Education has changed, and yet much has stayed the same. When I walk around the high school in my school district, I see traditional classrooms – a teacher’s desk with an arrangement of student desks that have chairs attached to them. There are interactive whiteboards, and innovative lesson planning going on, to be sure. But, it can be restrictive. Desks were once attached right to the floor, and so with the innovation of the Moulthrop Movable school desk, invented by Samuel Moulthrop in 1905 in Rochester, NY. Mr. Moulthrop was considered an innovator in education when he proposed a school desk that could be moved about the classroom, allowing for collaboration and a variety of groupings.
Classrooms that can move about are also innovative. Many schools have built outdoor classrooms, or use their campus as an outdoor laboratory. Field trips are a traditional way to get kids off campus and immerse them in a hands-on or real world experience.
Three years ago the school district in which I have taught for 21 years proposed something new – the beginning of a freshman academy, and a collaboration with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension 4H Learning Center at Bryant Pond, which is just 6 miles from our high school. It sits on a beautiful mountain lake in Maine, and the campus provides us with facilities that range from archery and canoeing, to ropes courses and gardening. Our freshmen come to campus every morning, and a team of 7 educators facilitates a project-based and experiential learning experience for our students. We bring in professionals from the community to work with our students on projects, and our students spend a lot of time off-campus participating in educational experiences that bring the curriculum to life. In March, we spend a week in Washington, DC as part of our Exploration and Discovery unit.
The program has shown much success, but has also been met with challenges. Change is not always easy, and for those with a traditional view of education, it can be a stretch for them to see the value in what we are doing. But, by taking a leap, we can learn that change is not only inevitable in life, but necessary for growth.
Taking a Leap 