When a school’s model conforms, and not contest, with human nature in how and why we learn, students grow and negotiate thinking in ways standardized tests could never adequately measure. (But we do well on those, too.)
I am Wil Ko, and this is the story of how we transformed a large NYC K-8 public school into a powerhouse ranking 1st in the district for both Math and ELA.
Academic learning is a cerebral function, and exists solely within a pupil’s mind. Sure, students can be coerced into filling out one graphic organizer after another, but unengaged minds will find it difficult to acquire the nuances of persuasive writing for a thesis they have no interest in defending.
The key to good instruction isn’t in the data after the lesson; it’s the motivation within each student to think deeply that determines the level of learning. More than simply adapting to each student’s ability, pace, and interest, Total Personalized Learning accounts for each student’s underlying motivation to learn.
Those who don’t care won’t think, and those who don’t think won’t learn. This is step 1.
How can schools get students to care and believe in their schools? By believing in students first and using culturally responsive systems and trauma-informed practices that cultivate brilliance, and not abuse school authority to bully and punish families into compliance.
Our families know we seek not to overwrite their child’s unique voice to mimic our own, and we make explicit that our aim is to help students discover and amplify it.
Magic happens when students recognize that school learning is the bridge to reaching this goal. And we consider building this bridge for each and every child to be our most important mission.
At 102, unending opportunities to make meaningful contributions to the world around them1 help embed within all students that they matter, and that with greater ability comes greater impact. This is step 2.
102’s motto is the model: Think for Yourself; Care for Others.
1 Operation Thank You is a school-wide initiative where over 1,300 students in 68 homerooms, from Pre-K to 8th grade, select one unsung hero in the community to deliver a collective “thank you”. These acts of gratitude, delivered to amazing people such as our secretaries, crossing guard, janitors, and school safety officers, include singing, dancing, and plenty surprises.
Total Personalized Learning stands in direct contrast with both the traditional one-size-fits-all model as well as the dogmatic adherence of mechanical instruction favored by charter schools at the turn of the century.
Effective instruction differentiates according to the individual needs of students. Transformative instruction, however, requires us to also attend to the unique pedagogical demands of each target learning and standard.
Take Fractions and Percents, for example. Perhaps the most pivotal standard in the early grades, its mastery requires performing sets of math procedures accurately, a skill best acquired through explicit instruction and practice. But to identify the correct procedure for a given problem students must first possess an infallible conceptual understanding of proportions, an idea best grasped through varied experiential learning activities and performance tasks (conducting investigations, defending arguments, or doodling and playing Minecraft.)
We believe that great schools are kitchens full of professional tools and ingredients. Instead of bullying teachers into doing only what and how we ask, we optimize systems to prepare teachers to identify the right tools to use with the best ingredients for the right dishes of lessons. Thinking is learning, always, even for adults.
See the Key Shifts in Support of Total Personalized Learning
With the successful implementation of an aggressive 3-year plan to transform our school from good to great, here are the gains made between year 1 (2015) and year 3 (2018) on the NYS Common Core Exam:
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