179 - What 100 School Visits Taught Us This Year

Dec 19, 2018

32:22

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The Getting Smart team visits a lot of schools, well north of 100 this year. Most were primarily public urban schools, about half were purpose-built schools opened in the last 20 years, and the other half were (at least partially) transformed schools. More than half were district schools, some were charter schools, and there were also a few private schools. And the key factor that tied them all together was that they almost all had some kind of “next generation” characteristics, such as personalized and competency-based learning, project-based learning, and encouraging of design-thinking and maker activities. The team has learned a lot from these school visits and believe they are the best form of professional learning.

In this podcast, Tom and Emily summarize 10 lessons from this year’s school visits.

Key Takeaways:

[:15] About today’s episode.

[1:05] Emily and Tom discuss what they have been up to.

[1:27] Emily elaborates on why she believes school visits are so key to professional learning.

[1:58] Emily summarizes what Getting Smart looks for in school visits.

[3:25] Emily kicks off the first of 10 lessons learned: culture is key.

[6:09] The second important lesson: students are known and cared for.

[8:14] Lesson number three: great schools have a foundational set of ideas.

[11:50] Lesson four: getting really intentional about outcomes.

[14:36] Lesson five: it’s important that the structures support deep work.

[16:36] Lesson six: shared, public work.