#20PercentTuesday: Week 3 Reflections

Today marked week 3 of our 20% time / genius hour project.  The learning space was a buzz during my three 8th grade game design and development elective courses.  Kids are settling into the idea but it is still new to them so class starts with a bit of confusion until everyone is actively engaged in their project. I see this diminishing already and anticipate that over the next few weeks kids will come right in and get started without knowing whether or not I am even there :)

It's very interesting to truly put the learning in the students hands.  There is an inclination for students to want (dare I say expect) a lot of attention when they don't know exactly what to do.  The true humor (after the fact) comes in watching them fumble because they cannot figure out how to turn on the TV or set up the right input on the TV to connect to the device they are working with.  It literally took a pair of students 20 minutes (and a few hints from me although I was VERY stingy in giving assistance) to get the raspberry pi connected and showing up on one of the TVs in the room. Ultimately a third student came to their aid.  It was little things like the TV input, needing to take the HDMI cable out of the Xbox360 to use it with the pi, but the best was the fact that they tried to plug the mini usb into the Ethernet port in the raspberry pi and wondered why it wasn't powering up. This is one of those moments when you really want to help them but need to let go and embrace the learning that is taking place through the process.  After all, if these kids got a raspberry pi in the mail they would be sure to figure out how to get it hooked up at home without my assistance.

Some of the happenings around the room included students making progress with their watch it build it projects.  To get oriented to the chosen technology or tool, students were tasked with finding a tutorial (video or print) to guide them to use the tool to recreate something.  There were kids programming in project spark to get dragons to fight back if attacked by their player.  That was pretty cool to see!  Other kids were building worlds and racetracks in Disney Infinity.  Several teams using the raspberry pi (once they got it connected to the TV) were programming in python and celebrating the fruits of their labor.  Anyone who programs can attest to the fact that it is pretty gratifying to see "Hello, World" displayed on a screen when you were responsible for typing and executing the code.  Other students were working with MIT App Inventor, makeymakey, XCode, Twine, and a variety of other tools.

I'd like to close today's post with some responses to a reflection question posed to the kids.  When students were choosing the tool they would like to use, they were asked to respond to the question:

What do you think about the idea of extending your learning on your own in order to truly take learning into your own hands?

Most of the responses were great.  I will share some now and continue to sprinkle them in here and there through the year...

Extending learning on my own is important. It teaches students to be resourceful and test and look for solutions on their own. Taking learning into my own hands means that there are no guidelines I must follow, and it gives me lots of creative options to pursue as I learn on my own. There are lots of possibilities for learning when it is directed only by the creator's mind, and two people who both have similar ideas in the beginning may have different creative directions and different final products.

The idea of extending our learning on our own is exciting because then we can work at our own pace and not be held back or left behind.  

It is an interesting challenge. It requires you to be motivated. You will also need to be more creative than just following instructions.  

I think that doing so will help us learn responsibility and it will let us take things that truely interest us and will motivate us to continue working and give it our best effort.

I'll stop there for now.  I hope you are enjoying following along on our journey. I am a huge proponent of choice / passion based learning and see this project as a great opportunity to empower students in the process

#20PercentTuesday: Week 2 Reflections

It's Tuesday!  That means #20PercentTuesday in my Game Design and Development classes :)  It's interesting. I've done 20% Time in the past and it has generally been successful but this year there seems to be more of a buzz.  Perhaps I pitched it better last week when I introduced the idea.  Perhaps the catchy title "20PercentTuesday" is helping the cause.

Last week was mostly about students considering what topic or tool interested them.  They explored a blog post about the Empowering Learners in the Maker Age Donor's Choose grant I wrote a while back. Students could choose one of the cool technologies available thanks to the grant or pursue something outside of the products offered.  During class and the week that followed students completed a quest in 3dgamelab called: Play. Make. Learn: Empowering Learners in the Maker Age and submitting the quest involved responding to a few questions:

• Which product appeals to you most?
• What do you think you will consider creating using the tool chosen?
• What do you think about the idea of extending your learning on your own in order to truly take learning into your own hands?

