A Model of: Creating a Learner-Centered, 21st Century School Dr. KyLe PALMer, PrinCiPAL

BY THE NUMBERS

586 Students

88% White

6% Students with Disabilities

13% Free/Reduced Lunch

97% Attendance Rate

WHAT is our strategy?Over the past several years, Lewis and Clark Elementary School has focused on transforming a very traditional educational setting into a future-ready school that places student engagement and empowerment at the center of all we do. While we care about standards and assessments, we also have the goal of increasing innovation, creativity, and perseverance in our students. By working together as a collaborative, mission-driven staff, we have created a new physical environment, academic approach, and innovative culture to better prepare our students for the futures they will face.

LETTING THE ‘4 C’S’ LEAD US

While the “21st Century Skills” movement is not new, the methods for building these skills are still very much evolving. We have relied on the “Four Cs” Framework to help our teachers become more purposeful and clear about increasing critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and creativity across our school. More than memorizing facts and information, we want students to understand how they learn and how to create, question, and collaborate.

HOW did we build this strategy?BUILDING A SHARED VISION AND CULTURE AMONG STAFF

In order to lay the groundwork for our school’s transformation, we first needed to build shared understanding and goals among the school staff. We realized early on that in order to support student collaboration and innovation, we needed to model effective teamwork, risk-taking, and learning in our own lives and work.

Early on, our staff spent time reflecting on the future our students will encounter, and discussing the kinds of educational experiences that would ensure their success. We recognized that the traditional model of

LeWiS AnD CLArK eLeMenTAry SCHOOLLiberTy, MO

More than memorizing facts and information, we want students to understand how they learn and how to create, question, and collaborate.

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LEWIS AND CLARK ELEMENTARY SCHOOLLIbERTY, MO

Flexible learning spaces allow students to have a voice and choice to take care of themselves and their learning needs.

classroom instruction was not designed to prepare students for a future that requires creative solutions to challenging problems. This reflection and discussion led us to a shared understanding of the work ahead, and has been the driving force behind the changes we have made to the physical classroom environment and our academic structures and models.

Teachers at Lewis and Clark serve in a number of Professional Learning Communities (PLCs). In addition to grade level teams and vertical teams, staff members might participate in learning teams that focus on leadership, instruction and assessment, or technology and innovation. These teams meet regularly and engage in shared book studies and discussions. Our school and district have also invited a number of notable guest speakers to push teachers’ thinking and learn about innovative practices around the country and the world.

Teachers at Lewis and Clark are part of a highly collaborative, sharing and competent professional community. They have autonomy to try new things when they have the research to back up their changes. They have the chance to be leaders in their classrooms.

TRANSFORMING CLASSROOMS INTO LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

In order to create the school we wanted for students, we knew we needed to make changes to the physical environment of our late 1960s-era school building. Large classrooms filled with standard desks that all faced the same direction did not match our vision of a future-ready school.

To meet these needs, we built a new addition onto the school, creating smaller classrooms that spill into a larger common area. The result is a collaborative learning commons for 5th grade. This space contains lots of flexible furniture, moveable tables, benches, and a big, wall-length white board. We can fit 150 students into this space for everything from small-group projects to grade-level meetings.

Transforming the classroom into a space that invites project-based learning and collaboration encourages collective problem solving. Flexible learning spaces allow students to have a voice and choice to take care of themselves and their learning needs.

As we have embraced this new way of thinking, some teachers have made changes to their classrooms, such as:

• Using lamps instead of overhead lights as some students with sensory sensitivities learn better with lower, less harsh lighting.

• Removing all the desks and a lot of the chairs and replacing them with furniture they got at yard sales or at IKEA, e.g., crates with cushions, circular tables, bouncy exercise balls, and carpeted areas.

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Throughout the process of changing our physical environments, we have created space for feedback and discussion among staff. Some teachers preferred to maintain their existing classroom setups based on concerns about student stress or noise levels. Changes have been made according to the comfort level of each teacher, creating opportunities for students to learn in different types of spaces.

MAKING SPACE FOR A MAKERSPACE

Our school has fully embraced the Maker Movement, which involves the creation of designated spaces (MakerSpaces) in which students come together to explore interests like computers, technology, science, woodworking, or electronics in a freeform way.

Lewis and Clark’s school librarian led the way in creating a MakerSpace and production studio at the school. The MakerSpace originally began as a Genius Hour in the library—a time in which students could follow an interest-based passion while mastering core standards. Students could build an app, design a Rube Goldberg machine, create a marble maze or an imaginary insect, or craft an arcade game out of cardboard. Students were so engaged in this hands-on learning that our librarian decided to pursue the creation of a full-time MakerSpace at the school.

