Why I Might Be a New-School Junkie :)

"Impossible is just a word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. Impossible is an opinion. Impossible is potential."   - Muhammad Ali

"The most valuable resource that all teachers have is each other. Without collaboration our growth is limited to our own perspectives."  

- Robert John Meehan

In 2010, I was honoured to be the first principal to open Cranston School, a brand new K-4 school in a new SE community on the far edge (at that time!) of Calgary. 

I had been principal in a K-6 school for five years before and loved every minute of working with staff to re-vision the school as we worked to develop a highly collaborative, student-focused learning environment together in our 35+ year old building.  21 years into my teaching career, I then decided to begin working on my PhD and so was on professional improvement leave when I learned I would be opening one of six new elementary schools in the fall of 2010. 

Oh my! Those were exciting days!! 

Working with the five other principals involved in the new schools project proved to be one of the most collaborative, innovative and thought-provoking educational endeavours I had ever experienced. Tasked with opening '21st century schools' in the second decade of the 21st century, we absorbed research, questioned many things about the status quo of opening a new school and in a few short months we moved from building visions to staffing to setting up classrooms to welcoming students in our buildings. 

I learned so many things - to have a strong, shared vision as a starting point, to listen and let all stakeholders find ways to enact the vision, to rarely say 'no' to any idea - for every idea has merit somewhere, even if it is 'what have I learned?'.  More importantly, I learned that having amazing teachers in the building is key - and building a culture with them is even more critical. I learned some lessons the hard way - by making mistakes, re-visioning, listening harder, trying again and sometimes repeating this process several times!   

I loved the energy of new ideas, of watching our students embrace a more open approach to learning, of teachers coming together in numerous ways to re-think learning, engage students in experiences that pushed them in every academic way and the tremendous support of parents both in the school as volunteers and in myriad ways as we consistently pushed the boundaries of learning with our young students.

I cannot remember a day when I did not want to be in the school, working with students and teachers, talking to parents, thinking, questioning, discussing and collaborating together.  I believed I would close out my career in this amazing place of learning that energized me every day.

When the opportunity came to open another new school - this time in Tuscany, a NW community in Calgary and somewhat closer to home (30 instead of 45 minutes each way), I finally realized that, as much as I loved Cranston School, it wasn't just that particular place that I loved - although I truly loved both the place and all the people associated with it - but rather the opportunity to dream big with like minded folks to bring greater possibility for student growth and excitement about learning to life. So I made the decision to move, and have not looked back. It's not that I don't miss Cranston - I think a part of me always will - but rather that I have figured out it is possible to foster energy and excitement about learning and teaching anywhere - and that is exactly why I think I might be a new-school junkie!

New schools offer blank slates and the opportunity to leap beyond 'the way we've always done it' in a single bound. There are no 'ways' so we get to invent them, apologize when we've overlooked something and be forgiven for being new - and then invent another 'way' again. Unbound by previous mindsets, we have the opportunity to delve into curricula in new ways, into research to enhance our practice and the opportunity to think about the future and how we are going to prepare our new school to meet the challenges our students will be experiencing in the coming years.

For me, following trends in science, business, technology and education offers insights and possibilities for world changes as well as teaching and learning in our building. Schools - new ones as well as existing ones - need to offer learning opportunities that will launch children successfully forward rather than train them well for yesterday. Sometimes - both as a parent and a teacher - it seems education is the slowest of all the trends to change, waiting till 'new' ideas in science, technology or business have become entrenched and are changing yet again before attempting to catch up to the first idea. Concern for the quality of education our children are receiving often clouds the possibilities for learning as we worry about the basics our children might not be receiving in their formative years. And educational reforms move glacially as a result.

I wonder about 'the basics' - whose basics are we concerned about? Which generation's? Mine? When colour television was the highlight of my remembered utopian childhood?  My children's - when VCRs and Walkmans defined excitement? My grandchildren's? Tablets, cell phones and gaming systems are ever present in their lives. I used a slide rule, my children used programmable calculators and my grandchildren (the oldest in middle school) use their tablets and cell phones for everything. Just today, I read about the latest advances in brain linked artificial intelligence (AI) being developed in Silicon Valley (Facebook Google, Elon Musk, etc) that will likely be available for everyday human use in about 10 years. Whose basics do we need to cover? A good question for educators and one I wonder about frequently.

What new schools really do is bring people together in a collaborative venture where all the stakeholders (teachers, parents, students) expect to embark on a different journey. One that requires pausing, thinking, reflecting, considering because there is no familiar path. Yet. Possibilities abound and, for children, that means a chance to try again and perhaps live a different learning story. It is in this collaborative process that relationships matter the most - mutual respect, listening, considering, sharing voices and ideas - these processes cannot happen without relationships that shape and frame and allow fair, honest, open exchanges of ideas and information. And it is in these exchanges - where new ideas grow, thrive and connect to other new ideas - that the vibrancy and energy of new schools makes me feel the most alive! 

I don't think a 'new' school requires a new building (although they are building beautiful ones these days!). What a new school does require is the effort to build a culture of collaboration that advances new ideas and strategies. I am particularly intrigued these days with design thinking as a framework for provoking different thinking and changing mindsets. We don't have to get it right the first time, we do need to include students in conversations and possibilities, we don't need to solve a problem right away but we do need to consider possible solutions many more times than once.  

What two new school experiences - and a third one in an old building - have taught me is that collaboration is critical to moving learning forward in different directions that will accommodate increasing numbers of students. There cannot be just one path for all students paved with basics that may not be relevant anymore. New schools offer us chances to pause, consider, share and try a multitude of new strategies where students have opportunities to meander many paths on their way to learning. 

The absence of 'a previous way'.  Opportunities to explore social trends that impact students and find ways to acknowledge those trends within existing curricula. Defining new 'basics' that apply to this generation of learners. Incredible opportunities to foster a collegial yet highly effective collaborative culture amongst all stakeholders. All to develop a landscape where every student finds a positive and successful personal learning path. These are the gifts my experiences with new schools have offered and, having certainly loved every aspect, why I think I might be a new-school junkie!

Lorraine Kinsman

Principal

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