WEBSTER GROVES HIGH SCHOOLST. LOUIS, MISSOURI

THE XQ SUPERSCHOOL(AND HOW EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

GOT US THERE)

NSEE – San Antonio 2016

Webster Groves High School Background

About WGHS

Approx. 1350 students Student Demographics: 25% minority 21% Free and Reduced Lunch 95% involved in at least one club/sport/activity/service

activity A large variety of courses and activities Over 250 courses available Over 50 sporting events or clubs

Excellent staff Strong tradition mixed with innovative ideas Strongly supported by community and Board

Webster Groves School District Mission

As a learning community, the Webster Groves School District will lead in purposeful innovation that challenges each of

us to discover and pursue our passions and make a positive impact on the world.

Chelsea Detrick Experiential Learning Center -Beginnings

Dreams ten years ago about how to improve high schools

Glenn and Chelsea Detrick Chelsea Center Pilot – Summer 2010 10 students in 2010 220 students in 2016

Focus on student engagement/how they learn/how to prepare them for life after high school

Overview

Teaching the Students Something New

What is experiential learning and why is it important?

Two day orientations for studentsDifficult concept for them at first

Learning by doing Observing and interacting with the real world Reflecting deeply on what has been done Developing 21st century skills Seen as a process and not an outcome

21st Century Skills

We want to teach these skills and give students a chance to use them as they put their core knowledge to use in the real world.

Easily done in experiential learning

Dr. Tony Wagner – Harvard Graduate School of Education

Critical Thinking and Problem Solving Collaboration and Leadership Agility and Adaptability Initiative and Entrepreneurialism Effective Oral and Written Communication Accessing and Analyzing Information Curiosity and Imagination

Areas of Experiential Learning

Internships Also includes employment, shadowing, and mentoring

Service Learning Also includes community outreach

Travel School or personal

Additions for 2016

Active Citizenship/Social Justice

Self Directed Learning Expansion

More opportunities during school year as opposed to summer

Educating parents on experiential learning benefits Including quantitative assessment Get counselors on board College/University endorsements More

Personalized Learning

Find your passions!Bring your ideas to experiential learning!

Future Leaders program Counseling Database – tracking by year Interest forms and personal interviews

Samples of SummerExperiential Learning Classes

Revolution! – TeachingCivil Rights Journeys (Native American, Presidential, etc.)Animal Career ExplorationsJazz Camp – with nationally renowned jazz artistsReal World Creative WritingFilm CriticsRegional CuisineConstruction in the CommunityGeocachingService Sampler

Samples of Internships

Washington University Microbiology and Physics Labs Biomedical Engineering Mortuary Science – Funeral Home/Historic Cemetery Public Library – filming/editing oral histories of local citizens (RE)Fresh – fashion marketing for Foster and Adoptive Care Coalition resale store for teens The Sierra Club—Grass Roots Organizing Politics with MO State Representative; Political Science: Field Offices-City Circuit Atty; Governor Teaching internships – math and English for middle school Llywelyn’s - Restaurant Entrepreneurship Pro-Rehab Physical Therapy Pepsi – Sales and Marketing WGHS Office Administration and WGSD Accounting Web Design Graphic Design Creative Writing for Veterans Workshop Shaw Nature Reserve – Environmental Ecology Broadcasting – new local Radio Station Historical Society –Archivist; Webster Groves History through Architecture

Bring your own idea for an internship!

Travel – School Sponsored

Travel - Personal

Service Learning

Sophomore Service Day

Student Run and Faculty Supported

Requirements for Students

Pre-experience reflection Goals Learning Styles; Pre-Post Assessment ratings Meetings/Reflective Conversations with faculty and/or

community sponsors: pre, mid, post Reflection Journals Vocabulary and Terms Photographs Interviews Capstone Project Post-experience reflection Presentation including 4 minute reflection video

Teacher Responsibilities

Experiential Learning Teacher Orientation for students Orientation for teachers Presentation workshops Final Wrap-up/Presentation Day

Faculty Sponsor Check on student progress Read and respond to students’ journals Guide and approve capstone project Mid point and End Point meeting and reflective discussions

Student Orientation Comments

What is school like for you now?

What would make school better for you?

