Recently Garth and I had the pleasure of working with several teachers from the Richland-Bean Blossom Community Schools district in Ellettsville, Indiana. Located just outside of Bloomington and Indiana University, Richland-Bean Blossom Community Schools allowed 23 teachers from the High school and middle school to work with Garth and I for two days to change teaching and learning. We were also joined by the principals of the high school and middle school and the assistant superintendent. This dynamic group works in a 1:1 environment where each student in the middle/high school have iPad. The problem that this district found, not uncommon amongst 1:1 schools; is that the tools were changing but not teaching & learning. BUT......
Where RBBC is different from the other schools facing the problem of having technology but no philosophy is that there is a core group of teachers that know things can change. They know that the relationship between teacher and learner, and the relationship between learner and learning can be more meaningful. These teachers also had one HUGE advantage: their principals and assistant superintendent were not only supporting change and thinking outside-of-box, but these administrators sat and conversed with these teachers for both days.
Garth and I spoke via Skype with several of these teachers yesterday, they are about two weeks into the school year, and they had some impressive stories to tell. Below are a few images from how they have changed teaching & learning in their classrooms. Many teachers have utilized genius boards to help show students how they can be leaders. The genius board give students the ability to help other students (and the teacher) throughout the year and also provides a visual way of students showing how they can leave a legacy. One teacher even built the frame of a house on his board and allowed students to create the interior. Garth often says that our job is to frame the house using our standards and tools, then allow our students to create their own house around and in that framework.