What if “students” created the courses – at least some of the courses – offered at school? What if those courses were the kind that many people would describe as “the most rigorous” a school offers? This is innovation.
Two members of the Innovation Diploma at Mount Vernon Presbyterian School (and Mount Vernon Institute for Innovation) launched their own AP (Advanced Placement) Language course. Together they collaboratively built the learning targets, educational paths, academic arcs, and assessment strategies for exploring certain wonders and complexities of the English language.
They are both juniors in high school. I don’t think either of them actually drives a car on her own yet.
This is a story I highly recommend that you follow. Here are some posts Pinya and Kat have published to get you started:
- “The First Day” by Kat
- “Full of Possibilities” by Pinya
- “Debuting New Learning Adventures” by Pinya
- “Curious Excitement” by Pinya
- “Taking Control of My Learning” by Pinya
- The Creek Bed (Kat’s primary blog)
- The Struggle Against Silence (Kat’s AP Lang focused blog)
- The Life of Pinya (Pinya’s primary blog)
- From Moment to Memory (Pinya’s AP Lang focused blog)
it's about learning 
Hi Bo,
Love this! I will be partnering with students to co-create a Social Justice course this Fall and would love to check out details on the process your ID students went through (mapping out learning targets, educational paths, academic arcs, and assessment strategies for exploring). Could you point me to anything on this or put me in touch with someone at MVPS who’d be willing to share info? I’m at St. Mark’s in Southborough, MA (colleenworrell@stmarksschool.org).
Thanks for sharing this,
Colleen
Reblogged this on From Moment to Memory.