On the Road

What would happen if a school was premised on the simple fact that teachers and students would come together to passionately study/explore topics 'on the road' in unapologetic depth each year?

• What would they choose to study/explore?
• Where would they 'go'?
• What questions would they ask?
• What would they find along the way?
• How would they be changed as learners/educators/human beings?
• And what would we mean by 'school' when all was said and done?

Photo: "Destination : America" group, somewhere on the roadside in west Texas near a randomly found TV set that deserved contemplation and laughter.  MVS "Immersion" trip, 1998.

As much as school design and emerging (2.0) technologies and the 'future of learning' all drive my thinking these days, along with the pleasure of unpacking the subtle metaphors in a great literary text, much of my first 10 years of teaching was based on my over-the-top passion for "experiential education".

When I set off to become a 'school designer' a few years ago, it was less about architecture and technology and more about starting programs that put kids in 'real' situations where their academic lives were interwoven into the world around them.

Photo: "Destination : America" group, enjoying the irony of a thoughtful group of kids/learners needing to be "controlled" in the Utah desert.  MVS "Immersion" trip, 1998. 

At the Miami Valley School (Dayton, OH), one school I was fortunate enough to teach at for 4 years as a young guy, the high school 'shut down' for 4 weeks every mid-Feb (right after the 2nd academic trimester) for an amazing program called "Immersion" (which I was also allowed to coordinate before heading to grad school).  Yup, 4 weeks. Make it 6 if you added the next 2 weeks of Spring Break that came right afterwards.

The point of this month-long program was to allow people to fall in love with learning in ways rarely invested in within traditional 'school' structures/schedules. 

The program was also set up to allow teachers to step away from their core teaching load so that they could offer a single block course based on something that they were truly curious/passionate about (although not necessarily an expert in or trained in).  Likewise, it was set up for the kids to pick an experience/topic that they wanted to fully immerse themselves in.  A win/win.  Options ranged from studying robotics and acting, to learning to fly a plane or studying ninjitsu (with the Dali Lama's personal body guard when traveling in the US), to building an orphanage in Honduras to traveling by RV across the US for 8,000 miles as a creative writing exercise (a la Jack Kerouac, the rated PG version).

Photo: "Destination : America" group, an hour before arriving at the Grand Canyon, not too far from Flagstaff, AZ.  My favorite photo from the month-long trip with these kids.  MVS "Immersion" trip, 1998.

"Destination:America" was a program that a colleague of mine named Mary (far right of last photo, who coincidently worked with Chris Lehmann at the same school in NYC before he started SLA -- small, small world).  Our offer to the 8 kids who joined us (2 10th, 4 11th, and 2 12th grade students, equal in gender, 3 that were born outside the US) was that they had to "discover" America through an artistic or literary lens. 

The rules?

• Read Walt Whitman's Song of the Open Road in its entirety as a group every day no matter where we were (watching porpoises off the coast of Florida, a washateria/laundromat in rural Mississippi, or in the Mojave Desert waiting to fix the RV with the flat tire)
• No maps (unless we got lost and our safety depended on the teachers pulling one out of our luggage)
• No fast food ('cept for once in Utah when we rewarded the kids for some scavenger hunt challenge)
• No major highways (in an effort to follow the "Blue Highways" made recently famous by William Least Heat-Moon. 
• The 2 adults would carry the money, drive the RV, and be 100% responsible for ALL issues of safety/legality.
• Oh, and we had 28 days to make it 'back home' safely. 
• Turn the RV into a 'living museum' as we traveled.
• Meet amazing people. Record their stories.  Write our own.
• Do not demand that we see anything in particular, but remain open to what is discovered (tough with 10 people all wanting to see something unique on the trip, I'll let you know -- adults included!)

Beyond that, we just drove out of the school campus after 5 months of prep, reading, and daydreaming as a 'team' of students and teachers...and went in search of America. And ourselves, too.

There is no doubt in my mind that everything I take for granted and question -- regardless of topic -- in the real of education is biased because of being blessed by educational leadership positions in programs that supported true experiential education for both students and teachers...all while within the confines of a rigorous college-prep school that dealt with varsity sports, grades, parent expectations, and normal kids.

Maybe that's why I continue to see the act of school as "Destination : Learning" regardless of one's love affair with traditional standards or emerging technologies.  And the 'road' is anywhere you are passionate enough to look for it with your kids and colleagues along for the journey.

Photo: "Destination : America" group, resting at Arches National Monument, Utah.  The group's smiles were well earned all the way around.  MVS "Immersion" trip, 1998.

 

Comments

[Janine]

I love the idea of taking time during the school year to explore. Working, travelling, and being in close proximaty with others is a learning process that can not be gained by any traditional school.

[John Powers]

Mickey Hart http://www.mickeyhart.net/ was on the old Tonight Show with some orange-robed throat singers. Johnny Carson asked what they had in common--or something like that. Hart replied that they're both in the transportation business. This and your post about your Japan adventure remind why travel is essential in education.

[Christian Long]

Janine, I was very blessed as a young teacher to work at 2 consecutive schools that had fundamentally re-wired the entire schedule to allow for 'journey' to be a very real learning element, not just a metaphor or iconic reference. It has, as you said, reminded me that most schools do not and cannot go this direction at this level...but I always hold out hope that something will happen that changes that for the positive.

John -- Man, do I love the "transportation business" comment. Not every day that I received a Grateful Dead reference here, but the drumming great Mickey Hart is welcomed any time!

Cheers to you both. Christian

[Diana]

Christian-

First off, the picture outside of Flagstaff is very close to my house... I am trying to figure out exactly where you guys were by looking at the angle of the peaks!!! Haven't been home in 7 weeks and it makes me a little homesick...

I try to create in a very small way the type of learning experience that you describe. It is difficult, but so worth the effort to see kids out in the world, applying, struggling, growing and transforming. I hope that you will be able to orchestrate something similar in your new teaching endeavor!