Deep Learning at Westland
When I was studying to be a teacher, Theodore Sizer was an essential scholar and thinker I was exposed to during my undergraduate study in the late 90’s. On top of reading his books, I had the opportunity to hear him speak several times, and even had the chance to sit down with him in a small, personalized Q+A session. I experienced Sizer as this magical mix of powerful and humble. He was soft-spoken and yet his voice was strong. His thinking was agile. I remember when he introduced the term “grappling,” putting a word to something I was constantly doing but didn’t yet have a word for.
Sizer regularly modeled grappling by always remaining fresh with his thinking. He shared ideas in progress. I never heard him repeat a plug-in speech, which so often speakers on a circuit understandably do. Sizer did have common threads throughout his speeches, though he would weave new patterns with these go-to threads. One such thread was Sizer’s emphasis on the importance of depth over breadth. Through his writing and speaking, Sizer espoused depth over breadth by regularly stating that “less is more.” He invited – calmly urged – educators to think of curriculum more along the lines of “a mile deep and an inch wide,” instead of the more common approach of curriculum of “a mile wide and inch-deep” with the intent of covering content, instead of digging into it.
I recently read an article on the “Hallmarks of Deep Learning.” (Exact excerpts are below in bold.) The researchers describe learning as “a process that mediates meaning, motivation, and context through thinking and practice.” I thought of Ted Sizer first, then I thought of our work at Westland.
The first marker of deep learning is that it builds on prior knowledge. Before asking children what they want to know, Westland teachers start off every Study by asking children: What do you know about this topic? By tapping into children’s existing knowledge base, a number of important things happen: children who share remind other children about what they know. When observing this process, I see the inspiration of ideas and the domino effect of “Light bulbs going off” in a glorious, contagious process. Asking children what they already know is one way we honor children as capable and essential to the learning cycle. Asking children what they know is dignified and respectful. It places children at the center, developing in them the habit to approach problems and new discoveries by first asking themselves, “What do I know about this?” – teaching them not to freeze when they encounter the unknown or the ambiguous. They know first to go within.
Building on prior knowledge doesn’t just happen at the beginning of each Study. When children are struggling even in a social interaction, one way we invite them out of their struggle is by tapping into just how capable they are. Oftentimes I’ll hear my colleagues ask children, “How might you approach this problem?” or “What can we do to make this situation better?” At Westland, we strive to not *fix* problems for children or dysfunctionally rescue them. We endeavor to functionally help them by giving them the opportunity to live out their own agency. Recently I was supporting a child and I asked them, “What do you need right now?” They answered, “I need help having a repair conversation.” We know that children are not empty vessels to be filled up. They are whole people who come to us with ideas, information, self-knowledge, and inspiration for growth and for good. By asking them what they know and how they understand something, they are more able to share what they need.
Another hallmark of deep learning is that it requires that students look for patterns and underlying conceptual themes. Approaching learning through a social studies-integrated curriculum invites children to seek connections across disciplines, with the goal of this interdisciplinary approach becoming a habit in their lives. Learning at Westland is connected and cohesive, not broken up and disparate. Going back to the “depth over breadth” thread, something dawned on me. Children are presented patterns and conceptual themes, but then something happens, they become seekers of patterns and conceptual themes. This is a small moment, but when studying democracy in ancient Greece recently, children were learning about the Socratic method. One of them joyfully proclaimed: “You guys. The ancient Greeks were progressive educators!”
Founding parents and educators some 75 years ago wrote in an original philosophy statement document that the learning at Westland “will be vital.” I believe a key component of this vitality comes through the social studies integration. Vitality: the state of being strong, active, and having energy – is encompassed when I see children using their voice in writing to understand a social studies-themed concept, children taking a field trip downtown to town hall to talk to government employees about how they serve our city in order to reflect upon how they themselves can contribute to Los Angeles, children welcoming their own family members to share family and cultural traditions that build connection and proudly show uniqueness too. Learning is enhanced when students use concrete examples to grasp abstract concepts. Through hands-on learning, specialist classes, block building, and field trips, the children shift from the concrete to abstract. This is the stuff of critical and creative thinking espoused in our mission statement. In Group One, children wondered “How do babies learn how to walk?” What happened next? They invited a Westland sibling to their classroom who happens to be learning how to walk. Yes, the learning is vital.
Deep learning is enhanced when students talk about ideas with others. At Westland children talk to experts on field trips, share their learning process weekly at Sings, and present their learning through culminations to parents, guardians, and fellow classmates. Walk into any Westland classroom and very often you will see children in dialogue, be it in small group committee work or processing as a class. Recently Group Two children recreated a field trip to a Tortilla Factory using the outdoor blocks as their main material. As they gave a factory tour to the Group Four children and teachers, the Group Two children shared what they had learned at the factory, and they described their structures and the process of how they built. The Group Two-ers then opened it up to questions and feedback. The children were asked to talk about their building process, the materials they chose for their accessory process, and answered questions about the elements of how factories function. The children – let’s not forget 6 to 8 year olds! – were able to think on the spot with poise and confidence. They shared their reflections and ideas with others in such a small, safe, kind, caring, cooperative context. For just a moment I saw these children as adults and envisioned panels, interviews, dissertation defenses, and public debates. I believe the real-world skills they are learning are invaluable.
Learning is deepened by ongoing reflection and metacognition. Children think about thinking! Westland children know how to learn. Through morning meetings, through teacher-student check-ins, through journal writing, Westland children develop a habit of reflection – internalizing their strengths and power, striving to understand how to improve, breaking down any mistakes and shortcomings without harmful shame, and considering how to pursue their curiosity in the future. While every Study begins with children’s questions and children sharing, “This is what we want to find out,” every Study closes with reflection. In this way, a Study is never over. So perhaps, suggesting a Study “closes” isn’t quite right. Evaluating ideas and reflecting on any learnings or relearnings is ongoing. Perhaps nonstop.
When I was attending the Group Six Inventors Culmination, the children were invited to reflect upon what went well with their first “tour” and what could have gone better. The children were motivated to improve the culmination experience for the next class who were coming into visit. The children reflected upon what comes with the responsibility of teaching others. (I was reminded that teaching is the highest form of learning and retaining information.) Children use their experiences to inform their planning for their future, inviting critical and creative thinking. Children talked about how they might change what they share based on the age of the child. They reflected on how it was important to share about what they learned and how they learned it. The Group Sixers reflected upon what you do if the person you’re talking to looks bored! When children are engaged, connection-making and attunement to process and the Group is ever present. In this way, deep learning demands that students evaluate new ideas and make connective conclusions. Our children synthesize their learning, which in turn enriches the next Study.
Another thread Ted Sizer wove with was that of forming habits. I come back to this quote periodically, I admit: “To be useful, learning must have a worthy purpose and become a habit. A trip down this road starts with the questions: ‘Why?’ ‘How?’ and ‘What?’—the major interrogatives in the English language. A wise person asks these questions virtually without thinking; a wise teacher guides his students to acquire the habit of asking them.” I want our children out in the world asking these questions, forming connective conclusions, and evaluating sources.
Our future, in all its short- and long-term complications and problems – demands that we have citizens who are asking these questions and forming connections in order to solve complex problems, to seek beauty, and to build systems rooted in cooperation. Each Friday, the line from the Westland Song that sticks to my heart is: “We can share this world together and look towards a better day.” I experience this line as neither vapid nor trite, because we know that a Westland child wrote those lyrics back in the 50’s. She knew then, like we know now, that our world needs Westland children who become adults who know how to be in community, reflect, ask questions, solve problems, be hopeful, collaborate, and learn. Deeply.