SCHOOL SETTING DESCRIPTION
In a time of standardized testing and budget cuts I felt extremely blessed to have spent the year in a network of schools that strives to inspire creativity and individualism in not only the students, but also the teachers within the organization. As a one year resident in the HTH Graduate School of Education earning my M.Ed. in Teacher Leadership, I was immersed in a HTH school full time while taking the GSE classes and conducting my action research. I spent the first four months of school co-teaching with a master HTH teacher in an 8th grade Humanities classroom at High Tech Middle (HTM), one of 11 schools in the High Tech High network. During the second four months I worked as a long-term substitute for the other 8th grade humanities teacher at HTM. All eleven High Tech High schools subscribe to the same mission; “...to develop and support innovative public schools where all students develop the academic, workplace, and citizenship skills for postsecondary success” (hightechhigh.org, 2012).
HTH was founded by a group of civic and industry leaders who saw a need for more qualified individuals entering the high-tech workforce. In 2000 the first High Tech High school was opened in San Diego, CA with the goal of integrating technical and academic education in order to graduate thoughtful, engaged citizens, especially in the areas of math and engineering. Since the origination of that first school, a total of ten additional elementary, middle, and high schools have opened. All schools are similar in the sense that they use four Design Principles to guide the direction of school and classroom practice.
HTH was founded by a group of civic and industry leaders who saw a need for more qualified individuals entering the high-tech workforce. In 2000 the first High Tech High school was opened in San Diego, CA with the goal of integrating technical and academic education in order to graduate thoughtful, engaged citizens, especially in the areas of math and engineering. Since the origination of that first school, a total of ten additional elementary, middle, and high schools have opened. All schools are similar in the sense that they use four Design Principles to guide the direction of school and classroom practice.
Teacher as Designer
The design principle, Teacher as Designer, is what I noticed first upon visiting multiple classrooms at my site, High Tech Middle. Although HTM is one of four 6th-8th grade charter schools in the High Tech High network and “on paper” looks the same as all the rest, I discovered that it is the teachers within each school that make each site unique. Just like all schools, there are teachers here of various personalities and philosophies but because of the Teacher as Designer Design Principle, each teacher’s uniqueness is celebrated and encouraged. Teachers are not pushed to teach from a prescribed curriculum but are instead coached to create interdisciplinary projects with their fellow teaching teammates. A teaching team consists of two grade level teachers, Humanities and Math/Science, and an exploratory teacher who teaches drama, art or multimedia. This teaching team shares two groups of 28 students. There are two teaching teams per grade level with a total of 15 teachers and 336 students at HTM. The degree of collaboration between the three teachers within a team varies but time to meet together and the physical design of the school building all support a philosophy of team teaching. Teachers at High Tech Middle attend meetings with other staff members each morning for an hour before school. The physical space inside HTM also leads to integrated planning. One set of classrooms in each grade level has an open wall option where the dividing wall between the team’s classrooms can be folded up and pushed to one side. This allows one or both teachers to work with all 56 students on their team at once. |
Cost has prohibited all classrooms from having this open wall design so many teams also use the “commons” to meet with their entire team. The commons is a large gathering area between the two grade level team’s classrooms. This space tends to be mostly empty of furniture except built in counters for computers along two walls, and chairs to accompany them.
In my first placement, the eighth grade teaching team had a wall that opened up between classrooms and we usually spent the first two hours of the day in “project block” or “open wall time” working on integrated projects. Students would then go outside for a short break, followed by separate activities such as Judo Math, Writer’s or Reader’s Workshop, and Art. |
Personalization
The High Tech High organization chose to keep class sizes and schools small, even as the organization grew. The design principle of Personalization led to the creation of multiple High Tech High schools across San Diego instead of adding more classes to the existing schools. There are now three campuses across the Greater San Diego area: North County, Point Loma, and Chula Vista with a total of 11 schools. Each school has only two to three teams per grade level and class sizes do not go higher than 28 students. This focus on small schools leads to students being known well by most, if not all of the adults at the school site.
At High Tech Middle each teacher also has an advisory class made up of 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. As new students are enrolled, teachers make home visits to get to know the students better. Teachers strive to create a family atmosphere during the 20 minutes every morning and 45 minutes on Wednesday afternoons when advisories meet. A student's advisor also acts as an advocate for the student and checks in on social and academic issues as needed.
