilience for an unwritten and ever-changing future. Amid frustration centered on the challenges facing public schools and concern over the shrinking of “Main Street” in towns across the country, community-based, learner-centered ecosystems offer a path forward. In this design for public education, learning leverages the assets, insights and expertise of a wide variety of organizations and people in a community, prioritizing learning that is tangible and relevant to each young person.

But how can we make these ecosystems possible throughout the country? Ecosystems for the Future of Learning, a report conducted by The History Co:Lab and Education Reimagined, commissioned by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, examines this question. The culmination of months of fieldwork, this report outlines what an ecosystem development process might look like in different communities and what’s needed to make the ecosystem successful. 

The report established and utilizes the Ecosystem Readiness Framework to show how communities could grow their ecosystem by starting with one of four focus areas: people, practices, connections and conditions. Here, I explore key insights from two of the sites exploring ecosystems through the lens of this framework. The hope is that inventors, educators, funders and community leaders see that this approach is not just a dream, but a viable opportunity with roots that we can all contribute to nurturing, supporting, and growing.

PRACTICES: Norris School District

“Aligned sets of methodologies and approaches that develop the networked learning experiences of young people and the ways in which families, educators and community members can contribute.”

As a rural, public school district in Waukesha County, WI, Norris School District presents a unique opportunity for young people to engage with learning in ways that are authentic to them. Norris primarily serves learners whose ambitions, challenges or needs couldn’t be met by the conventional school system, including adjudicated youth. The passionate educators at Norris ensure a culture of belonging, respect and responsibility, all while developing the skills needed for a meaningful future. 

One piece of Norris’s framework centers around learner profiles, which help each person to identify and attain goals across the four dimensions of academics, employability, citizenship, and wellness. This practice helps learners understand themselves more fully, such as what motivates and interests them. In turn, this offers the educators at Norris additional ways to connect with their young people as full human beings and set goals for continued learning. 

As part of the exploration work for this report, site leaders visited some of each other’s sites. While visiting FabNewport, a vibrant youth development organization in Newport, RI, leaders at Norris saw examples of how they could further expand opportunities for their learners beyond their campus. Norris witnessed deep partnerships within FabNewport’s community that opened worlds for learners. These included a wildlife sanctuary, local farms, and art studios. By seeing FabNewport’s community connections in action, the leadership team at Norris began brainstorming ways to connect their learners with more opportunities, particularly within their extended community. To bring this expanded vision to life, the Norris team has mapped their community assets—identifying over 100 resources—and begun forging relationships with these potential partners to serve as field sites and learning hubs. 

What Norris is building toward is the ability for learners to integrate meaningful community connections into accredited learning, supporting each learner in their individual goals. By connecting learning experiences back to the individual’s learner profile, Norris can meaningfully validate learning that continually happens all around us. Building these bridges and richly adding onto existing practices is one way learner-centered ecosystems can begin to flourish. 

CONDITIONS: Purdue Polytechnic High School

“The financial and policy forces that combine to create an enabling environment in which an ecosystem can be built and operate.”

Purdue Polytechnic High School (PPHS) is a public charter school founded by Purdue University and the city of Indianapolis in partnership with community, industry and academic leaders, and a statewide innovative charter network operator with multiple locations and no admission requirements. 

The PPHS team has big ambitions to engage learners with an ecosystem approach to learning. However, this rich learning environment still feels the tension of providing every learner with a unique, relevant experience within the structures of a comprehensive high school. To explore learner-centered ecosystems, PPHS opened a microschool with two advisories, serving as home bases for young people to build relationships and learn in a more personalized setting. It can be difficult to ensure every young person is known in a school of several hundred, but with microschools, anonymity is not an option. While the viability of microschools are historically fragile, these microschools have a huge benefit—access to shared services. 

Educators and learners in the microschools can utilize all of the services of the larger high school—dining, recreation, even support staff services and human resources. These shared services lower the financial overhead of the microschools, allowing learners to access the resources, all while being in a smaller environment where they can be seen and known. These conditions allow the microschools to be nimble and serve learners in dynamic ways.

Leveraging the ability to connect to shared services, this pilot proved successful. As PPHS explores what comes next beyond their expansion, it’s clear that this microschool model—which mirrors the home base of a learner-centered ecosystem—has viability for helping all learners access meaningful opportunities. 

