Setting Description
Background
Currently, my students and I are part of an innovative public charter school system in California that utilizes project-based learning at the core of its education, collectively known as High Tech High. We are a title 1 school that serves a diverse student body. Admittance to our school is based on public lottery by zip code helping to insure that our student body closely and accurately represents the surrounding communities, many of whom fall under the poverty level. That being said my students are some of the most well rounded and capable individuals I have ever had the pleasure of teaching. At the heart of our school's' core values is the idea of teacher as designer, meaning that each classroom and project takes on the characteristics of the teacher and students within the class. When it comes to the possibilities of our students and projects the sky's the limit.
Having this level of teacher autonomy is both exciting and challenging. Our schools are collectively teacher-led, orchestrated by an amazing director. Developed through this foundation, each of our schools has its own unique personality and culture culminated by the individual skill sets, talents and personalities of the staff at that location. Being a founding faculty member of my school, I have been part of the emergence of our own culture since day one. Our staff, although small are extremely close and invested in creating something unique to our school. The faculty that I work with is fully of thinkers, tinkers, makers and above all - dreamers. In the consistent evolution of our school I wanted to invest my time and energy into something that would facilitate the creation of professional quality beautiful work and provide our student with access to industry standard programs, tools and materials generally reserved only for select higher education and industry - thus the idea of a K12 Makerspace was born.
The Foundation of High Tech High
High Tech Middle Chula Vista is one of thirteen charter schools in the High Tech High organization. The original High Tech High school was founded in 2000 by a group of progressive educators, and local business owners who wanted to radically change the way students were learning. Using project-based learning as a foundation for education, High Tech High set out to create passionate student learners who are directly involved in their own education. The students at High Tech High actively create their own knowledge through the real-world application of the curriculum they experience through their projects. High Tech High was developed with three core values for their school’s to pursue.
The most central component of their development was that each of their schools must be integrated across socio-economic backgrounds and academic abilities. For this reason, High Tech schools do not track their students according to their ability, or competencies in order to establish equity across their classes and schools. Second, High Tech High schools actively pursue the development of community connections. Student work is developed based upon real world problems with direct purpose and application and is publicly exhibited for their local communities. Finally, the curriculum the students engage in must involve a constant integration of hand and mind. Students to not passively receive information in their classroom but rather are actively engaged in solving complex problems requiring the development of background knowledge and the skills necessary to develop their own solutions to the challenges they encounter.
Design Principles
Each of the thirteen schools in the High Tech High organization is grounded in four key design principles. These core design principles serve as the foundation for the development of each of their schools, and are evident throughout everything from the design of the buildings and classrooms to the culture that is established and learning the students are engaged in. Initially developed out of the earlier work of Larry Rosenstock and Rob Riorden, the founders of High Tech High, in the New Urban High School Project (an initiative of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Vocational and Adult Education, 1996-99), estabilished using six guiding principles, they distilled them to four, founding High Tech High. Established to directly meet the needs of their students and connect to the broader mission of preparing them for the adult world, the four design principles are:
High Tech Middle Chula Vista
High Tech Middle Chula Vista (HTMCV) is located just north of the U.S. Mexico border, set on the edge of a newly developing community. HTMCV is part of a High Tech High village containing three schools; an elementary school, a middle school and a high school. Opening in the fall of 2011, HTMCV is finishing its fifth year of opperation. As of 2016, HTMCV had 309 students enrolled in grades 6-8, with 55% hispanic student population. Classified as a Title 1 school, 50% of their students qualify for the free and reduced lunch program. Supporting a full inclusion model, HTMCV’s student population is currently has 10% of its student body qualifying for special education services, and an additional 8% classified as an English Language Learner.
Opening in 2011 along with the High Tech Elementary as the first leed platinum certified school, the contiguous building has been developed from the ground to support each of the founding principles. The middle school consists of three grade levels 6th-8th, with two teaching teams per grade level, and three exploratory classrooms (engineering, art and theater). Each interdisciplinary teaching team consists of a math/science teacher and a humanities teacher who share adjacent rooms connected by a communal office space. Each of these classrooms share a collapsable wall allowing for the space to be used as two individual classrooms or one larger work space dependent on the necessities of the work the students are engaged in. In addition to their two core classes, each grade level works with one of the three exploratory teachers, rotating each semester.
Currently, my students and I are part of an innovative public charter school system in California that utilizes project-based learning at the core of its education, collectively known as High Tech High. We are a title 1 school that serves a diverse student body. Admittance to our school is based on public lottery by zip code helping to insure that our student body closely and accurately represents the surrounding communities, many of whom fall under the poverty level. That being said my students are some of the most well rounded and capable individuals I have ever had the pleasure of teaching. At the heart of our school's' core values is the idea of teacher as designer, meaning that each classroom and project takes on the characteristics of the teacher and students within the class. When it comes to the possibilities of our students and projects the sky's the limit.
