Brilliant, Awesome, Amazing
By: Tim Culver
It is my custom to spend one day a week in a school. On May 12, 2016, I spent the day at East Middle School. I had a full schedule of class visits and was exceptionally impressed with every class I visited. However, one visit really ”wowed” me with how it hit so squarely on the biggest aims of our schools in preparing kids for the future:
- Every student graduates prepared to excel with academic skills, as well as the ability to effectively communicate, collaborate, create, and think critically.
- Every student graduates with necessary civic, global and digital skills capable of participating safely, intelligently, and productively in a profoundly different future.
I was presented by this class with their “civics project” designed to help other children with their reading... while working on their own, among many other skills. I asked for permission to share it with you because I think it will blow you away too. It’s 9 minutes long, but I hope you take the time to see how excellently these 8th grade students set out on a mission and did so many things well from researching customer needs, using digital skills to create, working together, and perhaps most importantly (and what brought tears to my eyes) was their self-reflection on their learning and hard work and their pride in accomplishment. This is a shining example of what the “best education“ looks like: students empowered by learning to change the world, even while in middle school.
I told the students I could only think of three things to say Brilliant, Awesome, Amazing...in fact, I wrote it on the board. I also think these these three adjectives apply to Teacher Rachel Kornhoff and Assistant Cindy Evans who engaged, inspired, and challenged these students to such excellence. Well done!
