The Deeper Learning Plan
The Deeper Learning Plan is an intensive and comprehensive plan which addresses every facet of creating a 21st century district or school.
During each phase of this multi-year program the teachers will build upon and enhance learning from the previous phases while continuing to add to their overall knowledge base and expertise. Each year will introduce and focus upon new skills, literacies, content and methodologies. "You can't eat a whole elephant in one bite!" The program and the teachers will grow over time.
Establishing critical databases the first year, the teachers will continue each subsequent year to build upon and expand:
* A 21st Century Curriculum Database by adding new 21st century curriculum units,
* Adding to the Resources Database, and
* Adding to the evidence of growth through the Documentation and Evaluation Archives.
As we work closely with the teachers and administrators throughout this project we will be keen to observe each individual's strengths, interests and passions as well as each person's individual professional goals and needs. Their talents, passions and knowledge are what we must support - they are a vital key to excellence.
This knowledge will enable us to maximize the level of personalization and flexibility for professional development. Every administrator and teacher will be supported and encouraged to follow their personal passions in their work as we customize their professional development plans to best suit their needs and interests. These plans are designed in alignment with the district's mission and vision. The overall result is that the entire school, the community, and most importantly, the students will benefit.
Phase One
Building the Rocket - the Pre-Flight Plan
During each phase of this multi-year program the teachers will build upon and enhance learning from the previous phases while continuing to add to their overall knowledge base and expertise. Each year will introduce and focus upon new skills, literacies, content and methodologies. "You can't eat a whole elephant in one bite!" The program and the teachers will grow over time.
Establishing critical databases the first year, the teachers will continue each subsequent year to build upon and expand:
* A 21st Century Curriculum Database by adding new 21st century curriculum units,
* Adding to the Resources Database, and
* Adding to the evidence of growth through the Documentation and Evaluation Archives.
As we work closely with the teachers and administrators throughout this project we will be keen to observe each individual's strengths, interests and passions as well as each person's individual professional goals and needs. Their talents, passions and knowledge are what we must support - they are a vital key to excellence.
This knowledge will enable us to maximize the level of personalization and flexibility for professional development. Every administrator and teacher will be supported and encouraged to follow their personal passions in their work as we customize their professional development plans to best suit their needs and interests. These plans are designed in alignment with the district's mission and vision. The overall result is that the entire school, the community, and most importantly, the students will benefit.
Phase One
Building the Rocket - the Pre-Flight Plan
Design and build the rocket.
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Testing and Training
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The launchpad - fueled and ready!
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We use the analogy of launching a rocket to the moon when we are describing the phases of designing and successfully implementing 21st century schools.
Before you can launch a rocket to the moon you must dedicate significant time and resources to careful planning, including building the rocket itself as well as the launch platform. Of course, the rocket must have sufficient fuel!
In launching the Paradigm Shift Project we will begin with articulating the Vision and Mission statements for the project. These will serve to guide all the decisions and actions taken as we proceed through the project. This will keep us focused and aid in achieving the highest levels of excellence.
21st century teaching and learning must be embedded within a carefully designed Learning Environment. To ensure the successful Blast Off! of the Paradigm Shift Project we will have prepared everything from the facilities and grounds to curriculum design and professional development.
If you opt to do so, the school facilities and grounds will be prepared with many features such as:
* Seamless Technology - SkyDrives in the cloud for staff and students so that files and programs follow you around anywhere you can get on the Internet. Included are shared folders and calendars, instant messaging, and video conferencing. And a radio and TV studio.
* Although your students may have among the highest math scores, we believe that this unique math program would be an excellent addition to the your math curriculum. We strongly recommend implementation of MOVE IT, Math! (MIM) for the primary and elementary levels. It is quite inexpensive as well as highly motivational - for students and teachers! Please see Anne Shaw's testimony on implementing MIM and extensive research/documentation of its success.
If desired:
A District or Campus Paradigm Shift Strategic Plan will outline a trajectory of continuous growth for a period of three to five years, with specific targets for each year, ever expanding the knowledge base of the teachers.
