Meredith Williams - Principal NRHS
I’m often asked, “How does Design Class prepare students for college?” Perhaps the workflow of solving real-world challenges with open-ended solutions is so different from the memorize-and-bubble process of our traditional classrooms that we struggle to see how his process experience can prepare one for embarking on post-secondary education; whether a 4-year or other advanced degree. A few logistical details are important to remember in terms of our design lab. First, the course counts for two credits: a local elective Honors Design Lab and a Career and Technical elective, career or project management. Students still take at least four core classes in their schedule. Some students elect to add upper level and Advanced Placement courses to their schedule as well. Design class, therefore, co-exists with core curriculum. Teachers collaborate to connect and apply core content to the design challenges. However, the focus of the design class is not to learn more core knowledge, but to develop the essential life skills which we refer to as the 4C’s (collaboration, communication, creativity, critical thinking) and agency. In planning for transformation, teachers at North High were asked to share the most important thing they taught. Almost all responded with ideas that fit into the general 4C categories, such as time management, responsibility, or self-expression, rather than content knowledge. However, these are skills we do not explicity teach. We assume that students will learn these key life skills as we move through the formal core content curriculum. But, in fact, we rarely instruct students on how to improve in these essential life skills during core content classes. Therefore, we believe our Design Class, which focuses on and expects demonstration of these important skills, does more than any other class to prepare students not only for college, but for the “real world”. We want to graduate students who not only have academic knowledge, but who can think for themselves, who know how to actively learn, and who can work with others to achieve goals. We want to graduate students who will not be limited by the ideas of others, but can contribute in their families and communities through creative solution building. We understand students are more likely to develop and hone these skills when provided opportunities to learn, apply, and reflect on their growth. At NRHS, we use Design Class to provide this critical piece of the learning process and believe our students will be exceedingly prepared for living toward their True North because of the instruction we provide in this setting.
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AuthorsThe Design Classes at North High are taught by four educators: Alexis Greer and Benjamin Butchart in 9th grade and Miranda File and Brian Whitson in 10th. These teams lead the CBL and design thinking approaches at North Rowan High. Archives
July 2020
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