Most Likely to Succeed

If you have not yet had a chance to view the Most Likely to Succeed movie, you may now stream it in your home.  Kaneland has purchased a year-long subscription to share with staff, community and parents of the full version film.  Staff, please feel free to copy this post onto your parent portal pages and other community outlets.  Please take time to view and reflect on the film with the following link and reflection questions:
1. Visit kaneland.tugg.com
2. Click "Register" in the top right hand corner
3. Create a login name - any e-mail address with the domain name provided will be able to register

Reflection Questions:
1. Variety in School Environments: High Tech High is one example of many different kinds of schools. As the film’s narrator notes, every school visited in the making of the film was different, and maybe “that’s the point.”
-What are some important differences between the school experience you see in the film and the school experience your students have?
-What kinds of learning happen in this movie that you might explore in your schools?
-What kinds of learning are you already doing that you’d like to preserve or strengthen?

2. Teaching and Learning: John Dewey writes: “If we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow.”
-What does this statement mean to you? What relevance does it have to how we educate our students today?
-When you think back on your school experiences, what had the biggest impact on you? What stands out for you as an outstanding learning experience?
-What are characteristics or elements of teaching and learning you’d like to see in “tomorrow’s” education?
If you could change one major aspect of students’ educational experience today, what would it be? Why?

3. Grit and Perseverance: In the opening scene when the student believes her homework isn’t relevant, the teacher encourages her to work hard on it to “build character.” In the closing scene, a student keeps working to complete his project long after his due date or grades have been given, because he believes the project is important.
-Are both of these experiences equally effective in building grit/perseverance?
-How do we best encourage students in our schools to develop grit/perseverance?

4. Projects and Process: Larry Rosenstock reflects “If you build a house, it’s a project. If you make a school, it’s a project. If you make a documentary film, it’s a project. If you write a book, it’s a project. Most of what people do in life involves observation, reflection, documentation, exhibition and going through these different phases of being able to create
Something.”
-What do you think of this statement in relationship to learning?
-How important is the process of observation, reflection, documentation and exhibition? How does this process happen in your school?
-What is one thing your school can do to encourage more of this kind of learning?

5. Innovation and Change in Schools: High Tech High is a “build from scratch school” but the film refers to many other schools where innovation is happening inside the existing model. In some cases, change is small and incremental but has high impact: consider a pilot of a new interdisciplinary course, a project based learning week, or a new after school club.
-What are some success stories of innovative initiatives at your school?