Just a quick update on the Triangle Learning Community Middle School that I’ve blogged about here before. Founder Steve Goldberg reports that he’s just signed a lease, and that there will soon be some serious inquiry-based, student-directed learning going on in North Carolina this fall.
From the outset, Steve’s been building on fundamental ideas for progressive schooling enriched and immersed in connective technologies. Just a snip from his website:
It’s not time to reform existing schools (created in an industrial age where it sort of made sense to go from French to Biology to English every 50 minutes) — it’s time to re-think what’s possible for 21st century learners.
TLC students will pursue real-world project-based learning. Unlike most middle schools, where students move from teacher to teacher and switch subjects every 45 minutes, we will build a strong sense of community with a team of two learning facilitators working in concert to create the best possible learning environment for the twenty students who will be a tight-knit learning community for three years. Students at TLC will spend their days together in thoughtful blocks of time.
It’s interesting to see how educators like Steve are forging their own path and finding ways to innovate around the idea of “school.” He’s articulating a valuable vision for what school might become.
I really urge you to check out what he’s been up to and to continue to think about ways to “rethink” our own systems and practices to move in the same direction.