HAPPY "NEW YEAR" EVERYONE!

Best,

Jim

Friday, December 20, 2002

Subject: Another Viewpoint for our Community

FREEDOM SCHOOLS

Opinion:
The original premise is to involve / evolve students / community in the decision-making process of events, which could / would ultimately alter their lives. A concerted effort is being made to enlighten the populous and empower the community with facts about their rich history / heritage, voting, civil and human rights. A collaborative vision is beng developed and articulated, strategies are being planned, authority by consensus delegated and tactical scenarios performed in unison with all community stakeholders.

Presently 95% of the school semester is spent on discipline, reading required material, theory and unrelated activity. Approximately 5% of this time is allotted to hands-on projects.

Freedom School lessons must be taught on the basis of practicality and relevance to day-to-day interests of students / community. Teach lessons within the parameters of an ongoing project to motivate and inspire during the learning experience.

Suggested Approach
1. Basic theory / Project safety concerns should precede all endeavors.
2. Empower students with the responsibility to: Choose the Project / Thoroughly explore the Purpose and Relevance to the Community / Plot Direction / Execute the Plan
3. Teachers serve as facilitators and nurturing mentors.
4. Project Implementation: 60% discussion, research, planning 40% interactive activities

*Advanced theory can be addressed during, if not after, the hands-on experience.
Team building skills are developed through the processes required for successful collaboration. Positive social interaction promotes lifelong relationships, creativity, trust, character building and social consciousness.
Purpose and safety lessons have long been taught within the confines of the “Village”. There was a hedge to insure a safe haven, freedom of movement and the expression of ideas. Application of skills became second nature through daily, direct involvement. Inspired questions can best be posed after one has been inspired to seek the answer.

Points to Ponder:
1. Supplanted within chaos and turmoil. “Why do I not love myself”? Only in loving myself and believing in the Glory of being me, can I accept the Glory of your being.
2. How deep must we go to touch the Soul?
3. If you have to raise your voice / No one is listening
4. If you have to raise your hand / The scene is set for resentment and violence.
5. Lack of communication breeds anxiety and frustration / Apathy ensues



A POSSIBLE SCENARIO / MPSE/OBS
It Could All Be Happening at the PONTIAC SMART COMMUNITY COMPLEX
by Jim Ross / McMath-Hulbert Solar Observatory



When Garth Allen and his classmates at Michigan's Pontiac School of Empowerment / Observatory ( MPSE/OBS) discovered patches of buckthorn (invasive, naturally occurring at the observatory) crowding out native species at the observatory, they didn't just write up their findings as a science report to be read by the teacher and then handed back. They compiled data in a form familiar to government agencies (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers / Patrick O'Connor ) and submitted a technical report to local community officials, who used the information to assist actions by the observatory staff / student / community volunteer gardeners to eradicate the invasive plant. (See related interactive case study on www.McMathsolar.org - Flash 6 required.)

At MPSE/OBS, learning is about becoming an expert and solving real problems -- doing in-depth, interdisciplinary research using innovative technology that results in practical applications. Every aspect of the MPSE/OBS, from its curriculum and close student-teacher relationships to the architecture of the building(s), supports the MPSE/OBS "get-out-there-and-do-it approach to learning."

MPSE/OBS Partnership
MPSE /OBS was conceptualized and originated at the historic McMath-Hulbert Solar Observatory in early 1994 as an "educational empowerment site of choice" on its original 10 acre site. The observatory embraces project-based learning with an environmental theme. A number of students / community builders work with observers and various professional scientific staff in studying astronomy, earth and life sciences, chemistry, environmental initiatives, including wetlands protection, restoration, and the preservation of it's surrounding habitat, as well as promoting public connectivity via telecommunications to the observatory from local and global institutions. Additionally, we had always envisioned the possible expansion / replication of these advanced activites within local school districts and with the formidable assets represented by the Pontiac SMART Community Complex that original compelling vision may now be realized.

"I feel like I'm not learning in a box of fluorescent lights like I was in my first years in high school," says student Garth Allen. I'm learning in a classroom, and I'm learning outside by a pond. I'm learning in a local watershed/eco-system. I'm learning at the observatory, working with people who are doing stuff in the field ..... We also do a lot of stuff that has a significant impact on our surrounding community."

Like all MPES/OBS students, Allen came to MPES/OBS , which admits half of its students based on need / lottery and the other half based on an essay, after attending his neighborhood "home school ." MPSE/OBS reflects the district's ethnic makeup.

"We spent a great deal of time figuring out what was the best way students could be educated, and we came to some basic ideas," explains MPES/OBS teacher David Allen, one of the creators of the school. "One of them was students should be workers, and teachers should take less of a central role. Another was that students should be able to move around and that there should be some sort of center of the school. ... And everyone's group, everyone's house, would more or less face that central location."

Academic Program First, Design Second (Form Follows Function)
The development of MRSE/OBS was an all-too-rare case of fitting the building to the academic program, says observatory director, Jim Ross. "Once we fleshed out our entire program (which took two years), we decided to adapt the historic observatory buildings to meet our needs and our expectations for how kids are going to learn best.'"

The adaptation of the site that we ultimately came up with in consultation with educators, students, parents, and community members focuses on giving the observatory a comfortable family feeling. Students and teachers are grouped into various " PODS of Excellence " so students and three or four thematics studies teachers team up for three hours every day. When the entire PODS of Excellence meets in the "collaborative "kiva." it becomes a self-actualized community. If community members are coming to watch student presentations, they find a comfortable inclusive environment among the student-driven community, as it does when small groups work together on projects or when the area needs to be changed to accommodate alternative open - space configurations.