I especially love the third question as it really requires that students reflect upon the process they are about to embark upon.  

Below are a number of responses I received .  Interested in more responses?  Here's a link to a google doc where I am compiling student reflections.  Kids are so insightful!  

Extending learning on my own is important. It teaches students to be resourceful and test and look for solutions on their own. Taking learning into my own hands means that there are no guidelines I must follow, and it gives me lots of creative options to pursue as I learn on my own. There are lots of possibilities for learning when it is directed only by the creator's mind, and two people who both have similar ideas in the beginning may have different creative directions and different final products.

The idea of extending our learning on our own is exciting because then we can work at our own pace and not be heldback or left behind.  

You can learn from experience. It's a thing. I learn better from experience, then from a person lecturing me for forty minutes. I really like the idea... and we might become famous from making an awesome game (hint, hint, me!) You can remember the same learning experience better doing it myself, because it's dug in my mind, and I won't forget it because it's an experience, not a lesson ~summernaru  

The rest of the responses are excellent as well.  I may bring more into the blog in the future, but please feel free to peruse them at your leisure.




I started each class period today with attendance and had students respond with the topic or tool they have selected for the project.  It was very interesting to see a shift where each class seemed to have a different personality evidenced by the choices.  In two of my 8th grade sections the majority chose Project Spark, Disney Infinity, with a few choosing to work with the raspberry pi.  This led to creating a schedule where students will each get a different day to work on their project to ensure that everyone had an opportunity to work with the product they chose.  In the second section of the course.  Interestingly, my period 6 group had very different ideas.  That group had students interested in working with MIT App Inventor, Twine and other tools to create text based adventures, the Oculus Rift, and MakeyMakey with a few people deferring to Project Spark and Disney Infinity.

After talking about the project they would work on students began to research tutorials to help them with the next step of learning the particular product or technology.  This got exciting as students found things like a mod to link the oculus rift to minecraft, ways to use google sketch up and Unity to create an area to explore in Virtual Reality, in addition to many different projects involving the wide variety of other tools.

Some students had already completed this step and started working directly with the technology.  It was exciting to see students get up and running with the raspberry pi and coding in python within minutes.  Likewise, students started to dig in to Project Spark and Disney Infinity with much enthusiasm.

This all sounds great and trust me, it is.  However, I should share a little more to paint the complete picture.  We are only in week 2.  There is still a bit of confusion and this is not an approach to learning students are accustomed to in school.  It can be messy and appear disorganized.  You quickly see how some students are incredibly independent and self driven and others require a lot more attention.  This will be part of the process and while it left my head spinning at times I believe it is an important growing pain to endure. I have a policy where students with questions must put their name on the board. They may want help immediately but I am only one person and prefer to give my undivided attention to each student as I am working with them.  This is not ideal for some students that want the answer and want it now.  Forgive me for saying so, but TOO BAD.  It's a great learning experience in what to do while waiting.  And waiting idly is never the answer.  My course is quest based.  Students waiting for help can continue to try to solve the problem (my preference) or can continue working on another quest until I can assist them. Again, part of the process.  I called this a growing pain because early in the project it certainly is.  I am willing to bet that in a few weeks students will walk in and get right to work and when they have a question they will put their name on the board and wait a little more patiently.  This is all part of the learning process.  My goal is that kids leave this experience with increased confidence that they truly can guide their own learning based on their interest.  The responses received by students indicate that they absolutely appreciate the idea.  Now we all just have to get used to it and make magic happen!

Thanks for joining us on this journey.  More to be revealed.

20%Tuesday!

I received an email from Valvoline with the subject, "Tuesdays just got 20% better!".  Somehow that stuck with me.   I had every intention of going to get a 20% off oil change today but that didn't actually happen.  However, today "20%Tuesday" was born!

