Deeper Learning Deep Dive - All Politics is Local


Deep Dive Descriptor - All Politics is Local

Step into the shoes of two New York City high school principals as they grapple with shaping civically engaged, empathetic young people ready to lead the world. With an emphasis on civic knowledge, skills, mindsets, and experiences, we will simulate our civic capstone projects that are democratic in nature and empowering by design. Together, we will uncover the connections between civic engagement and authentic SEL work in the classroom, and analyze student artefacts from past civic capstones for deeper learning competencies. You will walk away with a capstone project toolkit to support similar work at your school sites.

Speakers

Hannah Kehn - New Visions for Public Schools
Founding Principal
Brooklyn, KY
https://newvisions.org/humanities4

Robert Hiller - New Visions Charter School for Advanced Math & Science
Principal
Bronx, NY
https://newvisions.org/ams

Aruna Patel
New Visions for Public Schools
Lead Curriculum Development Professional Learning Manager
Rahway, NJ
https://newvisions.org

The Deep Dive session was an opportunity to do an extended workshop (4 hours) that basically became a high-speed simulation of the task or strategy the workshop was about. In this instance, it was an opportunity to experience the "Capstone Civics Project" that students completed in the final semester of school at the New Visions for Public Education schools in New York.

For the most part, the projects were similar to what we might call Impact Projects but with a very clear focus on Civics Education. Students work collaboratively to identify, define and address a community-based issue of their choosing and are organised into groups at the start of senior year. Groups create a plan of action including draft ideas and prototypes, collect data on the impact of their prototypes, and provide a plan for sustaining their work after graduation.

So how was this different to what we see in Impact Projects? 
On one level, not much. There were however two ideas I did takeaway and am still thinking about how we might develop, adapt or use them. 

The first idea that really resonated was the opportunity for students to work from home. With the project being the final capstone (graduation) project, students could pitch their project and if successful could work from home every Friday (their project day). It struck me that graduating to this level of independence (if you demonstrated readiness) was a great way to prepare students for life beyond school.

The Seal of Civic Readiness

The second idea I liked was the way that the district had created a credential that was awarded, based in part on this project called - The Seal of Civic Readiness. Whilst this specific award is VERY American, I couldn't help thinking what an industry or community/council award that has national recognition could look like? Having been in two schools dedicated to long-term large-scale projects I know first-hand the value of Impact projects, I also know that our community can fail to recognise their true value. 

You can access all of the resources from the workshop here: Link to Deep Dive Slideshow

My final takeaway, which is becoming a theme of this conference is the reminder of the great work already happening in New Zealand. I think it is important that we reflect on the creative, innovative and increasingly localised and personalised learning we already see happening across our schools. It is also important that we work to protect and build on the work we are doing, particularly if we consider what may be in the pipeline for our education system in New Zealand. 


The Deeper Learning conference is very much framed around the Deeper Learning Competencies which are, in many ways, a variation of our NZC Key Competencies. When talking to my educational colleagues here in the US, I am reminded of just how progressive our NZC was and is. My hope is that the refresh does build on this and continues to take us forward and not back. 

The longer I am here, the more determined I am that we have got to fight for what we know is effective teaching and learning, and we need to push back if any changes coming our way don't improve on what we already know is pretty damn special! 

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