With 13 sites featured in the full report, these are just two examples of how sites are beginning to develop learner-centered ecosystems and identify areas for intentional expansion. These ecosystems will require many moving parts to work in harmony to successfully exist. By identifying a strong foundation of people, practices, connections, or conditions, ecosystem engineers can add the pieces their community needs for authentic and meaningful learning experiences for all young people.

Be sure to register for the upcoming Getting Smart Town Hall to learn more.

Alin Bennett is the Vice President of Practice and Field Advancement at Education Reimagined.

The post Where Does Work to Imagine a Learner-Centered Ecosystem Begin? appeared first on Getting Smart.

The Cascades staff shares a beautiful set of values: cultivate belonging, empower individuality, learn by doing, ignite curiosity, embrace challenge, and share joyfulness. 

Traveling School is a week-long Oregon adventure in the fall. This year’s trips included the following destinations: 

• 6th grade: Oregon Coast Exploration in Newport
• 7th grade: Shakespeare in Ashland
• 8th grade: Backpacking in Three Sisters Wilderness
• 9th grade: Water in the West in Southern Oregon
• 10th grade: Coastal Communities in Astoria
• 11th grade: Layers of Place in Mt. Hood
• 12th grade: Land Stewardship in Joseph and the Wallowas

In the spring, Traveling School includes national and international destinations and is designed to focus on the school’s core values and advance social emotional learning.

Upper School Expeditions are trimester experiences supported through purposeful community partnerships. Every other week, the entire upper school departs campus for a three-hour deep-dive afternoon program. In collaboration, students work to inspire goodness, developing meaning and shaping impact.

In addition to enjoying outdoor education on the beautiful Cascade campus, during winter, everyone enjoys weekly ski/snowboard days at Mt. Bachelor. 

The Middle and Upper schools feature personalized and competency-based learning. Cascade was an early member of the Mastery Transcript Consortium. 

Outdoor Discovery Center

Western Michigan supports four seasons of outdoor learning with lakes, great and small, waterways, sand dunes, forests and fields. Based in Holland, Outdoor Discovery Center helps families and school communities access outdoor learning. 

Launched 24 years ago, the ODC Network operates two greenway projects, a watershed clean-up initiative, three nature-based preschools, two nature centers, multiple wildlife preserves, eco-tours, and a land conservation and restoration business. The Network owns over 800 acres and manages an additional 2,000 acres of property. It provides programming to over 100,000 children and works with 30 area schools. 

ODC partnership projects include: 

• Forest School at Holland Christian Schools offers K-4 students time outdoors each day in the wooded Holland Christian campus or local natural areas.   
• STREAM School at Hamilton Middle School is an outside-of-the-classroom semester experience in 8th grade. The waterway experiences connect students to Agriscience and Natural Resources pathways while learning English and science standards.
• Nature-based learning at Holland Heights Elementary (K-5) includes weekly offsite learning experiences and extended time in the community and nature.
• Teen Voices of Fennville is a new design project to better determine what in- and out-of-school learning experiences the community is looking for.
• Another new project is an alternative credit recovery pathway which includes place-based learning, career pathways, and a work-based learning stipend.
• Hope College Global Water Research Institute partnered with the ODC to monitor both lake and stream sites within the Macatawa Watershed.  

EL Education 

Born out of a collaboration between the Harvard GSE and Outward Bound, Expeditionary Learning, now EL Education, is a network of schools committed to mastery of knowledge and skills, character building, and high-quality work. Learning at EL schools results in quality work about genuine problems for a real audience. 

Casco Bay High School in Portland, Maine keeps the school’s goals “clear, ambitious and essential.”  Learning Expeditions are long-term in-depth studies of a single topic that explore compelling social and environmental questions, incorporate vital standards, involve fieldwork, and culminate in an authentic project, product, or performance. 

Casco Bay Quest, a three-night, four-day expedition in outdoor adventure and personal writing,   launches the freshman and senior years. Casco juniors engage in a long-term interdisciplinary project that results in a demonstration of learning. Last spring, in partnership with Acadia National Park, the Class of 2024 researched the rise of green crabs in the Gulf of Maine and its relation to climate change, using scientific data and communication. (See four part series.)

Launch Expeditionary Learning Charter School in Brooklyn is a middle school dedicated to putting students at the center of their learning. At each grade level, students take part in a six-eight week cross-curricular Case Study. 

