Walbottle is a large public school in Newcastle Upon Tyne, England. Erina and I were assigned to this school by the Innovation Unit, and we're helping the school establish High Tech High and project-based learning characteristics such as critique, presentations of learning (POLs), and student led conferences (SLCs). Walbottle has a student body of around 1800 students, about three times as large as High Tech High North County. The teachers also have very different schedules. No one teacher is put with the same group of students. Some teachers have classes from years 7, 9, and 10, while other teachers may have different years. Each teacher has a subject they teach, and the school is divided into wings organized by the subjects. There is a humanities wing (geography, religious studies, and history mixed), English, math, technology, physical education, science, and an art department.
This is very different from High Tech High, which assigns teachers a subject and a team. That teacher only teaches students from that team, who are all in the same grade. This means that teachers as High Tech are able to make more personal relations with their students. We also have much fewer "classes," as some our subjects are more mixed and integrated.
Day to day, Erina and I spend our days sitting in on classes and meeting with students. We are considered part of the staff, and as so, we work with the teachers rather than the students. Our primary job is giving advice and explaining High Tech High policies to teachers who wish to implement them. While in classes, we observe procedures, give students help acclimating to new types of learning, and give our own critique. We've had numerous meetings with staff and groups of teachers about POLs and SLCs and how to implement them both on a class scale and a larger, whole school scale.
This is very different from High Tech High, which assigns teachers a subject and a team. That teacher only teaches students from that team, who are all in the same grade. This means that teachers as High Tech are able to make more personal relations with their students. We also have much fewer "classes," as some our subjects are more mixed and integrated.
Day to day, Erina and I spend our days sitting in on classes and meeting with students. We are considered part of the staff, and as so, we work with the teachers rather than the students. Our primary job is giving advice and explaining High Tech High policies to teachers who wish to implement them. While in classes, we observe procedures, give students help acclimating to new types of learning, and give our own critique. We've had numerous meetings with staff and groups of teachers about POLs and SLCs and how to implement them both on a class scale and a larger, whole school scale.