Month: May 2019

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In this episode we are speaking with Christy Kingham, coordinator of both the mastery based grading initiative and project based learning facilitation at The Young Women’s Leadership School in Astoria, NY. TYWLS is a learner-centered public high school in the New York City Department of Education. 

During our conversation, we learned what learner-centered means at TYWLS and how leaders create the space and time for all stakeholders to realize the vision of the school through project-based learning and learning intensives.

As a result of our conversation, we are thinking about this question:

• What learner-centered aspects of  TYWLS might you apply in your school or district?

Resources: (Twitter, Blog, School Website, News Articles, Etc.)

• https://www.christykingham.com
• https://twitter.com/ckingham
• http://tywls-astoria.org/
• Intensives – Learning without Walls
• An Overview of Intensives
• Mastery at TYWLS
• Rubrics and Targets @TYWLS
• Mastery Based Grading Handbook – Working Document
• NYC DOE Mastery Collaborative

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In this episode we are speaking with Ginger Spickler, Opportunity Wrangler; Nikki Wallace, biology teacher; and Lucy Fox, learner from Crosstown High in Memphis, TN.

Crosstown High (XTH) is a public school which opened in August 2018 and is currently serving 145 9th graders. The school aims to leverage the unique ecosystem of Crosstown Concourse to provide an exciting new option for a uniquely diverse group of students and educators who want to learn together through project-based courses of study, hands-on work in their city, and rich relationships with one another and the greater Crosstown community.

We learned the importance of engaging the full community in the vision for a learner-centered learning environment and the time needed for all to do the heavy lifting of school transformation. As a result of our conversation, We are thinking about this question:

• As a leader in the learner-centered movement, how do you engage the community and provide time for the transformation to go through its stages?

Resources

• Crosstown High
• XQ Super School Project
• Crosstown High on Twitter @CrosstownHigh