What Would a SUPER SCHOOL look like?

An organization known as XQ Super School wants us all to RETHINK High School. Here are a few questions and a short vision of that future school we all might want to go to...

XQ ? #1> Imagine what a typical day might look like for students in your school.

XQ ? #2> How will you develop and deepen students’ engagement with and responsibility for their own learning?

XQ ? #3> How will your school connect young people with peers, teachers, and other adults?

XQ ? #4> How will they use technology to connect with the wider world around them?

Our students awake to their school text wake-up service of choice. Their electronic assortment of assignments and announcements are organized with an elegant app. They arrive at the Cognitive Cafe on campus and select their healthy smoothie and warm sandwich.

They reach their “Learners Choice” session just after the ambient music starts on the PA, no jarring bells of old. Subject Matter Experts (SME) from the community start their workday as guides in the multiple career and project-focused Choice sessions.

Jose heads for the Health & Wellness Wing after his Learner’s Choice surgical simulator session. He finds his integrated team of Language Arts and Science teachers are finalizing the setup for the UCLA Medical Center videoconferencing session with Residents regarding their lessons learned in their journey. He already checked his blog post on his expectations and planned questions for today. He had a few tips from his Integrated English teacher and his Science teacher suggested further inquiry and refinement of a question he posted.

The English teacher departs the Health Wing and strolls past the dirt and native plant exhibition of the Landscape Architecture class and drops in to see Jasmine in the Service & Industry Wing. Jasmine’s capstone project was both her Learners Choice project and a major part of her Integrated Design class. The entrepreneurship module of her class was 20% online with her nearby community college. Her required community service led her to the Rotary Club where she met her mentor who advised her on her capstone project. Her effort was a comprehensive website and promotional plan matching local volunteers with local events. Jasmine has to take care of her grandmother three times a week, so she has taken advantage of the evening classes her school now offers.

Student choice, relevant learning, community engagement and an empowered student body. Welcome to our Super School.

Learning is INTERESTing

Learning can happen 24/7. Not 24÷7 which is approximately 3.42. Day 342 of a leap year is December 7th, a day that will live in infamy. Infamous is a word that is often misused, so is "penultimate" which sounds really great, but sadly means "next to last." Ford Motor Company used the "built to last" slogan and Built to Last is a book title from author James C. Collins who also wrote Good to Great. Great learning experiences occur in the classroom, but non-traditional learning situations have the potential for powerful connections. Serendipity awaits. Get outside. Get away.

I skipped a day of school in 6th grade. My Dad signed me out of class and took me to the ballpark. Baseball was a passion of mine at the time--24/7. But this outing was not fully about baseball. On the diamond the Chunichi Dragons, league champions from Nagoya, Japan, faced the Detroit Tigers in a Spring Training exhibition contest. The questions flowed. Why do the Japanese hitters lift their front foot so high before they swing? Why does Detroit play in Lakeland, Florida? Where is the Cactus League? Are we friends with Japan? How far? How many? Seventh-inning stretch topic tally: language, religion, international relations, Cooperstown, Tokyo, airline routes, "why do we call it the World Series" and more.

What do your students love? What motivates, inspires or captivates them? Ask. Use. Refine. Repeat.