What if you were met with the question, "We'll give you anything you want to move your school forward?" What would you ask for?
Here's my dream wish.
Playground:
I'd create a lunch/craft/quiet play area on the playground that has a large canopy to keep out rain or too much sun. The tables would be circular, comfortable, and inviting. There would be recycle bins nearby. Teachers could use the space for picnics, outdoor learning, crafts, and exploration.
The pathways would be MathWays with numbers and symbols providing students with an opportunity to walk, skip, play, and run with math. There would also be MathSculpture for climbing and exploring, again providing students with a tactile way to explore math concepts.
There would be a useful shed of play supplies, and a full-time playground monitor who takes charge of students' outdoor time with pride and care.
Classroom Design:
The school would no longer be a series of same classrooms. Instead there would be many wonderful spaces for all kinds of learning. The spaces would be colorful, thoughtfully designed, and playful. There would be a variety of seats, share spaces, and exploration areas.
Tech:
There would be all kinds of tech readily available for student exploration and learning. The tech tools would be plentiful with open access. The rules guiding tech use would emphasize exploration, investigation, and interaction.
Educators:
Most professionals in the school would have direct service responsibility for students. The old factory model structures with multiple levels of leadership would be replaced by collaborative, team structures where teams of diverse, dynamic educators work together to move students forward with confidence, engagement, and learning.
Ideas:
Systems of idea share and study would be flowing and continual. New ideas would be encouraged and met with timely systems of conversation, trial, revision, and implementation. In this way, growth will become a regular aspect of system thought and action.
Recycle:
Similar to an open system to new ideas, there will also be a system of recycling outdated processes, tools, and strategies. This system would honor tried-and-true, traditional, classic ideas, strategies, and processes that still have merit, and delete those that are cumbersome, time consuming, and less effective.
Time:
The new hands-on, students-first team structure would distribute time so that more educators have time to collaborate, plan, conference, and learn--time that will fuel optimal change.
This is my initial dream list. Note that most of my ideas do not include added dollars, instead it's mostly a reshuffling of current constructs, time, and focus.*
What's on your "Anything You Want" list?
*Note that I work in an optimal system where most students come to school each day well-loved and well-cared for. The system supports state-of-the-art tools and materials, and provides educators with a good level of academic/intellectual freedom with which to do their craft. Also the system salaries are fair relative to teacher salaries. I realize that there are other schools and systems that are having difficulty providing safe environments, adequate tools, and sufficient staffing, and I believe that's a crime as every school should have the "conditions for excellence," that's our obligation as a nation and world.
