Without question a big #highfive goes out to the opening of classroom and school doors through visiting other schools and having other schools visit Crossett Brook and Team Quest. Professional isolation in the education profession is real and is really limiting, and having a system in place to visit and be visited is great.
Another offshoot #highfive goes out to the thinking that has come from these visits, along with the brainstorming from readings/videos/conversations.
“What is truly the best environment for learning?”
remains an unanswered question since the first public school opened in 1635. …384 years! For me, that is both a big point of frustration and a major motivator.
Maybe we can be the ones to figure it out!
Towards that end, I would apply a big ‘ole #bellyflop to being further along in answering that question of the best learning environment.
Personalization and student-centered is what I have been most focused on, and Team Quest is forging ahead in shaping this environment with their 45 sixth graders. The environment in their classrooms is alive and vibrant in so many ways.
But can I say with conviction that this is the “best environment for learning”, and that all classrooms should look like those on Team Quest? I cannot as of now, and that remains a point of frustration for me.