In 2019 we will be running a new course for a class of year 11 learners called The Pod. This class will be coached by 3 teachers and will be learner directed. I have had several ideas for this course which I hope to be a part of, if not in 2019, in the years beyond.
After completing the Core Education Accelerator course; Mindlab; study on curriculum integration towards my MEdLM; and reading the blogs of Richard Wells and Claire Amos, I propose the following:
- A changed timetable
The timetable that I propose would include our well established Academic Counselling Group which would meet first thing on a Monday so that learners can make goals for the coming week. They could also use the time to book tutorials with specialist teachers. During the semester, each learner would work on 2 projects and a community project which could also be one of their 2 projects. On Friday morning, learners would come to school a little later so that staff could have time for professional development.
2. A personalised and customised course run by learners and supported by staff
The year would begin with a discussion of the World’s Wicked Problems and Futures Thinking. This would help learners to realise that they can ‘be the change they want to see’. They do have agency and we are here to help them develop this agency. The following presentation has been developed to guide teachers and learners through the process of developing prototype solutions for wicked problems.
3. Integration of business practices such as Lean Canvas and Design Thinking
Learners will pitch their ideas and collaborate in Squads to research a Wicked problem and design a prototype solution. Each pitch will be given feedback using the RISE model and learners will then further develop their solution using Design Thinking. They will choose a planning tool such as Kanban to help plan and develop their ideas.
Once the prototype is developed, experts will be invited in to give their feedback and then the prototype will be tested. Once again the RISE model will be used for personal reflection of the process.
While this project is in process, learners can complete Achievement Standards for NCEA. The Academic Counsellor and their teacher/mentors will be available to help them choose the standards.
So that’s my thinking on how I see it all happening. I’m not sure whether it will go this way or not but I’ll pitch my ideas and look forward to the feedback!
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