The building speaks to the collaborative relationships among students and staff and to the idea that students are supported to go as far with their learning as they are capable. Each POD of Excellence includes a shared office for its teachers, and the door is always open. Students form relationships with the other teachers, students, and staff through electives, projects, Socratic seminars, and general mingling in the community areas.

A Sense of Being Known / TRUSTED
Allen notes that he knew only 5 percent of the teachers at his home high school, which enrolled 2,200 students, and so only 5 percent of the teachers trusted him. The other 95 percent did not, as evidenced by locked doors and the lack of access to teachers and academic areas after school hours.

Student Lauren Dees says there's definitely a relationship between academic achievement and the welcoming environment, which includes trust, responsibility, and being judged on ideas, not appearance. There are no lockers or hall passes at MPSE/OBS , and students are encouraged to go where they need to go to do research, confer with other students, use a computer in their PODS of Excellence or down the hall, or work on video, audio, and PowerPoint ® projects in the media center. They may stay at the school until the last teacher leaves.

The friendly, no-cliques-tolerated school atmosphere "just meant that I was a little more open to what I was learning," says Dees. "I was a little more interested."

Students As Workers / Learners / Teachers
The main "building block" of MPSE/OBS , says Allen , is the student workstation. The workstations look like typical office cubicles, with storage and books and other study accessories. But the most interesting workstation artifacts are the ones that tell about the person whose workstation it is -- snapshots of a mountain climbing trip, magazine cutouts of small airplanes, photos of teen heartthrobs like Josh Hartnett and Angelina Jolie, and stuffed monkeys and lizards.

While the building block of MPSE/OBS is the students imaginative workstations, the building block of more traditional schools is the boxy classroom with desks arranged in rows facing the teacher, says Allen . "If you put 30 kids and a teacher in a 900-square-foot room, guess what?" he asks. "The teacher is going to take control and start lecturing. So we needed to break that kind of mold or and create a new model for this educational facility."

PODS Rule
Students are grouped into " PODS of Excellence " of about 10, and about 10 PODS form a house. POD members make their own rules ("No hissy fits. Trust. Respect everyone's individuality. Don't worry, be happy," exhorts one pod poster) and often do academic work together. It's common for each member of a POD to be assigned to read an article or chapter and then explain that article or chapter to the rest of the group. PODS may also have homework nights at one another's houses or regular lunch potlucks that further the feeling of family and the idea of educational collaboration.

Allen notes that the school also is used as an environmental textbook. Students learn that the building materials, such as a composite of concrete and wood, are renewable. The exposure of steel beams is designed to demonstrate how architects work with gravity, and the exposed duct work shows how air moves throughout the building. Recycling bins are ubiquitous, and there are no paper towels in the restrooms (we are currently working on this) , only air driers. Much of the art is made of recycled materials.

Projects run the gamut, although they usually have an environmental focus, and they often have a community service aspect. They also cross disciplines so that relationships are made between science and other subjects. Every year since the school started, for example, juniors have conducted pond studies. Using instruments like probes, Secchi disks, dip nets and seines, they monitor water oxygen levels, clarity, and temperature and collect plant samples. They make computerized charts and graphs and write technical reports about their findings, which they share with local agencies.

Students' understanding of water is further broadened through literature by reading such books as Dune by science fiction writer Frank Herbert and A Walk in the Woods by travel writer Bill Bryson.

From Lake Angelus to the Yucatan
Besides thematic studies, elective courses are offered in Science, Math, Art, Reading and Technology (SMART), photography, chemistry and world languages. Advanced Placement classes also are offered. Students may return to their home schools for extracurricular activities or classes that might not be offered at MPSE/OBS.

For 10 days out of each trimester, students take part in an intensive study of one subject or travel to such places as Canada, Alaska, Scotland, Mexico, or the Boundary Waters in Minnesota to study and perform community service projects related to the environment.

Many students attend MPSE/OBS because of the environmental focus, but Bodette has heard a wide variety of reasons for students' attachment to the school -- from being given the opportunity to learn a great deal of information in depth to working together to being known by other students and teachers to being able to present research to outside audiences in some cases utilizing "cutting edge" telecommunications technology . "They really get excited about that," Allen says.

"A lot of kids are changed by coming here," adds student Allen. Students who may not have been particularly interested in school find that learning can be fascinating and fun. "You'll begin to love learning, and it'll just all come to you," Allen says. At the same time, kids who already possess a stellar academic record will find that they don't know it all. "They'll come here, and they'll be humbled a little bit," Allen says. "They'll find they can learn new things."

Copyright © 2002 The George Lucas Educational Foundation
All Rights Reserved

Friday, December 6, 2002

Subject: Next Meeting / Pontiac SMART Youth

We need to determine the next meeting date, time, and place. In our last meeting we discussed meeting on either Saturday or an evening during the week, possibly Wednesday. We also suggested meeting at the Observatory. Please let me know "here" what your choices are or contact me at the Observatory 248-335-4791. The purpose of the meeting will be to review our efforts during the past several months (Summary 2002) and plan (Outlook 2003) our activities for 2003. I will make the Observatory available as necessary. You may also wish to develop ideas for the 2003 Agenda on this blog-site. Simply list your ideas in your "post" to the blog.

I pray the HOLIDAYS find you and your families safe, well and happy!

Best,

Jim