Introduction.
A School’s
Story
I love stories. Stories told through words, music, pictures, film - it doesn’t matter which medium as long as there is a story to tell. I could even look at the walls of our school to decipher its narrative. The products from our art teacher’s “Recycled Art” project displays our students’ artistic talents and creativity while also conveying the environmentally-conscious young adults our school is cultivating. The student-made furniture placed throughout our building reflects our school’s emphasis on allowing students to use their hands and to develop skills relevant to the world outside of high school. Come to think of it, every school’s walls should be able to tell its story. Making a school’s story apparent to the community is critical for everyone to understand the school’s core values. What are parents and other guests greeted by when they walk onto the campus? What can you see on the walls and the ceiling? What are the students surrounded by on a daily basis? What does the school value and honor? What does learning at this place look like?
At High Tech High North County (HTHNC), along with the rest of the High Tech High schools across San Diego County, we intentionally design an environment that values the work our students do and honors thoughtful work. HTHNC is filled with products of all sorts that display the learning and creating that all of our students do. From the furniture I mentioned previously to the posters and artwork, our school’s narrative is that we are a project-based learning school whose students are learning by doing. We also emphasize the beauty of science, technology, engineering, art and math (STEAM), as a majority of the products that are displayed are artistic and scientific in nature. For example, at The Gary and Jerri-Ann Jacobs High Tech High (HTH) there is a STEAM project created out of bicycle tires and gears that is, in my opinion, the epitome of great student work curation. I believe this for multiple reasons-- the first and foremost is simply the way in which it is displayed. It is professional (no nail or blue tape is visible) and aesthetically pleasing. It is interactive in that audience members can crank the pedal and see the wheels in action. The complexity of the product shows the rigor of both content, workmanship and planning. It is also supported by the written component of an artist statement next to the project. Anyone that walks by this piece of work cannot deny that it is in fact interesting to look at, it indeed displays the school’s narrative and undeniably shows other students what is possible.
But What is Missing?
Figure 1: STEAM Project at The Gary and Jerri-Ann Jacobs High Tech High
However as I reflect on how we as a staff display our school’s narrative I wonder if there are critical components that are being missed. Indubitably we value and honor our students and the work that they do - but is there an essential part of our story that we are leaving out? Do students in fact value their own work and strive to create even better work because of the fact that it will be displayed? Even within the seemingly flawless physics project I mentioned above there seem to be holes and questions left unanswered about the school’s story. What was the process? How did the students plan this intricate design and concept? What did the student himself/herself learn by completing this project? With that said, is it even possible to have all these questions answered through a simple display? When I walk through the halls of my own school site, HTHNC, I am overwhelmed with even more questions. Why do some teachers display student work consistently and frequently while others have yet to use our school building as a gallery space? Why are only some subjects displayed while others are left out - do we value certain subjects more than others? Do our walls display the deep, authentic, meaningful learning that our students are doing?
There is no doubt that a culminating exhibition of student work can look like many different things. Depending on what the project is and who the students are, the exhibition may require audience members at a certain date and time, perhaps even off campus. Carol Cabrera and Kurt Schwartz, one of the three 9th grade teaching teams at HTHNC, just recently had their students exhibit their motorized butterflies and street art stencils at a local non-profit, Charity Wings. Here, students got to show off all the hard work they put into their project but also interacted with guests, explained the mechanics of their butterfly and the social justice topic they investigated in Humanities. Exhibitions may also be a performance of some kind -- whether that be a performance art, like Michelle Clark’s 11th grade Humanities students’ spoken word performance or Jen Howard’s 10th grade students performing their rendition of Shakespeare. Or perhaps it is not seen as an art form at all, like Kaila Gilley’s Model United Nation Project where students in both the high school and middle school are debating current global topics in front of an audience. In other cases an exhibit may simply be a permanent display of the students’ works, regardless of an interactive exhibition or not. For the purpose of this project and in order to more effectively support my colleagues, this research will focus primarily on long-term displays of student work within a school building. Using my own experiences as a classroom teacher here at HTHNC and to best support my colleagues in the process of displaying our school’s narrative to our community, the focus of my action research project became:
How can school leaders and students support and empowers teachers in project design and curation that reflects deeper learning?
