The Importance of Need to Know

Challenge: How do we make real work when we have standards we are required to "cover" and "teach?"

One of the eight essential elements of project-based learning is significant content. Clustered standards across all disciplines, weaving together content that reflects the way we learn as adults.  But how do unpack those standards with our students? We are used to delivering content with direct instruction, with a video, with a worksheet, and maybe some inquiry. But with project-based learning, we uncover the deeper learning with our students through a Need to Know. Teachers facilitating discussion, empowering students to ask questions and figure out by themselves what it is they need to learn.

Here is a little peek into Studio 1. For their study on plants earlier this year, students discovered the natural community outside of EPiC and spent time as a community brainstorming and naming the important concepts they wanted to learn in order to become experts.

This past month, Studio 1 embarked on a quest to discover what it was to be a leader. Students began their study by unpacking the question, "What is a Leader?" 

After discussion and inquiry, students decided they wanted to interview various leaders in the community, both adults and high school students, to learn what it means to be a leader and what it entails to actually lead others. After a series of interviews with community members, students reflected on their own leadership abilities--how had they lead in the past, how were leading now in the present, and how did they they hope to lead in the future. Students wrote personal essays about their leadership abilities and crafted their own handmade books to publish their writing. Students also identified ways they could lead and share with others, such as as a talent or something they felt they could teach others. Having learned to write a procedure (peanut butter and jelly sandwich), they wrote and produced video tutorials to help and lead others.

Community Engagement Explored

Driving Question: How can we rethink education where students engage in the cultural, historic and civic amenities of Liberty and the greater KC area to deepen and extend their learning and provide purposeful experiences and focused reflection to discover knowledge, embrace skills and integrate values into their life?

As we have unpacked this driving question, we have identified three key areas to help us facilitate relevant learning experiences. We are excited to see this unfold this year. 

SERVICE LEARNING IN COMMUNITY

Discover: Service learning teaches civic responsibility by integrating meaningful service into the learning process, empowering and inspiring students to be citizens and architects of a better world. Through their service-learning activities, students apply classroom knowledge in practical settings to deepen their understanding of significant content.

Embrace: Students gain academic knowledge and skills, interpersonal skills, and self confidence. Service-learning provides students with opportunities to develop communication and collaboration skills. They can also gain important experience working with diverse members of the community.

Integrate: Students may better understand themselves and know their gifts and talents as they explore and develop ways to contribute to their communities. They can develop self confidence and an enhanced commitment to serving others.

Resources:

• National Service-Learning Clearinghouse
• Public Charities in Clay County

Examples thus far this year:

• Studio 4 has identified non-profits that need help, and they are committed to advocating for these non-profits as change makers. 
• Coming soon--Studio 5 will explore hunger within the community and how they can help. 

COMMUNITY AS RESOURCE: EXPLORATORY, EXPERTS, CREATIVITY

Discover: Community as resource teaches students to explore their world around them and inquire about different topics and interests as it relates to the “real world.” It also gives students access to the world beyond the classroom so students learn relevance and usefulness of content both in and out of school. Moving beyond the classroom walls diversifies learning opportunities, connecting school with daily life and real problems.

Embrace: Students explore their own passions and interests and use the world around them to enhance the learning process.

Integrate: Students gain the experience of working with experts in the community. They develop a sense of self-efficacy as they pursue interests, work with experts, and experience work in the real world.

Resources:

• How Can Schools Use Community as Resource–ASCD
• Partnering with Local Businesses to Display Student Artwork

Examples thus far this year:

• Butterfly garden experts for Studio 2
• Chefs and other visitors on STEM careers in Studio 5
• KMBC anchor for Studio 1 Recess Report and broadcasting skills

COMMUNITY IN PARTNERSHIP

Discover: Community in Partnership is an action-based approach, requiring students to partner with local businesses and act as consultants or freelancers, with the goal of framing a problem or opportunity, collecting data and research, providing and creating solutions, and possibly implementing ideas.

Embrace:  Students infuse their passions and skills into the action-based approach, identifying gifts and talents within themselves as they grow and learn.

Integrate: Students learn transferrable skills such as literacy, collaboration, and communication, along with real life partnerships and real life work that is deeply embedded in customized significant content.

Resources:

• School-Business Partnerships That Work–Education World

Examples thus far this year:

• Studio 3 explored the water crisis in the world and, as a result of their awareness, created works of art to sell and raise money for water.org

Equipping Students: Personalized Learning

Equip Students: EPiC provides a learning environment through a personalized education where students become collaborators, critical and creative thinkers, and communicators.

We believe students learn in different ways and at different paces. For so long, in education, we have taught whole groups, small groups, differentiated in a designated RTI time. But what if students could work at their own pace, on their own time, working towards mastery? EPiC students learn through an integrated curriculum at a personalized pace utilizing technology and dynamic teacher instruction.

As part of our vision, we have challenged ourselves to create a learning environment that personalizes the learning process for each student. Through extensive research and observations all across the country, we identified key adaptive technology programs that would support personalized learning:

• Dreambox Math
• IReady Reading and Math
• LexiaCore5 Reading
• Reflex Math

We also looked deeply at project-based learning and how to best cultivate voice and choice. So what does this mean for us as educators? How do we teach 50 different students at their level when they are ready to learn?

Using real-time data to tailor instruction across all content, letting go of teacher control, cultivating creativity and passions--watch and listen to one of our fifth grade teachers reflect on implementing personalization.

Twitter = Personalized PD Everyday

Twitter is personalized PD everyday.  Years ago, maybe we could go to one conference a year to hear one person present on one topic and then we would read a few recommended books and hope to implement our learning in our classroom. Now we can learn every second on topics of our choice. When used for professional development, Twitter provides relevant and timely information and dialogue about education. It offers a plethora of resources to implement into the classroom and is a fantastic tool for communication.

Twitter is communication. It opens doors to the world for us and for our students every day. It creates learning opportunities and connections that surprise and delight us. All of our EPiC staff are on Twitter. We use it to communicate with one another, with families, with our PLN, and we participate in twitter chats such as #pblchat and #moedchat to grow our learning and thinking. And our students benefit from twitter, as our teachers have set up class twitter accounts so students can tweet out the happenings of the day with pictures and videos.  

Follow Us on Twitter as we learn and grow together!

Principal: Michelle Schmitz @mschmitz_1

Studio K: @EPiCKdg

Studio 1: Danielle Compton @dani_compton

Studio 1: Steffanie Baker ‏@SteffanieBaker

Studio 2: Michele Peck @MichelePeckLPS

Studio 2: Christine Torres @TorresEpic2nd

Studio 3: Kellie Konrad ‏@tchrkonrad

Studio 3: Dawn Bennett @K_DawnBennett

Studio 4: Katie Haberberger ‏@EPiCMrsHabs

Studio 4: Jeni Schwandt @EPiCSchwandt4

Studio 5: Kelly Hunerdosse ‏@KellyHunerdosse

Studio 5: Deb Caywood ‏@DebCaywood

Blended Learning Coach: Susan Maynor ‏@shmaynor

Special Education: Mary Oyler ‏@MrsOylerEPiC

Art: Melissa McCullough @Melissa_LPSArt

Music: Dana Ross @DanaEPiCmusic

Students as Researchers

This past month, Studio 1 and Studio 2 have been busy researching as they both are in process of designing and producing something beautiful for the community. 

 Real Work:

Field research on plants and butterflies

Real Product:

Studio 1: A Plant Field Guide of plants in our Liberty community 

**** 

Studio 2: A designed Butterfly Garden for the Memorial Student Garden 

Real Audience:

The Liberty Community

Butterfly Research: Project-Based Learning

Challenge:

How can we engage today's 

modern learner in learning?

One of the ways we approached this challenge was to move away from teaching isolated subjects that could easily be "Googled" and engaged project-based learning for our students.

PROJECT OVERVIEW:

• Students will study the life cycle and needs of butterflies in order to create butterfly garden on the EPiC campus.

DRIVING QUESTION:

• How can we as butterfly experts and landscapers create an environment for butterflies to thrive at EPiC?

