Guerilla Educators

The Language of School Design; Design Patterns for the 21st Century

We recently received the revised edition of "The Language of School Design; Design Patterns for the 21st Century, by Prakash Nair, Randall Fielding, and Jeffery Lackney.  WOW!  My concern was that you would somehow lose the simplicity of the Design Patterns that I think was one of the hallmarks of the first edition.  This straightforward explication of the Design Patterns is what made the book not only a resource for edfacs but for educators as well.  The 2nd edition maintains that universal relevance and the illustrations enhances the patterns very nicely.  Bravo! ...and thanks, guys.  Here is a short video of Randy explaining the design patterns to a group in Regina, Saskatchewan.

Project Based Learning Quick Start Guide

Based on the many Project Based Service Learning Professional Developments Guerilla Educators conducts, it has been apparent for some time that educators need a "Quick Start" reference guide about how to begin the process of using projects with their students.  To that end, I have developed this guide...

Project Steps

 Brainstorming:

• What type of project do you want to conduct with your students?
  
• Why (rationale)
• Will you be collaborating with other teachers in, or out of your school?

 Project Goals:

• What do you want to accomplish with your students?
• How will you get there?
• How will students participate in the creation of Project Goals?

 Essential Questions:

• Take a real-world topic and begin an in-depth investigation.
• Base your question on an authentic situation or topic. What is happening in your classroom?  In your community?
• Select a question about an issue that students will believe, by answering, they are having an impact on. Make it relevant for them.
• The question should be a "now" question -- a question that has meaning in your students' lives.

 Curriculum Connections:

• What curricular areas can be addressed based on the project theme and activities? 
• Project activities can and should be synchronized to curricular objectives.
• Build planning time in to address curriculum connections.   

 Community Partnerships/Resources:

• Which community organization(s) can help you with your project?
• In what ways will the Community Partners model good citizenship/leadership?
• What resources do you need to see the project through to completion?
• Will project related class trips be taken?

 Project Timeline

• Overall length of time
• Time per week
• Weekly Schedule

 Project Activities:

• Planned to achieve overall project objectives.
• Connected to grade appropriate curricular objectives.
• to achieve proficiency in standards and curriculum across at least 2 subject areas.
• FUN!

 Benchmarks:

• Set clear time referenced deadlines for each task and/or product.
• Should be scaffolds to build on previously achieved objectives towards success of the project.
•  Help build the frameworks and parameters in which the project can take place

 Reflection/Journals:

• Student journals will offer students the opportunity to continuously reflect and assess their progress toward completion of the project.
• Teachers can use student journals as valuable assessment tools.
• Offer students the opportunity to learn from the strategies that did and, perhaps more importantly, did not work to achieve project objectives.

 Assessment/Rubrics:

• An effective assessment program uses multiple strategies to demonstrate growth and performance, and should be closely correlated to your stated goals. Projects in which students create multimedia presentations, Web pages, artwork or songs may be evaluated differently than traditional written, typed, or even word-processed papers. Assessment strategies can include performance tasks, teacher observations, personal communications, standardized testing, and student and teacher developed evaluation rubrics, and others.
• Rubrics are an effective assessment and evaluation tool used for PBL. 
• Rubrics allow students to be involved in their creation, which creates buy-in and clarifies expectations all around.
  

Reporting Out/Celebration – Students will report out to peers, school staff, and the larger community:

•  What they learned.
• How they addressed the problems or issues.
• Their final products.

The students will be celebrated and recognized for their important work!

Barack Obama Green Charter High School

The Barack Obama Green Charter High School, located in Plainfield, New Jersey and scheduled to open its doors in September, 2010, will be that state's first high school that will be driven by sustainable, "green" real-world concerns.  Using the Project Based Learning methodology as the primary teaching and learning strategy available in the pedagogical toolbox, students will achieve curricular and social proficiencies while addressing the critical issues of sustainability which affect their neighborhood, the nation, and the world.  With world class Community Partners, students will conduct "hands on" projects in areas like sustainable design, green architecture, alternative energy, and water quality.  Students will not only get a first rate education at Barack Obama Green Charter High School, they will also become the leadership cadre at the forefront of sustainability.   