Launch will expand to serve K-12 learners and will relocate to South Brooklyn’s Floyd Bennett Field in an underutilized national recreation area. Fully realized, this campus, which will house half a dozen exceptional partner organizations, will be able to serve up to 50,000 students per year participating in learning and career pathway programs focused on careers in the green economy.

Zoo Schools 

School of Environmental Studies, on the campus of the Minnesota Zoo, is a magnet school for juniors and seniors that immerses its students in the study of environmental topics and issues.

Science and Math Institute at the Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma is a great STEM school with built-in internships and outdoor science. (See feature)

Place-Based Schools 

Teton Science Schools in Wyoming is the leader in place-based education 

including a K-12 school, outdoor education programs, a graduate school, and a national network. (It inspired The Power of Place.)

Environmental Charter School (K-12) at Frick Park in Pittsburgh uses its theme to build systems thinkers, explore complexity and develop problem-solving skills in a multidisciplinary, “out-the-door” learning approach that builds active, engaged, and empathetic citizens. Through an innovative, eco-literacy-based curriculum, ECS grows active, engaged, empathetic citizens who are critical thinkers and purposeful agents of change. 

Outdoor Classrooms

Mukilteo Elementary, north of Seattle, makes great use of the Leader in Me program to empower student leadership. They finish each year with a family portfolio picnic where they review quality student work. Students also help to develop a nature preserve with trails and a two-acre outdoor classroom. (See feature.)

Wildwood Elementary School where the campus inspires creative learning and community. An outdoor classroom centered in the school garden engages students to think deeply about the natural systems. Tec D.E.C. (Design, Explore, Create) serves as both a maker studio as well as a STEM-based lab space for hands-on exploration.

For more on outdoor education:

• The Power of Place: Authentic Learning Through Place-Based Education
• Town Hall Recap: Every Place is a Place
• Going Green: National Network Incorporates Sustainability into Teaching and Operating Schools
• Dr. Roberta McFarland on The Magic of Outdoor Education (podcast) 
• Place-Based Learning: Solid Ground in Troubled Waters
• Edible School Yard: A Place to Influence Interdisciplinary Skills
• Place & Peace Based Learning: James’ story

The post Outdoor and Experiential Learning Across the Country appeared first on Getting Smart.

Before reading this blog, watch the 5-minute video below in which Eden Park Elementary School teachers share their wisdom about starting strong in a Learning Community. Trust me it’s worth it.  

When talking to the Eden Park teachers to understand what they do to start each school year strong, it became clear how much they lean into student voices to create shared expectations. It’s a compassionate approach. They invest the time to co-create expectations at the start because they recognize the level of trust it builds allows them to do extraordinary things throughout the entire year, including trusting students with a lot of freedom. When teachers were talking about how they start the year strong in a Learning Community, I realized many of their practices apply to conventional school environments, as well. 

Here are some of the teachers’ key insights, with an angle of how they might apply to conventional settings:

Facilitate A Project to Start the Year: It’s about collaboration, connecting students, teachers, and staff in a cohesive project, thereby fostering unity and creativity. A classroom teacher can start the year with a “How might we…” question that gets their class engaged in a design challenge about making their room feel welcoming and comfortable. Consider giving students opportunities to engage with community members in hospitality to elicit advice, feedback, donations, etc. for their project.

Map Out Spaces: This involves planning and coordinating spaces to facilitate learning, ensuring that everyone is on the same page, and each space is utilized effectively. In a conventional school, go on a learning walk with students throughout the campus where they document places that are uninviting and/or underutilized. Have them map their favorite spaces and brainstorm ways to overcome the uninviting, underutilized environments.

Create Expectations For Furniture and Zero Space: Kids love choices to sit, stand, and move around their learning environment. A classroom teacher can advocate for a variety of furniture that gives students the freedom to have agency. Zero Space is the idea that kids can move furniture around to meet their needs, but before they leave the room it gets reset back to its base layout.

Establish a Culture That Is “OUR” Space: Eden Park Elementary School takes great pride in building a culture where every space is seen as co-owned and operated as a community. Teachers in classrooms can give this sense of co-ownership to their students, starting with minimal decorations and no clutter at the start of the year, and then working with students to transform the room into their own unique oasis. 

