The Inquiry-Driven Revolution: Chris Lehmann's Vision for Modernizing Learning at Science Leadership Academy Schools
In this episode, Chris Lehmann, founding principal and CEO of Science Leadership Academy schools, shares his compelling journey from a shy English teacher to a pioneer of the "school 2.0 movement." Discover how SLA embodies an inquiry-driven pedagogy where students actively ask questions, research, collaborate, and present their learning, fostering an environment where technology is as essential and unnoticed as oxygen.
- Science Leadership Academy, inquiry-driven, project-based school in Philadelphia, PA
- Inquiry Schools, non-profit dedicated to modernizing learning experiences
- Building School 2.0: How to Create the Schools We Need, book by Chris Lehman, Zac Chase
- Practical Theory - A View From the Schoolhouse, blog from Chris Lehman
- Educon,an educational innovation conference where people can come together to discuss the future and the now of schools
- Ted Sizer (educational philosophy)
- Deborah Meier (educator)
- Ann Cook (educator)
- Understanding by Design (UbD)
- Chubbies Steaks (Roxborough, Philadelphia)
- Jim's Steaks (South Street, Philadelphia)
- D'Alessandro's Steaks (Roxborough, Philadelphia)
Transcript
Peter Frank:
Nick welcome to Talking technology with Atlas,
Peter Frank:
the show that plugs you into the important topics and trends for
Peter Frank:
technology leaders all through a unique Independent School lens,
Peter Frank:
we'll hear stories from technology directors and other
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special guests from the Independent School community and
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provide you with focused learning and deep dive topics.
Peter Frank:
Hello and welcome again to a another episode of talking
Peter Frank:
technology with Atlas. I am Peter Frank. I'm the Senior
Peter Frank:
Director of certification and operations for Atlas.
Bill Stites:
And I am Bill Stites, the Director of
Bill Stites:
Technology at Montclair Kimberly Academy in Montclair, New
Bill Stites:
Jersey, and
Hiram Cuevas:
I'm Hiram Cuevas, Director of Information Systems
Hiram Cuevas:
and Academic Technology at St Christopher school in Richmond,
Hiram Cuevas:
Virginia.
Peter Frank:
All right, so we've got another Peter takeover of
Peter Frank:
the Atlas podcast a lot sooner than we thought that was gonna
Peter Frank:
happen, guys. But you know, it's been going great, I think so
Peter Frank:
far, hasn't it? This
Bill Stites:
is where I wish I would read my emails more
Bill Stites:
clearly, because had I known, if it wasn't for our guests, I
Bill Stites:
wouldn't be here. Peter, okay, I'd be like, this is just you
Bill Stites:
and Hiram, have fun. I see.
Hiram Cuevas:
I'll tee this up for you. Bill, go birds, go
Hiram Cuevas:
birds.
Bill Stites:
Go birds. There you go. Wow. There you go. This is
Bill Stites:
when you got somebody from Philly. You know you're gonna
Bill Stites:
get a response. There go. Birds.
Peter Frank:
All right, nice. So we're already way off the rails,
Peter Frank:
and I didn't lose my job the first time, but after this one,
Peter Frank:
it might be over. I was thinking of wisdom, and I've heard some
Peter Frank:
pearls of wisdom that have stuck with me. We don't need to get
Peter Frank:
like deeply into it, but I'd love to hear your guys pearls of
Peter Frank:
wisdom that you've heard over the years. I'll give you two of
Peter Frank:
mine. Number one, a little heady. You know, Socrates was
Peter Frank:
quoted, and it's been interpreted many times, but
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basically he said, If I don't know something, I know that, or
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I know that when I don't know something, and that that was
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wisdom in his mind. I always thought that was pretty
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profound, and as a rather rigid, closed minded individual,
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learning of that quote really helped me, actually, to open up
Peter Frank:
a bit and be more aware of what I didn't know. The second nugget
Peter Frank:
as a parent, which I know you guys will appreciate, if the
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oatmeal dries on the bowl you're throwing away that bowl.
Unknown:
I That's
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the second nugget. So what about you guys? I'd love
Peter Frank:
to pick up some new nuggets of wisdom before we get to our
Peter Frank:
guest here.
