Next Gen Leaders learning at Elkhorn Crossing
12th UK Next Gen Leadership Academy Day 5 was vibrant with learning at Elkhorn Crossing School in Georgetown, KY. the week before Thanksgiving. A full agenda included PBL, Change Management, Real world change, and opportunities for educators with the Next Gen Change Makers program.
The morning sessions featured Ryan Steuer with Magnify Learning sharing the Project Based Learning processes. Ryan began with a special story of one of those students who just didn’t get why he should be engaged in school. Project-based learning began the journey to understanding why when he was presented with a real-life opportunity to help people. Skyler Wagoner engaged by helping people, then in further learning. As he grew and discovered his real why, Skyler became a phenomenal photographer. Check him out today https://www.skylerwagoner.com/
Steuer continued to share why it is important to find your Why - where your real passion place is to be the most effective you can be. What vs Why – we can do lots of things, but do you really want to do them? If you are not sure, think about how much an activity, job, or topic fills your tank. The difference between what you are able to do vs what you want to do is a dissonance. Reducing the dissonance and filling your days with activities that really fulfill you, points you to your why. Working from your why will make your work meaningful.
Apply your why with Project Based Learning (PBL). Success stories like Skyler’s are built through building connections. PBL is a key component in bridge building. During construction, longer bridges are built with anchors in the middle and then building out connections to complete the bridge. In education, those gaps include the engagement gap and the rigor gap. Each needs to be closed, but the engagement gap really needs to precede the rigor gap if we want students to succeed. PBL answers the questions kids so often ask, “Why do I need to know this?” It provides real-life problem-solving situations to anchor learning to practical understanding. This makes them open to deeper rigor.
Karen Perry spoke about Change Management and how models apply in education. Change can be challenging and the most difficult change tends to be adaptive. Adaptive challenges are defined by Harvard as situations when “The problem is often unknown or hard to identify; tied to deeper patterns or dynamics and requires learning. The solution is unknown, which again requires learning.” Such challenges are much harder to address than transactional ones. Deeper Learning and PBL are adaptive changes. Effective change in an adaptive change model is multi-faceted and needs to include culture change in order to survive long term. Karen walked through Kotters 8 Step Change Model and sent participants to work on their chosen change at whatever part of the 8-step process they found themselves in.
Practical application is always more powerful to explore than theory, so Lora Shields presented the journey toward successful implementation in Shelby County. Jennifer Cox joined via Zoom for a real-time update on where things are today.
Inspiring the group towards greater learning, Lora gave an overview of the UK Next Gen Change Makers program, which provides rank change options in Kentucky through the EPSB CEO option. A one-year program at a reasonable price point gives teachers a much-needed bump in pay. Teachers are ready for inspiration from learning tools that have practical applications in real-time. Change Makers dives into Deeper Learning and engaging students in their own learning, developing the skills they will need in the future. This program is amazing for teams.
Already ready to be inspired by Day 6!
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