A. Maceo Smith New Tech High School - Uptown Funk Dance

Thanks to Dayna Martin who operates her own blog for sharing.  This awesome, shared dancing experience took place at A. Maceo Smith New Tech High School in Dallas, Texas let by theater teacher Scott Pankey (scroll down to view). I love this teacher's straightforward description of project-based learning (PBL):

 “We are a project-based school — there are only two in the
Metroplex — and that means you give the students a project, put them in
teams, and they have to come up with solutions. They had three weeks to
work on it, then present as a group what they learned.”

 PBL is apparently being practices in two Dallas schools only and in many educators' opinions, needs to go nationwide as an alternative to our current high-stakes testing status quo.  PBL poses a challenging problem or question that enables a capacity for sustained inquiry.  It's an authentic, meaningful kind of question or problem that engages students' voice and agency.  Reflection, critique, revision, mid-course corrections—again, sustained inquiry is key.  

At its best, and as a part of what is meant by authentic learning, it not only engages issues that are personally meaningful to youth, but it also engages a public issue that is further assessed in some form by the public.  This could be a dissertation-like defense of one's "product" that brings in our community as observers/evaluators of this work (now that's authentic accountability!) or it could be one where—as in a project like this—the whole world can literally see what got learned, produced, developed, co-constructed in a school classroom (or classrooms) in a way that marries assessment with creativity, and products (or "deliverables") with community and help make the world a more fair, beautiful, interesting, and better place for all.  

Plus, knowing beforehand that the world is going to gain access to this product is truly as "high stakes" as you can get—but in a meaningful kind of way.  It's being "accountable" in a different kind of way—one that challenges youth and connects to their experiences rather than labeling and demoralizing them as the current high-stakes testing status quo does.

We can actually work to build a policy framework for this.  Several of us are in fact doing so currently in the Texas State Legislature with State Rep. Mary Martinez' House Bill 406 that should see the light of day soon.

I think that most of you will agree that all children and youth under the guidance of prepared, committed teachers like Mr. Scot Pankey can learn at high levels if we will only give our schools, teachers, and students a chance together with the preparation, space, time and resources to do so.

-Angela

#pbl #TxLege #LatinoEdu #EdPolicy

Pop Culture Blog

Bruno Mars on A. Maceo Smith teacher, students’ ‘Uptown Funk’ video: ‘I cried’

Robert Wilonsky

Follow @RobertWilonsky
Email rwilonsky@dallasnews.com

Published: January 26, 2015 2:33 pm

Update at 9 a.m. January 28: It’s been two days since we posted this video, and it has now been watched 3,171,339 times — extraordinary. Count Bruno Mars among those viewers. His reaction, via Facebook: “I cried at the end. Im still a thug though. Thank you to everyone involved in making this video.”

Original post at 2:33 p.m. on January 26: Scot
Pankey is the theater teacher at A. Maceo Smith New Tech High School —
and the co-star and director of the video you’ll find below, in which
Pankey and his students dance ’round the Stag Road school to Mark Ronson
and Bruno Mars’ “Uptown Funk.” If you haven’t seen it yet, you will:
Posted to YouTube Saturday, it’s already hit 23,448 views, and it’s
making the virtual rounds. Pankey says he posted it to Facebook
yesterday, and it’s been seen more than 40,000 times there.

“I heard the song before Christmas and fell in love with it,” he
says. “We are a project-based school — there are only two in the
Metroplex — and that means you give the students a project, put them in
teams, and they have to come up with solutions. They had three weeks to
work on it, then present as a group what they learned.”

He decided to make this their first project of the new year. And he
told his students — from six different theater classes — that he’d do it
with them … if they’d let him.

“I told them, ‘I am not a dancer, but I’d love to do this and go on
this journey with you, and we can all learn from it and have a good
time,’” he says. “And they were all on board.”

The video was shot by Bryan Urraca (student council veep)
and Johan Cruz (senior class president) and was edited by Jonathan
Vega, and done in a single take. Which makes it that much more
impressive. After all, just watching it exhausted at least one newsroom
colleague who’s not even 40.

“We had a great time,” says Pankey. “I am overwhelmed by the response. I am honored. It’s all been very positive.”

Easily better than the last three seasons of Glee. So I’ve been told.