The work that we did at University Prep High School was not only incredibly powerful because we accomplished our goals of graduating over ninety percent of our students and over ninety percent of those students matriculated onto college or post-secondary education (based on the Big Picture Learning Model) but powerful because of the way that we connected students into the community to design and to take control of their learning. Each one of my seventeen students (don't let the small size fool you this was the hardest work I've ever done in my life) who were a part of my advisory, a who stayed with me for all four years so we could bond and connect as a family, were required as part of their learning plan to identify their interests or passions and then be connected with a mentor in the community in which they would learn from. Additionally, students would develop a value-added project that would better help the organization or business operate: Learning Through Internship. One of my students, La-Sainte had a sincere and genuine interest in early childhood education. She completed a shadow day at a local day care and then after a brief meeting with her and her mentor she officially began her internship the following week near a gritty neighborhood on Detroit's westside. Because our school required internships and projects rooted in the community La-Sainte did not have to attend "school" on Tuesdays and Thursdays which freed her and other students to do real learning based on specific interests. One of the first things we require students to do is to complete an internship anthropology which works as a way for students to really look and observe the way in which a specific organization operates. Questions such as "what kinds of people work here? is there a diverse population? is the work space clean? are people treated with respect? why or why not?" help to improve students writing skills as well as to begin to develop an awareness about work spaces and students role within them.
More importantly, these and other questions help students to begin to identify specific gaps within the organization and to think about what projects they can work on. For La-Sainte, she really became interested in the role of play in childhood development and the degree and quality to which it was and was not occurring at her internship. So after generating her essential questions, drafting and writing a research paper and project proposal, and building on her previous projects on DNA and human and brain development, she decided that as part of her Senior Project she would organized and facilitate what would later be called a Family Fun Day in which children, parents, family and friends would be welcomed to visit the day care for a day filled with fun activities all aimed at developing healthy and happy children. La-Sainte raised nearly $1,200 dollars for the event and had organized the facility to accommodate activities ranging from kids cartoon characters to local karate mentors providing free instruction to a mini-train complete with tracks in the parking lot and plenty of food and beverages to boot. La-Sainte was required to design and implement surveys to determine the effectiveness of her work in this area as well as well as draft a reflection paper and a rubric in which she would give herself a grade on the project. Its through this work with communities and mentors and organizations in which students can begin to see themselves as not only as agents of change but also realize that each and everyone has power to transform. For me, if we are to truly change education for all people not just black and hispanic folk but for all races and countries, we must began to build meaningful and lasting partnerships with communities that place youth in the position of designers and specialists in solving and identifying areas of needs. If you are interested in designing similar learning experiences for your students, please check out the following resources or feel free to drop me a line for ways in which you might want to develop aspects of this work in your own communities:
www.bigpicturelearning.org
www.hightechhigh.org
http://schoolsweneed.wikispaces.com/Real+World+Learning
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