In our classroom everyone is considered an equally important part of the team and learning is personalized to each student. It is rare that all students would have a similar end product after a project’s completion. Creativity and “outside the box” thinking are highly valued, rather than following the prescribed plan. This can be seen during Writer’s Workshop where students are expected to write about any topic they are interested in and are then coached through writing conferences to make their pieces more powerful. Students engage in writing workshop 2-3 times per week. At the end of the year each student has final, published drafts but the writing is unique to the student and does not look or sound like anyone else’s in the class.
Common Intellectual Mission
My favorite design principle, and probably the most challenging, is Common Intellectual Mission. Students in the High Tech High network of schools are never “tracked” or put into certain classes due to perceived academic ability. All students take the same set of classes in every grade except 12th grade math, where some students may choose to take calculus in addition to, or instead of, statistics. There are not any “remedial” classes nor are there separate honors or AP classes. Each teacher is expected to differentiate the projects and activities to the needs of the students in their classes. Challenge/honors options are available within the regular class and if a student wants to take an AP test for college credit, they may.
When compared to other San Diego middle schools, HTM has about the same percentage of special needs students, 10%, but these students are never put in separate classes. They are included in the regular classroom setting. High Tech High employs an inclusion specialist and academic coaches for each school to help all students, specifically those with IEP’s.
High Tech Middle is a charter school, which means that parents have chosen this school for their child, filled out the appropriate paperwork and attended an information meeting. There is a high level of interest in all High Tech High schools so a computerized lottery is held each year to determine which new students will be accepted. The lottery is conducted by zip code in hopes of mirroring the percentages of all students in San Diego County. The only candidates with a statistical advantage are those with siblings in a High Tech High school and those who qualify for free and reduced lunch.
Although the HTH network of schools is getting closer to mirroring the diversity of San Diego, there are still a few underrepresented subgroups. Students who qualify for free and reduced lunch (FRL), English learners (EL) and Hispanic student totals are all lower at HTM than in San Diego county or across the state. One possible explanation for the lower numbers of FRL students is the lack of school-provided transportation. Since many of our students live a great distance from the school, transportation can be a problem. The number of English learners is also very low in comparison to other schools. Although much of the information at HTH is translated into other languages, there may be a lack of outreach to non-English speaking families. A language barrier may also be a factor in the admissions process. This could explain the lower number of Hispanic students at High Tech Middle as well.
The High Tech High organization chose to keep class sizes and schools small, even as the organization grew. The design principle of Personalization led to the creation of multiple High Tech High schools across San Diego instead of adding more classes to the existing schools. There are now three campuses across the Greater San Diego area: North County, Point Loma, and Chula Vista with a total of 11 schools. Each school has only two to three teams per grade level and class sizes do not go higher than 28 students. This focus on small schools leads to students being known well by most, if not all of the adults at the school site.
At High Tech Middle each teacher also has an advisory class made up of 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. As new students are enrolled, teachers make home visits to get to know the students better. Teachers strive to create a family atmosphere during the 20 minutes every morning and 45 minutes on Wednesday afternoons when advisories meet. A student's advisor also acts as an advocate for the student and checks in on social and academic issues as needed.
In our classroom everyone is considered an equally important part of the team and learning is personalized to each student. It is rare that all students would have a similar end product after a project’s completion. Creativity and “outside the box” thinking are highly valued, rather than following the prescribed plan. This can be seen during Writer’s Workshop where students are expected to write about any topic they are interested in and are then coached through writing conferences to make their pieces more powerful. Students engage in writing workshop 2-3 times per week. At the end of the year each student has final, published drafts but the writing is unique to the student and does not look or sound like anyone else’s in the class.
Common Intellectual Mission
My favorite design principle, and probably the most challenging, is Common Intellectual Mission. Students in the High Tech High network of schools are never “tracked” or put into certain classes due to perceived academic ability. All students take the same set of classes in every grade except 12th grade math, where some students may choose to take calculus in addition to, or instead of, statistics. There are not any “remedial” classes nor are there separate honors or AP classes. Each teacher is expected to differentiate the projects and activities to the needs of the students in their classes. Challenge/honors options are available within the regular class and if a student wants to take an AP test for college credit, they may.
