so the conference wasn’t too spectacular, but what was absolutely breath-taking was visiting high tech high school with my pepperdine classmates. what an amazing realization of all of the learning theories we have been learning about. the high tech high design is all about problem-based learning (PBL), collaboration, personalization, student engagement, real-life application, and innovation.
from the moment we walked into the doors of the original high tech high, there was a different feel than all other schools i’ve been in. the students were happy, they were engaged, they were self-monitoring, they were confident and proud, they were LEARNING! their artwork and projects were everywhere and it was beautiful.
high tech high is a charter program in san diego, california that is currently comprised of 5 high schools, 2 middle schools, and an elementary school. 100% of their graduates are admitted to college. whoa. the thing i LOVE is that these are not privileged, affluent, uppity kids. the enrollment is by lottery and the only prereq for entering the drawing is being a resident of california and having a method of getting to the school since there is no bus system. the schools do not track and so there is no such thing as isolating or mainstreaming… they’re all in it together. the classes are small… 25-27 at most and every student is known by an adult through an advisory program that goes throughout the whole 4 years. the teachers teach interdisciplinary subjects and collaborate together for all kinds of cool real-world projects. the students have published books and are exhibiting their artwork on blood at a real art gallery next month. i could literally go on and on about the exciting things they are doing there.
we were given a tour of high tech high international by a student in her junior year and she was amazing. so poised, confident, and intelligent. you can hear her talk in this awesome video made by my classmate terry who could possibly be the coolest teacher i have ever met:
we also had a chance to visit explorer elementary and these are some pictures i took there. the knowledge tree is especially inspiring. click on it to see a larger view.
tree of knowledge
peace
dogs by elementary kids
aren’t these wonderful? as you can tell, i had a lovely time just seeing how school can be done and was so inspired to see it working and working well. yay for people who think outside the box and challenge the status quo.
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By: san diego ups and downs « twirlings on November 15, 2008
at 10:25 pm
i hope my medical school has pbl. i’m too old to be sitting in lecture all day.
By: applesoda on November 15, 2008
at 11:57 pm
Hey! Thanks for the nice words. I just want to save kids from standardized tests and let them have a normal childhood! — Terry
By: Terry Smith on December 5, 2008
at 10:34 pm
I love the “Tree of Knowledge” image. Where can I purchase a print? I would love to hang it in my office.
By: Edwin Knox on July 6, 2013
at 3:16 pm