Over the past few years I have provided students with the opportunity to engage in 20% time to pursue passion projects.  In fact, I had two Donor's Choose grants funded to support the project.  The project highlighted in the grants was called 'Empowering Learners in the Maker Age" and the items purchased included an Xbox One, Playstation 4 with Little Big Planet 3, Disney infinity, a number of MakeyMakeys, raspberry pi, the Ouya gaming console, and resources to support the use of some of these items. To make matters even better, our PTO was gracious enough to fund a wishlist grant for 3 large LCD TVs for presentation and game development.  My vision is to create a studio inspired learning space that feels more like a tech startup than a classroom.  My goal is to provide a variety of resources for my students to provide great choice and inspire them to drive the learning based on interest and passion.

We hadn't officially started the 20% time idea yet this year and the email from Valvoline made me realize that I couldn't wait any longer.  20%Tuesday would start today!

I spent some time introducing the idea.  I shared how google popularized the idea of 20% time, but credit really should go to 3M.  Who knew the Post-it note was the product of an early company's understanding the value of giving employees the opportunity to explore innovative ideas.

In 1974, 3M scientist Art Fry came up with a clever invention. He thought if he could apply an adhesive (dreamed up by colleague Spencer Silver several years earlier) to the back of a piece of paper, he could create the perfect bookmark, one that kept place in his church hymnal. He called it the Post-It Note. Read more about 3M and 20% time. 

The conversation with my students continued to discuss some of google's products and how 20% time is part of their work culture.  We talked about google glass, google cardboard, gmail, google expeditions and more.

I shared some examples of projects students have completed in the past.  You can find many of them on our class youtube channel.

As I explained the project eyes started to light up.  Questions started to come at me.  Can I create an MMORPG? Can I use the raspberry pi? If I make an app can I sell it and make money? Can I create a visual novel? The questions kept coming.  The answer was essentially the same.  Yes, accompanied by the caveat that I did not claim to know how or where to start.

So, how will the 20% time project work?  My class is quest based and there is a quest line based on the Empowering Learners theme.  Students will start by reading a blog post about the donor's choose grants and the idea behind the project.  They then consider what they would like to pursue for their passion project.  Students respond to the first quest with a general idea regarding what they would like to work with and how they feel about the learning being put in the students' hands.  I am big on reflection and want the kids to consider why (or even if) they see this as a valuable proposition.

Next, student are tasked with a 'watch it build it' quest where they search for resources (tutorials, etc.) that teach how to use the product, tool, or technique they have chosen.  They share the tutorial that they plan to recreate and this provides them with an opportunity to seek out and start the learning on their own.

After completing the watch it build it activity, students decide on an original project they want to complete and write a design plan to share their vision.  Then it's time to create their original project.  It's pretty awesome to see kids follow their interest when it comes to learning.  Recently, I have become increasingly excited about the idea of passion driven learning and leveraging how kids really learn and allowing their interest to drive the process.  I hope you share in my enthusiasm.

Passion Driven Learning

I am excited and honored to have been asked to deliver the keynote address on August 7  at the 9th annual Games in Education Symposium at Tech Valley High School in Albany, NY.  This has grown to become one of my favorite conferences to attend.  The conference is free for educators and brings together a dynamic group of presenters who are doing amazing things in the Game-Based Learning space.  

For my keynote, I will be talking about the power of passion driven learning.  Personally, I am extremely passionate about creating learning opportunities for my students and learning with them.  Over my career I have been fortunate enough to receive the support I have needed to develop a Game Design and Development program at William Annin Middle School in Basking Ridge, NJ.  I love my job!  One of the most exciting things about what I do relates to the fact that it draws so well on student passion.  Kids spend a lot of time playing games.  When given the opportunity to create their own games and have choice in their learning path they certainly thrive.  

