Leading and Learning by Doing

"Where schools get in trouble is by not knowing what they believe, not articulating what they believe, and not standing by what they believe."
-Gary Stager

Many years ago, I was given a chance to teach a mixed-age group of high school students in an after-school program. My official title was Lead S.T.E.M. Instructor. With my strong background in Biological Sciences coupled with my desire to build real relationships with the young people I serve, I knew this after-school gig was gonna be a breeze. I just needed to do what I do, and I would be fine.
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I made some great relationships with those young people. One is still my buddy, an aspiring baker who is returning to school again to learn about accounting. What I didn't really expect was to be the Coach of a High School Robotics Team. I knew bacteria, DNA, genetics, not 'bots, coding, and circuits.

Being the kinda learner that I am, I got online and started my research. I found out about Arduino boards and coding, which became the foundation of my day-to-day learning experiences with them to prep for the Robotics Competition. But the more I dug into the work, the more I began to read about the Maker movement, which was still very new at the time. As I dove into the Maker life, I began to learn more about the ideals behind this movement, central being access to tools and experts with agency to determine your learning and design path.

Whoa. This shit was deep. And it changed me. It changed how I thought about my students. It changed how I thought about my role as an educator. I began learning with and from the young people I served rather than trying to always teach to and at them. I believe young people can lead their learning path. I believe I can learn from and with them.

​One of the authors that helped me remodel myself, helped me to rethink my practice and embrace iteration and change and risk-taking was Gary Stager. His book, Invent to Learn, with Sylvia Libow Martinez, came to my attention as I researched and learned about Seymour Papert, the father of Constructionism. This book was a turning point for me. It grounded me and helped me think through my changing perceptions and perspectives.

When I saw that he was leading a workshop in Boston titled, "Lessons for the Maker Movement from Reggio Emilia", I jumped at the chance to learn from and with him. I was happy to find like-minded colleagues with whom I had connected online around our shared belief in learner agency and changing school - from online video chats and written discussions to face-to-face connecting.

We all started the morning learning about Reggio Emilia. It doesn't take too much imagination to realize that the approach of Reggio Emilia, meant for 0-6 year olds, can be applied to much older children. Perhaps adults, too? Reggio Emilia believes that children are competent. Teachers should be researchers, trying to learn about each child's learning progress, and thinking about how new ways approaching the world might help a child learn something new. The environment is filled with authentic and deliberate materials. Children explore authentic problems. And there is documentation of their learning, lots of it, and it tells a story about the learner.

Gary also connected the Reggio Emilia approach to the Maker movement and computing. I spent the day learning with a teacher team from an independent school in Connecticut. My friends from Mass were at neighboring tables. We explored a variety of materials and resources for making any number of things we could imagine. I made a pig mask, originally meant to be a dog, but the pig came to life as I built it, so that's what it was. The materials made my decision for me.

A good prompt is worth a 1000 words. And we got one of the best prompts I've heard, "Make a bird. Singing and dancing is appreciated." I want to be clear about this folx, we had explored materials for 45 minutes. We were given Hummingbird Duo kits to build our bird 'bots - none of us had used these kits before. We were given 2 hours to build and a small set of instructions for the 'Bot kits. And we were given feathers. Lots of feathers. Each team of 4-5 educators made some pretty spectacular birds. Not all birds worked, but all had a plan to share and next steps to make it even better. We helped each other, we laughed with each other, and we were inspired by each other. This is what learning can look like.  I believe all students should have opportunities to learn and make and explore their inherent curiosity.
(Check out the slideshow at the end of this post to see our bird creations)

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And Reggio is also very connected to my thinking about Modern Learning practices and Learner Agency. I'm going to share some of Gary's quotes, big ideas, and learning highlights below as provocations.

• "I'm a fan of education being non-coercive." - Gary Stager
• Imagine that the Museum of Modern Art called and asked you to provide artifacts for an exhibit about your school and the learning that happens there. What would you be able to provide? What story would these artifacts tell?
• "Knowledge is a consequence of experience." - Jean Piaget
• Making "real" things isn't always about solving adult problems. That puppet made from a cardboard is also REAL.
• Don't correct the child from the outside. Create the conditions to correct themselves from the inside.
• Assessment is the teacher's problem, not the kids'.

What do you think about any of those ideas above? What comes to your mind as you consider these ideas?

When you think about learning, what do you believe?