Learning Outcomes/Targets (Missouri Learning Standards):

• Identify and sequence life cycles (birth, growth, and development, reproduction and death) of animals (i.e., butterfly, frog, chicken, snake, dog).
• Identify and relate the similarities and differences among animal parents and their offspring or multiple offspring.
• Ask and answer questions such as who, what, where, when, why and how to demonstrate understanding of key details and in a text.
• Recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer questions.
• Construct maps with title and key
• Explain how specific images (e.g. a diagram showing how a machine works) contribute to and clarify a text.

AUTHENTIC PRODUCT:

• Redesigning a garden on campus into Butterfly Garden

PUBLIC AUDIENCE:

• All of Liberty and any visitors to our school

After writing a persuasive letter asking for permission to redesign the garden, students meet with the principal to discuss possibilities:

Research on the butterfly lifecycle:

Working with Liberty High School students surveying the space:

Deepening learning about butterflies through movement:

Exploring the butterfly habitat:

A Teacher's Perspective on Project-based Learning

Real work. Real audience. Relevant to students.

A huge part of our EPiC journey this year is to deepen our understanding in designing effective project-based learning experiences that engage, challenge, and cultivate the creativity of our students. We want to grow, learn, reflect, and share.

We sat down with our fourth grade team to hear their reflections and musings on project-based learning, technology integration, and collaboration.

#EPiCback2school

This week the doors opened to 300 eager students, ready for their new adventure to be EPiC everyday. The school buzzed of discoveries, collaboration, creation, and inquiry. 


Second graders embarked on a digital scavenger hunt, exploring their school and documenting the adventure through photos and pic collages. Third graders explored their personalized learning platforms and downloaded their first learning app.


Fourth graders identified character traits of change makers (their overarching theme for the year) by conducting experiments, and the fifth grade learning studio "cooked up a little learning", listened to an expert chef demonstrate creativity, and spent time getting to know one another.


In the halls, in the common spaces, in cubbies, together, individual. Conversations, quiet moments, focused learning.

As one of our fourth grade teachers reflected at the end of the day:

"50 kids, 2 teachers, 50 ipads, 25 explosions, hundreds of pictures, 50 bags of goop, one stellar parent helper, flexibility - creativity - innovation, 4 very full trash cans, buckets of safety goggles, lots of hugs, and a VERY supportive community = an EPiC first day of school.”

Be EPiC Everyday

Google. Dropbox. Netflix. Twitter. Innovative companies that have transformed our culture. Creativity will drive the economics of the future, but where in our current educational system do we actually allow the time and space for creativity? When you walk into a classroom can you see a difference between the 1980’s and today’s classroom?  Are students “dialing down” when they enter school? And if creativity really is the driver of the economy, what skills do our students need to be successful? In the spring of 2013, Liberty Public Schools began exploring these questions and more, resulting in a 20/20 Vision Innovations Team, comprised of administrators, teachers, parents, and board members. 

As we started to seek answers to these questions, we crossed the country and visited highly successful, innovative schools. We tapped into experts, read research and investigated different school models, ultimately discovering effective environments that empowered students to learn. Real tools. Authentic audiences. Projects with meaning. Personalized learning. As our team began to assimilate what we had learned, we posed the questions, “How could we reimagine education for our students in Liberty? How could we step outside the box and incorporate our new learning to create a different kind of school?

"Every Person Inspired to Create, hence the acronym EPiC, was born. EPiC is not just a school, but rather an idea, a philosophy, a journey for every person. So what does that look like in a school? How will we infuse this idea into each and every day? We believe that children learn in different ways and at different paces. Moreover, we also believe it is essential that all our students are engaged at a deep level of learning. And we know that learning becomes real when students are able to take their learning beyond the classroom walls and engage with parents and community experts. 

So then how do we empower and equip students for the evolving, global economy and design a program that is Every Person Inspired to Create? How are we going to make sure students learn the necessary skills to prepare them for life beyond school? 

Curiosity sparks passion and creativity. EPiC re-imagines education by encouraging the in-depth exploration of topics as students participate in the adventures of learning. Our students will apply their new knowledge by creating and exhibiting their own learning to multiple audiences. Daily personalized learning will be the key--students learning at their own level, leveraging the power of quality adaptive technology platforms. Through project-based learning and dynamic teacher instruction, EPiC students will explore real challenges and create solutions and share in front of authentic audiences.  


We are excited to bring to life our vision. 

Come along with us on the journey to Be EPiC Everyday.