Emphasize Community Values: In a Learning Community, knowing that sharing space can cause conflict, the instincts to give grace and learn from mistakes are remarkable de-escalators. Helping young people develop these instincts through practice can be achieved no matter the environment. Identify possible points of conflict in your environment (i.e. some kids prefer the lights off for part of the day) and give students time to come up with solutions to propose and discuss with each other. Fostering this sense of collaborative problem-solving will help make the values you espouse become instinctive habits.  

As a video producer, I was inspired by the commitment of the teachers and the enthusiasm of the students. As I’ve observed the Eden Park team, I’ve seen firsthand how these principles aren’t mere words but living practices that shape everyday life at Eden Park Elementary School, which over time manifests as a holistically vibrant learner-centered culture. I hope this short film serves as a case study for anyone, regardless of their environment, to start every school year with compassion and relationships at the center.

Nathan Strenge is a Senior Learning Designer at Fielding International, where he works with school communities around the world to create environments that foster creativity, collaboration, wellness, and belonging.

The post Video Insights – Start the School Year Strong appeared first on Getting Smart.

While planning this short film below in partnership with the dedicated educators at Eden Park Elementary School, a resonant theme emerged – the importance of preserving existing best teaching practices even as we innovate. As a classroom teacher of a decade, this insight instilled in me a profound hope for the evolution and expansion of future Learning Communities. 

Knowing how many teachers are struggling with the weight of teaching in an isolated environment and feeling overwhelmed to engage kids in an age where mental health needs are vast, Learning Communities offer a more collaborative and holistically supportive environment for kids and adults alike.

So why is their insight about preserving existing best teaching practices so important? It has to do with the reluctance some communities have to move away from a classroom-based spatial model, even if they see its limitations. 

There’s little question why a classroom-based approach to schooling has had such a profound staying power (hint: it’s not because it’s best for kids). To put it simply: it’s what we know. Here in the United States, the vast majority of adults alive today went to schools using a classroom model. Today’s teachers were trained to teach in a classroom and have a lifetime of experiences in a classroom. Because of this familiarity and its effects on operating a school building, classroom-based models continue to be designed and built.

Compounding the “it’s what we know” problem is how little the K-12 education industry has invested in research and development. From a report by Aaron K. Chatterji at Duke University,  “Research and development (R&D) accounts for a tiny share of total expenditures in K–12 education, around 0.2%, or 1/50 the rate of the most innovative industries” 

Caption: Research & Development Spending (from Chatterji report)

Despite these historical factors, many communities recognize the power of place and the limitations of a classroom-based approach. Schools are becoming aware that giving young people more agency to move around to find the right place at the right time is essential to wellness and student-centered learning. That level of authentic student agency requires a variety of safe, desirable environments that are highly accessible. Creating a diverse array of environments that meet the spectrum of needs of any group of kids is practically impossible within the four walls of a classroom, but it’s what defines a well-designed Learning Community.

As more and more schools embrace different spatial models, it has to be very reassuring for classroom-based teachers to hear from Eden Park educators that maintaining existing best teaching practices is important. I am hopeful that hearing this insight will alleviate some of the fear caused when considering transitioning to Learning Communities.

Nathan Strenge is a Senior Learning Designer at Fielding International, where he works with school communities around the world to create environments that foster creativity, collaboration, wellness, and belonging.

The post Addressing the Reluctancy to Transform Learning Environments appeared first on Getting Smart.

In the evolving landscape of education, professional learning stands as a powerful catalyst to foster teacher or system resilience, effectiveness, and job satisfaction. But how can we make the profession more rewarding and impactful? Schools around the world are realizing that their flexible learning environments are improving conditions for educators’ well-being, helping build stronger teams, improving culture, and benefiting students as a result.

Flexible learning environments are not just for students. These spaces serve as hubs for professional development, nurturing a collaborative culture and fostering professional learning communities (PLCs). The PLC model offers a collaborative approach to professional development, allowing educators to share expertise, exchange ideas, and learn from each other in a real-time, practical setting. A study by Waldron and McLeskey found that schools that implemented the PLC model in a flexible learning environment experienced increased teacher effectiveness, improved student achievement, and a more positive school culture.

In these flexible spaces, teachers become students, learning and seeing new teaching methodologies, integrating technology effectively, and understanding diverse student needs alongside their peer educators without the siloed classroom that has traditionally contained educators for the spirit of collaboration that is so widely discussed in education circles. The interactive nature of these environments creates a network of professional educators collaborating in real-time, offering feedback, peer observation, and co-teaching, enhancing the quality of professional learning and implementation of high-quality practices that help kids.

Beyond enriching teaching methods and enhancing student engagement, flexible learning environments also serve a more pragmatic function in bolstering the resilience of staffing structures. The inherent adaptability of these environments allows for seamless adjustment in cases of unforeseen adult absences, ensuring continuity in student learning. Instead of traditional isolated classrooms that depend heavily on the presence of a single teacher, the fluid structure of flexible learning spaces fosters a sense of shared responsibility among educators, promoting cross-functional teamwork.

The malleability of these spaces supports unanticipated shifts in a school’s day-to-day operations, effectively accommodating spur-of-the-moment events or sudden changes in school routines. For example, a flexible learning space can swiftly transition from a collaborative group work setup to a lecture-style arrangement for a surprise guest speaker or can be rearranged to host an impromptu school assembly or event.

But the power of flexibility extends beyond physical space and into the teaching strategies employed. It empowers teachers to pivot their instructional methods as needed, honing practices in real-time based on student feedback and peer input. This dynamic, responsive approach builds a more resilient teaching community that can adapt swiftly to changing educational circumstances or challenges. Flexible learning environments are not just about providing versatile spaces; they’re about nurturing an adaptable, resilient, and collaborative educational community that can thrive in the face of both routine and unexpected challenges.

So, if you’re an educator or school administrator looking to invigorate professional learning and practices while making your system more resilient, it’s time to embrace the type of flexibility demonstrated at Eden Park. By transforming a block of classrooms into dynamic, collaborative spaces that are collectively shared and understood as environments to help all students learn, we can catalyze professional growth, foster resilience, and ultimately, enhance the quality of education we deliver to our students. As always, email me to talk more about the specific challenges you are facing in your buildings and the models we could explore to meet your specific programming needs.

Mike Posthumus, a leader in education innovation since 2009, excels at transforming complex challenges into successful strategies, utilizing a human-centered design thinking approach. As Vice President of Learning and Engagement at the Grand Rapids Public Museum, he co-established the XQ Super School award-winning Grand Rapids Public Museum School, reflecting his commitment to place-based and experiential learning. He holds a Master’s in Education Administration and now serves as the Learning Design Principal for Fielding International where he collaborates with an interdisciplinary team in designing the ideal conditions for learners to thrive.

The post School Resilience and Educator Efficacy: The Power of Flexible Learning Environments appeared first on Getting Smart.

In today’s education landscape, “student voice” and “youth empowerment” are popular catchphrases. It’s understandable – there’s a growing recognition that giving young people more say and more ownership in their educational journey has profound, transformative benefits for learning. The ability for students to have a legitimate voice in things such as how they learn, what they learn, when they learn, and where they learn has tremendous potential for schools to adapt to the unique needs and gifts of every individual. However, there’s a glaring disconnect between the popularization of these terms and their actual implementation in many schools.

Over my career, I’ve worn many hats in education: classroom teacher, school founder, leadership coach, design consultant, and more. These experiences have given me the opportunity to really dig into HOW we can amplify youth voices and HOW we can empower young people; what I see is that many of the well-intentioned efforts schools are making to do this fall well short of what our students deserve. For instance, giving kids an hour of unstructured time once a week in a Genius Hour is progress, but it doesn’t address what happens in the other 39 hours. So, what does genuine empowerment actually look like? To put it simply, empowerment is a function of the level of freedom students have to navigate time and space in their everyday school experiences. 

Through that lens, Eden Park Elementary School stands out as an exemplary model of genuine student empowerment. Here, 3rd-5th graders in the Learning Community have a tremendous amount of control to determine how they flow through the day. 

That sense of freedom really comes out in this 3-minute short film.

During filming, students repeatedly told us the spaces they have access to are a big part of why they feel empowered. The proximity and transparency of the small group rooms to the classrooms make for a great breakout. The commons feel welcoming and comfortable, an agile place that allows students to spread out and find a quiet area when needed, or actively work on a project as a team. The variety of furniture students can arrange and rearrange encourages more movement, more active learning, and a greater sense of autonomy. 