Guerilla Educators is proud to be a part of this unique educational initiative by providing professional consulting services to assist across a wide range of education related issues.

Guerilla Educators Consulting Services

Below is a partial list of clients who have employed the expertise of Guerilla Educators Consulting Services to advance their architectural design and/or educational programs:

• American Institute of Architects
• The School District of Philadelphia
• Council of Educational Facilities Planners International
• Delaware Valley Green Building Council
• SchraderGroup Architects
• Fielding Nair International
• Philadelphia University
• District of Columbia Public School System
  
• Milwaukee School District
• Alliance to Save Energy
• York Suburban School District
• University of Wisconsin
• Environmental Protection Agency
• Education Environment Planning Consultants
• Regina Board of Education
• Philadelphia Zoo
• Re:Vision Architecture
• Wallace Roberts & Todd Design
• LOTI (Levels of Technology Integration)
• IQity
• Journal of Teacher Education
• Edutopia
  
• Barack Obama Green Charter High School
• MaST Community (Math, Science, and Technology) Charter School
• Friendship Public Charter Schools
  

Call us today at, 215-510-2059 to see how we can help you!

3 Questions About Project Based Learning (updated)

We here at Guerilla Educators are consistently asked 3 basic questions about the Project Based Learning methodology:

• What is Project Based Learning?

• How can educators use projects to assess mastery of curriculum?

• Where can research data be found to confirm (or deny) the effectiveness of PBL as a successful pedgogical strategy with students?

To answer these questions, we turn to the great online education magazine, "Edutopia", for assistance: 

• What is PBL?
  

In the article, "Why Teach with Project Learning?" an article by the Edutopia editorial staff defines PBL like this; Project learning, also known as project-based learning, is a dynamic approach to teaching in which students explore real-world problems and challenges, simultaneously developing cross-curriculum skills while working in small collaborative groups. 
To this definition, we would add that the incorporation of a Service component (i.e. Service learning) with Community Partnerships into projects models what good citizenship looks like and is a crucial element in the Project-Based teaching and learning.

• How can educators use projects to assess mastery of curriculum?

To learn about how projects can be used to assess student academic progress, take a look at Eeva Reeder's students at Mountlake Terrace High School, near Seattle, Washington. 
In our view, a project's success ultimately has value to the extent that it can advance students towards mastery across a range of curricula and that this progress can be assessed.

• Where can research data be found to confirm (or deny) the effectiveness of PBL as a successful pedgogical strategy with students?

A great place to begin investigating the growing body of research that supports the use of projects with students can be found in the Edutopia article, "PBL Research Summary: Studies Validate Project Based Learning".

Guerilla Educators is the best global resource available to see Project Based and Service Learning in action.

Service Learning Video Compilation

This video is a Project Based Service Learning compilation of 5 world class projects conducted by students across a variety of grade levels at 4 public schools in Philadelphia.  The thread running through the projects in this film is that they are all centered around various aspects of green, sustainable themes and activities.  You will witness in about 10 compelling minutes, projects which have taken over 200 hours to complete, from planning through to reporting out/celebration.  Take a look...

These projects, in total, authentically delineate many of the 9 Hallmarks of Effective Teaching and Learning and demonstrate some of the reasons that PBSL is the most effective pedagogical strategy for ALL students to achieve at rigorous levels.

Rap at Scott Collegiate

The grand finale of the first Scott Collegiate Dinner Theater was an original rap called "So Far, So Good." The song is about life in what Macleans Magazine called "Canada's Worst Neighbourhood." The song was written by three students at Scott in response to their home's dubious (and inaccurate) "claim to fame". Take a look...

Canadian Idol's Farley Flex was at Scott Collegiate recently to assist Scott Principal Mr. Rod Allen, students and teachers in a hands-on, project based educational initiative beginning in the '08-'09 school year called "Project Hip Hop".   Read all about it in the Regina Leader Post.  Click here to go to the Scott Hip Hip blog.

To see other student created hip hop videos, take a look at this...

