Setting Description
I work at a project-based charter school named High Tech High International in San Diego County in the community of Point Loma. HTHI consists of approximately 400 students in grades 9-12 and is one of nine schools in the High Tech Community (five high schools, three middle schools, and one elementary school) that serve the greater San Diego area as part of a state-wide charter. High Tech High began in 2000 in response to a need that a group of local business leaders and educators saw in education – to produce high school graduates who were prepared for college, not through the ability to take tests well, but by being innovative, comfortable using technology, able to work effectively in groups and to communicate effectively, not only with co-workers but those in authority. Through this approach, HTH has had great success in sending students to college and keeping them there.
Acceptance to the High Tech system is based purely on a zip-code lottery system which seeks to draw students from all areas of San Diego. There is no preferential treatment given to applicants based on GPA or tests. The only preference is given to those with siblings already attending a HTH school. Because of the zip-code lottery, our school is diverse, not only in terms of race and ethnicity, but in socio-economics as well. Our demographics compare to the San Diego Unified School District as follows:
Acceptance to the High Tech system is based purely on a zip-code lottery system which seeks to draw students from all areas of San Diego. There is no preferential treatment given to applicants based on GPA or tests. The only preference is given to those with siblings already attending a HTH school. Because of the zip-code lottery, our school is diverse, not only in terms of race and ethnicity, but in socio-economics as well. Our demographics compare to the San Diego Unified School District as follows:
Though our student populations shows great diversity, our teaching staff is pretty homogeneous. We have one African American, one Hispanic, two Asian staff members. We have tried in past years to make our staff more diverse by reaching out to these under-represented communities but haven’t had as much success as we would like.
Design principles: High Tech High was founded on 4 design principles: Personalization, Adult-World Connection, Common Intellectual Mission and Teacher as Designer.
Personalization: Though there are 4 design principles, for me, personalization is the cornerstone around which the others revolve. Personalization elevates and values the relationship between teacher and student, and recognizes that the best learning comes when teacher and student know each other; personalization cherishes the community that emerges from this relationship and the support and encouragement that are the natural by-product of this relationship. Personalization is created by keeping class sizes and school sizes small, so that each child feels known by at least one adult, but students are usually known by many more than that.
It’s also created through the advisory program, where each teacher is the advisor for 16-17 students for the duration of their time at HTH. Advisory is multi-grades-level, so it creates an opportunity for mentorship between upper and lower grades as well as a time for instruction of and exposure to college resource and an opportunity for meaningful activities that revolve around community service, career options and cultural celebrations. An important part of advisory is the home visit, where advisors visit the home of their advisees in order to strengthen the communication and connection between home and school. Because each student has the same advisor for their four years at HTHI, parents have a constant contact within the school. The advisor is also often a part of any intervention plans for struggling students.
Another part of personalization comes in the intervention structures in place for struggling students called Student Success Plans (SSPs). This is a meeting with the student, the dean, the parents and all of the student’s teachers. Here all of the caring adults in the students life can meet with and discuss with the student what their strengths are and why they are struggling and then can work together to implement support structures and clear expectations for change.
Adult world connection: The next design principle is adult world connection, which attempts to connect what students are learning in the classroom with the adult world of work and/or social and political issues. Adult world connection is all about relevance and buy-in – creating projects and discussing issues that have significance and that students see being modeled or wrestled with by the adults around them. One way this idea is built into the curriculum is through the 11th grade immersive internship experience where students spend one month of their 11th grade year working as an intern for a company whose work or mission statement they find interesting, and where they gain a new perspective on what awaits them in the professional world of work. Another way that the adult world connection is encouraged is through the exhibition of student work in spaces outside of the school and in the involvement of outside voices in our classrooms through guest speakers and field trips.
Common intellectual mission: I often struggle with this label as I don’t think it’s really reflective of what it means – it’s really just about integration. There is no tracking at our schools, no separate classes for honors or AP students, no stratification according to ability. Students work together at all levels, helping each other, challenging each other, and learning from each other – not just about academics but about compassion and patience and perseverance, all very valuable qualities to develop to ensure their future success. Designing projects with enough layers so that both ends of the spectrum will feel challenged and supported can be difficult for teachers, and has proven to be especially challenging for our math teachers. There have been extensive discussions around this particular subject and how best to support and prepare students for the challenges of college math. Recently, ALEKs has been implemented as a way to better meet the math needs of our students.