One of Eden Park’s students, Josephina, succinctly sums up the importance of such empowerment: “Freedom helps you learn; because without freedom, kids wouldn’t really want to go to school.” It’s through this profound understanding of the role of freedom in learning that Eden Park Elementary is raising the bar in fostering student empowerment. 

This model serves as a powerful reminder of the significant impact a true commitment to youth voice can have on the education system, and how reimagining physical space an unlock genuine student empowerment. 

If you’d like help creating learning environments that give students the freedom they need to thrive, reach out to me at nathan.strenge@fieldingintl.com or visit us at https://fieldingintl.com/. 

Nathan Strenge is a Senior Learning Designer at Fielding International, where he works with school communities around the world to create environments that foster creativity, collaboration, wellness, and belonging.

The post Elementary Students Speak About Their Unique Learning Environment appeared first on Getting Smart.

The post-COVID world presents unique challenges for education globally. With declining engagement rates, rising social-emotional learning needs, and the daunting reality of staff shortages, schools and districts worldwide are at a crossroads. However, as Eden Park Elementary School demonstrates, there may be a potent solution to these challenges – the transformative power of collaborative learning communities.

Eden Park Elementary has committed to creating the ideal conditions for future-ready learning. They’ve reshaped a wing of their school into a collaborative learning community. This new approach replaces traditional classrooms with ‘studios,’ common areas, and specialized labs for scientific experiments or design thinking. Small group rooms allow for intervention and student support services or peer-to-peer collaboration. Teachers have a dedicated workspace where they can collaborate, reflect, and recharge. The defining quality of a learning community is that there is a culture of learning, in which everyone is involved in a collective effort of understanding.

In the video linked below, Principal Courtney Sevigny takes us on a tour, showing us how this strategic spatial restructuring has sparked a paradigm shift in teaching and learning. At Eden Park, the teachers have moved away from isolated classrooms to a collective model, thinking of every student and the entire wing as ‘ours.’ This shared sense of ownership has created a more inclusive, supportive learning environment, increasing students’ feelings of belonging and high-quality learning habits.

Belonging is a critical component in learning communities. These environments cultivate interactivity and collaboration, making students feel valued and connected. This sense of community can counter the current engagement crisis, as a feeling of belonging is a crucial aspect of student engagement.

But the benefits of learning communities don’t stop there. They also foster social-emotional learning by increasing social interaction between students, adult mentors, and peers. This networked approach provides students with necessary emotional support while modeling constructive social behavior. Studies show that these relationships can enhance students’ social-emotional competencies, contributing to their overall success.

In the current climate of school, staff shortages, and frequent changes, learning communities also offer resilience and adaptability. A team of educators shares responsibility, enabling smooth transition and continuity in students’ learning experiences when a substitute teacher isn’t available or a sudden shift occurs. This collective team approach ensures that every student receives consistent support and guidance, making learning communities a model of resilience in today’s ever-evolving educational landscape.

However, it’s not just the students who benefit. Learning communities also foster a collaborative and supportive environment for educators. Teachers build stronger relationships through daily collaboration, which leads to the sharing of effective teaching practices and natural mentorship opportunities. Such an environment enhances job satisfaction and fosters professional growth, further solidifying the community’s resilience.

So, what can other schools learn from Eden Park Elementary?

Start small and try a ‘Pathfinder.’ Transforming a single classroom or introducing collaboration within a grade level can provide a testing ground for the model. Encourage a shared sense of ownership among educators. Facilitate increased interaction between students and adult mentors, and foster a learning environment that nurtures belonging.

Eden Park Elementary School offers a hopeful lens into the future of education. By embracing innovation, collaboration, and a forward-thinking mindset, they have shown us how to engage students effectively, support their emotional growth, and foster resilient educational environments.

What about your school or district? What innovations are you considering or have you implemented to address these modern educational challenges? 

Whatever the challenges, we at Fielding International are ready to help you get to where you want to be. Visit us at fieldingintl.com or reach out to me at mike.posthumus@fieldingintl.com to get started. 

Mike Posthumus, a leader in education innovation since 2009, excels at transforming complex challenges into successful strategies, utilizing a human-centered design thinking approach.

The post The Future-Ready School: Harnessing the Power of Learning Communities in Education appeared first on Getting Smart.