Guerilla Educators

Chris Lehmann at CEFPI Philly

Just found this video in the Guerilla Educators archives.   Chris Lehman was the keynote speaker at the CEFPI Northeast Region Conference in the Spring of 2010.  I shot Chris' talk in its entirety with an iPod about the size of a stick of gum, hence the narrow format.  Amazing!  As usual, Chris hit it out of the park like a Ryan Howard home run.  Take a look...

Professional Developments for Educators

The Guerilla Educators Best Practices Professional Development for Educators and Educational Facilities Planners

Pedagogy  Practice  Planning Projects

Through the prism of our 12 Hallmarks of Effective Teaching and Learning, our presenters focus on giving participants the tools to create a Best Practices environment with their students and to implement Project Based methodologies to help improve educational and civic student outcomes. Our 1.5 Day training is hands-on, interactive, and customized to effectively address your specific educational needs.

The Hallmarks: 

• Fun 

• Project Based Learning

• Ownership

• Engagement

• Cooperative Teaching and Learning

• Citizenship

• Mastery of Curriculum

• Higher Order Thinking Skills

• Technology

• Leadership

• Personal Responsibility

• The Teachable Moment

    

 Call us at 215-510-2059 or email John Sole at tcherjohn@aol.com for more information.  We will customize a training to suit your specific needs.  Our workshops can also be tailored to your time constraints, from ½ Day to the full 2 Day experience.

Download the Guerilla Educatiors PD PDF, here Download GE BP PD

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CEFPI Southeast Region 2011 Conference

Arrived in beautiful downtown Savannah for the 2011 CEFPI Southeast Region Conference.  Presenting Monday morning on the topic, "Connecting Students, Teachers, and Curriculum Via Project Based Learning". This year 5 themes will guide the event:

Collaborate

Educate

Facilitate

Participate

Invigorate

Here is how the themes will be related to my topic:

*Collaborate - Educational Facilities Planners/Designers/Architects can demonstrate that their design processes, when used in collaboration with educators and students will have powerful circular ramifications on more effective school design and more effective teaching and learning.

*Educate - The session will educate the participants about what we believe to be a vastly under-utilized asset, i.e. how physical teaching and learning spaces are powerful resources for effective teaching and learning.

*Facilitate - Understanding the participatory and Community Based power of Project Based Learning will facilitate more effective design.

*Participate - There is a tremendous feeling of satisfaction for Educational Facilities Planners that comes with knowing that they are participating in the whole education of the students who are their end clients. This process encourages school architects to establish real-world, in-class Community Partnerships with their clients and see the positive effects their participation engenders.

*Invigorate - Imagine students coming into teaching and learning spaces excited about being there because of active hands-on Projects in which they are about to participate. Imagine educators and educational facilities planners being active participants in those Projects. Imagine more effective educational facilities design as a result of the school architect as teacher/learner. This is what the session will address.

See you in Savannah!

Best Practices in Elementary School Across the Grades

Teaching for Understanding Coordinator at MaST Community Charter School, Donna Sole, has created best practices "snapshots" throughout the elementary grades across a variety of disciplines and subject/content areas.  This is powerful affirmation that the MaST teachers whose students are in this presentation are innovative, energetic, and professionally care deeply about their young charges.  It's also a collegial celebration of successes and pulling together as a team to positively affect the lives of their students.  Good work, MaST!  Take a look...

Pets in the Classroom; Tamara

At a Public Charter School in Philadelphia over the weekend, it was necessary to unplug the filter of a 75 gallon fish tank.  Due to the inevitable and most unfortunate human error, the filter was not re-started as it should have been so this morning, when the teacher arrived, the big beautiful fish that have been a part of the culture of the school for years, except for the algae eater, were gone.  

Tamara is now a smart, happy 3rd grader at this school.  She has been a student there since kindergarten.  When she arrived at the school, Tamara was disruptive, violent, and uncommunicative.  By a series of good fortune, astute observation, and a caring educator, Tamara was given charge of making sure that the fish were well cared for, starting with feeding the first thing every morning.  That simple act of responsibility given to her in kindergarten and continuing to this day, helped transform this young lady from an asocial, belligerent child to, by dint of her consistent responsibilities with the school pets, a position of leadership.  Right about now, Tamara will be at the classroom door where the teacher will let her in and walk with her to the fish tank where there will be no fish to feed.  There will most likely be heartache and tears both on the part of both Tamara and the teacher as they commiserate over their mutual loss.  They will share this bond of sadness and then, if she is true to form, the educator will use this as a powerful "Teachable Moment" for Tamara.  There will be so many opportunities to explore and practically demonstrate how leaders act in situations like this.  There will be opportunities to use Higher Order Thinking Skills, and of course, there will be the necessity of determining next steps to lessen the impact of this tragedy on the student body, the faculty, and the admin team.  

My guess is that, before long the fish tank will be up and running with new fish in the tank and Tamara will get back into her routine of care and feeding, a little older, a good deal wiser, and farther along in her accidental development as a citizen/leader.