Open Letter Part II: Once in a Lifetime

Re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem.
— Walt Whitman / Leaves of Grass

The images on this page were created by first year students. They are self portraits created in Adobe Illustrator. The illustrations were created using the Pen Tool—one of the most powerful and difficult tools to master. Never have I witnessed students experience such success. Two years ago, students produced these images. Last year, these. This year, some of the best are still works in progress (and yet to be turned in) but here are the results so far.

I have no idea if you understand, but these images represent qualitative proof that the modifications I've made to my classroom management and curriculum delivery system (blog, videos, lectures, demos, etc.) have had a profound impact thus far. As for quantitative results, I have charted weekly student participation scores for the past several years and I'm tracking a significant increase in participation numbers as well. Note: Participation details may be found here (see Policies and Expectations). As for summer, two years ago I continued to blog over June, July, and August and a few students continued to follow the posts. Last summer I launched the Mac Lab Summer Academy and even more students followed the blog through July and August. The fruits of that labor may be found here. Next June the Mac Lab Summer Academy will return again and I expect that student engagement will continue to rise.

On the first day of school this year, I informed all classes that I'd be incorporating the best of what I was learning from FSO in order to enhance their experience. We talked that first day about time management (a month one topic). I explained that we'd all be learning together, that we'd be continuing to build the classroom of the future, and that, as usual, we'd be doing things that no one else had ever tried.

In the 19 days since I wrote Part I of this month's FSO blog post (FSO EMDT and APA), my own high school classroom blog has been visited by people from over 1,000 cities in 100 countries. In those same 19 days US visitors came from over 500 cities in 48 states.

Why? Isn't that simply unheard of? Whatever the reason, you asked who my audience is and in turn I point to my students and those people around the world who are starting to pay attention. (Educators from around the world have written expressing interest and asking questions. While I've not archived all of these inquiries, the bottom of this page does have a sampling of prior contacts.) I want my CBR to have the same empathy and passion as my blog posts and as my teaching style.

Something unique is happening. Together, FSO and the Mac Lab are poised to uncover new ways to excite, engage, and motivate students about learning. The APA response has no place in this equation. I implore you to consider my case as a unique opportunity. I want to continue to inject the best of the research that I've gathered directly into the classroom. I want to focus my energy on implementation and documentation.

My literature review revolves around motivation and engagement, specifically intrinsic motivation. Among other things, I'm also interested in the role of expectations, classroom culture, and flexible, individualized, self-paced, project-based learning in the equation.

Credits: Top to bottom, Victoria Menjares, Mohanad Sabah, Mark Lim