{"id":121,"date":"2017-12-06T14:50:22","date_gmt":"2017-12-06T14:50:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/grahamvogt\/?p=121"},"modified":"2017-12-06T14:50:22","modified_gmt":"2017-12-06T14:50:22","slug":"a-few-thoughts-on-moonshots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/grahamvogt\/2017\/12\/06\/a-few-thoughts-on-moonshots\/","title":{"rendered":"A Few Thoughts on Moonshots"},"content":{"rendered":"

It really is a test. Am I ready\/willing to take a moonshot of my own? <\/em><\/p>\n

Where\u00a0<\/em>do my beliefs truly lay? How far am I willing to go?<\/em><\/p>\n

IT<\/strong> was even theatrical. I was at the absolute height of my enthusiasm, channelling a famous American, pleading for the essential role of \u201cdreaming and imagination\u201d at the heart of our lasting learning and growth.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s be absolutely clear about what we\u2019re setting out to do!\u201d<\/p>\n

I pointed to two loosely drawn circles on the white board, a great distance apart, drawing a line from the big one to the little one.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to the moon! You may not settle for anything less!\u201d<\/p>\n

Our Design Thinking Lab pushed us to the very corners of our imagination, generating ideas and excitement. This is critical I think. Before our journey even begins, we\u2019re already amazed at our potential. In a large group mingle, they were encouraged to hear and be heard while remaining open to all offers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is the potential when two or three or four ideas are combined into a larger vision?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh my gosh,\u201d I heard from the escalating exchanges. \u201cI think we\u2019re shooting past the moon. Mr. Vogt, we\u2019re headed to Mars!\u201d<\/p>\n

Two days later, a group of three proposed their vision of a board-game, with a slight tone of frustration. The excitement of the Design Thinking Lab had dimmed a little. It didn\u2019t quite feel like a \u201cmoon-shot\u201d anymore. As Santiago described the intricacies of the figures he planned to mould from clay, he was staring at the large, bare white wall of the hallway just outside the room.<\/p>\n

I believe, as teachers, we live for these moments \u2013 when we are privileged to witness the exact moment of epiphany, the light in the eyes switching on and Santiago springing to life.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can paint our board-game on the wall!\u201d<\/p>\n

As a group, we\u2019d talked about this. With a clear moon-shot, the path will not be clear. This is the learning. You know roughly where you\u2019re going, but you don\u2019t yet know how you\u2019re getting there. When you confront obstacles, it\u2019s so important that you don\u2019t concede by diminishing the scope of your vision. Maintain your vision! Overcoming the obstacles is learning.<\/p>\n

Two days later, Santiago and team arrived armed with a presentation, smartly organized on \u201cslides\u201d: sketches, the details of both the vision and process. They were making a formal pitch, seeking feedback and approval from a team of three: Art Teacher, Director of Technology and Innovation, Director of Admissions. When they left the \u201cden\u201d, their ideas were even further evolved: apart from the many elements of a wildly creative and intricate game, a 50 square foot \u201cboard\u201d on a cinderblock wall, in an \u201cArt-Deco\u201d style to be left not only as an artifact but also a resource for future learners and learning. They also left with approval from the panel and the excitement quickly spread through the class.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re going to paint a wall!\u201d<\/p>\n

Once again, Santiago and company were off to the moon. It was an amazing and proud moment for the students. Memorable and lasting no matter the outcome of the wall.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Now, this kind of approach to learning and expressing learning has been a growing part of the overall culture of my class and our larger Discovery Program for some time now (particularly since the great @lmcbeth<\/a>\u00a0spent a day work-shopping our faculty on the ways and magic of Design Thinking).\u00a0 Each experience is deeper immersion into the process itself and a wider cultural shift. Every time, it offers reminders and new insights worth capturing here:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Conference. Conference again. And keep conferencing. The ongoing feedback cycle is critical to student engagement and maintenance of the overall vision. Amazing learning occurs at critical crossroads. Conferencing provides students with opportunities of focus, to work through and beyond those crossroads without compromising or diverting. Essential \u201csoft skills\u201d like Problem Solving, Creative Thinking, Cooperation and Independence are skills that must be taught, modelled and fostered.<\/li>\n
  2. Time is of the essence. In The End of Average<\/em>, Todd Rose makes a compelling case on behalf of time, strongly arguing that there is no correlation between time and intelligence. I love this idea, but embracing it also means letting go of the urgency that can characterize curriculum. If I really want my students to hit the moon, I must provide the appropriate time to do it. And this is MUCH more difficult than it sounds for two reasons: 1. Making a reasonable assessment of available time outside of the classroom is complicated \u2013 it involves a profound understanding of the extent of the students\u2019 lives and clear communication among all teachers about workload. 2. Remaining true to the process means an even greater shift from commonly bread biases. In an English Class it means reducing breadth of content while embracing behaviours, expressions and even skills not \u201ctraditional\u201d in the English sense. For instance, how much time can I comfortably allow to pass without any significant reading or writing? It really is a test. Am I ready\/willing to take a moonshot of my own? Where do my beliefs truly lay? How far am I willing to go? If I truly believe in this approach to learning, I will respect it with time.<\/li>\n
  3. It really is about the journey and not the destination. No matter how great the end product, it will not accurately reflect the work and the learning of the larger process. And this idea can really cut deep, particularly when it comes to assessment. I mean, we can co-construct a rubric and I can provide a grade of the end product, but what am I actually grading? Does it provide an accurate snapshot of the larger process? And if not, then what\u2019s the point? And I don\u2019t believe I can, in good judgement, grade the process. After positioning myself so intentionally as advocate and coach, how can I suddenly shift to the position of judge? To an ever-increasing extent, I am seeing that any attempt to act in both of those roles is a compromise to each of them. This process will time and again challenge the confounding \u201cneed\u201d to attach a number. Not to fear, it\u2019s a healthy debate, if even with only myself… and more (MUCH MORE!) on this later.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Moonshot Image from BBVA:\u00a0https:\/\/www.bbva.com\/en\/moonshots-ideas-will-change-world\/<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    It really is a test. Am I ready\/willing to take a moonshot of my own? Where\u00a0do my beliefs truly lay? How far am I willing to go? IT was even theatrical. I was at the absolute height of my enthusiasm, channelling a famous American, pleading for the essential role of \u201cdreaming and imagination\u201d at the … Continue reading “A Few Thoughts on Moonshots”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":122,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-classroom-reflections"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/grahamvogt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/grahamvogt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/grahamvogt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/grahamvogt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/grahamvogt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/grahamvogt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/grahamvogt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/grahamvogt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/grahamvogt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/grahamvogt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}