When compared to other San Diego middle schools, HTM has about the same percentage of special needs students, 10%, but these students are never put in separate classes. They are included in the regular classroom setting. High Tech High employs an inclusion specialist and academic coaches for each school to help all students, specifically those with IEP’s.
High Tech Middle is a charter school, which means that parents have chosen this school for their child, filled out the appropriate paperwork and attended an information meeting. There is a high level of interest in all High Tech High schools so a computerized lottery is held each year to determine which new students will be accepted. The lottery is conducted by zip code in hopes of mirroring the percentages of all students in San Diego County. The only candidates with a statistical advantage are those with siblings in a High Tech High school and those who qualify for free and reduced lunch.
Although the HTH network of schools is getting closer to mirroring the diversity of San Diego, there are still a few underrepresented subgroups. Students who qualify for free and reduced lunch (FRL), English learners (EL) and Hispanic student totals are all lower at HTM than in San Diego county or across the state. One possible explanation for the lower numbers of FRL students is the lack of school-provided transportation. Since many of our students live a great distance from the school, transportation can be a problem. The number of English learners is also very low in comparison to other schools. Although much of the information at HTH is translated into other languages, there may be a lack of outreach to non-English speaking families. A language barrier may also be a factor in the admissions process. This could explain the lower number of Hispanic students at High Tech Middle as well.
Students from all over San Diego County attend High Tech High schools, which leads to a very unique feel. Where most schools serve as the center of a neighborhood, High Tech High schools are more like meeting places for children of all different communities to come together. In typical neighborhood schools, students continue in-school friendships by participating on sports team or clubs together outside of school. Homes within close proximity to each other also strengthen bonds outside of school time. At High Tech High schools, students do seem to develop deep friendships with students in their class but I wonder how the potential physical distance after school and on weekends affects their friendships.
Another interesting effect of cross-pollinating communities is the different backgrounds and perspectives that each student brings to a classroom. As Jonah Lehrer points out in his article Group Think, “The most creative spaces are those which hurl us together. It is the human friction that makes the spark” (2012, 27). Lehrer points to the work of Brian Uzzi, a sociologist at Northwestern, who studied Broadway musicals as examples of group creativity. In trying to find the ideal composition of a team he discovered that the relationship among the collaborators was a reliable predictor of the commercial success of a musical. If the collaborators knew each other too well and had worked together a lot, or, if the collaborators didn’t know each other at all, then the likelihood of success was low. If the level of relationships was at it’s “bliss point” or had a mix of relationships, meaning some old friends and some “newbies,” then the musical was three times more likely as the others to be a commercial success. At HTM, much attention is given each year to building a strong classroom culture and then the following year students are mixed up to create new classes. This mix of old friends and “newbies” could be a factor in the high levels of creativity HTH is known for.
The design principle Common Intellectual Mission can also be seen in our classroom where students form a family-type bond and help each other achieve. This is promoted by spending a large chunk of time on team building challenges and student observation at the beginning of the year. Students are asked to reflect on their roles in the challenges and then guided throughout the rest of the year to persevere and support others on their team. The feeling of being a team is important in this classroom for two reasons. One, students are given a lot of freedom and trust during projects. They work with power tools, take on “jobs” that may take them off campus, and often rely on other students work to be completed in order to fulfill their own role. Secondly, peer feedback and coaching is essential to the success of high quality projects and learning in a collaborative environment.
Adult World Connection
You don’t have to teach in the High Tech High network for long to understand that the focus here is not on test scores. Students are preparing for the real world. The Adult World Connection design principle is taken seriously from the way students are expected to dress, to how they are promoted to the next grade level. Public exhibitions of student work occur multiple times throughout the year and hands-on projects are the goal of most classrooms.
A focus on 21st century skills such as collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and creativity extends into our classroom at High Tech Middle. At the beginning of the year students on my first team planned to redesign the classroom. They started the year with no tables or desks and just a few chairs. My co-teacher realized that the current tables were poorly designed for group work because of the leg placement and used that as a starting point for the discussion. During the first two months of school, students were led through Stanford dschool’s Design Thinking process in order to “redesign the classroom experience”. Small groups first interviewed a student from outside our class to gain empathy and to focus their designs around a single need. They were then encouraged to use their creativity to think of wild and crazy ideas during the ideate, or brainstorm, phase. Finally, the team came together to flush out the ideas that they could reasonably build. The class decided to build a project bar to allow more workspace around the perimeter of the room.
