SLA's Three Questions and School 2.0

Who I am: Chris Lehmann

What I do: Principal of the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia, PA (Opening 9/06).

What I did: Technology Coordinator / English Teacher / Girls Basketball Coach / Ultimate Coach at the Beacon School, a fantastic progressive public high school in Manhattan.

Email: chris [at] practicaltheory [dot] org.

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Comments

Gary Stager about New Year... New Challenges... New Goals... New Excitement
Tue, 31.08.2010 05:14
I may have linked to the
wrong Merrow article -
http://takingnote.learnin
gmatters.tv/?p=4433

Gary Stager about New Year... New Challenges... New Goals... New Excitement
Tue, 31.08.2010 05:05
Dear Chris:

We've had this discussion
privately, so I hope you
don't mind that I involve
the [...]

Julie Strong about New Year... New Challenges... New Goals... New Excitement
Mon, 30.08.2010 13:35
I'll be curious to see
how #5 evolves. In
independent schools we
rarely lack for parent
[...]

dcollins about New Year... New Challenges... New Goals... New Excitement
Sat, 28.08.2010 07:32
Those are great things to
look forward to! At my
alternative school, I'm
looking forward to seeing
[...]

Andrew Marcinek about New Year... New Challenges... New Goals... New Excitement
Sat, 28.08.2010 06:42
I am sure it will be very
weird vibe without your
original class in the
building, but now you
have [...]

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< SLJ: Beware the High-Stakes Tests | Greg Farr on Leadership >

Monday, July 9. 2007

SLA's Three Questions and School 2.0

(I'm using this as an excuse to test MarsEdit and Serendipity...)

We came up with the three overarching questions for SLA without making it explicitly about School 2.0, but the more I think about the intersection of Dewey and science education and 21st Century schooling, the more I really think we created three questions that allow us to explore a lot of the ideas we're talking about:

How do we learn?
What can we create?
What does it mean to lead?

I really enjoy where those questions take us as a school... and I think they lead us to a place that does prepare kids for the world they'll face. But I'm curious... if you had to create three overarching questions to guide the learning at a school that was casting an eye toward the future...

What are the questions you'd use?

(and why three? why not... if you've got four or five, use them...)

Technorati Tags:
sla, School 2.0

Posted by Chris Lehmann in SLA, School 2.0 at 07:59 | Comments (8) | Trackbacks (0)

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I'd add (if asked):

"What is the impact of our voice?"

#1 Christian Long (Link) on 2007-07-09 08:12 (Reply)

I would add "What does it mean to follow?" and "What does it mean to collaborate (or cooperate)?" I believe we all must be leaders to live authentically, but we must also collaborate and to some extent become followers as well. Kids should learn the flexibility to switch between these roles easily because the world they will live in requires it.

#2 Matt Cinelli on 2007-07-09 08:34 (Reply)

Why do we learn?

What are we passionate about?
I think of Dr. Tyson's situation at Mabry. They are passionate about creating videos based on real-world problems. How do you develop passion within a school?

#3 Brian C. Smith (Link) on 2007-07-09 10:12 (Reply)

What is the legacy we will leave?

#4 Jeremiah Patterson (Link) on 2007-07-10 15:19 (Reply)

Chris,

I think "3" is the right number for a naiscent idea. Why? In the work that I have done with schools and enterprise, I find that if we get beyond "3" at the "top level" then it is hard to have the focus and immediacy to make an impact. BTW, I think you can put the suggested questions from other commenters (to date) intothe three you have already posted. Maybe it is three categories:

Learning: How, What, Why and Where Do We Learn?

Creativity: Individual, Collective "What"

Leadership: How to Lead from the Front Row and the Second Seat (see the very interesting book "Art of Possibility" for the critical understanding of leadership roles no matter "whose in charge")

On a side note, I sat in an edublogger session with you at NECC on Saturday. I am new to blogging, and I come from the world of business though I've been engaged in strategic planning for a K-12 educational institution, and I got to know Will last year when I read his blog, his book, and brought him to Atlanta to support a six-school collaborative study of the Internet. I've been encouraged by Sheryl to start blogging, and my blog can be found at http://thenetwork.typepad.com/architectureofideas/. Would love your comments and participation.

(I'm the gal from Wilmington, DE who now lives in ATL--I'd love to join you all in January for the conference at SLA!)

#5 Laura Deisley (Link) on 2007-07-10 16:36 (Reply)

Really, it would be a shame if any school was guided by any fixed set of questions.

But, to play along...

1. What do we already know?
2. What do we need to learn?
3. How can we best move from 1 to 2?
4. How can we be sure we have learned something new?
GOTO 1

Ken (Serendipity user)

#6 Ken Ronkowitz (Link) on 2007-07-10 19:15 (Reply)

I think that questions can guide us, and the trick is, I agree, not to make them limit us... We tried to create questions that were broad-based, open-ended and powerful that opened the door to more questions... and they lead us to all sorts of more questions, which is I think what you were suggesting with your recursive call.

(And always nice to meet another serendipity user...)

#6.1 Chris Lehmann (Link) on 2007-07-11 10:04 (Reply)

As you were writing this, I happened to be creating a piece of my own for my charter school. In envisioning a perfect school, I was answering the following questions:

How does the learning environment look?
How does it NOT look?

What are student behaviors inside this environment?
What aren't the student behaviors?

What are the teacher behaviors?
What are NOT teacher behaviors?

#7 Ginger Lewman on 2007-07-14 09:57 (Reply)

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Monday, July 9. 2007

SLA's Three Questions and School 2.0

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