Are We "Most Likely To Succeed"?

1/26/2017

Heather Mock, Associate Head of School/Director of K-8, and Ann Carson, Upper School Director

Hi all! This most recent two-part blog features thoughts from both Heather Mock and Ann Carson after attending the screening last week of the documentary Most Likely to Succeed. We hope you enjoy!

A. From Heather Mock, Associate Head of School/K-8 Director

Hello Everyone,

I hope you all are having a wonderful week. Because of my knee injury, I’m not able to move around as readily as I’d like, so that’s making me somewhat antsy; but I’m trying to find joy in other pursuits!

Last Thursday night, we had the pleasure, thanks to the generous sponsorship of the Mayer- Phillips Foundation, of hosting a screening of the documentary film "Most Likely to Succeed." Afterwards, Upper School Director Ann Carson facilitated a Q&A with Executive Director of Admissions at University of Colorado Boulder Kevin MacLennan and Dawson parent and digital marketing consultant Tim Mayer regarding the future of our schools with regards to the changing landscape in the professional world and beyond.

The movie offered up some sobering statistics about the amount of material that students retain when learning in a content-driven environment. At Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, teachers did an experiment. In the fall, when students returned to the school after summer vacation, they were asked to take the final exams that they had taken just three months earlier. Whereas the average grade in the spring was a B+, the average grade in the fall was an F.

This is not particularly new information. You may remember that when I presented on the new schedule at Dawson, I talked about this very issue. Research shows that when teachers’ classes focus on breadth and moving through content, students remember 10 percent of the material when tested on in just a few months later. In contrast, when teachers scale back on the content but dive deep and encourage students to make connections to their own lives and across disciplines, students remember 60%. So, even if less content is being taught, overall students are retaining more.

In addition, the movie reminds us that employers aren’t hiring people for their content knowledge but for their “soft skills” – the ability to communicate, collaborate, cooperate, and think critically and creatively. These skills are far more valuable across all professions and, with the ability for computers to do so much, we need to focus on developing skills that are unique to people – things that a computer just won’t be able to duplicate.

Watching the movie, I wanted to give Dawson a pat on the back because we are doing so much of this. The film focused primarily on High Tech High, a high school in San Diego that has completely adopted a model of skills-based, integrated learning. While Dawson still maintains several components of a more traditional college prep program, teachers are finding ways to make learning more meaningful for kids and are finding ways in all disciplines to help students develop their soft skills. (Though, truth be told, I’m not a huge fan of that term since it seems to imply less import, and I would argue those skills are the most crucial for success in life.)

As I’ve visited various classrooms (or spaces outside of the classroom) over the course of the year, I’ve loved seeing the ways teachers are using their block periods and their flex periods on Mustang Days. There is more collaboration happening across grades and across disciplines, and, as Most Likely to Succeed reminds us, when students make these connections, they engage more readily with the material, and they retain what they learn.

Listing the myriad ways that this learning is occurring would take up many pages, but I’d like to highlight just a few, some planned meticulously and some that have occurred more organically.

In Blake Fisher’s seventh grade science class, students are working on classifying organisms and analyzing connections between species. Rather than just reading about and memorizing this information, students are using virtual reality equipment and Google Expeditions to visit different museums and habitats around the world.

Second graders in Anna Vinson’s class are discussing what it means to have a growth mindset as they embark on a science unit that involves a lot of hands-on experiments, including exploring friction through designing slides. By giving students the opportunity to try, fail, make a change, and try again, Anna creates a student-centered environment where the kids take charge of their learning and discover how having a growth mindset can benefit their experience and lead to deeper learning.

Sixth grade students in Diane Yelvington’s social studies class are exercising their empathy-building skills by writing slave narratives. Historically accurate information about topics related to slavery, ranging from auctions to passive resistance, are the backbone of each story. Using historical details and primary sources as references, students are in the process of writing unique and impactful stories about an enslaved individual living in antebellum America. Once completed, the narratives will be shared with other students and parents in order to honor those who have been and still are enslaved.

One resource that is new to our campus this year is our challenge course, and many teachers and students are taking advantage of this. In seventh grade English, for instance, students engaged in a consensus-building activity as they started to read 12 Angry Men; they experienced firsthand the difficulties of making decisions without a lot of firsthand information, of persuading peers to change their minds; and of setting aside personal biases to serve a group goal.

At the end of the semester, the seventh grade used a Mustang Day flex period to focus on The Call of the Wild, and the experience was designed to help students develop their teamwork as they took on the role of a human dog team as they raced each other in the “IditaDawson.” Physical coordination was important, but students realized that communication, thoughtful planning, and a positive attitude were even more significant.

Eighth graders also had the chance to dive deep during a recent Mustang Day, when, in preparation for their culminating English project, the This I Believe essay, students took stands on different issues and discussed how personal experiences affected their beliefs. They also explored a variety of famous quotations and examined which ones resonated with them and why. Being able to communicate their beliefs and support where they came from are key components of the eighth grade theme of Finding Your Voice.

And, in the third grade, teacher Amy Criswell felt that her students could benefit from some guidance on handling some sticky social situations, so she reached out to Middle School Dean Jess Mitchell, who promptly met with eighth grade peer leaders to come up with a series of skits to perform for the third graders. The performance led to some great discussions, and just having the opportunity to get together across grade levels creates strong connections among all of our students.

If you didn’t have the chance to see the film, I highly recommend that you keep an eye out for upcoming screenings. It can be eye-opening and hopefully will help more folks understand why it’s imperative for schools to continue to look forward and educate students for the world they will inherit. I’m proud to be a part of Dawson, where we recognize this need and continue to revise our curriculum and schedule to create the richest learning experience possible for our kids.

B. From Ann Carson, Upper School Director

During the panel discussion after Most Likely to Succeed, I shared that it is an incredibly exciting time to be an educator. With the wealth of brain research on how students learn, the vast array of available digital resources, and innovative educators and schools constantly adopting new pedagogies, it does feel like we are at the start of a major shift in how we “do school.” Dawson’s new schedule, including longer block periods that facilitate deeper engagement with subject matter and more varied approaches that meet the needs of diverse leaders, is a big step in the right direction.

In the Upper School, teachers have enthusiastically embraced the longer periods and designed memorable and effective educational activities for their students. For example, Social Studies Department Chair Craig Angus designed a creative activity for AP Human Geography students on our challenge course in which students took on the role of Syrian refugees making the journey from Aleppo to Denver, with different elements of the challenge course representing travel to countries enroute. At each stop, they were forced to communicate with each other and make decisions about how to spend their limited cash and whether they were willing to take on the risk of the next leg of the journey (represented by fairly intimidating ropes course challenges!) Rather than have students just read about the Syrian refugee crisis, Craig chose to have the students engage in an emotionally and physically intense experience that taught collaboration, communication and cross-cultural understanding.

Our Robotics team spends the winter months designing a robot that can navigate a complex pathway and shoot balls at a very creative (and whimsical!) target. Students work in different small groups, focused on specific aspects of this large project, such as the design, the “build”, and the finances. The lessons they learn about teamwork, creative problem solving, and communication are exactly the kinds of skills emphasized in Most Likely to Succeed.

Another creative lesson occurred in Mr. Lord’s tenth grade English class, where students recently made graphic novels of their translation of a Middle English romance. This unusual approach to an ancient text required close reading of the text and visual interpretation of the details of the story.

Each day Heather and I witness additional exciting ways that Dawson teachers are making their subjects more relevant to students and more long-lasting in their educational impact.

Enjoy the week!

Take care,

Heather and Ann

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