Starting the School or School System of Your Dreams!

Starting the School or School System of Your Dreams: Join #ALedchat on Twitter September 8 at 9pmCST

Have you ever said, "If this were my school, I'd _______________." Or maybe you've thought, "The kind of school where I'd like to work would be _____________________." If you have ideas about the ways schools and school systems should operate, run, hire, teach, _________, then you won't want to miss Monday night's twitter chat!

Join me and and the other co-moderators as we chat with special guest Dr. Patrick Martin, School Superintendent of the new formed Gardendale City School System (school system planned to start Fall 2015.)

Inspiration: In 2007, I had the opportunity to visit Philadelphia's Microsoft-designed School of the Future. It was my first time to visit a high school without a traditional library and where all students used laptops and weren't issued books. It was a school designed for collaboration and project-based learning to happen. It was a new way to think about "how we do school."

Opening just last month in a public school district near San Diego is another example of a new approach to public education. There, they have collaborated as teachers, leaders, students, staff, and parents to design a different kind of school. You can read more about their non-traditional school HERE.

Below are the questions for Monday night. Take some time to reflect on your dreams and visions for what YOU would like to school to be like and join us Monday night at 9pm.

Q1: Would there be anything special/different about the physical layout of your dream school? Describe.

Q2: If you could start your dream school/system, describe the teachers you would hire.

Q3: How would you incorporate student voice in your dream school/system?

Q4: How would parents be involved in designing/creating your dream school/system?

Q5: Describe the leaders & leadership model that would be found in your dream school/system.

Q6: How would your dream school/system partner with the community stakeholders?

Q7: What kind of legacy would your dream school/system leave for others who follow?

Q8: What is your “aha” or take-away from tonight’s chat?

I would like to say a special thank you to David for suggesting Patrick Martin as our special guest for the chat. 

Gardendale Superintendent, 

Dr. Patrick Martin, with his family

Also, I would like to express my gratitude to the other co-moderators, Michael McLendon and Holly Sutherland, and everyone who is a part of #ALedchat.

Everyone is welcome to join us Monday nights 9-10pmCST for #ALedchat. We value the insights, perspectives, and experiences of those in our PLN.

TIP: If you have never done a twitter chat before, you may find it helpful to go to tweetdeck and enter the hashtag #ALedchat. Sign in with your twitter account. The website will "filter out" all of the other tweets except for the ones with the hashtag #ALedchat and put them in a column together.  (P.S. The hashtags are NOT case-sensitive.)

Happy dreaming!