Teacher as designer: This design principle speaks to the trust and freedom given to the teachers at HTH. Our administration recognizes that we work here because we love what we do, that we’re passionate about our topic, that we are perpetual learners, and that as such we can and should be trusted with the best way to communicate the ideas/concepts/skills that we see as most helpful for our students. We are paired with one (or more) partners with whom we design interdisciplinary projects, and we are given time to meet with those partners and as a school to continue to develop as learners and educators. In addition, the staff meets three mornings a week to address school-wide issues, continue to develop as educators, meet in departments or meet in grade-levels
The Building: HTHI is housed in a two-story building that was formerly the Naval Training Center’s Boiler and Steam Plant, constructed in 1951. The space is very open with an extremely high ceiling (3-4stories) at the front of the building and a cat-walk that spans the second story and from which the colorful flags of many countries are hung. Art decorates the enormous wall space – a large world map dotted with immersion trip destinations, paintings that depict places around the world, framed math work from last year’s “mathterpiece” project, a large 3-d mural that spans the round room at the center of the space. Most classrooms have large windows that give the place a sense of transparency – it’s easy to look into classrooms and see what’s going on at any given time.
Organization and schedule: Each grade level is divided into two 50-student teams with the two lower grades having two core teachers – one math/science, and the other history/English while the upper grades have 4 core teachers – math, science, history, English. In addition to core subjects, students also have either Mandarin or Spanish for three years and music, multimedia, and art intermittently
For grades 9 and 10 the schedule follows a block schedule with teams teaching groups of 50 students each day. For upper grades, however, our schedule has changed a little this year. Where we once had teaching teams in 11th and 12th grade, with teachers paired and working together all year, we now have two teams but the teachers aren’t paired with another specific teacher. Our biology and American history teachers each see 50 junior students per semester, and then see the other half of the juniors the following semester. Math and English are taught all year long with the same teacher for one hour per day. A similar schedule exists for the 12th grade with their subjects. I teach 11th grade English so I see my students all year for one hour per day.
As such, I have a great deal of flexibility in who I can collaborate with, and to what degree. For example, later this semester I will work with the math teacher on an encryption project, next semester I will work with the art teacher on a protest lit and art project, and during the entire year I will be coordinating my course schedule with the biology and history teachers so that the reading and writing in my class supports and enhances the work being done in those two classes. Additionally, I work to involve my students as often as I can in their own learning, offering choice and creativity as often as possible. For example, we are currently reading The Great Gatsby and one of their final activities for this will involve them dressing in 1920’s garb, eating 1920’s food, listening to 1920’s music and acting out a scene from the book.
In addition to their regular studies, students also have an elective class twice per week where they can pursue areas of interest or use the time for physical activity and advisory meetings. Students in 11th grade also participate in a month-long internship immersion experience, so part of their week involves either preparing for or responding to their internship.
My class: My classroom is located at the back corner of the second story in a comfortably sized, windowed room with white-board cupboards and one wall lined bookcases crammed with books that students are encouraged to browse through and borrow from. I love having student work decorate my walls, so at any given time there will be art, student-created advertisements or newspapers, or graphs adorning the wall space or the windows that look out onto the common space. I vary the seating arrangement according to what’s going on at the time, sometimes students sit in rows and sometimes in groups of four. Because I teach the upper grades and want to encourage good choices, I allow students to decide who they will sit next to (unless it becomes a problem); however, I mix them up during group work enough that eventually they will sit next to or work with everyone in the class. I have a beat-up, red and white checked couch next to my desk that students seem drawn to (I’m sure because of its proximity to me!) and a comfy chair and pillows in the back corner where students congregate as well.
Design principles: High Tech High was founded on 4 design principles: Personalization, Adult-World Connection, Common Intellectual Mission and Teacher as Designer.
Personalization: Though there are 4 design principles, for me, personalization is the cornerstone around which the others revolve. Personalization elevates and values the relationship between teacher and student, and recognizes that the best learning comes when teacher and student know each other; personalization cherishes the community that emerges from this relationship and the support and encouragement that are the natural by-product of this relationship. Personalization is created by keeping class sizes and school sizes small, so that each child feels known by at least one adult, but students are usually known by many more than that.
It’s also created through the advisory program, where each teacher is the advisor for 16-17 students for the duration of their time at HTH. Advisory is multi-grades-level, so it creates an opportunity for mentorship between upper and lower grades as well as a time for instruction of and exposure to college resource and an opportunity for meaningful activities that revolve around community service, career options and cultural celebrations. An important part of advisory is the home visit, where advisors visit the home of their advisees in order to strengthen the communication and connection between home and school. Because each student has the same advisor for their four years at HTHI, parents have a constant contact within the school. The advisor is also often a part of any intervention plans for struggling students.
Another part of personalization comes in the intervention structures in place for struggling students called Student Success Plans (SSPs). This is a meeting with the student, the dean, the parents and all of the student’s teachers. Here all of the caring adults in the students life can meet with and discuss with the student what their strengths are and why they are struggling and then can work together to implement support structures and clear expectations for change.