How Is School Now?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kO8x8eoU3L4

School Now……

I feel like school is just teaching us how to be robots. To be successful, all I need to do it memorize and spit back information on

a test. I don’t even remember anything I wrote on my final 10 days ago. I am really stressed all the time about grades and getting into a good

college. Some teachers think there is only one right answer and there is only one

way to get that answer. School starts way too early. Why do we all go through the same track of classes? Why do I just have to learn what the teacher puts in front of me? There is too much busy work kind of homework and too much homework. I am bored a lot of the time. I don’t look forward to school. There is nothing that gets me excited about learning at school. School is detrimental to REAL learning.

What Could Be Better…..

Give us more choice in everything. Personalize what I am learning for me. If I know the material being covered, don’t make me sit through it. Give me something challenging to do. Let me learn something in the real world outside the classroom. Let us use technology to learn. Let students, teachers and community work together to learn from each other. Have different kinds of groupings for learning –not just a subject/class, age, Honors…. Could we all do Self Directed Learning for a semester? Is there some way we could all do some kind of travel and get money to help us pay for it? Give different routes after two years of Gen. Ed classes. Flexible schedules! More ways for us to explore careers or passions. Teach teachers how to make classes interesting for us. Is there a way we can just learn without the fear of failing/bad grades? Collaboration helps us learn. Let us do something in the real world during the school day. Find a way to get our parents educated about different ways of learning - other than the way

they learned. And tell them to stop putting so much pressure on us. We need lots of different ways of showing what we know.

ENTER X Q

Laurene Jobs Foundation

https://xqsuperschool.org/whoweare

The Challenge

The opportunity to design a Super School – a new American high school worthy of the future

Five winning schools at the end of the process $10 million for the span of five years Support of experts, access to resources to assist with the

building of the new schools

What Schools Must Produce So Students Are Fully Ready To Meet This New World

Masters of all Fundamental Literacies Academic core necessary to prepare for college, career, life Critical Readers Compelling Writers Mathematical and Numeric Thinkers Data and Visual Thinkers

Original Thinkers for an Uncertain World Sense makers dealing with conflicting knowledge Generative thinkers who generate many ideas in new, ambiguous

situations Creative thinkers who can reframe, imagine and see problems from

different perspectives

Holders of Foundational Knowledge Curious people who are knowledgeable about the world, its history

and culture as well as underlying math and sciences Engaged participants who are key to creating a more just and

functional democracy for all

Learners for Life Self driven and self directed Inventors of their own learning paths, careers, lives

Generous Collaborators for Tough Problems Self aware team members who bring their own strengths Talent seekers who look for expertise in others Inquisitive world citizens who seek out and respect diversity and

diverse points of view

The Process

Casting the ideal team Choosing an initial concept for your school Understand young people and their learning goals Articulate what makes your school unique Craft transformative learning experiences Enlist community support

The Team

Choose the right people!

What kind of know-how do we need? Could we benefit from someone who shows up in a

different way? How can we get energy and creativity amped up? Who can help us get more done – as a team and in

the community?

Initial Concept

Questions to answer: A bold and compelling idea at the center of our school:

To ensure that our school truly serves the needs of our community, we plan to get input from young people by:

To get insights into how we can prepare our students for postsecondary education and the future of work, we plan to:

Our school will also build on the inspiring examples, research, and ideas of others:

All the elements of our school will come together in powerful learning experiences for students:

Initial Concept

North Star Bold and compelling central idea = democracy Our ideal and our orientation Constant striving for democracy - on all levels, in all areas, and for all

people Based on the Frederick Douglass’ newspaper North Star

People escaping slavery on the Underground Railroad often relied on the North Star to guide them towards freedom

To prepare our students for an unknown future, we must work to be like the North Star and provide an orientation rather than a mandated destination

We need to give them a trustworthy and steady sense of their own resilience, worth, skill and intelligence so they will feel able equal to the challenges they find in the future

Democracy

Democracy of pedagogy: personalized learning Democracy of place: experiential learning/learning

without school walls and in the real world Democracy of responsibility: active citizenship Democracy of life long learning focus: skills for the

future Democracy of joy: exploring passions and

encouraging creativity and the arts Democracy of involvement:

students/teachers/parent/community/other collaborators all engaged in learning with and from one another

Understand Young People and Their Learning Goals

Youth Voice Cards

Take a card.Answer the question on your card.Share with your team.

Be ready to share out with the entire group.

DISCOVERStudents in the 21st Century

Things to Think About:

Examine the high schools that already exist in the community you want to work in. How well are they serving young people and what gaps do you see?

