Learner-centered leaders believe in the power of students to take ownership of the learning [#ShiftYourParadigm]

This post is part of a series connected to the podcast Shift Your Paradigm: from school-centered to learner-centered. Lynn and I will be sharing our learning and thinking along the way and cross-posting to the Shift Your Paradigm site.

In Episode 29, we chatted with Chad Carlson, a coach at One Stone, a high school learning environment in Iowa committed to “making students better leaders and the world a better place,” and Chloe French, a 2nd year learner at One Stone. The learning environment at One Stone is rooted in empathy, innovation, and student-centered learning. Both the design of the school and adults are focused on helping learners prepare to flourish on any path that they choose by providing irresistible experiences for students. One Stone fosters a culture of creativity, collaboration, ownership, and entrepreneurship. One Stone learners thrive on optimism, relish opportunity, build confidence, and strive for success.

Key Competency

Learner-centered leaders believe in the power of students to take ownership of the learning. There is a high level of agency evident in the learning environment at One Stone. It’s clear that the adults have created the conditions for that agency by designing a wide variety of learning spaces for learners to make learning personal and irresistible. The learners respond to these conditions by willingly taking ownership of their learning. The adults trust the learners, and the learners trust the adults. This mutual trust creates a powerful synergy for co-learning.

Takeaways

Learning at One Stone is student-centered and student-driven. Self-directed learners engage with the community and develop their leaedership skills.

Teachers are considered coaches, and their role is to guide students. Learners take ownership for their learning, and work alongside the coaches. The learning model is collaborative, empowering, and a relevant experience. Those big ideas are really important as the most impactful learning does not happen individually. It is socially embedded. Learning happens within groups in all the different learning spaces. Learners build off of each other’s knowledge. The social component of learning at One Stone is empowering because students drive each others learning. The learning is relevant because they work to address real world issues, adding meaning and context.

A few years ago, the school was a set of after school programs – Project Good and Solution Lab. Students and parents were asking why these after school programs couldn’t be the “school” experience. A 24-hour think design challenge resulted in the development of One Stone in the fall of 2016. The school was born as a result of engaging student voice. 

There are approximately 70 learners in the school day, and 150 students come to the after school programs from 12 different high schools.

If you visited One Stone, what would you see? You would see something different everyday!  You might see students working independently or collaboratively in the Foundry. Or teams problem solving in the Design Lab. Maybe students independently pursuing an interest alongside a coach, or engrossed in collaborative courses on topics such as law and the brain. One stone is a learning environment with a variety of different learning possibilities happening in different spaces.

The Foundry is One Stone’s makerspace. Students use tools such as a 3D printers and laser engravers to create designs. Design Lab spreads all around the building. Students self-select around an interest deeply connected to a community organization’s problem. Learners use empathy and ideation to create prototypes, test them, and iterate improved design solutions.

The school also has a commercial grade kitchen – coaches/learners cook for the community every Wednesday. Another learning space is Ripple Studios, basically a closet converted into an actual music/sound studio. Learners use the space to podcast, record and practice their music. The jazz band also plays in the studio, and the students have started renting the space to professional musicians.

The Two Birds room is a student-led advertisement agency. In this space, professional level client meetings are conducted. For example, students work on logos for local organizations and businesses.

Chloe shared an example in which she collaborated with other learners to create an orthotic better suited for patients who experience the condition drop foot.  Learners engaged in the design experience where they first empathized to understand how patients experience drop foot. They ultimately created an orthotic product with improved straps, foam, and an air bladder. Another team has created an app for distracted drivers.  

How is Design Lab organized? Design labs are 12 weeks, and teams are typically 4-6 students. Students meet 4 times a week for approximately 1-2 hours.

Throughout the One Stone learning environment, the role of teacher has evolved to that of a coach. Each Design Lab team has a coach, but lab is led and driven by students. The coach is there to provide help, advice, and to keep the learners on track. Often, coaches may not even have the relevant skills for the task. They work with the learners, guiding them to the right resources and networks to acquire content knowledge and skills needed at the time for the challenge at hand. The coach works as a guide, advocate, and resource officer, but the team is largely student-driven, demonstrating how One Stone values learner agency and the power within each learner.

One Stone works through the lens of opportunities, as opposed to challenges or barriers. The school draws on community members for learning. Students are not learning in classrooms isolated from the community, instead they are learning with the community. One Stone relies on their relationships with the community partners to seek available opportunities and resources. Students are held accountable to the organization or individual.

Every course has specific learning objectives which are similar to other schools, including public schools. Students get qualitative feedback, using a growth-focused model. The students and coaches aim for mastery while validating growth of different skills and strengths.  

What do Chad and Chloe see as key competencies for leaders working in an environment such as One Stone? Collaboration – a most valued skill in the professional world. Learners need to be able to work with a range of perspectives, manage different work ethics and value systems. Learners at One Stone build their collaboration skills through guided and structured activities.

Leaders need to be radically open to what learning can look like. Learner-centered leaders believe in the power of students to own the learning.  One Stone empowers students by believing in their power to design solutions to their own and community problems. Learners set their goals, work with their coaches, set targets, achieve goals, and learn how to learn. 

Coaches also serve as advisors. Advisors have a cohort of about 10 advisees. Advisors meet with their cohort as a whole and individually on a weekly basis. They are connected to the learners and provide space for learners to be introspective. Students have someone to go to when they need additional help. For learners, it feels like someone knows them on a really deep level. The relationship can be “super open” and very trusting. Students know the guidance is coming from a good place.

Learners and coaches have growth mindsets and belive in the power of ambiguity. They believe in failing forward, trying new things, learning how to engage in a new, innovative, progressive approach. Chad indicated he sees himself as an equal with learners and always growing. 

One Stone advises other leaders to take risks and provides an environment where educators are supported to try new things. Learners and leaders fail forward and understand there is something to be learned in everything they do. They believe the environment needs to be safe to take intellectual and academic risks so that innovation may occur. Fail forward, and fail fast…a common phrase at One Stone.  Embracing change with an open mindset brings new learning experiences and insights.

Connections to Practice

• We cannot do the heavy lifting on transformation in isolation. How do we create the conditions for everyone to move forward together?
• Our connections to community could be improved. What are some challenges in the community? How can our learners collaborate with the community to design meaningful solutions?

Questions Based on Our Practice

• Do our teachers and leaders know they have permission to fail forward?  If not, how do we better communicate that?
• One Stone empowers students by believing in the power of students. Do our leaders and teachers believe in the power of learners?
• How can we help our leaders, learners and teachers challenge their school-centered assumptions?
• How can we better engage community resources? What are those resources?

Next  Steps for Us

• Talk to our student group about their perceptions of failing.
• Meet with our Leading #YourSalisbury district professional learning cohort to celebrate successes and failures from this year.
• Reach out to the Workforce Development Board to identify some businesses which might like to engage with our learners.

Connect with Randy on Twitter, the TLTalkRadio podcast, and the Shift Your Paradigm podcast!

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