In preparation for our trip to England, Sydney, Megan and I visited High Tech High and Kipp Adelante along with students from other High Tech schools in order to get a better idea of what the three of us would be doing at Ken Stimpson in England.
High Tech High | INFORMATION DESIGN LECTURE
The team spent a day at High Tech High Point Loma learning the basis of Information Design and how to apply it during our internship.
Information Design: The concept of presenting information in a manner specifically tailored to the needs of the audience, using a process of observation, evaluation, and multiple trials of implementation.
After a brief lecture, we visited a classroom in the nearby High Tech Middle, where we observed a class's critique session. Our first assignment was to take note of what worked well, what didn't, and how students worked around issues.
Some of the issues we noticed right away was that the students were often left with nothing to do, and they were confused by the seat arrangement. Using this information, we broke into teams and planned a restructuring of the critique session, using methods ranging from quick rotations to in depth Socratic discussion.
The next step was to test the methods on an actual audience. We modeled our plans just outside the classroom, calling out small groups to run test sessions. After seeing the results of our ideas, we revised the plans and presented them to the classroom's teacher.
During the presentations, we learned that the teacher thought that all three of our completely different session plans were effective and useful. This taught us that when it comes to the real internship, we will need to be open minded and ready to adapt to our audience in multiple ways.
Kipp Adelante | OBSERVATION PERIOD
At Kipp Adelante, we spent two hours experiencing a different sort of learning, so that we would be better informed when it came to working in England.
Kipp Adelante, one of the nation's Kipp schools, is a preparatory institution with a focus on helping underprivileged kids get through college. As a result, the system they use is incredibly structured, with a notable emphasis on maintaining order within the building. This was mostly accomplished by enforcing absolute silence in the classroom, and requiring the children to walk single file from class to class.
During our observation period, I noted that it seemed that the lack of communication between students may be a detriment to their learning in the long run. The teachers did not seem to facilitate any form of peer critique or cooperation, which made it so that if a student needed help, the teacher was the only available resource.
Based on this, it is my opinion that in order to build an effective growth experience for students, it is important to allow students to support one another in their learning.
High Tech High | INFORMATION DESIGN LECTURE
The team spent a day at High Tech High Point Loma learning the basis of Information Design and how to apply it during our internship.
Information Design: The concept of presenting information in a manner specifically tailored to the needs of the audience, using a process of observation, evaluation, and multiple trials of implementation.
After a brief lecture, we visited a classroom in the nearby High Tech Middle, where we observed a class's critique session. Our first assignment was to take note of what worked well, what didn't, and how students worked around issues.
Some of the issues we noticed right away was that the students were often left with nothing to do, and they were confused by the seat arrangement. Using this information, we broke into teams and planned a restructuring of the critique session, using methods ranging from quick rotations to in depth Socratic discussion.
The next step was to test the methods on an actual audience. We modeled our plans just outside the classroom, calling out small groups to run test sessions. After seeing the results of our ideas, we revised the plans and presented them to the classroom's teacher.
During the presentations, we learned that the teacher thought that all three of our completely different session plans were effective and useful. This taught us that when it comes to the real internship, we will need to be open minded and ready to adapt to our audience in multiple ways.
Kipp Adelante | OBSERVATION PERIOD
At Kipp Adelante, we spent two hours experiencing a different sort of learning, so that we would be better informed when it came to working in England.
Kipp Adelante, one of the nation's Kipp schools, is a preparatory institution with a focus on helping underprivileged kids get through college. As a result, the system they use is incredibly structured, with a notable emphasis on maintaining order within the building. This was mostly accomplished by enforcing absolute silence in the classroom, and requiring the children to walk single file from class to class.
During our observation period, I noted that it seemed that the lack of communication between students may be a detriment to their learning in the long run. The teachers did not seem to facilitate any form of peer critique or cooperation, which made it so that if a student needed help, the teacher was the only available resource.
Based on this, it is my opinion that in order to build an effective growth experience for students, it is important to allow students to support one another in their learning.
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