So I got a chance to spend half a day with Chris Lehmann and his full staff at the Franklin Institute in Philly yesterday talking about how the Read/Write Web might work at their new school, the Science Leadership Academy which opens in about six weeks. It was the last day of an 8-day intensive planning session, and they were probably more tuned into the “closing ceremonies” to be held at a neighborhood restaurant in the afternoon than on listening to me, but I was extremely impressed by their attention, their questions and their thinking. And their thinking was all over the place…on a Moodle site where they have been capturing all of their work, on newsprint post-its all over the walls of the planning room, in their conversation. I sat there just envious as all get out that Chris had this opportunity to really build “School 2.0,” and I said as much to all of them.
I know I for one will be watching SLA with a great deal of interest, because it is already one of the first schools to be pretty transparent in the planning process and it will be pretty transparent in the product. At one point in our conversation as his teachers were working on their personal technology plans, Chris said something to the effect that his process had been informed by people all over the world, and that by being transparent about it on his blog, it had been a richer, more effective experience. (Chris, if you read this, maybe you could embellish that thought with a comment…but not from the beach!) And I thought it was interesting that one of the interview questions his teachers were asked was “How do you feel about teaching in a fishbowl?” Partially, that comes from SLA sharing the stage with the Microsoft-funded “School of the Future” which is also opening this fall in Philadelphia. But it also stems from the fact that part of the philosophy is to share widely and to be open about the process. Pretty cool.
So I won’t go as far as to say that this is the first big test of a Read/Write Web school. It’s not. But it’s a big step on that road. It’s a new model that we might all watch. It has an amazingly creative and forward thinking school leader at the helm, an eclectic and passionate group of teachers, and a very democratic vision that makes it unique in my experience. I am very, very excited to see what happens.
Technorati tags:School 2.0, education, Science Leadership Academy, school reform
Taking a break from packing for the beach…
For me, the edu-blogsphere has been my “critical friends” group. When I’ve had questions, when I wanted feedback, I wrote (or podcasted, when writer’s block hit), and I got amazing feedback from people all over the country. The fun thing is that I actually can’t imagine trying to do with without blogging about it. It just seems so much harder to think about it that way.
I’m a collaborator by nature, and working as the sole “employee” of SLA for the first six or seven months of the project was not a natural state of being for me. There were a lot of folks here in Philly, from SDP folks to TFI folks, who could and did help. You met one of those folks yesterday in Wayne Ransom. But even with that, the idea that I could use my blog, write about ideas, questions, plans and get feedback from all of the world, really did inform my practice. When we had our curriculum summits, questions and ideas that folks posed on the blog made their way into the planning docs. When we created our interview questions, several of the questions folks came up with on the blog made it into the final draft. And when I needed help getting my head around 1:1 computing, folks like Wes Fryer and Miguel Guhlin were incredibly helpful.
And then, of course, folks like you and David Warlick and Christian Long and Arvind Grover took the time to take it off-line and come and spend time at summits and planning workshops and phone calls. The friendships and collaborations that moved off-line but started on the blogosphere have been some of the most valuable pieces of the puzzle as well.
When SLA opens in 53 days (eeeek!), it really will be a better, more democratic, richer school because so many really intelligent, passionate folks have had a hand in the planning of it.
Again, the crazy thought for me isn’t that I did it this way… it’s — why would anyone try to start a school *without* doing it this way? It was a whole lot easier — and better — to plan a school by culling the best ideas from anyone who takes the time to express them than trying to come up with every ideas myself. And I think — I hope — that by opening up the process of planning to the web, by inviting so many folks in and allowing their thoughts to change mine, it made me more willing to give up my own ideaas and be a more democratic, consensus-driven principal when the faculty came on board.
I’ve heard/read a little bit about the Science Leadership Academy, and I think the whole thing sounds like a wonderful idea. I particularly enjoy the transparent nature of the process and do hope you keep that up once the school opens its doors. Good luck to you (Chris) and thanks for the post (Will)!
I am interested in how this school differs from a school that is already established but has gone to a 1:1. Where will they find success, where will they struggle outside the “normal” confines of a school. This is a great test of a lot of theory being put into practice. Best of luck to SLA. I too will be watching with great interest.
I love the idea of building School 2.0. We will be opening a new high school in 2007-08 and are looking at how to do this as well. Right now I am trying to get a clear picture of what that looks like not only for one school, but for an entire district. I have some initial thoughts about what School District 2.0 would look like and would love to hear your thoughts as well.