Starting from Scratch — #IMMOOC Season 3
More than seven years ago, a team of dedicated public school teachers answered the call to design a school to meet the needs of gifted learners in Chandler, AZ. “Sequestered” for several weeks, with few limitations, a considerable budget and infinite possibilities, these teachers developed a vision of what the premiere learning environment for gifted learners could be.
Some of the tenets of this school created by a group of innovators have come and gone. Many still remain. The school has morphed from a STEM school, to a STEAM school, to a PBL school, to a maker school. What has remained true and in place since the beginning, is that this school is a safe place for gifted learners and their families.
And I’m proud to have helped create Knox Gifted Academy.
I’ve read several #IMMOOC posts addressing the prompt “If you were to start a school from scratch, what would it look like?” and I get what people are thinking. And I’m not denigrating people’s wishes, opinions, ideas. I’m just saying I’ve been there and have seen how a school survives and thrives. For me, it’s not about the stuff. The 3D printers. The robotics. The laptops and tablets. Trust me, it used to be. But I’ve lived this life of “the more stuff, the better.” And I can tell you that a surplus of edtech tools does not equal a quality school.
So I offer my own nugget of advice of what is necessary to start a school. It might seems a bit pollyanna-ish, but a public school teacher can dream, can’t he? Here it is:
