Construction on the new C3 space officially began on December 17, 2012. We're so excited to watch the process! White board from old Learning Lab.
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Thumbs UP! It's a GO! by Laura Montgomery Tonight at the Board of Education meeting, the members of our School Board voted UNANIMOUSLY to support the C3 "CUBE" project! As one of the members spoke, he mentioned that this project was one of the most creative school improvement projects the district has undergone in a long time. It is the kind of project that a school board is happy to support because it has the backing of administration, teachers, parents and especially the students. He spoke of how businesses, higher education and corporations alike are rebuilding spaces to incorporate collaboration and innovation and how exciting it is for us to support this use of space. (Maybe soon we can post the recording of these comments...stay tuned!) HOORAY for us! HOORAY for our school! HOORAY for our community! The project that has been in the "IDEA stage" for almost an entire year is about to become a reality. Let's GO!!! By: Amy Lamberti and students As the Cube team received notice of a meeting to evaluate furniture choices, there was a special note to this meeting....kids were invited. We were listening to student's voices for choice on the final furniture design. My words can't do it justice. I decided to let the students share their feelings about this meeting. "I thought that it is fun to see what possibilities will be in our new tech center. I am happy that the school had kids pick out the furniture for this area because it is usually teachers who pick kids furniture. Now we can't be disappointed with their choices because it is our choice." Patrick C. "I thought it was so fun to see the plans for the new Cube and that we get to decorate it with very modern furniture. The rest of the school has very old furniture." Alex O. "How neat to see thing that WE will be using soon! It is modern and futuristic. I think that our school has very somber and bland furniture that isn't very comfortable. I also like that we had the choice and were asked to decorate the new Cube." Chris W. "I liked that we could collaborate together and have a voice in the making of this new location. The furniture seemed fun and partical for teachers and students." "I thought the furniture presented was very modern. The pieces were more inviting with an array of colors and materials. It will make for a perfect environment for learning." Alex M. "We can a good experience to write down pros/cons about the furniture. This was interesting and the companies gave out a lot of brochures which helped. I hope a lot of affordable options are chosen." Connor C. "It was a good experience to witness how people try and sell items. Many of the items we currently use are old school, uncomfortable, dull but some of them are perfect for people to lounge around in. It's fun to learn about the updated furniture. I can't wait to see the new designs in the Cube." Sarah B.
"I really liked to see the people present what they thought was new furniture for our school. Some of the things were really cool!" I liked the examples of other schools who had their libraries redone. I am looking forward to seeing the final product." Kelsey M. attribution: http://innovationseminar.weebly.com/index.html by Laura Montgomery Innovation may begin as a singular idea, but it takes a whole team to make it come alive. This is so true of our 21st Century Learning Lab. Last Wednesday, members of our team met with the architects to see their "final" renditions of our new space. As they presented their 3D drawings (see photos), it was clear that our ideas were really taking shape. To know that the vision, input, wishes and needs (as articulated by students, staff, teachers, librarians and administrators alike) were taken into consideration and built into the final plans. WOW! I thought. How amazing that this planning and building process epitomizes the 4Cs that our space is built upon...
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." ~Margaret Meade By Jennifer Kolar Schools are in the business of education. Any successful business needs change in order to meet the needs and demands of its employees and customers. Educators need change to meet higher education standards. Students demand change, because they know that they learn best as 21st Century Learners. District 67 along with the Spirit of 67 Foundation has already taken a giant step forward toward the 21st Century Learning Model by instituting the 1:1 Netbook Program. Now that partnership is providing a space that will support this learning. The Cube will support group collaboration. foster creativity and enable communication. We in the business of education want to keep our customers happy after all. By: Will Zordani I am Will Z. and I am a fifth grader. I was invited on an awesome field trip with some teachers, principals, and administrators to Chicago. We went to the Merchandise Mart to see furniture and get ideas for The Cube. It was really fun looking at all the furniture. It was really cool stuff. We got to try out and look at all different furniture to see if it would work well in the cube. We met with the architects and the sales people from the different companies. My favorite company was KI and Steel Case because it had tech stuff that would be what we need. The cube needs a lot of cool furniture that is comfortable and you can still get work for class done. There needs to be neat resources for us, especially for recording and editing videos and to make sound recordings. This space is also going to be our new library. Seeing Merchandise Mart helped me to get ideas of what the furniture would be. It also helped the staff to see what students want and need for our new learning environment. Another experience I had was going to the architects firm of Perkins + Will. This was my favorite part of the trip. I got to see the architects office and view of the city. I’d love to work in a place like that some day. By: Emily Steffen Before Winter Break this year, I had no clue that The Cube was even a possibility. When we returned to school after the holidays, Laura Montgomery approached me about what equipment and programs I would like to see in a new high end media area and the whole thing has kind of snowballed from there! We've gone from making wish lists, plans, and grants to seriously planning time zone re-purposing with school administration. And now we're working with an architect, looking over plans, and going to view new leaps in media center industrial design and furniture. Wow. It felt like we were taking baby-steps before, and now we're sliding down a water-slide full speed and can't stop! From the beginning of my involvement, I have been impressed by the amount of collaboration and teamwork that has gone into making The Cube a reality. So many different individuals have added to the collective idea and design! Students have been brought in to give their own opinions on what they want. The Media Center Staff like myself, our IT Integration Team, Tech Specialists and Tech Teachers have met numerous times over the past few months to talk over space use, tech needs and how to keep our student ideas within our Cube's 3 C's vision. Then our administration began to get involved with Vice Principals, our Interim Principal, and even our Superintendent coming to our meetings. Isn't it incredible that a space is being created with the combined ideas of such diverse individuals? From 5th graders to Superintendents, everyone's ideas are being represented in our final product! Floor-plans for our new space are finally beginning to take shape! In February our architect showed us some preliminary floor-plans. At this point in our process, the Cube concept has come to encompass a high end media center The Satellite Center, Vers 2.0! This excited all involved, the merging of the Satellite Center with The Cube really shows off our bold 2020 plan of merging a traditional information center with 21st century concepts, becoming an all access stop for CREATIVITY, COLLABORATION, AND COMMUNICATION! There's nothing like a creative brainstorming session with people hunched over floor-plans excitedly drawing alterations, that's what our last few meetings have been like! Floor-plans have evolved from having very separate areas to a large, flowing space with multi-use areas, performance space, and the integration of media and literary areas into one seamless center. Things are being agreed upon, a bookshelf here, a standing computer area there... we'll have a final floor-plan soon! This all reminds me of the Digital Natives vs. Digital Immigrants analogy Steve Dembo made in his keynote to us. We've had digital natives and digital immigrants working together on this project, finding common ground, and using their unique perspectives to put together a space we can really say was "MADE BY DPM." When it comes down to it, I think it summarizes 21st century in education at the moment. Digital Immigrants and Digital Natives working together to create a brighter future! I can't wait to see what's next!
by Patti Fleser
It all started with a simple question: What do you need to move the library to the Cube? And it was a simple answer: book shelves. It has been a dream of mine since I came to DPM 5 years ago to have one complete, cohesive media/technology area. The Cube has given us just that. As a librarian teacher, I help students locate, evaluate and use information. The Cube is offering students a place to create products by putting to use the information and skills they've learned. It only makes sense for us to all be located in the same flexible space. As they're creating a video, students may find they need a few more facts to support their project. By being in the same area, I can help students use print or online sources to find what they need. I'm available to help them create their "credits page" (bibliography) for their video. I'm one more resource to help and support students and teachers to integrate technology into the lessons and projects, and by being a part of The Cube, I am right there as that immediate support. I'm so excited that the library/media center will be fully incorporated into The Cube. Let's go forth and create, collaborate and communicate! by Amy Lamberti
Meaning student space for recording/creating that is. Today wrapped up a 21st century experience I coached a fifth grade math teacher through. The curriculum concept was PEMDAS. Long story short, the kids created videos about the order of operations. They were finalized by sharing them globally through Edmodo. One of the struggles we encountered was SPACE! We had kids all over the hallway, staircase, and classroom trying to record songs,skits, poems, and lessons. There was plenty of undesired background noise and interruptions in the recordings. After reflecting back on this lesson, it confirmed (once again) the need for The Cube's recording studios and SPACE. Another insight I had was on the outcome of our videos. So often teachers want to see a perfect lesson delivered in a step by step format. In this engaging lesson, students were self-directed. There was no step by step lesson. Students worked collaboratively in their groups. Observers would have witnessed strong communication occurring about their math concept. Then there was the final product.....creative movies THEY put together, not the teacher. Were all the movies that the fifth grade students uploaded to Edmodo perfect? NO! We had soft voices, background light drowning out faces, kids acting out their skits behind others taping, a guitar too loud so the lesson was hard to hear. But in the eyes of the students, they were FANTASTIC movies. The students were passionate about their outcomes. They were fully engaged through the entire process. Would a step by step lesson been more beneficial? I don't think so. I am eager to see The Cube be a place where teachers can release control and allow students the opportunity to be engaged and demonstrate that self directed learning. by Laura Montgomery Although I'm blogging after the fact, this helps to document our first steps. When we were given the "go ahead" to dream of recreating this 21st Century Learning Lab, I knew who to go to...the local experts! I have seen presentations by David Jakes and Ryan Bretag about creating authentic learning spaces. They're right in our backyard, we thought. I reached out to Ryan Bretag, who I met in the fall of 2008 at the Google Teachers Academy (btw, the most awesome professional development day EVER!). Back then, the Google offices provided much discussion amongst the educators present about the needed redesign of learning spaces for the 21st Century. Back to my story. So we set out to visit Glenbrook North's IDEA space. Amy Lamberti, my 21st Century Facilitator partner, also connected with her PLN. Knowing that she heard that Daniel Rezac had "flipped" his learning space in his Northbrook school, we figured we could see both an elementary and a high school space in one trip! The takeways we had from our visit can be shown by the pictures we took (and the editing I did with Picasa's photo editor). Take a look at what we wanted to incorporate into our space! (notice that some of the pictures were from our school)! |
95 W. Deerpath Road
Lake Forest, IL 60045 About This Project
"It takes a village"... to recreate a space for the 21st Century Learner. This blog is documentation of our journey of building a new, vibrant middle school learning center filled with media, print, books, technology, and mentors. Based on three of the 4C's of 21st Century Skills of Creativity, Collaboration and Communication, this center is meant to instill a love of curiosity, innovation, critical thinking and interaction with others. We have lots of people involved in our team: 21st Century Learning/Technology Specialists, Library-Media Specialists, Classroom Teachers, Fine Arts Teachers, Digital Natives--and Immigrants, Administrators AND students! Categories
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