My favorite quote, by William Butler Yeats, "Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire" speaks directly to my mission as an educator.  My goal is to help students find their passion and take ownership of their learning.  

I am passionate about Passion Driven Learning.  As I have been on my journey I have been inspired by so many people in my learning network.  Being a connected educator has put me in touch with so many amazing people and the common thread is that they all bring their passion to their work (and life) and seek to bring out the passion in their students.  

My feeling is such that large scale educational reform seems daunting, but we all have the ability to lead with and encourage passion driven learning.  We can provide opportunities for our students to find what truly excites them and use that to drive learning.  

My approach to this presentation is to bring in the great work of all those that inspire me and embody this idea of passion driven learning.  I would like to crowd-source my presentation and share the wonderful work you and your students are passionate about.  So, here's my challenge to you!

Please share information that I can include in order to represent your wonderful work in my presentation.  This could include quotes, images, short video clips, student work, etc.  I will include what I can by providing a slide dedicated to you and / or your students.  I definitely want student and teacher voice to be at the forefront of my session.  Feel free to add your ideas as comments here, email them to me (stevei2071@gmail.com) or better yet, tweet them with the hashtag #PassionEDU.  Here is a chance for us to celebrate the wonderful work we do and the ways we truly impact student learning through choice and encouraging students to find their way.

My #ISTE2015 Guide

It's that time of year!  ISTE is right around the corner.  I'm super excited about all of the activities I'll be involved with.  This post should serve two purposes.  First off, it will serve as my guide so that I know where I need to be throughout the week.  If you see my wandering around aimlessly, please send me a link to this post :)  In addition, it will provide insight to the super cool panels, meetups, and events I'll be involved with.  I hope to connect with you in Philly!

Friday, June 26
I start my pre-ISTE Experience on Friday as I will be presenting at the Tomorrow's Classrooms Today conference being put on by the Evolving Educators Group.

I'm excited to present a session on Quest Based Learning: Encouraging Passion Through Student Choice.  Providing opportunities for students to pave their learning path is at the core of my philosophy on teaching and learning.  There will be so many other great presenters at the event.  I'm excited to connect with many people from my power house PLN.

Saturday, June 27

My lovely wife, Cathy (@catc937092) and I will be settling in on Saturday as we try to charge our batteries for what's sure to be an action packed, non-stop 4 days to follow.  I'm intrigued by the fact that the Tall Ships festival is in town.  Might have to check that out.  

Sunday, June 28

6:00 - 7:00 am CoffeeEdu with Alice Keeler - Join a passionate group of educators for your morning coffee and edu-awesome conversation. CoffeeEdu is the ultimate unconference. One Hour.
Great way to start the day!
Starbucks | 1500 Market Street #465, Philadelphia, PA

11:00 am - 1:00 pm: Games4Ed Meeting
In January, the Games4Ed Initiative was officially launched. The group is comprised of stakeholders from all areas related to games in education (educators, developers, publishers, policy makers, researchers, etc.) .  The overarching goal is to overcome barriers and facilitate the process of getting games into the classroom.  You will be hearing a lot about our work in the coming months.  I am the project lead for the Pilot Programs and Research group.  If you'd like to get involved in one of the working groups, please complete the Games4Ed Interest Form.

1:30 - 3:00 pm: Opening Ignite Sessions | Philadelphia Convention Center Hall A
14 presenters | 5 minutes each | 20 slides
Looking forward to hearing from Ben Gallagher, Bill Bass, Brittany Bannister, Chris Tumbull, Christy Fennewald, Doug Timm,  Hannah Weitzer, Jonathan Spike, Akaren Lireman, Marily Carr, Michael Luetjen, Pernille Ripp, Rafranz Davis (yes, I'm a fan!),  Robert Dillon, and Shirley Campbell.

