This event is distinct from other Startup Weekend events in that the goal is not to launch an innovative product but design an innovative school model.
Educators, generalists, education generalists, entrepreneurs, and business leaders come together to pitch innovative school model design ideas, form teams, and build a model that will compete in the competition at the end of the event.
Winning Guidelines for Teams
1) State the problem the innovation is solving
2) Describe the innovation creatively
3) Have a plan to test and validate the innovation
4) State schools mission
5) Describe student and teacher experience
6) Include budget and staffing plan
Mentors
“blended learning” Meg Evans- tech integration for personalized learning
Russ- funds in this space tracks everything going on
Charter vs district
#SFNextGen
Katrina Stevens- blogger
Group– learning pods interconnect with location and different types of schools, public, private, charter, homeschools– developing – student driven curriculum- projects developed organically– open distributed network that enables self learning- experiential —
You are student you have an idea of something you want to explore- how do you connect and learn with like-minded students–community /pod aspect
Teach learn how to learn instead of memorize
learning as a school activity instead of anywhere anytime
born to do natural talents
what do you love to do
what is the real world problem you can solve
subject programs are siloed(math, history, etc)- real-world problems are not
math teach don’t want to teach anything else- just something with one direct answer
real-worold problems have many solutions/answers teachers dont like this students dont like
Social- finding students who are like-minded
‘authentic education’ pedagogy
self-initiative learning- ability to reinvent yourself- be passionate about learning
let schools form organically based on student interest– had learning pods of similar interest– connect the network
Group–
Infusing foster entrepreneurship into the school process and learning—- changing purpose of education from acquiring knowledge to acquiring ownership over their work
problem: how can entrepreneurship solve lack of student ownership in their education process– lack of ownership less likely to get through college, less likely going to be successful in work if they are not driving that process– students driving curriculum–driving projects— entrepeneurial ‘mindset’– take ownership, self-agency– is entrepenuership the best vehicale to develop those skills
–how do we identify strengths, interests in kids– how do we develop it? teaching or telling/presenting info that we know they need to know to be successful or design a learning model where the answers are come upon through exploration
KEY QUESTION: how do you teach kids to learn how to learn what they don’t know– guided exploration– teaching them how to ask the right questions, providing platform to help define those questions and then find the answers— learning on the job
how we divvy up the school year? how use the summer? how use trimester or quarter?
Yearly capstone or project? Semester long?
demonstrate certain core competencies in pitching special plan for the next year. If you’ve hit all your core competencies you can move into the next phase regardless of others in the class, class year, etc. Move when you are ready- because you start your own project.
Minimum amount of projects you must complete before graduation. Learning how to build your personal portfolio- dissertation at the end of high school.
Add value to school, community, national, global– demonstrate how you’ve done that.
Maslow's Project 