New Tech at J.L. Mann--an Innovative Instruction Model

I recently had the privilege of visiting another school implementing PBL in the classrooms; however, this visit provided a different look at PBL as the school has implemented the New Tech Innovative School Model, ultimately creating a school-within-a-school at J.L. Mann in Greenville, South Carolina. I am impressed at the level of agency, student voice, participation, and productivity at the school. I witnessed students (freshman, even!!!) creating group contracts using respectful discussion and collaboration. I saw evidence of other amazing projects previously completed, such as a renaissance fair put on by the students for the students. I learned about and observed co-teaching with other subject areas to bring more cohesiveness to the subject areas, primarily English in conjunction with history (blurbs from other subject areas later). I sat amazed at the self-awareness of freshmen students delivering their advisory presentations to Dr. Cindy Alsip, the director of New Tech Mann. And I remain amazed and encouraged by the passion these teachers have for PBL and the success of their students.

New Tech at Mann began in 2014 in an effort to provide students with “project-based learning, student-led culture, and one-on-one technology.” Students earn core credit classes, often in cross-disciplinary courses, which means science and math courses and history and English classes are paired. In order to take the courses, students must apply to the program, but according to Dr. Alsip, students have not been turned away yet. Students are assessed on their progress in five areas--knowledge and thinking, written communication/presentation, oral communication/presentation, collaboration, and agency. At some point in the second semester, students present their progress in those five areas to Dr. Alsip in an advisory presentation, preparing them to advocate for themselves as they apply to college and for jobs. The focus of this program is to reach those middle-of-the-road students who often fall through the cracks because they aren’t high fliers or struggling. Students access daily agendas via ECHO, which appears to be a New Tech learning management system, and now benefit from a facility built with PBL in mind--classrooms with numerous dry-erase surfaces, including windows, walls, and boards attached to desks; extra-large rooms for the cross-disciplinary courses; and common areas to encourage brainstorming and workshopping.

The most impressive aspect of today’s visit were the advisory presentations given by three freshmen students. Each student had prepared a PowerPoint exploring their journey this year, explaining where they had started and how far they had grown during their experiences with New Tech. My students rarely articulate to me what they have learned from week to week, but these students have been given instructions on how to and encouraged to reflect on their own learning in a way that they see that growth and their individual needs when it comes to continuing that growth. One freshman continually emphasized his ease of communication because of his extrovertedness has sometimes limited his success in group settings because he monopolizes the conversation, but he is working toward listening more than communicating. Another freshman demonstrated agency by exploring other means to learn what she needed (through a club called Toastmasters) to become a better speaker, and has transferred that knowledge to her classroom learning. A third freshman showed increasing confidence in public speaking, evident by Dr. Alsip’s response to his presentation to her. New Tech and PBL are working for these students, preparing them to be self-advocates for college and career.

A couple of the classrooms I visited today were engaged in some form of group contract dialogue--establishing group norms in the English II class and writing the full contract in the English III class. The English II class was more vocal in the process, and I was amazed at the mature dialogue I overheard as I walked around the classroom, including one young man who noted a norm should read “‘listen’ to all ideas” instead of “‘accept’ all ideas” and students recognizing the important of group selection (one student commented he would have been the only student in a group had he been with his friends who were going on a JROTC field trip the next day). After discussing the norms and recording them on their contracts, the teacher led them to share their best norms with the class, and others needed to add what they liked. The very last group had an important norm all groups needed to add: when finished, students should check with the other group members to determine what else needed to be completed. I loved that the students were able to share out their great ideas and the teacher emphasized an extremely important responsibility of students during group work. He wrapped up the sharing with a statement I’m sure he’s reiterated constantly--Row the boat (#RtB)...if the student isn’t rowing, throw them overboard. Group contracts also include warnings and punishments; when students don’t behave according to the group’s established norms, students can receive two warnings before being kicked out of the group, which requires them to start the project over and complete the grade entirely on their own. I am very impressed with the New Tech model for group contracts as it encourages the students to become explicitly aware of their roles and responsibilities in the group and have a portion of control of the outcome when someone isn’t performing as expected.

I could easily go on and on about some of the exciting projects the students are completing and the amazing facilities of J.L. Mann, but I don’t want to detract from the excitement of the process and outcomes of the PBL innovative school model. These students are demonstrating growth in both maturity and knowledge as they complete the projects at J.L. Mann. One thing is clear, though, the abundant success of these students and projects comes from the consistency they experience by participating in New Tech at Mann.