3:00 - 4:00 pm MineCraft focus group
I am excited to meet with folks to talk about the future of MineCraft in education.  It's an honor and a privilege to be part of these important discussions as Microsoft works to continue to provide (and expand upon) the great learning opportunities minecraft brings to students in and out of school.

5:45 pm - 7:00 pm Opening Keynote: Soledad O'Brien 
All I can say is that I hope her address is more relevant than Ashley Judd's (sorry, couldn't resist) was and kicks off the conference in style.

7:00 pm - ??? Barenaked Ladies, Violent Femmes, and Colin Hay at the MANN
This show happens to be in Philly on the opening night of ISTE.  Should be a good time!

Monday,  June 29

6:00 - 7:00 am CoffeeEdu with Alice Keeler - Join a passionate group of educators for your morning coffee and edu-awesome conversation.  CoffeeEdu is the ultimate unconference. One Hour.
Great way to start the day!
Starbucks | 1500 Market Street #465, Philadelphia, PA


11:00 am - 12:00 pm Integrating Commercially Successful Games in the Classroom | PCC 125
I will be presenting with Justin Eames, Paul Darvasi on the topic of using AAA titles in the classroom.  We'll certainly be talking about games like Minecraft, Portal 2, Gone Home, Little Big Planet 3, and others.

2:30 - 4:15 pm EdTekTalks | PCC Terrace Ballrooms I/II

Excited to see the mini-keynotes presented Ted Talk Style by Adam Braun, Amy O'Toole, Annie Griffiths, Hadi Partovi (yep, I'm a fan!),  Sergei Lupashin

I attended this session at #ISTE14 in Atlanta and it was probably the highlight of the conference.

5:30 - 6:45 pm Birds of a Feather Twitter Chat Moderators | PCC Level 3 Overlook
Birds of a Feather Meetup and Learning session with Twitter Chat moderators / representatives.
We will network, share tips and tricks as well as have a few guest speakers.

6:30 - 9:30 pm ISTE Games and Simulation Network LAN Party! | Marriott Room 307
Join folks from the Games and Sim Network for some gaming.  I am sure there will be some WoW, MineCraft, and so much more.  I think Matt Farber is even setting up a mobile makerspace for the event!

7:00 pm - ??? Can't wait to meet all my #BFC530 buddies face to face.  I am pretty sure there will be a lot of hugs!!!!

Tuesday, June 30

6:00 - 7:00 am CoffeeEdu with Alice Keeler - Join a passionate group of educators for your morning coffee and edu-awesome conversation. CoffeeEdu is the ultimate unconference. One Hour.
Great way to start the day!
Starbucks | 1500 Market Street #465, Philadelphia, PA

10:30 - 11:30 am Introduction to Minecraft Hands-on workshop | PCC 203

Come learn about the game your students are buzzing about!  In this hands-on workshop designed by teachers, you'll walk away with a command of basic Minecraft gameplay and inspiration from amazing Minecraft projects created around the world.  No prior experience is required.

I will be assisting with this and a number of other Microsoft sponsored Minecraft workshops.

12:30 - 2:00 pm STEM and Coding with Minecraft | PCC 203

Come learn how Minecraft can be a fun, effective way to teach STEM and coding skills.  In this hands-on workshop designed by teachers, you'l walk away with an understanding of Redstone, modding, and simple STEM lesson plans.  Basic Minecraft proficiency or completion of Intro to Minecraft workshop is required.

I will be assisting Sarah Guthals from ThoughtStem (check out http://www.learntomod.com)

2:00 - 5:30 pm ISTE Games and Simulation Network Playground | PCC Level 3 Overlook

The ISTE Games and Simulation Network has an exciting set of activities planned for the playground including tables to explore and experts to speak with about Virtual Reality, Interactive Fiction, Game Design and Coding, Minecraft, The Virtual Education Journal, The Ready, Player One Book Club, and a reading by Greg Toppo, author of "The Game Believes in You". 

