The hallmark of any strong organization is its commitment to continuous improvement.  In fact, successful organizations are successful, in part because they continue to refine their effectiveness.  At LACHSA, our faculty have dedicated themselves during our late-start Friday to reflect upon practice and strengthen our work.

Some of you know that our professional development focus for our faculty this year is on engagement. An engaging classroom is one that utilizes meaningful experiences to promote critical thinking and problem-solving and is defined by students who are compelled to participate in the learning process.  The Great Energy Debate in Earth Science, the Congressional Hearing Symposium in Government, writing and revising a research paper in an English class, leading a cooking demonstration in a language class, and crafting a piece of visual arts are shining examples of experiences that promote engagement. 

Students who are engaged are more motivated and perform better in school than those who are not.  Engagement is a key factor that drives grades, achievement in school, and future employment.  The extent to which a student is engaged in a class is not solely the domain of the student, however; student engagement can be directly linked to meaningful experiences crafted by thoughtful educators. 

We have planned to approach our professional development work in three distinct ways: professional development partners; faculty spotlights-best practices;  project-based learning and interdisciplinary learning.

All of our faculty are working in pairs as professional development partners.  These partners are charged with visiting one another's classroom four times this year.  Each visit is planned so there is considerable focus during the observation.  The goal here is simple:  we are promoting meaningful dialogue around our practice and with a lens on engagement, looking to support and push one another in our work.

Instructional Spotlights: Best Practices 

We are highlighting the best practices of our faculty.  It is important to share practices that work in our classes that effectively engage our students.  We have ten faculty members-arts and academics-who will showcase their best practices throughout the year.

Tools of Engagement: Project Based Learning/Interdisciplinary Learning

It is also important for faculty to share resources and collaborate to effectively engage our students, to harness the unique world-view of our artist-scholars.  Interdisciplinary experiences-where arts and academic disciplines comingle-can engage and create powerful learning experiences. 

One such interdisciplinary project took place this past week.  Our 9^th grade students' reading of George Orwell's Animal Farm was enhanced this week as students worked collaboratively to explore the themes in Animal Farm--power, greed, submission--and craft artistic responses to these themes.  Theatre faculty Susie Tanner led this effort with all of our 9^th grade classes working in collaboration with English Faculty and musical theatre chair, Gary Soerensen.   Additionally, the focus of our Theatre First Year Project is Animal Farm and this work will continue with Susie through that production in the Spring.

To see a sample of the Animal Farm project click here!  

(video edited by Riley Miner (T'12) 

An interdisciplinary experience such as this ensures that our students are able to explore concepts deeply and from multiple perspectives, to collaborate with one another in small groups, to assert and defend a point of view, and use creativity to bring life to their ideas.  It is also fun and inspiring for our students as their self-reflections confirmed.  This rich experience for our students was made possible by the dedication and vision of Susie Tanner, by the warm embrace of Gary Soerensen, and by the guiding hand of Cara Livermore, and funded, in part by a California Arts Council grant.  Collaboration of this kind can yield amazing things for LACHSA. 

Engaging classrooms can also shift the role of the teacher.  The classroom environment in an engaging classroom empowers the teacher to push students' thinking, make connections amongst and between students, highlight potential obstacles, and celebrate successes.  Contrast this class with the teacher who coerces student behavior with grades and other extrinsic motivators. 

Engaging classrooms liberate teachers to chart new thinking for their students while non-engaging classrooms often emphasize coercion and intimidation; success is seldom achieved here.  The teacher is able to facilitate in an engaging classroom,  not dominate.

The richness of an engaging classroom is as varied as they teachers themselves; there is certainly no one look.  At LACHSA we aspire for every moment of every class to be engaging.  We owe it to ourselves and to our students.

Sincerely,

George Simpson

Principal