Who does not benefit from high school opportunities and why? How is the youth population changing? How likely is it to

change in the next several years? What demands and opportunities will adolescents in the

community face in higher education, the work force, civic life?

DiscoverStudents in the 21st Century

Please answer with your team: Application Question

What are your top three insights about the challenges facing your prospective students in the 21st century, both globally and in your community?

Discover -Youth Experience and Aspirations

Things to Think About

Young people need an engaging , high quality learning environment to grow. How will you discover what features and environment like this needs to include? What roles will adolescents play in creating such an environment?

What do young people think about the schools that are currently available to them?

Consider opportunities that young people might already envision for their future, and think about what cognitive and life skills they’ll need to make their visions a reality.

Where, besides school, are young people learning in the community? What types of experiences are available?

Discover –Youth Experience and Aspirations

Team work Application Question What are your top three insights from young people about how

they experience school and learning in their lives, about how they see their education and career opportunities, and about your role in preparing them for the future?

Discover –The Science of Adolescent Learning

Things to think about: The science of learning and the brain are revealing more and

more about how adolescents develop into capable, independent, and confident adults. What are the implications of this new information in a school

setting? What innovative schools, organizations or programs exist in your

community that are already applying this knowledge? Can you reach out to them as a source of information and

inspiration?

Discover –The Science of Adolescent Learning

Application Question

What are your top three insights about how young people learn – the insights you’re most passionate about bringing to life in your school?

Design –School Mission and Culture

Things to Think About: You will be designing a school from the ground up. What goals

for student learning will define and motivate your school’s community? How will you assess student success?

These goals should also establish how your school creates high expectations for learning and behavior, and for students’ success beyond high school.

How will you cultivate consistent, productive, respectful relationships among students and adults? How will you establish an inclusive and supportive community and a sense of belonging among students, teachers, parents, and others?

Design –School Mission and Culture

Application Question

What mission, purpose, and core values will animate and unify your school? Consider how these might build the engagement of students and adults, rally the support of the community, and drive the development of your school.

Design –Teaching and Learning

Things to consider: Your school will need to deliver powerful teaching and learning

experiences that help students build toward mastery. How will you know if students are learning, and how will you

assess the products of their learning? How will your school accommodate differences in students’

interests, skills, and prior academic preparation? Your school must be innovative both in vision and

implementation. How will your policies and practices reflect your innovative ideas?

How will you use technology, off campus spaces, and other resources creatively?

Design –Teaching and Learning

Team work Application Question How will you enable and demonstrate student-centered,

standards-based learning at your school? Illustrate your vision by describing two learning experiences that show how students will learn deeply and build toward mastery Include specific learning activities students will engage in Knowledge and skills students will develop How learning will be shared and assessed Role(s) teachers and other adults will play When and where learning will take place Facilities, technology or other resources that will be needed

Design –Student Agency and Engagement

Things to think about: Imagine what a typical day might look like for students at your

school. How will you develop and deepen student engagement with

and responsibility for their own learning? How will your school connect young people with peers,

teachers, and other adults? How will they use technology to connect with the wider world around them?

Design –Student Agency and Engagement

Application question:

How will you school support and enable students to form positive identities as continuous learners, build complex skills, and contribute as members of their communities?

Develop profiles of 2 – 3 representative students and describe their growth and development through high school.

Design – Networks and Partnerships

Things to Think About: What individual and institutional allies will you seek out? How will you engage them? What partners will be involved in designing and planning your

school? Are they already engaged actively? If not, how will you engage them and what roles will they play?

How will parents, volunteers, employers, post secondary educators, and other community members participate in your school’s governance, operations, and culture?

How will you build partnerships with post secondary education and businesses so students can apply and demonstrate their skills in real world situations?

Design – Networks and Partnerships

Application Question:

What partners will be part of the ongoing work of the school?

Explain how partners will work together to design and plan the school, and how these partnerships will support student learning, engagement, development, and connection to post secondary success.

Develop – Talent and Training

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT What roles will teachers, leaders, and other adults play in your

school? What specialized knowledge and skills will they need? What are your plans for staff recruitment? What sources will

you explore? How will you enlist nontraditional educators to optimize your

school design? How will you foster a strong professional learning community

and promote continuous learning and improvement? What barriers do you anticipate, and how will you overcome

them?