She applied for a grant from the Liberty School District Foundation and was awarded $8,000. She also held a fundraising event, got the PTA involved and asked for family donations. Teacher creativity also made this a success. Teachers had noticed a significant decrease in the use of our computer lab once our older students started using laptops, so we moved computers out of the lab to make room for the MakerSpace. We bought butcher block tables and people donated items, such as old TVs, for students to take apart.

Students using this room are always engaged and focused. Library time is spent in the MakerSpace so students get this hands-on experience every four days for 50 minutes.

Over time, the MakerSpace model has grown at Lewis and Clark. In the past year, we have begun to put mini-MakerSpaces in hallways and in primary classrooms, so that a culture of creation and “making” infuses our school at every grade level. We have also expanded the Genius Hour program into K-2 classrooms, giving even our youngest students the opportunity to explore their passions and interests.

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LEWIS AND CLARK ELEMENTARY SCHOOLLIbERTY, MO

BUILDING COMMUNITY THROUGH INNOVATION AND CELEBRATION

At the end of this school year, we will host our second annual Lewis and Clark Innovation Week (#iWeekLC). During this week, students and teachers focus on innovation and invention through challenges and creative projects all week long. This week offers a wonderful opportunity for professional learning and risk-taking on the part of the staff, who are encouraged to experiment with projects and creative challenges. It also emphasizes the importance of invention and creation for students, who engage in hands-on challenges such as constructing mathematically accurate roller coasters or taking on the role of chefs or puzzle designers. For us, this week is a celebration of our students’ potential, and a time to emphasize that what students need to be successful in life has changed dramatically in the past decade.

We are excited to make Innovation Week bigger and better this year, and value this week for its role in student engagement, challenge, and community building. We are also working to build creative community in other ways. For example, this year we are hosting more evening events with parents, and are using our Spring conferences to showcase students’ project-based learning work. During many of these events, students take on the role of teachers and teach their parents, showcasing what they are learning as well as their own understanding of how they learn best.

PROJECT-BASED LEARNING

We are in our second year of implementing the Project Lead the Way modules at all grade levels. Project Lead the Way focuses on project-based learning (PBL) in STEM, and is serving as a lever to shift teacher practices in all areas. Working with Project Lead the Way has shown us how the level of hands-on learning and individual choice inherent in PBL increases ownership in learning and the desire to collaborate and research.

This year, we are implementing more projects, and teachers from our school are training teachers across the district in implementing Project Lead the Way and PBL. We’re excited to see what the future holds for PBL in our school and our district.

LEWIS AND CLARK ELEMENTARY SCHOOLLIbERTY, MO

[Innovation Week] is a celebration of our students’ potential, and a time to emphasize that what students need to be successful in life has changed dramatically in the past decade.

1587 Route 146, Rexford, NY 12148 | (518) 399-2776 | www.leadered.com | info@leadered.com

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fOLLOWinG uP on this strategyRELEVANT RESOURCES

Visible Learning: A Synthesis of Over 800 Meta-Analyses Relating to Achievementby John HattieEvidence-based research into what actually works in schools to improve learning

Cultures Built to Last: Systematic PLCs at Workby Richard DuFour and Michael FullanA systematic approach to re-invigorating your professional learning communities while sustaining growth

Creating Innovators. The Making of Young People Who Will Change the Worldby Tony WagnerA story of forward-thinking schools, colleges, and workplaces where cultures of innovation are based on collaboration, interdisciplinary problem-solving, and intrinsic motivation

P21 Partnership for 21st Century LearningOrganization driven to catalyze 21st century learning by building collaborative partnerships among educators, businesses, communities, and government leaders

Creating MakerSpaces in Schoolsby Mary Beth HerzCreating spaces for open-ended creativity, designing, tinkering and thinking in schools

#EdJourney: A Roadmap to the Future of Educationby Grant LichtmanAn optimistic review of the learning strategies that top schools are using to prepare students for the future

The Innovator’s Mindset: Empower Learning, Unleash Talent, and Lead a Culture of Creativityby George CourosIncludes practical suggestions for unleashing teachers’ own innovative capacity in the service of creating relevant and powerful learning experiences for students

PBL in the Elementary Gradesby Sara Hallerman, John Larmer, and John MorgendollerA practical guide to designing and implementing project-based learning, designed for teachers of kindergarten through grade 5

LEWIS AND CLARK ELEMENTARY SCHOOLLIbERTY, MO