Year One of the program will include the planning and development of the project and its specific components, beginning with articulating a specific Vision and Mission for the project and a Strategic Plan. If your school is already in operation, a priority will be the creation of time for teachers to participate in focused professional development and curriculum design.
Ideally, teachers will be able to participate in an uninterrupted, extensive Summer Institute for three weeks. However, there are also many, easy ways to create the needed time for teachers to be released from the classroom in order to participate in a focused, high quality and high yield professional development and curriculum design program.
Therefore, by the end of Year One, or the Pre-Launch Phase, your teachers will have participated extensively in high quality professional development programs and writing 21st century curriculum.
This will not be a replacement of the current curriculum, for example, IB or Cambridge, which may already have been adopted by your school or district, but will rather be an enhancement of that curriculum.
The teachers will know how to integrate the Critical Attributes of 21st Century Education, the Multiple Literacies and the Seven Survival Skills for the 21st Century (from Harvard University).
Before you can launch a rocket to the moon you must dedicate significant time and resources to careful planning, including building the rocket itself as well as the launch platform. Of course, the rocket must have sufficient fuel!
In launching the Paradigm Shift Project we will begin with articulating the Vision and Mission statements for the project. These will serve to guide all the decisions and actions taken as we proceed through the project. This will keep us focused and aid in achieving the highest levels of excellence.
21st century teaching and learning must be embedded within a carefully designed Learning Environment. To ensure the successful Blast Off! of the Paradigm Shift Project we will have prepared everything from the facilities and grounds to curriculum design and professional development.
If you opt to do so, the school facilities and grounds will be prepared with many features such as:
- A wealth of children's literature
- MOVE IT, Math! materials*
- Edible Schoolyard and Student Cooking Kitchen/Lab
- Living Schoolyard
- DaVinci Studio - for science lab and art studio
- Dance/Yoga Studios
- Seamless technology - learning anytime, anywhere
- Multimedia Production - yes, even for the little ones!
- Fish Pond
- Nature Trail
- MakerSpace Design Studio
- A Labyrinth
- An Outdoor Amphitheater
- A Conference Room - for use by students also
- A Starbucks-style cafe
- A Lecture Hall for student presentations
- An open-area plaza
- Cool "lockers" with electrical power outlets
- A screened-in porch
- Outdoor decks
- And, yes, even more!
* Seamless Technology - SkyDrives in the cloud for staff and students so that files and programs follow you around anywhere you can get on the Internet. Included are shared folders and calendars, instant messaging, and video conferencing. And a radio and TV studio.
* Although your students may have among the highest math scores, we believe that this unique math program would be an excellent addition to the your math curriculum. We strongly recommend implementation of MOVE IT, Math! (MIM) for the primary and elementary levels. It is quite inexpensive as well as highly motivational - for students and teachers! Please see Anne Shaw's testimony on implementing MIM and extensive research/documentation of its success.
If desired:
- We will work with you to develop relationships with various organizations and individuals from the community
- We will support a public relations campaign
- 21st century technologies will be ready to go - enabling learning "any time and any place"
- An online database will be ready for use by teachers, students and parents
- A comprehensive, formal Evaluation and Documentation procedure will be in place for uploading photos, videos, interviews, notes, reports, test scores and grades, samples of student products, teachers' portfolios and curriculum designs, and
- Resource databases.
- Materials, supplies, furniture and equipment will be planned and ordered.
- Your videographers and photographers will have been documenting the project from Day One when the consultants from 21st Century Schools first meet with you to plan and celebrate the launch of this project.
A District or Campus Paradigm Shift Strategic Plan will outline a trajectory of continuous growth for a period of three to five years, with specific targets for each year, ever expanding the knowledge base of the teachers.
Year One of the program will include the planning and development of the project and its specific components, beginning with articulating a specific Vision and Mission for the project and a Strategic Plan. If your school is already in operation, a priority will be the creation of time for teachers to participate in focused professional development and curriculum design.
Ideally, teachers will be able to participate in an uninterrupted, extensive Summer Institute for three weeks. However, there are also many, easy ways to create the needed time for teachers to be released from the classroom in order to participate in a focused, high quality and high yield professional development and curriculum design program.