Bill Stites:
It's one that you hear often, but it's something
Bill Stites:
that I truly believe in, is that the wisdom is in the room, that
Bill Stites:
if you can get people together, if you can sit down around the
Bill Stites:
table and have a conversation about a topic, about any topic,
Bill Stites:
you're going to come out of that with more than you would have
Bill Stites:
hoped when you went into it. And I think to me, it speaks to the
Bill Stites:
reason why I appreciate what we do with the podcast. I think it
Bill Stites:
speaks to what I appreciate about a collaborative working
Bill Stites:
environment. It speaks to the way in which Atlas is kind of
Bill Stites:
organized to bring people together, because the idea that
Bill Stites:
any one person could know it all or have all the answers to
Bill Stites:
something is incredibly false. And when you have that
Bill Stites:
opportunity to thoughtfully, sit down, collaborate and to share
Bill Stites:
the wisdom of what you need, truly can come from the space
Bill Stites:
for once you are at that point, great.
Peter Frank:
I like that. I'm
Hiram Cuevas:
gonna cheat a little bit here. The purpose of
Hiram Cuevas:
education is to replace an empty mind with an open one, and I
Hiram Cuevas:
cannot take credit for that line. That was by Malcolm
Hiram Cuevas:
Forbes,
Peter Frank:
excellent. Well, our guest has been waiting
Peter Frank:
patiently now. This man, he wants to change the world. I've
Peter Frank:
done my homework here. He is the founding principal and CEO of
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the Science Leadership Academy schools, which is a network of
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progressive inquiry driven schools. He is the co founder of
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inquiry schools, which is a nonprofit dedicated to
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modernizing learning experiences. He's a pioneer of
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the school 2.0 movement, a blogger, an author, a frequent
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speaker. No grass grows beneath this man's feet, and we are
Peter Frank:
thrilled to have him here, though. Please welcome Mr. Chris
Peter Frank:
Lehman to the podcast here. Thanks
Chris Lehmann:
so much for having me. I'm really excited to
Chris Lehmann:
be here absolutely and it works, of course. Okay, there he is.
Chris Lehmann:
There you go. There you go. Bill.
Bill Stites:
Gotta respond. Go. Birds.
Peter Frank:
Fantastic. Chris, why don't you help us out? Just
Peter Frank:
get started. Like, how did you come to this school? 2.0 what
Peter Frank:
brought you here? What's your origin story?
Chris Lehmann:
The first piece is, you know, I'm the child of a
Chris Lehmann:
lifelong teacher and a union lawyer, so from the early. I can
Chris Lehmann:
remember, you know, the mantra in my house growing up was, the
Chris Lehmann:
purpose of life is to make the world a little bit better of a
Chris Lehmann:
place because you happen to live in it for a while. There's a lot
Chris Lehmann:
of these ideas. And my mom was this amazing educator, and she
Chris Lehmann:
came of age as an educator in the 70s, in the sort of, you
Chris Lehmann:
know that wave of the progressive schools movement,
Chris Lehmann:
open classroom and a lot of those ideas. So she was an
Chris Lehmann:
innovative educator. She likes it when I say that a lot of
Chris Lehmann:
these ideas are hers, just sort of more modern. So thing One was
Chris Lehmann:
this idea that I very much was raised by two people who saw
Chris Lehmann:
purpose in the teaching life, who saw purpose in making
Chris Lehmann:
schools better, and who believed schools could be better. So
Chris Lehmann:
that's a not insignificant part. I think the other thing is, is
Chris Lehmann:
that I as a teacher, I taught for nine years in New York City
Chris Lehmann:
at this wonderful, progressive public high school called
Chris Lehmann:
beacon. And if you were teaching in the mid 90s and early 2000s
Chris Lehmann:
in New York City, there was so many new schools popping up,
Chris Lehmann:
there were all these really cool ideas happening. You had Deborah
Chris Lehmann:
Meyer, Ann cook. You had all these incredible educators who
Chris Lehmann:
were starting new schools and creating a vision. And then for
Chris Lehmann:
me at Beacon, I got there when the first class were seniors,
Chris Lehmann:
and I worked for these two incredible educators, Ruth Lacey
Chris Lehmann:
and Steven Stoll, and really was part of a cohort of young
Chris Lehmann:
teachers who helped these really visionary educators build out
Chris Lehmann:
their vision of a school. And I think when you get the chance to
Chris Lehmann:
do that, you see the art of the possible, right? So I think for
Chris Lehmann:
all of us who are at Beacon in the early days of that school,
Chris Lehmann:
this sort of only limits put on us were like, how hard can you
Chris Lehmann:
work and how big can you dream? And that's a cool way to grow up
Chris Lehmann:
professionally, right? That what an incredible sort of entry into
Chris Lehmann:
the education life. And from very early on, when I was there,
Chris Lehmann:
people used to say to me all the time, like, you're going to
Chris Lehmann:
start a school someday. And my wife said to me, you're going to
Chris Lehmann:
start school someday. Just please God, don't do it when
Chris Lehmann:
we're trying to start a family, which, of course, is then
Chris Lehmann:
exactly what I did. And thank god, I'm married to an
Chris Lehmann:
incredibly patient woman. But then what happened with SLA is,
Chris Lehmann:
I'm from the Philly area, like I grew up outside of Philly. I
Chris Lehmann:
went to college in Philly. You know, I was at the World Series
Chris Lehmann:
parade in 1980 when the Phillies won it. I still wear number 20
Chris Lehmann:
because of Michael Jack Schmidt. So I'm a Philly kid at heart.
