Over the past few years, I had many conversations with colleagues and teacher friends what it would be like to start, build, run and work at our own school.
- What would we do different in “our” school?
- Who “all star” faculty team from our PLN would we recruit to develop a school that would give our future students an incredible learning experience.
- What types of teachers would we hire?
- How would we assemble a collaborative team, eager to work with each other, share their work with a global audience and bring these experiences to their students?
- What curriculum would we adopt, adapt and develop?
- What kind of administrators would we be?
- What types of parents would be sending their children to learn with us?
- How would Professional Development look like for our faculty and students?
Have you ever dreamed of opening your own school? What would you do? How would you promote your school? What would be the key characteristics of your own school? What would you do differently?
Mark Engstrom, a former vice principal of mine, is doing exactly that. He dreamed and is making his dream a reality when PACE, his new school that is planning on opening its doors in August of 2015.
Even before these doors open, Mark has started blogging to share his school’s philosophy, have potential parents and students get to know him and to start making connections. Langwitches recently cross-posted an article about one PACE Student’s Learning Experiences- Collaborating on a PACE logo.
I am especially excited about following PACE’s journey as they :
* arelooking to hire teachers who can demonstrate skills (not just talk about them) and are experiencing a connected learning network as they are building their own digital presence (not just having heard about it).
A video/film which includes the candidate him/herself- no more than 3 minutes- describing why you would like to work/be a good fit at PACE
or
An example of the candidates digital footprint and an explanation of how that online presence indicates why they would like to work/be a good fit at PACE
* will be supporting networked students
At PACE we want our students to realize that they are part of a larger web of people out there learning about the world.
*are including documenting and reflecting as an integral part of the student work flow /learning process
To learn more about the school, or if you live in the Houston, Texas/USA area and
- are interested in sending your child to a school who is re-imagining education or
- are interested in becoming part of the founding faculty
take a look at the following videos to learn about PACE or like them on Facebook.
Pace Philosophy
What Will Learning Look Like at PACE?
Have you ever thought of building your own school? What would be key characteristics you would showcase or market for your dream school, if you could build one from scratch?
cross posted at langwitches.org/blog
Silvia Tolisano is a Curriculum21 faculty member, author of the book Digital Storytelling Tools for Educators and founder of the Around the World with 80 Schools project. Read more at http://langwitches.org/blog.