Therefore, by the end of Year One, or the Pre-Launch Phase, your teachers will have participated extensively in high quality professional development programs and writing 21st century curriculum.
This will not be a replacement of the current curriculum, for example, IB or Cambridge, which may already have been adopted by your school or district, but will rather be an enhancement of that curriculum.
The teachers will know how to integrate the Critical Attributes of 21st Century Education, the Multiple Literacies and the Seven Survival Skills for the 21st Century (from Harvard University).
Phase Two
Blast Off - Launching the Rocket!
Blast Off - Launching the Rocket!
Year Two - The first day of school marks the beginning of this Phase Two of the Paradigm Shift Project.
Blasting off! - ensuring that the rocket has sufficient thrust to not only get off the ground but to escape the gravitational pull of the Earth - requires enormous thrust and a huge amount of fuel.
Insufficient preparation could result in a failed launch - and back to the drawing board. Doing it right and doing it once is not only more cost effective financially, but in terms of ensuring success for the teachers and the students.
The time from Blast Off to the moment the rocket has achieved orbit is one of the most critical time periods in a mission. If you've ever watched a rocket launch on television you know the tension and excitement, then the wonderful joy and relief when the rocket and the crew are safely launched. Suddenly, you remember that you can now breathe again!
We will provide the support required to achieve and sustain success.
While the building and grounds*, the curriculum and the teachers have already been as fully prepared as is humanly possible, actual implementation of everything the teachers have learned and designed will not be perfect the first time out. No matter how gifted, enthusiastic, open-minded and knowledgeable teachers are - there is a learning curve that can only happen through implementation. Even the most talented teachers will take at least three years to develop high levels of proficiency as 21st century teachers.
Teachers and students will be making major paradigm shifts in how they think about "education", "learning", "teaching" and "school". 21st century education differs in many ways from traditional education.
To sustain the change it will be critical at this time to provide teachers with significant support. Without ongoing support and professional development teachers will naturally fall back into the traditional teaching role they've always known. This critical support will be provided by our highly qualified and experienced professional development consultants. The professional development your teachers receive will be flexible, personalized, multi-modal and multi-faceted.
From large group workshops where teachers become familiar with new concepts, knowledge and methodologies to facilitation of PLCs (Professional Learning Communities) to small team work, classroom coaching, one-on-one counseling and support, we will provide your teachers what they need to experience success. In addition to personalized support working face-to-face with 21st Century Schools' consultants your teachers will also be involved in action research, online collaboration and in online courses designed by 21st Century Schools.
Instead of a a lengthy, time-intensive Summer Institute at the end of the school year we will arrange alternative time to work with teachers in smaller teams throughout the school year to continue building of your 21st Century Curriculum Database. Then we will have a two-week Summer Institute for all the teachers so that they have an opportunity to share and learn from each other.
This process is necessary in order to ensure the highest level of excellence in curriculum design, and also fosters the development of the entire learning community, as a community, as they celebrate each other and their successes. This is an important experience for the teachers' social and emotional learning and will also contribute to raising their levels of job satisfaction!
Phase Three - Staying the Course and Course Corrections!
Sustaining the Change and Excellence
Year Three - During Phase Three . . .
Year One was building the rocket and the launch platform - planning and beginning of intensive professional development, etc. Year Two was the first year of actual implementation of the District 21st Century Schools program in the classroom, and required intensive support.
In Year Three teachers will be continuing to refine their practices in designing and delivering 21st century curriculum and instruction. They will continue on their journeys to becoming authentic experts in their PLCs. Classroom coaching, mentoring, whole group, small group, team workshops will continue; the 21st Century Curriculum Database will continue to expand. The Documentation and Evaluation Database will also continue to expand.
Year Three will allow for a substantial decrease in the intensity of professional development and support required, although it cannot yet be eliminated. Teachers are still in a learning curve, albeit not as steep as it was in Years One and Two. The cycle of support and professional development will continue in the third year of this project with a combination of On-Site and Virtual programs and support.
* This only applies if you decided to make any additions or renovations to the current facilities and grounds.