Having this level of teacher autonomy is both exciting and challenging. Our schools are collectively teacher-led, orchestrated by an amazing director. Developed through this foundation, each of our schools has its own unique personality and culture culminated by the individual skill sets, talents and personalities of the staff at that location. Being a founding faculty member of my school, I have been part of the emergence of our own culture since day one. Our staff, although small are extremely close and invested in creating something unique to our school. The faculty that I work with is fully of thinkers, tinkers, makers and above all - dreamers. In the consistent evolution of our school I wanted to invest my time and energy into something that would facilitate the creation of professional quality beautiful work and provide our student with access to industry standard programs, tools and materials generally reserved only for select higher education and industry - thus the idea of a K12 Makerspace was born.
The Foundation of High Tech High
High Tech Middle Chula Vista is one of thirteen charter schools in the High Tech High organization. The original High Tech High school was founded in 2000 by a group of progressive educators, and local business owners who wanted to radically change the way students were learning. Using project-based learning as a foundation for education, High Tech High set out to create passionate student learners who are directly involved in their own education. The students at High Tech High actively create their own knowledge through the real-world application of the curriculum they experience through their projects. High Tech High was developed with three core values for their school’s to pursue.
The most central component of their development was that each of their schools must be integrated across socio-economic backgrounds and academic abilities. For this reason, High Tech schools do not track their students according to their ability, or competencies in order to establish equity across their classes and schools. Second, High Tech High schools actively pursue the development of community connections. Student work is developed based upon real world problems with direct purpose and application and is publicly exhibited for their local communities. Finally, the curriculum the students engage in must involve a constant integration of hand and mind. Students to not passively receive information in their classroom but rather are actively engaged in solving complex problems requiring the development of background knowledge and the skills necessary to develop their own solutions to the challenges they encounter.
Design Principles
Each of the thirteen schools in the High Tech High organization is grounded in four key design principles. These core design principles serve as the foundation for the development of each of their schools, and are evident throughout everything from the design of the buildings and classrooms to the culture that is established and learning the students are engaged in. Initially developed out of the earlier work of Larry Rosenstock and Rob Riorden, the founders of High Tech High, in the New Urban High School Project (an initiative of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Vocational and Adult Education, 1996-99), estabilished using six guiding principles, they distilled them to four, founding High Tech High. Established to directly meet the needs of their students and connect to the broader mission of preparing them for the adult world, the four design principles are:
- Personalization - Despite the constant evolution of the organization and development of new schools, High Tech High has intentionally limited its growth, school and class size to establish strong personal connections between the staff and students. Students with special needs are supported through full inclusion with their peers, and each student has a faculty advisor who they meet with regularly to build community, culture, and support their academic progress. Simply put, High Tech High teachers know their students and their families well.
- Adult World Connection - Through their projects, the students at High Tech High schools are actively engaged in the real-world application of the content they are studying. Students connect their work to experts in the fields they are studying through field studies, internships, direct consultations, and other applications. In addition to these collaborations, the work students develop is routinely publicly exhibited often times in real-world venues.
- Common Intellectual Mission - Each of our schools serve a diverse student body and are directly integrated into our local communities. Student enrolment is a non selective process based upon a zip code based lottery system. Each of our schools supports a full inclusion model of education and their is no tracking of students based up perceived academic abilities. Each of our students is engaged in a rigorous academic curriculum focused on establishing the 21st century skills necessary for real world integration.
- Teach as Designer - The core of High Tech High’s pedagogical approach is that their teachers are the program and curriculum designers for the courses offered. Our teachers work in interdisciplinary teams to develop their projects and curriculum. Our teachers play an active role in the critical decisions regarding the development of our schools, and often take the lead in staff meetings and professional development. The teachers are afforded flexible schedules and ample meeting time to support their project work, which is often directly developed based up the background knowledge, skills and personal interests of our staff.
High Tech Middle Chula Vista
High Tech Middle Chula Vista (HTMCV) is located just north of the U.S. Mexico border, set on the edge of a newly developing community. HTMCV is part of a High Tech High village containing three schools; an elementary school, a middle school and a high school. Opening in the fall of 2011, HTMCV is finishing its fifth year of opperation. As of 2016, HTMCV had 309 students enrolled in grades 6-8, with 55% hispanic student population. Classified as a Title 1 school, 50% of their students qualify for the free and reduced lunch program. Supporting a full inclusion model, HTMCV’s student population is currently has 10% of its student body qualifying for special education services, and an additional 8% classified as an English Language Learner.
Opening in 2011 along with the High Tech Elementary as the first leed platinum certified school, the contiguous building has been developed from the ground to support each of the founding principles. The middle school consists of three grade levels 6th-8th, with two teaching teams per grade level, and three exploratory classrooms (engineering, art and theater). Each interdisciplinary teaching team consists of a math/science teacher and a humanities teacher who share adjacent rooms connected by a communal office space. Each of these classrooms share a collapsable wall allowing for the space to be used as two individual classrooms or one larger work space dependent on the necessities of the work the students are engaged in. In addition to their two core classes, each grade level works with one of the three exploratory teachers, rotating each semester.