Develop – Talent and Training

APPLICATION QUESTION How will you staff your school? How will you bring together traditional educators, non-

traditional educators, and other adults to provide a full array of exciting, rigorous learning experiences for your students?

How will you foster a vibrant professional learning community?

Develop –Performance Evaluation and Management

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT How will you measure growth in every student’s learning? How will

you identify problems, challenges, and opportunities? What tools and procedures will you use to gather this information, and how often?

How will you collect feedback on your instructional program, the overall experience of students, and the effectiveness of school leadership? How will you understand and improve performance based on this feedback?

How can you use standard data sources differently to rethink student assessment from the bottom up? What data aren’t being collected through existing systems?

What do you need to know about your students’ academic competencies, social-emotional development, and real-world interests in order to guide their journeys to adulthood?

Develop –Performance Evaluation and Management

APPLICATION QUESTION How will you know if your school is doing a great job—that

students are learning and teachers are teaching? How will you recognize if students are, or are not, gaining the

full range of knowledge and competencies they need as XQ learners?

What measures and metrics will you use, and how will you obtain and use that information?

Develop – Time, Space and Technology

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT How can your school use time, space, and technology in

innovative ways that enhance opportunities for students to learn and grow and for teachers to thrive and succeed?

How will your students spend their time during the day and throughout the school year?

How might you use spaces inside and beyond your school to enhance learning? How will you develop or get access to those spaces?

What technologies will help you create the best possible learning experiences for your students?

Develop – Time, Space, and Technology

APPLICATION QUESTIONS

How will you use time as an asset to enable rigorous student learning?

How will you organize the school day and calendar?

Develop – Financial Model and Sustainability

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT What is the current school finance situation in the community you

wish to serve? What funding streams for youth and education are available to you? How flexible are they, and are there any rules and constraints for these funds?

What is the total cost of implementing your school model? How will you use resources creatively to fulfill your mission?

How do you expect to use money strategically during the development year prior to opening your school? How about for the first five years of operations?

How will you ensure that your school is financially sustainable? What funds—beyond per-pupil allocations—do you anticipate needing over the long term? How will you secure them?

Who has the financial expertise to make your innovations real? Are they willing to help or be a part of your team?

Develop – Financial Model and Sustainability

APPLICATION QUESTIONS How will your budget support the innovative characteristics of

your school and prioritize student learning? How will you advocate for policies that will enable you to use

public and private dollars efficiently and wisely? How will you garner the additional resources you may need to

make your school a reality?

Develop - Governance

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT What form of governance will your school take? Will your school be

an independent charter school, a school within a charter network, or a school within a district? What are the pros and cons of each?

How will you ensure fair and effective policies regarding student enrollment, calendar, hiring, procurement and purchasing, curriculum, and other matters? How much discretion will you need in these matters to enact your innovation?

Which champions will you need to provide your school with guidance and support, and to ensure accountability for legal requirements, sound fiscal practices, and high expectations for student learning?

Develop - Governance

APPLICATION QUESTION What governance model have you selected for your school, and

why? If your school will be an independent charter, what role will

your board play, and how will you recruit and train its members?

If your school will operate within a district or charter network, how will you work with the existing board, and in what specific areas will you have decision-making authority?

Develop – Implementation Capacity

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT What do you need to do in order to evolve from concept to

implementation? Who needs to be involved, at what level of commitment, and in what roles?

Organizations develop habits very early in their operations. What mission critical practices can you build in from the beginning?

What gaps, barriers, and threats could hamper your ability to fully implement your design? How will you address them?

How will you stay flexible to differences in the way your team members view processes and priorities? How will you adapt when your expectations don’t match reality?

Develop – Implementation Capacity

APPLICATION QUESTIONS

What key milestones will you need to achieve as you prepare to open your school, and by what dates?

What constituencies will you need to involve, and how will you engage them?

Who will be responsible for keeping the process on track?

TEAM PROFILE

The Team Profile includes three sections. Describe the composition of your team.

Describe a key moment in the story of your team and reflect on the dynamics of your team.

Your team will address a challenge in a timed four hour scenario activity; at the conclusion of the activity, you’ll present your plan of action and then reflect on the work your team did together.

The Winners Are…..

Not us http://xqsuperschool.org/abouttheproject

We are still winners in that we have gone through a very important process in discovering, designing, and developing school to meet our students future.

Our administration is on board and we will begin the process of putting our North Star ‘school within a school’ in place.