Extending the Vision in Regina, Saskatchewan

The Fielding Nair International design team returned to the beautiful city of Regina, in Saskatchewan, Canada to continue working with the Steering Committee there to assist in the re-design of the community of North Central.  This video documents our meeting in April, '08 that continues to refine the vision for the project.  Take a look...

As part of the design team focused on the educational aspects of the North Central project, we here at Guerilla Educators address the incredible opportunities that the re-design will have on the neighborhood by an exercise in imagining.  The list below, in no particular order, is a synthesis  of outcomes developed after listening to and working with the North Central Shared Facility Steering Committee.

Imagine…

•    Imagine teaching and learning spaces that connect directly and authentically to the community. 
•    Where students learn by addressing real-world issues that are important to them in a variety of ways. 
•    Where they have ownership in their educational processes. 
•    Where they are engaged, invested, and interested in what and how they learn. 
•    Where they achieve mastery of grade appropriate curricular objectives across a variety of disciplines. 
•    Where daily attendance and participation at their Personalized Learning Communities becomes a vital part of the student’s day (rather than the opposite being true). 
•    Where their Service Learning projects allow them to see citizenship/leadership modeled from their world-class Community Partners.
•    Where development of good citizenship skills is part of the fabric of teaching and learning and becomes critical to the long term, real-life success of our students. 
•    Where these civic skills enhance and give greater depth, context and meaning to student mastery of curriculum and standards. 
•    Where students who are working cooperatively to successfully realize the goals of a project are more inclined to negotiate with their peers and make persuasive arguments to get their point of view adopted by the group.
•     Where the cooperative nature of small groups working together for successful completion of the project has an extremely positive effect on the classroom climate and where behavior issues are significantly mitigated. 
•    Where students are motivated to succeed. 
•    Where critical thinking, hypothesis, trial and error, and extension of learning become commonplace pedagogical strategies.
•    Where teaching and learning happens in a safe, nurturing environment in the midst of a vital, active community.
•    Where law enforcement is perceived as a vital community asset and students are mentored by police officers.
•    Where the rich diversity of cultures, including First Nations, Meti, and European are mutually respected and cooperatively enhance, reinforce, and inform teaching, learning, and citizenship development in our students.
•    Where all of the Community Partners in the Shared Facility work together for the greater good and improvement in the quality of life of North Central.
•    Where technology (the no.2 pencil of the 21st century) is suffused throughout all teaching and learning initiatives.
•    Where ALL learners are expected to demonstrate proficiency at rigorous levels of literacy and numeracy –no excuses- and teachers have the resources and professional training to guide them in achieving mastery of those skills.
•    Where Business, Industry, and Government sectors actively seek out our graduates for leadership positions based on their Project Based Service Learning experiences in high school.

Now it's your turn!

Just imagine...

Discovery Report; Scott Collegiate High School

In September, 2007 a team from Fielding Nair International led a series of Discovery Workshops at Scott Collegiate High School in the North Central community of Regina, Saskatchewan (Download Scott_Discovery_Report.pdf).  Guerilla Educators Founder, John Sole is part of the FNI team.
The workshops consisted of a half day on site tours with school administrators, students, and North Central community partners.  The Shared Vision that came from the September workshops deal with more effectively serving the present and future needs of Scott Collegiate's students within the realities of the North Central neighborhood.  Scott's central role was affirmed within the larger context of a more inclusive community design which consists of increased community integration and participation, focused resources delivery for the Scott Collegiate family, and public health services to include physician care, midwifery, mental health and addiction services and other community outreach programs.  The consensus Essential Question that emerged from these sessions can be framed in the following way; "What does "school" mean within the rich context of an engaged and integrated community facility".  The FNI team will return to Regina in mid April, 2008 to continue dialogue and focus with the various Community Partners in North Central to prepare for an action plan going forward.

The 6 Thinking Hats

In this video, Randy Fielding uses Edward de Bono's "6 Thinking Hats" with the stakeholders in Regina, Saskatchewan as they work through  the processes of transforming the way they teach and learn in the Regina School District.  Take a look...

Contact us here at Guerilla Educators for cutting edge Educational Facilities Design Solutions that work. We'll work with you every step of the way.