Principal’s Corner
Fall 2016
The Shift Has Happened
Principal David Wilce
Recently, while attending an administrator’s conference on innovative educational strategies, I had an ah-ha moment – a moment of clarity in which several seemingly isolated thoughts and ideas came together.
During one of the sessions, we were asked to give a presentation on things happening at our school or in our district. Many of you have heard me speak, or read previous ‘Principal’s Corners’ I’ve written, about how we are on the cusp of a profound shift in education. So, it will be no surprise to you that I began my presentation speaking about the changes our teachers were making to meet the unique needs of our 21st century learners.
It was at this point that it occurred to me. We’re no longer waiting on the cusp; the shift has already happened. Step into any Village classroom and you will see exactly what I mean…
We are no longer teaching discrete skills in isolation, but fostering broader thinking skills with lessons that incorporate all subjects at once. Such lessons do not lend themselves to teacher-centered learning environments, but need student-centered environments. Gone are the days of cemetery-style seating in classrooms – rows of desks lined up in a perfect grid. Today’s learners need the freedom and space to collaborate over ideas, to create and manipulate models and to make interpersonal connections. That’s why our Village teachers are exploring flexible seating arrangements, alternative classroom layouts and project-based group learning.
We have also moved well beyond the days of devices roving on carts from room to room and students celebrating ‘iPad Tuesday’. In today’s learning environment, technology has reinvented the educational experience.
I have often said that we need to meet our students in their media-saturated environment, because it is only after we join them that we can lead them. Well, our Village teachers have risen to that challenge. They are doing so much more than meeting students– they are leading them in an understanding of what it means to be a responsible digital citizen, and teaching them to utilize technology for more than just consumption. Our teachers are empowering students to use technology to communicate, create, connect and collaborate – on a global scale. Using tools like ‘Google Hangouts’, Village students are directly connecting to classrooms, teachers and explorers around the world. They are being transported into Bay Area workplaces, and making connections with working professionals in real-time.
Village School is a prime example that the ‘shift’ in education has not only happened, but is thriving. Students are proving that, if we provide tools that foster engagement and teach the protocols for safe and responsible use, they will create – and create in ways that we can’t even begin to imagine.
Working in collaboration with community partners like Montalvo Arts, we are continuing to break down the barriers of the old educational model and to support our students and teachers in creating and fostering a human learning environment, one that will ensure our students are prepared for college and career success in a competitive global market.
Visit a Village classroom and feel the difference!
A few interesting links: