Learning How To Learn

Like other teachers and learners all over the country, we are adjusting to the rhythms of a new school year at Long-View and finding our way in new iterations of our learning community. As discussed in many of our posts, including this one from last spring, the idea of “learning community” is integral to the way we do school at Long-View.

These ideas may feel a bit foreign to many learners and even parents or teachers, since many of us (likely) were educated in classrooms that engaged in very traditional, behavioristic pedagogy. As adults who want to help children further contemplate these ideas, we might ask questions such as:

What are you realizing you might do differently to increase your own learning? What is different about a class that functions as a “learning community”? Learning is messy and hard work…what are you realizing is important to do in order to increase learning for yourself and others?

It is quite a journey for most kids to fully understand the ideas behind these questions. At Long-View, new learners get a lot of support from their peers who have been at our school for multiple years....

generalLisa ZapalacAugust 29, 2024Long-View Micro Schoolnew year, learning, community, drive your learning

Building Culture for a New Year

After a summer of exciting work with colleagues from Long-View and other educators from beyond, some invigorating sessions of Open Math, and some down time too, we’re now fully immersed in our new year at the micro school.

We kicked things off with Launch Camp, when our newest learners spent two days diving right in to the Long-View way of life – building pendulums from scratch to learn about momentum (and collaboration), choosing the first just-right books for their personal book bins (and understanding that THEY are taking charge of their reading lives), and even figuring out how much is too much in one’s backpack on the walk to the park at lunch time (while realizing that the adults at Long-View trust them to manage all of these details)….

generalLisa ZapalacAugust 30, 2022Long-View Micro Schoolculture, new year, launch camp

Back to School, Back to (Almost) Normal

Today marked the beginning of the 2021-22 school year, and we are all excited to be back together! Typically the summer gives us all a chance to rest and ready ourselves for the year ahead, but this wasn’t exactly the case this summer. After all the changes that encompassed the 2020-21 school year due to the pandemic, we weren’t quite ready to go our separate ways at the end of May. Things were finally running more smoothly, and we were enjoying all being back in person together after many days of a mix of virtual and in-person learning. Still, summer came and we welcomed the warm weather, but when the calendar turned to August, we were thrilled to be back at school.

It’s Long-View’s 7th year, and we plan to make it the best ever….

generalLisa ZapalacAugust 30, 2021Long-View Micro Schoolback to school, 7th year, new year

Summer Remodel and Expansion Brings Opportunity

It’s the start of a new school year at Long-View and things feel familiar, but at the same time, everything looks a bit different. Summertime was busy with a remodel of new space we recently acquired. We pulled out walls, re-thought the flow between rooms, and added our signature décor that looks more akin to a creative work space than an elementary and middle school, all in preparation for a larger student community and faculty team.

Getting new spaces ready for our expanded community meant another opportunity to continue to deepen our thinking about how space affects learning and how design of space can positively influence our community….

GeneralLisa ZapalacAugust 29, 2018Long-View Micro Schoolremodel, culture, work spaces, collaboration, new year

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