A Laboratory for Innovation
In the year 2000, High Tech High started as a laboratory for school innovation. Twelve years later, it is still a place where students and teachers are experimenting with school design. High Tech Middle pushed the boundaries of teaching this year by trying out multiage classrooms for a portion of the day. In an experiment named Projectopia, teachers used projects to teach sixth through eighth graders together during advisory classes each afternoon for two months. Projectopia allowed students and teachers to engage in “think tanks” rather than classrooms based on age. This trial demonstrated the innovative thinking that teachers hope to model for students. Although the goals and principles are consistent from school to school, the freedom that HTH allows its students and teachers and the innovative spirit is what makes this network of schools unique.
Another interesting effect of cross-pollinating communities is the different backgrounds and perspectives that each student brings to a classroom. As Jonah Lehrer points out in his article Group Think, “The most creative spaces are those which hurl us together. It is the human friction that makes the spark” (2012, 27). Lehrer points to the work of Brian Uzzi, a sociologist at Northwestern, who studied Broadway musicals as examples of group creativity. In trying to find the ideal composition of a team he discovered that the relationship among the collaborators was a reliable predictor of the commercial success of a musical. If the collaborators knew each other too well and had worked together a lot, or, if the collaborators didn’t know each other at all, then the likelihood of success was low. If the level of relationships was at it’s “bliss point” or had a mix of relationships, meaning some old friends and some “newbies,” then the musical was three times more likely as the others to be a commercial success. At HTM, much attention is given each year to building a strong classroom culture and then the following year students are mixed up to create new classes. This mix of old friends and “newbies” could be a factor in the high levels of creativity HTH is known for.
The design principle Common Intellectual Mission can also be seen in our classroom where students form a family-type bond and help each other achieve. This is promoted by spending a large chunk of time on team building challenges and student observation at the beginning of the year. Students are asked to reflect on their roles in the challenges and then guided throughout the rest of the year to persevere and support others on their team. The feeling of being a team is important in this classroom for two reasons. One, students are given a lot of freedom and trust during projects. They work with power tools, take on “jobs” that may take them off campus, and often rely on other students work to be completed in order to fulfill their own role. Secondly, peer feedback and coaching is essential to the success of high quality projects and learning in a collaborative environment.
Adult World Connection
You don’t have to teach in the High Tech High network for long to understand that the focus here is not on test scores. Students are preparing for the real world. The Adult World Connection design principle is taken seriously from the way students are expected to dress, to how they are promoted to the next grade level. Public exhibitions of student work occur multiple times throughout the year and hands-on projects are the goal of most classrooms.
A focus on 21st century skills such as collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and creativity extends into our classroom at High Tech Middle. At the beginning of the year students on my first team planned to redesign the classroom. They started the year with no tables or desks and just a few chairs. My co-teacher realized that the current tables were poorly designed for group work because of the leg placement and used that as a starting point for the discussion. During the first two months of school, students were led through Stanford dschool’s Design Thinking process in order to “redesign the classroom experience”. Small groups first interviewed a student from outside our class to gain empathy and to focus their designs around a single need. They were then encouraged to use their creativity to think of wild and crazy ideas during the ideate, or brainstorm, phase. Finally, the team came together to flush out the ideas that they could reasonably build. The class decided to build a project bar to allow more workspace around the perimeter of the room.
A Laboratory for Innovation
In the year 2000, High Tech High started as a laboratory for school innovation. Twelve years later, it is still a place where students and teachers are experimenting with school design. High Tech Middle pushed the boundaries of teaching this year by trying out multiage classrooms for a portion of the day. In an experiment named Projectopia, teachers used projects to teach sixth through eighth graders together during advisory classes each afternoon for two months. Projectopia allowed students and teachers to engage in “think tanks” rather than classrooms based on age. This trial demonstrated the innovative thinking that teachers hope to model for students. Although the goals and principles are consistent from school to school, the freedom that HTH allows its students and teachers and the innovative spirit is what makes this network of schools unique.