Synergy 8 is an interdisciplinary, non-departmentalized, non-graded, community-issues, problem-solving course for 8th graders at The Westminster Schools. Jill Gough and I co-created the course, and we co-facilitate it, as well. This morning, I posted a summary of our engagement in the “KP Challenge.” Today, we initiated the process of Game Planning – creating game plans to frame and scaffold just about any project work. Ms. Gough and I captured the beginnings of the game plans in a short, one-minute video:
Interestingly, we are using the same “Game Plan” framework with our adult teacher-leaders in our Junior High School PLCs (professional learning communities).[See an example here.]
The Synergy team is utilizing tools that are employed by the pedagogical leaders in our middle school. I find that parallelism so exciting!
Last week in Synergy 8, our team of 26 established and integrated our triad of foundational course-communication tools – Schoology, Posterous, and WordPress. After all, a learnopolis needs an infrastructure for advanced communication. Additionally, we began utilizing and practicing our #1 tool in Synergy – the observation journal. In the upcoming weeks, our team observations will allow us to develop projects of our choosing that address community needs about which we are curious…and about which we care.
This week, on Monday, August 29, we began Synergy with this short piece:
We wanted to use a compelling hook for enlisting the students in a prototypical project. By engaging this project as an “alpha project” for this semester’s Synergy 8 team, we could “learn by doing” within the context of a project – a project started by last year’s Synergy 8 crew. After watching the video, we coached the team through a process of determining methods and action steps for researching the perceived problem of keeping Malone Dining Hall clean. Based on the team’s gamestorming, we focused on four possible methods: 1) direct observation of Malone, 2) interviews with homerooms regarding KP, 3) interviews with Malone staff and director Robert Nash, 4) student body survey.
On Tuesday, we used Poll Everywhere to explore how we might operationalize our teams. Based on the results, we decided to jump into a “spontaneous lesson plan shift.” If we were playing football…we called an audible. We used the results to walk through eight mediated journal prompts created on the fly. We explored graphical analysis and numeracy, and we examined some misconceptions about what the Poll Everywhere data were telling us. The data revealed some teamwork issues, too, and the team members proposed solutions to the issues. We then implemented a solution and retook the Poll Everywhere survey.
Now, the Synergy 8 team is distributed in sub-teams, and we are working to develop the action steps needed to implement our community problem-solving. Before jumping in too deep, though, we paused to read Dan and Chip Heath’s Switch chapter on “Finding the Bright Spots.” We believe there is so much to learn from the example of Dr. Sternin and the Vietnamese-nutrition project. Now we plan to:
1. Enlist the community as partners in the problem-solving process, instead of swooping in and acting like we have all the answers.
2. Study the bright spots of what’s working and strategize how we can do more of that good stuff.
3. Empower the community to sustain the change needed to improve the situation.
Through this alpha project – the KP Challenge – we are addressing a serious community issue, we are bridging the work begun in Synergy 8 2010-11, and we are modeling a project process that can frame future projects that we undertake in Synergy 8. All the while, we are integrating content and skills that are typically distributed and segregated among various “departments.” We are engaged in a scientific process, we are collecting and analyzing data, we are discussing human psychology and sociology, we are drafting persuasive pieces and developing interview questions and protocols.
At the opening Junior High School faculty meeting, I shared that I would be referring to us (internally) as “JH 2.11.” Like version software, such as OS 10.6 or Windows 7, the Junior High School is adopting an internal nomenclature that will help us remember that we are striving to improve and grow. The “former version” was a strong product, but we can make it better. We can learn from our experience, we can enhance features and programs, we can grow and get better.
I first played with this “JH 2.11” idea during my spring 2011 sabbatical. While I served my sabbatical, I interned at Unboundary, a strategic design studio here in Atlanta, GA. At the company, they were deliberately working to move from Unboundary 6.0 to Unboundary 6.5. They talked about the business in this manner. Consequently, the culture was dynamic, not static. There was a fundamental understanding that the company would grow and improve to the next version of itself. Unboundary would learn from experience and get better. Simply being “Unboundary” was not good enough, and simply being the “Junior High School” is not good enough. A static name can unintentionally imply that the work of the company is static. A dynamic name generates a creative tension that can motivate a team to strive for closing a gap by walking a path of kaizen – continuous improvement.
What are the keys to embarking on such a walk of kaizen? In brief, the critical key is living in the growth mindset. More specifically, though, I recently read two blog posts from colleagues spread across the country – linked with me primarily through open social media. In these two posts, I think @L_Hilt and @jonathanemartin have hit upon some superb specifics about growing in our versions in an Education 2.0 world.
In our Westminster school motto, from Luke 2:52, we read, “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” May we strive to grow similarly.
At the start of every school year, the Junior High School details the community expectations of our Honor Code. One step in this detailing involves our Junior High Honor Council advisers reviewing the processes and protocols with the faculty. This year, because of an unexpected time constraint, we experienced less division-meeting time. Undaunted by this unanticipated time constraint, advisers Thomas and Fry employed their developing tech skills and leveraged their tech learning to produce the following (shared here with their permission)…[KUDOS to them! And how nice that I can share with others…including our parents!]
Good morning, wonderful faculty!
Mr. Fry and I, in addition to each of the 17 members of this year’s Honor Council are so excited to serve our community by helping preserve and uphold our Honor Code in the Junior High.
Our main goal is to EDUCATE and assist in the learning process, and we hope that we can begin by offering these few reminders to you in the enclosed video. We had planned on sharing face-to-face time with you during Monday’s Faculty Forum division meeting, but alas, time ran out.
And so, in the name of trying and learning something new, we hope this video can be a helpful reminder for both now and throughout the year.
You can either access it via youtube here:
You can also access a written version of these reminders, along with the video posted on my blog:
Please know we are always here for you and your students, and we anticipate a magnificent year ahead!
With love and thanks,
Carter Thomas and Adam Fry
In the upcoming days, our student-led Honor Council will present the Honor Code and community expectations to the entire student body. I know they are already working on a great presentation of their own!
Tomorrow illuminates another experiment involving social media in schools. Westminster is documenting our first day of school with Twitter! What a great way for a community to collaborate on communicating the thrill of DAY 1! [Click link below for details!]
The Junior High School may want/need to participate Wednesday and Thursday, August 17 and 18 – because of our schedule and additional thrill of the Apple 1:1 Initiative Roll-Out!
