GUERILLA EDUCATORS IS DEDICATED TO REALTIME EDUCATIONAL BEST PRACTICES IN ACTION. WE ARE A GLOBAL LEADER IN THE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF EFFECTIVE PROJECT BASED LEARNING ON THE FRONTLINES IN AND OUT OF CLASSROOMS. WE ALSO CONNECT EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES PLANNERS WITH THE TEACHERS/LEARNERS WHO USE THOSE SPACES.
As part of Fielding Nair International's 21st Century Schools initiative in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, FNI educators Chris Hazleton and John Sole were privileged to visit the Isidro Sanchez High School in the beautiful city of Luquillo. The high school has undergone major renovations designed to enhance teaching and learning. With Mr. Angel Gonzalez, Deputy Director of the Public Private Partnership Bank, we were hosted by Sanchez Principal, Ms MaryAnne Maldonado. At the time of this post, the school is about 2 weeks from completed construction of all re-design work. Take a look...
Click on the link to see a video of Rafael Cordero Elemental, another FNI designed 21st century school, in Catano, just outside of San Juan.
As part of a strategic plan to realign the grade structure within the District, Schradergroup worked with York Suburban School District to complete renovations and additions totaling 61,327 SF for Valley View Elementary School and to convert the facility from a K-1 to a K-2 school. The project serves as an important lesson in the role of design as a valuable tool for successful strategic planning and adaptive re-use that maximizes educational resources.
At Valley View, the design of the addition maintains the character of the existing building and features the reuse of the original cupola for the school, removed years ago. The addition and renovations focus on creating parity in both the quantity and types of rooms in relation to Valley View's sister school, Yorkshire Elementary, which services the same population capacity.
What had once been a series of disjointed additions beginning in the 1940s is replaced with a design seeking coherence in the sum of its parts. The new entry hall provides a new physical and psychological 'center' for the building, marrying the old and new portions of the facility and their functions. The entry hall was also conceived as a gallery space providing articulated and well-lit surfaces for showcasing student activities.
The renovations maintain and expand an educational campus firmly rooted in a thriving residential neighborhood context. As part of the comprehensive campus approach to site design, a new bus loop design separates school bus, automobile, and pedestrian traffic, as well as removing bus idling from the busy township roads surrounding the facility. Other practical achievements include eliminating barriers to accessibility throughout the building and the campus. New and renovated existing HVAC systems augment the efficiency of a campus-wide central energy plant strategy for both heating and cooling.
For more information about Valley View Elementary School and other similar projects, please visit www.sgarc.com.
These videos detail the SchraderGroup charrette process for the York Suburban School District:
Guerilla Educators was privileged to have played a role in this remarkable project.
This "quick and dirty" video captures in microcosm how a unifying theme for Project Based Learning can be effected systemically. In this case, we captured a small slice of a post-industrial small midwest city. Using the river that runs through it and where much of the history of the place has played out, the video underscores how the city can be used in 5 dimensions (including realtime and cyberspace) as a unifying theme to achieve proficiencies across a variety of curricular and civic objectives. Take a look...
On November, 11-12, a select group of educational facilities planners from CEFPI had the opportunity to visit and participate in a NetZero Symposium at the Lady Bird Johnson Middle School, located in Irving, Texas. In this video, tech expert Glenn Meeks and I were given a tour of the school by Alejandro, a student there. The school is virtually paperless and produces more energy than it uses which is then sold back to the local utility company. Under the awesome direction of Principal Angie Gaylord, every aspect of the facility is used as a Project Based teaching and learning tool. Take a look... Special thanks for Scott Layne, Assitant Superintendent for the Irving School District and all of the wonderful students and staff who made this a very special event.
To view the video in full screen visit our YouTube page.
In 2002, Education Ministers from the countries of Serbia, Russia, Kosovo, and Ukraine came to Philadelphia to learn about effective Project Based Service Learning. They were here specifically to see the Alliance to Save Energy's, Green Schools program in action. Green Schools is an international, student centered program where students devise and implement energy conservation strategies in their school. As the Co-Director of the Green Schools, Philly programs, we had a kindergarten project in a Philadelphia public school. Among other aspects of the project, the students were part of the "Energy Patrol". These European educators saw hands on teaching and learning at its finest and went back to their respective countries with a deep understanding of Best Practices in action. Take a look...
Guerilla Educators has added a new client. We recently completed 2 day Professional Development for the hard working educators at the Rose Tree Media School District that focused on how to successfully implement and complete curriculum and real-world based Projects with students. The workshop was given through the prism of our 12 Hallmarks of Effective Teaching and Learning. We'll return to ongoing work with the teachers throughout the 2011-2012 school year to assist with implementation and successful completion of the proposed Projects developed in the planning phase of the training. Welcome to our family of clients, Rose Tree Media, that includes:
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
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.
On Monday, March 28, Guerilla Educators has the privilege to be a Featured Presenter at the 2011 CEFPI SouthEast Region Conference. in Savannah, Ga.Our topic will be:
Connecting School Design to Students, Teachers and Curriculum Via Project Based Learning
Our Course Description is as follows:
Just as Project Based Learning is the gold standard of effective teaching and learning, school design is one of the gold standards of PBL. This session will explore how Educational Facilities Design processes can be used as a powerful resource in the educator's pedagogical toolkit. Through the prism of our Hallmarks of Effective Teaching and Learning, we will learn how Educational Facilities Planners can become real world Community Partners for curriculum-based Projects that use the physical facility as a 5 dimensional (including Real-Time and Cyber-Space) teaching and learning tool. Once we understand the premise that the educational facility can be a catalyst for the development of academic and social proficiencies, regardless of demographics and even independent of whether the spaces have been designed effectively, then Educational Facilities Planners can begin to see the positive effects of these “inside out” understandings on the bottom line. In the session, we will use authentic short videos of real students conducting real projects in and out of real classrooms with real school architects, to demonstrate these processes and to show how they may be incorporated into your Planning. Plenty of time will be built in for discussion so Planners, Designers, and Architects can walk away with a deeper understanding of what takes place inside the physical teaching and learning spaces they create.
Jon Rolle, 3rd grade Teacher at Friendship Southeast Elementary Academy Charter School, has been named the Washington DC Teacher of the Year by the DC State Board of Education. Mr. Rolle teaches an all boys class. This is the 2nd consecutive year that a Friendship Charter School Teacher has earned this pretigious award. Guerilla Educators is privileged to assist Friendship Charter Schools with Professional Developments for teachers and implementation of Project Based Learning in, and out of, classrooms. Congratulations, Jon!
In August, 2010, just prior to the opening of the new BarackObama Green Charter High School in Plainfield, New Jersey, Guerilla Educators conducted a Project Based Service Learning Professional Development for Obama Green teachers. As part of the training, Projects Coordinator, Mr. Steven King, led the teachers in cooperative Project brainstorming to identify specific Project areas and activities that could be launched with the students in the 2010-2011 school year. This video documents that powerful session where Obama Green educators began to plan for the implementation of Projects with their students. Take a look...
Guerilla Educators has provided all phases of Charter School start-up assistance for Obama Green and continues with mentoring services for the school's admin team.
Recent Comments