Author Archives: boadams1

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About boadams1

Learner. Husband. Dad. Mountaineer. Head of School at Mackintosh Academy - Boulder, in Boulder, Colorado. Have worked in transformation design, educational innovation, and school leadership for 30+ years.

CHANGEd: What if schools were more like summer camps? 60-60-60 #19

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This “CHANGEd: What if…60-60-60” post is inspired and sparked directly from Ross Peters’ March 24, 2012 post: How Summer Camp Should Inform School.

In my past, I attended Camp Rockmont in Black Mountain, NC, and I served as a counselor and administrator at Camp Sea Gull in Arapahoe, NC. As Ross writes in his post, I remember fondly the enormous space and time to explore and discover. There were generally three “periods” – morning, afternoon, and evening. Campers pursued new opportunities and old loves of deep interest, and we enjoyed “I-can-really-accomplish-something” chunks of time.

Choice and time are powerful cabin mates.

Most importantly, the best of summer camp includes the space—literally and figuratively—for young people to become both more independent and more empathetic. ~ Ross Peters, March 24, 2012 blog post.

CHANGEd: What if…60-60-60 Project Explained

CHANGEd: What if schools empowered students and teachers to be journalists and marketers? 60-60-60 #18

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Some schools empower 100% of their people to be the primary storytellers for what’s happening each day at school. Other schools restrict their people from doing so – only official Communications Departments can media-storytell. Is it “brand management” gone awry? Don’t schools want much, if not all, of their brand to be: “Magic happens here…we’re a community of empathetic experimenters, and we see value in learning by doing and sharing our stories?”

CHANGEd: What if…60-60-60 Project Explained

CHANGEd: What if instead of filling their heads, we grabbed their hearts? 60-60-60 #17

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Enhanced information technology and advanced understanding of human learning make it strange that schools retain many methodologies geared for “filling heads.” Additionally, society faces challenges demanding “grabbed hearts.”

At yesterday’s MVPS Design Thinking Summit (#dtsummit12), we immersed ourselves in “Design = Utility + Significance.” At design’s core beats EMPATHY. Through design, doing-learners engage human experience to improve that experience. Insight into others’ needs grabs hearts. Grabbed hearts inspire active hands and feet…and wise minds. Isn’t that what we want need?

First 1/2 Highlights: [View the story “#DTSummit 2012 10:15 Storify” on Storify]

Second 1/2 Highlights: [View the story “#dtsummit12 Design Challenge (pm) Highlights” on Storify]

CHANGEd: What if…60-60-60 Project Explained

CHANGEd: What if we really examined our identity as schools? 60-60-60 #16

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Please make 23 minutes and 41 seconds to watch Bryan Stevenson’s TED talk: “We need to talk about an injustice.”

The opposite of poverty is not wealth. … In too many places, the opposite of poverty is justice.

Stevenson’s talk has me thinking almost constantly about why we are not more purposefully, more systemically, more deliberately re-examining our identity as schools. What is school for? Why are we not re-organizing more curriculum and experiences around such grand challenges of justice, fairness, inclusion,…. Through these lenses, we could practice literacies of many types, numeracy in context, social science, communication for authentic purpose. Young people have a wonderful sense of fairness. We should harness and educate this sense and make a stronger impact on our world…now.

As schools, we need to keep our eyes on the prize. The real prize.

CHANGEd: What if…60-60-60 Project Explained

[Sorry about the word count today. I failed BIG with 2x the word goal.]

CHANGEd: What if we offered courses in News and Studio Hall? 60-60-60 #15

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Most schools offer “History,” and many provide “Study Hall.” What if we offered “News?” Various points of entry for current events and modern journalism could be explored. By nature, the topic is transdisciplinary and PBL-rich. I can imagine weaving in every discipline. In “Studio Hall,” learners of all ages could use time to create, not just to complete (Study Hall’s focus).

CHANGEd: What if…60-60-60 Project Explained