Shy Guys and Community High

Allow me to first apologize for the belated post. I won't make excuses; I'll just try to make up for it with a super response here.

A lot of what we talked about in class last Friday caused me to reflect on my own high school experience. I went to a high school in Ann Arbor called Community High, which is unique in a variety of ways. For one, it is very small. About 400 students, all of whom have to get in via an open lottery. It is still public, but not everybody is able to attend.

The philosophy behind Community High is one I think John Dewey would have approved of. Community emphasizes, above all else, individual education. Students are given much more freedom than in other public high schools, which can result in one of two outcomes. Some students succumb to the temptation of the open campus, loose attendance policies, and laid back atmosphere. Others capitalize on the innovative curriculums, community interaction opportunities, and creative opportunities.

Perhaps the most unique feature of Community's philosophy is the Community Resource (CR) program. CR's allow students to get credit for... just about anything. If a student has an idea for a CR, they draft a proposal and submit it to the CR office. If it is approved, they are allowed to participate in whatever activity they have outlined, periodically updating the school on their progress. In the end, they receive normal high school credit in the field most related to their activity.

As an example, I received Physical Education credit for creating, coaching, and captaining our school's Ultimate (frisbee) team. In addition to getting to play Ultimate twice a week, I also learned a lot about organizing and managing a group of students. Although my team consisted of a variety of hippies, stoners, goth kids, and other un-athletic stereotypes, we actually developed into a powerhouse of Ultimate skills. In fact, we never lost a game in the state of Michigan, and even represented at tournaments throughout the region.

Although the potential is there for students to abuse the CR program, it still offers a tremendous opportunity for a more progressive, and dare I say, effective, type of learning. Students are not only free to establish CR's in areas they are genuinely interested in, but they also learn valuable skills about responsibility and organization as they develop their proposals and update them throughout the year. In drafting said proposals, students must consider the ways that their outside experiences are related to their education, and thus they must engage with their subjects in unique and interesting ways.

I personally believe that CR type programs offer huge potential for education throughout the country. In our educational consensus activity for Education 649, our group could only agree on one thing: schools should provide opportunities for students to learn outside of the classroom, and in their communities. If more schools consider the opportunities afforded by community-orientated educational programs, huge progress could be made towards the goals of many educational reformers and politicians throughout the country.

Dewey or Die

Wow... I really dig John Dewey's views on education. His philosophy about the relationship between psychology and sociology in the context of learning is very interesting, and caused me to think about technology in the classroom in new ways.

One idea I really took away from the readings was that technology activates a different kind of learning within students. Traditional methods of teaching with textbooks and other written materials eventually lead to the same types of cognitive processes with slight variations. To me, technology opens the door for learning in an ENTIRELY new way. As a student negotiates a new technological medium, they are not only learning about the subject they are dealing with, but also how that subject fits into a dynamic medium. Textbooks can only teach as much as the words on the page, but technology can allow for every student to have a unique learning experience, that can change and continue to challenge them. When students are engaging with material in such a free environment, they need to do more than just retain it, they need to be able to work with it - to fit it into new scenarios and truly understand how it works.

In case you haven't noticed, I'm a total nerd for the game Civilization IV, and since I have no chance of saving face at this point, I figure I'll just fully embrace my fantasy of using the game in the classroom. To me, the game provides a good example of the different types of learning associated with written materials and a technological medium. I could read a textbook that explains the evolution of language, and it would be on me to remember the various stages of the process. In the game, however, I would have to research writing, alphabet, literature, etc., and forge my own path in that evolution. Furthermore, depending on how I go about researching those things, I could see the ways that my civilization differs from others that take different paths. Alphabet, for example, allows you to trade technologies with other civilizations, so it is a valuable technology to acquire. This demonstrates how more literate societies have been the ones to best transmit their culture (think Chinese, Arabic, etc.). A student doesn't just learn that writing precedes an organized alphabet precedes literature, and so-forth. They learn the implications of that evolution and thus engage with it in a more productive way.

First Class Reflection

Being a technology guy myself, I'm super-excited about the prospects of technology in the classroom. The whole concept of using videogames to teach is one that I find particularly intriguing. Maybe that's because I love videogames, but I genuinely see educational potential in the gaming world. One game that comes to mind is Civilization IV, which is not only awesome, but surprisingly anchored by real historical information. Although the historical scenarios play out in often comically inaccurate ways - I've had Gandhi discover slavery, Cleopatra invent nukes, etc. - the ways in which the game requires players to engage with historical concepts is still worth pursuing. I'd be interested to see if anyone has tried to use Civ IV in the classroom before.