I love stories. Stories told through words, music, pictures, film - it doesn’t matter which medium as long as there is a story to tell. I could even look at the walls of our school to decipher its narrative. The products from our art teacher’s “Recycled Art” project displays our students’ artistic talents and creativity while also conveying the environmentally-conscious young adults our school is cultivating. The student-made furniture placed throughout our building reflects our school’s emphasis on allowing students to use their hands and to develop skills relevant to the world outside of high school. Come to think of it, every school’s walls should be able to tell its story. Making a school’s story apparent to the community is critical for everyone to understand the school’s core values. What are parents and other guests greeted by when they walk onto the campus? What can you see on the walls and the ceiling? What are the students surrounded by on a daily basis? What does the school value and honor? What does learning at this place look like?
At High Tech High North County (HTHNC), along with the rest of the High Tech High schools across San Diego County, we intentionally design an environment that values the work our students do and honors thoughtful work. HTHNC is filled with products of all sorts that display the learning and creating that all of our students do. From the furniture I mentioned previously to the posters and artwork, our school’s narrative is that we are a project-based learning school whose students are learning by doing. We also emphasize the beauty of science, technology, engineering, art and math (STEAM), as a majority of the products that are displayed are artistic and scientific in nature. For example, at The Gary and Jerri-Ann Jacobs High Tech High (HTH) there is a STEAM project created out of bicycle tires and gears that is, in my opinion, the epitome of great student work curation. I believe this for multiple reasons-- the first and foremost is simply the way in which it is displayed. It is professional (no nail or blue tape is visible) and aesthetically pleasing. It is interactive in that audience members can crank the pedal and see the wheels in action. The complexity of the product shows the rigor of both content, workmanship and planning. It is also supported by the written component of an artist statement next to the project. Anyone that walks by this piece of work cannot deny that it is in fact interesting to look at, it indeed displays the school’s narrative and undeniably shows other students what is possible.
But What is Missing?
Figure 1: STEAM Project at The Gary and Jerri-Ann Jacobs High Tech High
However as I reflect on how we as a staff display our school’s narrative I wonder if there are critical components that are being missed. Indubitably we value and honor our students and the work that they do - but is there an essential part of our story that we are leaving out? Do students in fact value their own work and strive to create even better work because of the fact that it will be displayed? Even within the seemingly flawless physics project I mentioned above there seem to be holes and questions left unanswered about the school’s story. What was the process? How did the students plan this intricate design and concept? What did the student himself/herself learn by completing this project? With that said, is it even possible to have all these questions answered through a simple display? When I walk through the halls of my own school site, HTHNC, I am overwhelmed with even more questions. Why do some teachers display student work consistently and frequently while others have yet to use our school building as a gallery space? Why are only some subjects displayed while others are left out - do we value certain subjects more than others? Do our walls display the deep, authentic, meaningful learning that our students are doing?
There is no doubt that a culminating exhibition of student work can look like many different things. Depending on what the project is and who the students are, the exhibition may require audience members at a certain date and time, perhaps even off campus. Carol Cabrera and Kurt Schwartz, one of the three 9th grade teaching teams at HTHNC, just recently had their students exhibit their motorized butterflies and street art stencils at a local non-profit, Charity Wings. Here, students got to show off all the hard work they put into their project but also interacted with guests, explained the mechanics of their butterfly and the social justice topic they investigated in Humanities. Exhibitions may also be a performance of some kind -- whether that be a performance art, like Michelle Clark’s 11th grade Humanities students’ spoken word performance or Jen Howard’s 10th grade students performing their rendition of Shakespeare. Or perhaps it is not seen as an art form at all, like Kaila Gilley’s Model United Nation Project where students in both the high school and middle school are debating current global topics in front of an audience. In other cases an exhibit may simply be a permanent display of the students’ works, regardless of an interactive exhibition or not. For the purpose of this project and in order to more effectively support my colleagues, this research will focus primarily on long-term displays of student work within a school building. Using my own experiences as a classroom teacher here at HTHNC and to best support my colleagues in the process of displaying our school’s narrative to our community, the focus of my action research project became:
How can school leaders and students support and empowers teachers in project design and curation that reflects deeper learning?