5:30 - 6:30 pm Students, Teachers, and Entrepreneurs: Testing EdTech Together | PCC 111

This Birds of a Feather meetup / networking session is being hosted by my EdTechBridge partner Katya Hott.  It is a great opportunity for people interested in connecting with other edtech stakeholders to develop relationships that can lead to working partnerships.  This will be the official #ISTE2015 #EdTechBridge Meetup

Wednesday,  July 1

6:00 - 7:00 am CoffeeEdu with Alice Keeler - Join a passionate group of educators for your morning coffee and edu-awesome conversation.  CoffeeEdu is the ultimate unconference. One Hour.  Great way to start the day!
Starbucks | 1500 Market Street #465, Philadelphia, PA

8:30 - 9:30 am Breaking Down the Classroom Walls: Creating Space for Student Learning| PCC113a

When passion drives the learning, students flourish.  There are many opportunities to expand our ideas of how earning with technology can look.  From game design to an entrepreneurial club, we share multiple examples of how we've successfully redefined technology learning with our students.  

Mark Suter, Marianne Malmstrom, Lisa Castaneda, Steven Isaacs (there I am again!)

11:00 am - 12:30 pm STEM and Coding with Minecraft | PCC 203

Come learn how Minecraft can be a fun, effective way to teach STEM and coding skills.  In this hands-on workshop designed by teachers, you'l walk away with an understanding of Redstone, modding, and simple STEM lesson plans.  Basic Minecraft proficiency or completion of Intro to Minecraft workshop is required.

I will be assisting Sarah Guthals from ThoughtStem (check out http://www.learntomod.com)

1:15 - 2:15 pm Games and Learning: Filling Gaps in Education | PCC 110

Brigning games into the classroom can help fulfill many educational needs like new types of assessment, socio-emotional learning, System thinking, and STEM skills.  In this session, Chris Avilles, Erik Martin, Joel Levin, Deirdre Quarnstrom and Steve Isaacs (that's me!) will be sharing thoughts on this timely topic.

So, as you can see I'll be pretty busy at #ISTE2015.  I am so excited to connect with people at my panels, minecraft sessions, meetups, etc.  Please follow me and #FindMeAtISTE - The best part about conferences is the interactions with people.  I hope we can connect.

Beta Testing Eco: Design Thinking in Action

Screenshot of the gameplay in Eco.  Here the player is trying to hunt a wolf that is wandering the land.

My students were invited to beta test the game Eco, currently in development by StrangeLoop Games.  Eco is a sandbox game with some definite similarities to Minecraft, but with a definite focus on maintaining a sustainable environment.  Players hunt for meat, chop trees for wood, and plant and harvest crops.  All activity is tracked and players can quickly generate graphs to show the impact of their actions in the game.  Resources are clearly limited and maintaining the proper balance takes collaboration and cooperation.  Essentially, everyone in the game is playing together in an attempt to meet the winning condition based on challenges posed by the game.  A very interesting mechanic in the game is that players can propose and vote on laws.  Once laws are adopted, the gameplay adjusts to the laws.  For instance, if a deforestation law were put in place to limit the amount of trees that can be chopped down in a given timeframe, this will be reflected in the game, limiting players actions.

Here is a screenshot that provides an idea of the winning scenario:

This served as a great discussion starter in class today.  If you notice, there are 4.8 days left to complete the goals outlined and win the game.  Marked by the red arrow is the fact that in order to win we can only allow 1 animal to become extinct but currently we have 2 extinct animals.  When I realized this, I asked my students what this meant for the current game.  After a little thought they realized that we could no longer meet the winning conditions.  The students are in my game design and development course. I asked them to comment on this from a game design standpoint.  Students realized that it would present a problem for players who are playing the game as they realize there is no way that they could win.  So the discussion began.  Since we are beta testing the game, one of the activities my students have is to provide bug reports and suggestions for the further development of the game.  I asked students to start to think of possible suggestions based on the dilemma we were now faced with.  Here are some ideas that students came up with:

• Breed a new species of animal. This is an interesting idea, but even if this were possible in the game, we still exceeded the number of extinct animals so this wouldn't help the current issue.
• Reproduce animals that were extinct - well, this brought us to an interesting discussion of what extinction meant.
• Set something up in the game where it automatically resets if the game cannot be won.

This led to further discussion of how this issue could have been averted.  Students (as well as myself and a co-teacher) came up with additional ideas which would be exciting additions to the game:

• Pose warning when animals get close to extinction.
• Add a news feed to the game that provided headlines and articles about the declining population of certain species and the impact this would have.
• Include a visible estimate (it was brought up that providing a number of remaining animals of a particular species is not realistic) of how many of a particular animal remain in existence so players can act accordingly.
• Include an economy of sorts where prices fluctuate based on availability of resources - that sure would alter the moral aspect of gameplay!

The discussion quickly branched off to the discussion of what should happen related to the laws in the game.  Currently, if there is a law that you can only chop a certain number of trees, the player becomes unable to chop trees once the threshold is met.  This raised the discussion about how realistic it is to go up to a tree and try to chop it but not be able simply because of a law.  We started to discuss how this should be handled in the game.  Students came up with some great suggestions:

• When a player is in violation of a law their name shows in the game in red so that other players can turn them in.
• Include a system of consequences for breaking laws.

The discussion continued and will certainly continue.  As a teacher of game design and development this served a very valuable purpose.  My students participated actively in the brainstorming of ideas to incorporate in this game which got their mind going in terms of game mechanics, game design elements, etc. in a very authentic manner.  We will continue to play Eco and I hope that our contributions are valuable to the development team.  I already see how valuable the learning has been for my students.

If I were to design a high school program...

This morning I was working out at the gym watching "The Guild" (can't believe I'm only just starting to watch, but that's a story for another time) on Netflix and a twitter notification came up on my iPad.  It was a tweet from Sujata Bhatt.  

I've met Sujata on several occasions and of course thanks to Social Media, she's always only a tweet or email away. Sujata was trusted (for good reason!) with the enormous task of creating the Incubator school several years ago.   I met her during the year leading up to the opening of the school.  It was very exciting to hear the wonderful ideas and vision for the school.  The mission of the incubator school is simply stated...

I find it especially interesting that this was the mission of what started as a middle school (grades 7 and 8).  Now they are adding grade 6 and 9. I love the idea of starting this entrepreneurial mindset in middle school.  The vision (in my opinion) is nothing short of brilliant...

To say that the vision is entirely in line with my vision of education would be an understatement.  So, with that said (and I could go on and on), let me get to my point of sharing my ideas for a high school program with Sujata (and now with you as well).

Our school district (Bernards Township Public Schools) has been talking about creating a STEAM program in middle and high school (with plans of bringing the ideas to the elementary school as well).  The ideas I outline below are primarily my own, but based on our recent STEAM committee meeting I will certainly be blending ideas that our district is considering.

I love the Academy model.  My daughter is currently attending a half day program at our county Vo-Tech program.  She is in the culinary program.  Vo-Tech has had it's struggles over the years as it has often been perceived as a program for kids who may be underperforming.  There, let's see the elephant.  However, i believe the model is so wise and should be experienced by all students.  Vo-Tech allows students to pursue an area of interest in an authentic environment.  

Creating an Authentic Learning Environment

I think that it is time to throw away the model where learning takes place in 40 minute segments, 8 or 9 periods a day with some reinforcement taking place in the form of homework.  This is counter to how I (dare I say we) learn.  For those of you who have followed any of my work, I continually speak about the Studio Environment I try to create for my students.  I am still confined to the 40 minute class model, but by providing choice in learning through a quest based program I have seen my students break free from learning only when they are with me.  In fact, even when they are with me, much of their learning takes place without my instruction.  

Learning Spaces vs. Classrooms

If I were tasked with creating a school program (or a school for that matter), learning spaces would be at the center of the physical plant planning.  A classroom with desks in rows and the teacher in the front of the room.  Puh-lease!  In the sixties they tried to create something akin to learning spaces through an open floor plan.  Sadly, when you visit most of these spaces you will say how the file cabinets, bookshelves, etc have been used to break the spaces back up into what looks more like a traditional classroom.  Perhaps the idea was ahead of it's time but also didn't quite meet the true needs of a learning space.  The idea was to foster large group learning and interdisciplinary study.  Not a bad idea, but clearly there were issues.  We can learn from this.  In an academy situation, the learning spaces would be more aligned to the learning themes.  My vision would be to have large spaces that create the studio environment I talk about. Resources should be available for students to utilize for project / problem based learning tasks.  I will touch more on this in context...

Production, production, production, and embracing failure!

Students need to be creators, not consumers of content.  Well, there is much great content that they should be consuming, but only when done so in context.  Have you ever watched a kid learn outside of school?  As a parent of two girls, I have been amazed to see how my daughters go right to youtube to learn how to do things and then proceed by creating original projects only to return to youtube to share their newfound knowledge.  I teach video game design and development.  My students are ALWAYS creating.  If I can quote President Obama, leading up to Computer Science Education Week last year he said, "Don't just buy another video game, Make one!"  Music to my ears.  With this in mind, we need to tap into student passion.  Students should be encouraged to pursue their interests.  We can tie this into the curriculum and meet learning goals through the process.  As for failure, I was glad to see that the Incubator School vision includes "generate fresh ideas, collaborate, tinker, text, execute and learn from their mistakes."  This statement really gets to the heart of learning from failure without using the word failure :)  

The learning environment, as I envision it would have a beautiful space with technology, related resources, equipment, etc.  I believe it would be very important to showcase the work through the production of video and images throughout the projects.  The process should be documented by students in an audio / visual diary which can be shared in parts of it's entirety.

Co-Learning

Another philosophy on teaching and learning that I am committed to is the idea of being a co-learner with our students.  I believe that one of the primary goals of education is to teach students how to learn.  How better than to allow students to see us in the role of learner.   I LOVE to learn.  I am always learning.  I love when my students come up with a problem that I don't know the answer to and we can conference regarding possible solutions and we can engage in learning together.  

Creating and nurturing a community of learners

I am a firm believer that schools should be at the center of the community.  Students should want to spend time at school.  Schools should be open to students after the last bell has rung (that's if we have the need to have bells at all, but you get the idea).  Community members should be stakeholders in the school and the school community should be stakeholders in the community.  The incubator is all about entrepreneurship so it would only make sense for the school to reach out and provide services for businesses and members of the community.  Community members should be clients and should feel invested in the school community (and vice versa).

Celebrating all Stakeholders

Another critical piece is to make sure that good work, effort, thinking, etc. is celebrated. In order to create a truly engaging and inspiring learning environment it is important to recognize all stakeholders.  Often this piece is overlooked, but as my #ECET2 and connected educator friends know, it really should be at the center!

So, Sujata, to answer your question... I envision (as you mentioned) strands that allow students to choose an area of study, thus creating a number of schools within the school.  I love the idea of students being involved in the leading of the school.  This can be achieved through the design of their own projects.  Collaboration should be at the core.  Students should be able to find their niche within a project area.  In my class, students often come to find that they prefer graphic design or sound engineering over the game programming.  This can work out perfectly and if this helps a student find their passion, I say YAY!  The learning space is so important. The space should include availability of a wide variety of resources and when those resources are not available there should be an opportunity for students and teachers to be creative in terms of reaching out to the community.  I hope you find some of my ideas to be in line with yours (I have a feeling you will).  Your tweets inspired me to put many of my thoughts in words.  Thank you for that.