{"data":{"ID":526,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1444683666,"CreatorID":4735,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Can students find their passions through independent study?","Handle":"can_students_find_their_passions_through_independent_study","ShortDescription":"We know that students learn best when they seek answers to their own questions, but what happens when they aren\u2019t sure what those questions are? How might we empower students not only to follow their passions but to discover them as well? Let's discuss.","Description":"What if you told a group of high school students, \u201cYou can study anything you want this semester. What\u2019s it gonna be?\u201d Would you get excited smiles? Blank stares? A little of both? How would you guide that group of folks to explore their passions in an academic setting, focusing on the growth and discovery instead of on acquiring someone else\u2019s content?\r\n\r\nBy their freshman year, the majority of students in the US have been trained to define academic success as being sufficiently engaged in what others have told them to do. While most of this has been identified as developmentally appropriate education (though the jury\u2019s still out on that, depending on whom you ask), schools like SLA have proven that high school is a powerful time to begin empowering students to explore their own interests. \r\n\r\nRather than asking young people what they want to be when they grow up, The Miami Valley School in Dayton, OH is asking high school students what they want to be NOW. We are currently in the third year of an experimental course we\u2019re calling \u201cThe Learning Project\u201d that has aspects of traditional group-taught courses and independent study. Come hear what we\u2019ve learned so far about the differences between engagement and empowerment, what our students have had the most difficulty with, and what processes we\u2019ve built to support this work.","Link":["http:\/\/www.bryanlakatos.com","http:\/\/www.newteachingnewlearning.com","http:\/\/www.mvschool.com"],"Audience":["High School"],"Practice":"We\u2019ll include time throughout for us all to discuss ideas of academic ownership, engagement, and empowerment. At the end, after we get a definition of student \u201cempowerment,\u201d we\u2019ll share stories of successes and not-yet-successes when empowering students. Also, if at all possible given bandwidth and time, we\u2019ll set up a live vidchat with Learning Project students so that participants can find out what it\u2019s like to be a student in such an environment directly from the source.","Presenter":["Bryan Lakatos"],"PresenterAffiliation":["www.mvschool.com","www.dtk12chat.com"],"PresenterEmail":["bryan.lakatos@gmail.com"],"ScheduleSlotID":61,"ScheduleLocationID":5,"SubmitterID":4735,"AdditionalComments":"Thanks for continuing to make space in this world for the important conversations!","LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":5}}