Adult world connection: The next design principle is adult world connection, which attempts to connect what students are learning in the classroom with the adult world of work and/or social and political issues. Adult world connection is all about relevance and buy-in – creating projects and discussing issues that have significance and that students see being modeled or wrestled with by the adults around them. One way this idea is built into the curriculum is through the 11th grade immersive internship experience where students spend one month of their 11th grade year working as an intern for a company whose work or mission statement they find interesting, and where they gain a new perspective on what awaits them in the professional world of work. Another way that the adult world connection is encouraged is through the exhibition of student work in spaces outside of the school and in the involvement of outside voices in our classrooms through guest speakers and field trips.
Common intellectual mission: I often struggle with this label as I don’t think it’s really reflective of what it means – it’s really just about integration. There is no tracking at our schools, no separate classes for honors or AP students, no stratification according to ability. Students work together at all levels, helping each other, challenging each other, and learning from each other – not just about academics but about compassion and patience and perseverance, all very valuable qualities to develop to ensure their future success. Designing projects with enough layers so that both ends of the spectrum will feel challenged and supported can be difficult for teachers, and has proven to be especially challenging for our math teachers. There have been extensive discussions around this particular subject and how best to support and prepare students for the challenges of college math. Recently, ALEKs has been implemented as a way to better meet the math needs of our students.
Teacher as designer: This design principle speaks to the trust and freedom given to the teachers at HTH. Our administration recognizes that we work here because we love what we do, that we’re passionate about our topic, that we are perpetual learners, and that as such we can and should be trusted with the best way to communicate the ideas/concepts/skills that we see as most helpful for our students. We are paired with one (or more) partners with whom we design interdisciplinary projects, and we are given time to meet with those partners and as a school to continue to develop as learners and educators. In addition, the staff meets three mornings a week to address school-wide issues, continue to develop as educators, meet in departments or meet in grade-levels
The Building: HTHI is housed in a two-story building that was formerly the Naval Training Center’s Boiler and Steam Plant, constructed in 1951. The space is very open with an extremely high ceiling (3-4stories) at the front of the building and a cat-walk that spans the second story and from which the colorful flags of many countries are hung. Art decorates the enormous wall space – a large world map dotted with immersion trip destinations, paintings that depict places around the world, framed math work from last year’s “mathterpiece” project, a large 3-d mural that spans the round room at the center of the space. Most classrooms have large windows that give the place a sense of transparency – it’s easy to look into classrooms and see what’s going on at any given time.
Organization and schedule: Each grade level is divided into two 50-student teams with the two lower grades having two core teachers – one math/science, and the other history/English while the upper grades have 4 core teachers – math, science, history, English. In addition to core subjects, students also have either Mandarin or Spanish for three years and music, multimedia, and art intermittently
For grades 9 and 10 the schedule follows a block schedule with teams teaching groups of 50 students each day. For upper grades, however, our schedule has changed a little this year. Where we once had teaching teams in 11th and 12th grade, with teachers paired and working together all year, we now have two teams but the teachers aren’t paired with another specific teacher. Our biology and American history teachers each see 50 junior students per semester, and then see the other half of the juniors the following semester. Math and English are taught all year long with the same teacher for one hour per day. A similar schedule exists for the 12th grade with their subjects. I teach 11th grade English so I see my students all year for one hour per day.
As such, I have a great deal of flexibility in who I can collaborate with, and to what degree. For example, later this semester I will work with the math teacher on an encryption project, next semester I will work with the art teacher on a protest lit and art project, and during the entire year I will be coordinating my course schedule with the biology and history teachers so that the reading and writing in my class supports and enhances the work being done in those two classes. Additionally, I work to involve my students as often as I can in their own learning, offering choice and creativity as often as possible. For example, we are currently reading The Great Gatsby and one of their final activities for this will involve them dressing in 1920’s garb, eating 1920’s food, listening to 1920’s music and acting out a scene from the book.
In addition to their regular studies, students also have an elective class twice per week where they can pursue areas of interest or use the time for physical activity and advisory meetings. Students in 11th grade also participate in a month-long internship immersion experience, so part of their week involves either preparing for or responding to their internship.
My class: My classroom is located at the back corner of the second story in a comfortably sized, windowed room with white-board cupboards and one wall lined bookcases crammed with books that students are encouraged to browse through and borrow from. I love having student work decorate my walls, so at any given time there will be art, student-created advertisements or newspapers, or graphs adorning the wall space or the windows that look out onto the common space. I vary the seating arrangement according to what’s going on at the time, sometimes students sit in rows and sometimes in groups of four. Because I teach the upper grades and want to encourage good choices, I allow students to decide who they will sit next to (unless it becomes a problem); however, I mix them up during group work enough that eventually they will sit next to or work with everyone in the class. I have a beat-up, red and white checked couch next to my desk that students seem drawn to (I’m sure because of its proximity to me!) and a comfy chair and pillows in the back corner where students congregate as well.