It All Boils Down To Purpose

The courses that I took for my masters degree were not the most innovative. Yet there was one idea that stuck with me: When reflecting on their practice, teachers should always take into consideration two systems: their system in the classroom and the school-wide system. Back then, I knew that the system in my classroom played a central role in my students learning, yet I disregarded the second system, my rationale being that good teachers can always close their classroom door and make the magic happen irrespectively of the nature of the school they're in. I can now see how presumptuous and naive I was. 

The last years have taught me an important lesson. No matter what I do in the classroom I'm always dependent on the system in which I work. 

This was indeed the rationale behind the creation of my blog. Like the astronomers who had spent fruitless hours trying to wrap their heads around the constellations relying on a flawed theory, geocentrism, I feared that I was missing the right paradigm.  And the more I reflected, the more insecure I felt about my own practice. I started asking existential questions about my role in education and what was the best system that would allow students to learn purposefully.  It was at this time that I started to read more literature about innovation in education and it all seemed to point into one direction: High Tech High. 

Literature portrays HTH as a utopia, the promised land of project-based learning and innovation. The place that, while maintaining an nearly spotless rate of college acceptances amongst its demographically-diverse student body, it has managed to stick to its roots and not teach to a test.  

Last week my colleague and I had the opportunity to visit HTH and see with our own eyes. I genuinely did not know what to expect but I was certainly thrilled to learn about their transdisciplinary projects. I've taught the IB Middle Years Programme for several years and even though interdisciplinary learning is at the heart of the programme, its implementation seemed to be elusive, a holy grail so to speak. I've tried to implement interdisciplinary units in the past but have always been forced and contrived. In fact this has been one of the leitmotifs of this blog.   

Click here to read about the difference between interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary learning.

As the director of HTH Media Arts, Robert Kuhl explained, HTH aims to instil in students a growth mindset and there lies the purpose of the school: HTH strives to awaken in students an eagerness towards learning through the creation of real-world transdisciplinary projects that push them to develop their intangibles such as collaboration and perseverance which are conducive to success both at college and in the real world.  

Bearing this purpose in mind, the founders of the school have set up a schedule that is simpler and more malleable. 

Sample Grade 11 Bell Schedule 

The purpose of schedules is to serve; however, we often become slaves to our own schedule our needs because of its complex and inflexible design. As a result, schedules are often an obstacle rather than a catalyst for learning. Traditional school systems often offer a wide variety of subjects in their timetable. They want students to maximize from learning by exposing them to a wide variety of content. Sadly, the subjects become isolated in an ambiguous collage courses, so transdisciplinary learning becomes an impossible feat. 

At HTH, however, schedules are simple. Students usually take Humanities, a Science or Engineering class and a Math class apart from homeroom and one period of exploratory class. Teachers are therefore able to move time slots around to make them fit students' learning needs. This allows teachers to collaborate more with one another, organize field trips, and allocate enough time for projects. 

At one point the Science teacher referred to his Humanities colleague as his planning buddy. And here lies one of the greatest differences between HTH and traditional secondary schools.  In traditional secondary schools he would have been referring to his fellow Science colleagues not a Humanities teacher. This goes to highlight teacher modus operandi  at HTH. Indeed, by creating a simple and malleable schedule the founders set into motion a virtuous cycle.  

Having less "subjects" allows for more in depth work and students are not overwhelmed by multiple deadlines.  Moreover, the transdisciplinary nature of the projects breaks down all boundaries between subjects so it's hard to tell one course from the other. At times, students will be working on the artistic portion of their project during their Math class. This is priceless because as the focus shifts from the individual subjects to the project, students can truly delve into their work without having to juggle seven projects at a time. 

During the first day of our visit, something clearly stood out: the teachers and students did not seem stressed. While students looked engaged they were not particularly overwhelmed. Yet every wall displayed student work every ranging from works of art to engineering feats. One would think that students would have a sense of urgency to create complex products, but instead they enjoy each different stage  because they have the time to let the experience sink in.  

Moreover, teachers at HTH focus on the process. Students are given several deadlines within the various stages of a project to reflect on and critique each other's drafts and blue prints.  Like any other skill, this skill needs a lot of practice and teachers do a great job at promoting it by holding students accountable for the critiques that they provide. As we talked to students, it was clear that they are fully cognizant of the purpose for critiquing and seem to take it very seriously. Once again, they have the time to do this well.  

Having flexible schedules and a good chunk of time to complete projects isn't what makes HTH noteworthy, however. HTH is outstanding because it has a clear purpose. Simon Sinek states that many businesses usually know what to they do and how they do it, but they lack a clear purpose. Schools are no different. Many schools foolishly believe that their purpose is for students to get high test scores, but this is merely an outcome. The founders of HTH made a clear distinction between these two. In fact their school is based on four principles: personalization, adult world connection, and common intellectual mission, teacher as designer.

The school is in no way perfect. It still needs to work on creating a clear framework for its subjects and like many other schools it has teachers that work harder than others. Yet one thing stands out: With a clear purpose you are going to have teachers and students who know your mission and will embrace it. 

From my side, I feel bolstered by this experience and look forward to the next step that lies ahead. As of July, I will be teaching in the Innovation Academy at Colegio Roosevelt. I've chosen to take on this unfamiliar challenge because I believe it will provide the best system to ofoster real world, relevant outcomes.  I think I've found my heliocentric model at last.