Guerilla Educators

Educational Commissioning

In early August, one of the last emails I received from my dearly departed friend and colleague, Dr. Jeff Lackney was the continuation of an ongoing conversation we were having about the nature of "Educational Commissioning".  At that time, Jeff exhorted me to "focus like a third grader".  I suggested that educational spaces should be tested to support a variety of pedagogical and social goals.  Jeff came back and said that my thoughts were essentially 1/2 of the equation and that the task was then to describe the physical spaces that would support those education based objectives and then monitor effectiveness of the spaces, data-based on student achievement.  This, I think is the essence of Educational Commissioning.  Looking back over those communications, what emerges is that I was, in effect, developing a set of experiential best practices against which to both design teaching and learning spaces and then test the spaces for effectiveness against those criteria on relevant data pertaining to student achievement in those spaces.  Dr. Lackney's point to me was that the criteria were "only half of the whole" and that he then wanted me to describe specific space templates that would be catalysts for student achievement based on the criteria.  While I strongly agree that educational spaces should be flexible enough to accommodate a range of teaching and learning activities and even to evolve over time, I also think that this flexibility should have focused, consistent academic and civic goals; i.e. to prepare our students to have rich, rewarding and FUN scholastic careers in preparation for them to be literate, productive citizen/leaders.  So this design agility should always be tested against whether the teaching/learning spaces supports these goals.  The criteria I have established are based on my "9 Hallmarks of Effective Teaching and Learning".  In this regard then, the spaces should support:

• student academic and civic engagement
• student ownership in their educational processes
• student achievement in grade appropriate proficiency of curricular and standards based objectives
• student proficiency on nationally normed tests
• flexible technology applications
• Higher Order Thinking Skills
• Project Based Learning
• Community Partnerships
• Collaborative Teaching
• Cooperative Learning
• FUN

On his School Studio Blog Jeff came very close to the idea of seeing the educational facility (the school) and the academic and social development that takes place inside the physical structure (the School) as an organic whole but he still started with the physical design concepts as being the primary driver rather than exactly the other way around.  In Jeff's view, teachers should be Professionally Developed to learn how to use the teaching and learning spaces effectively.  My view is that educational facilities planners/designers/architects should have Professional Development about the mission and vision of the School and about the pedagogies specific to the needs of the school.  In this way, they can then more effectively design spaces that will be in synergy with the goals and objectives to achieve what I call the Essential Non-Difference between the physical facility and the teaching and learning going on within the walls.

As far as which space templates should be developed to accommodate the Hallmarks, my position is that world class teaching and learning can take place under a tree.  This statement does not discount the vital importance of creating physical spaces that support the Hallmarks.  It does take into account that rich, rigorous, and rewarding scholastic experiences can happen regardless of the spaces in which they take place.

Alpha Academy of Science, Arts, and Technology

A new charter school, the Alpha Academy of Science, Arts, and Technology, is on the verge of approval in Atlanta, Georgia, and will serve student populations in Clayton, and Fulton Counties.  Scheduled to open its doors in August, 2010, this k-8 facility plans to use a schoolwide enrichment model, (SEM) as its overarching method of delivering rigorous academic and civic competencies to the student body.  In this iteration of schoolwide enrichment, every student is seen as mentally gifted in some capacity, so the individualized teaching and learning strategies employed at Alpha Academy, like any good mentally gifted program, will be hands-on and Project Based, where students are engaged, take personal responsibility for their educational advancement, have ownership in their educational processes, and are having FUN.  As the name implies, Alpha Academy will focus on science, art, and technology.  We here at Guerilla Educators wish Alpha Academy Director, Cathy Dalmida-Montgomery and her staff all the best as this exciting educational initiative becomes a reality.

Friendship Tech Prep Student Energy Auditor Training

Students at Friendship Tech Prep Academy Charter School participated in the Alliance to Save Energy's, Student Energy Auditor Training (SEAT).  These students are the core of Tech Prep's Energy Leadership Team and will be responsible for the energy conservation initiatives that will take place at the school this year.  While the rest of the Tech Prep student body was learning about the general principles of energy use and conservation, the Energy Leadership Team received a broader, more in-depth understanding of energy. The Energy Leadership Team will now devise conservation strategies specific to their school.  Click here to see the video of the whole school participation in hands-on energy projects.

Friendship Tech Prep Academy Student Energy Projects

 On November 20, 2009, under the auspices of the Alliance to Save Energy and Guerilla Educators students at Friendship Tech Prep Academy conducted energy conservation projects at their school in the Anacostia section of Washington, DC.  Every student learned about energy use and conservation, then every student was able to actually test for, hands-on, and gather data around wattage, light levels, temperature, and energy loads of incandescent, cfl, and led bulbs.  This took an extraordinary degree of commitment, cooperation, and collaboration on the part of the admin team and those hard working teachers and really demonstrates the effective leadership of Principal Natalie Gordon and Vice Principal Widelene Desarmes that makes Tech Prep an oasis of academic and social stability in a very challenging neighborhood.

Special thanks to the Alliance's Emily Curley whose hard work made this extraordinary day possible.

Take a look...

Click here to see video of Friendship Charter Schools Professional Development around Project Based Learning that preceded the student project activities.  The training was conducted by Guerilla Educators.

BARACK OBAMA GREEN CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL UPDATE

Strategic Planning accelerates as the Barack Obama Green Charter High School prepares for their debut in Plainfield, New Jersey in September, 2010.  On Friday, October 23 and Monday, October 26, the Founders are holding a reception at the Plainfield Public Library.  The gathering will be a joyful celebration marking their official charter grant, a way to say "thanks" to the many people and organizations who have assisted to this point in making Obama High a reality, and a recognition of their present and future Community Partners whose assistance will be crucial as we approach 9/10 and beyond.

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!

BREAKING NEWS: BARACK OBAMA GREEN CHARTER SCHOOL GRANTED CHARTER

On September 22, 2009 the New Jersey Department of Education approved the Barack Obama Green Charter High School.  Obama High is projected to start with 120 students in grades 9 and 10 and expand to 240 students in grades 9 to 12.  The school is projected to open its doors in September, 2010.  Congratulations to Ms Safiyah Sadiq, Mr. Steven King, and Ms Alisa Barnes the hard working co-founders!  Guerilla Educators is proud to be associated with this worthy educational endeavor.

Map Rap Map

I recently had the privilege of re-connecting with Amy, who was a student in my 4th grade class in 1994 at Cook-Wissahickon Elementary School in Philadelphia.  Amy has graduated from Penn State, is a working professional, and is out on her own making her mark.  Lo and behold, in her bedroom at her parents house there hangs the map -THE MAP- she created in Room 211 of the United States of America.  In Amy's words...

The giant loopy little-kid handwriting that used to proclaim "The Country Of The United States Of America" across the top, as well as firmly marking both oceans and the Gulf of Mexico, has faded into near-oblivion. Also, why did I only label one of the Great Lakes? ALSO, I tried to number them in the order they appear in the Map Rap, but I'm pretty sure I fudged that too.

But! I still have it on display- that's got to count for something, right?

This was part of what I termed the Geography Literacy Series and included (heaven help my self esteem) the Map Rap and the Eur-Rap.

If any other former students still have their maps from their time in Room 211 at Cook_Wiss, send them along.

Friendship Tech Prep Charter School Professional Development

Day 2 of the Friendship Tech Prep Academy Charter School Project Based Service Learning Workshop, presented by Guerilla Educators consisted in large part, of authentic hands-on demonstrations (thanks to Emily Curley of the Alliance to Save Energy) of what the participants learned in Day 1 about the Project Based methodologies.  Take a look...  Under the leadership of Ms Natalie Gordon, the Principal and co-founder of Friendship Tech, educators there took part in this Professional Development which was designed to give them the tools to conduct hands-on projects with their students.  Special thanks also to Ms Alicia Adams, Director of Professional Development for Friendship Charter Schools.  Good luck in your first year of operation, Tech!

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.