Chris Lehmann:
And then there was this day in like, mid 2000s I'm sure if it
Chris Lehmann:
was 2004 five, when the school district Philadelphia put out a
Chris Lehmann:
press release that got picked up by ASCD daily. And I tell all
Chris Lehmann:
young educators subscribe to the ASCD smart brief, because, like,
Chris Lehmann:
even if you don't read it every day, just browsing what's going
Chris Lehmann:
on in the world of education is incredibly important. And the
Chris Lehmann:
press release was Philadelphia to start 27 new small schools.
Chris Lehmann:
And I was like, oh my goodness, this is the thing I want to do.
Chris Lehmann:
And my wife and I were like, ready to leave New York City.
Chris Lehmann:
I'd always wanted to come home and help Philly schools get
Chris Lehmann:
better, right? And Philadelphia was not, at that moment in time,
Chris Lehmann:
really known for progressive education in the 70s. It was, I
Chris Lehmann:
mean, you had the parkways. There are the seeds of
Chris Lehmann:
progressive education here in some really amazing ways, but it
Chris Lehmann:
had kind of gone dormant. So I wrote up a white paper of what I
Chris Lehmann:
thought a school could be. I called it the Philadelphia
Chris Lehmann:
Academy of teaching and learning, which had the fabulous
Chris Lehmann:
acronym of paddle. Because if it's not funny, why do it? And I
Chris Lehmann:
started shopping it to anybody who would take a meeting with
Chris Lehmann:
me, and anybody who knew somebody who knew somebody who
Chris Lehmann:
knew somebody who was connected to Philadelphia education, I
Chris Lehmann:
would get on a train, get on a bus, and come and have a
Chris Lehmann:
conversation with them, and that was not normal for me. Like I'm
Chris Lehmann:
I know I have a lot of energy, but like around people, I don't
Chris Lehmann:
know, I'm actually pretty shy, but this was the thing I was
Chris Lehmann:
supposed to do. So you found it right. And the thing that I
Chris Lehmann:
learned is people want to help, and they don't always know how
Chris Lehmann:
to help. They may not have money, they may not have this,
Chris Lehmann:
they might not have that, but they know somebody. I always
Chris Lehmann:
ended the meetings by saying, Well, who should I talk to next?
Chris Lehmann:
And are you willing to put me in touch with them? And that was a
Chris Lehmann:
way people could help, and they were excited, and it allowed
Chris Lehmann:
them to feel part of this idea that this weird kid with an idea
Chris Lehmann:
and a lot of energy seemed to have. And at one of those
Chris Lehmann:
meetings, this woman who was, like, right out of central
Chris Lehmann:
casting from the school district, she has had seen
Chris Lehmann:
everything, done everything. She's this older woman, probably
Chris Lehmann:
my age, now that I think about it, but like at the time, she
Chris Lehmann:
said to me, You talk like the people at the Franklin
Chris Lehmann:
Institute. We're supposedly starting a school with them. I
Chris Lehmann:
don't know where the project is, but you should go talk to them.
Chris Lehmann:
Hang on a second. She picks up the phone, and she says, I've
Chris Lehmann:
got this kid here. Do you have five minutes for him? And she
Chris Lehmann:
gets off the phone, she says, you're gonna walk right over to
Chris Lehmann:
the Franklin so I was like, two blocks away. She goes, and
Chris Lehmann:
you're gonna go up and you're gonna go up and you're gonna
Chris Lehmann:
meet this woman, Carol Parson in so I walk over the museum, and I
Chris Lehmann:
go up to the executive offices, which are incredibly
Chris Lehmann:
intimidating. There's like chairs that Ben Franklin sat in.
Chris Lehmann:
There's pictures of dead white men everywhere, right? Like this
Chris Lehmann:
is an intimidating space. And I go knock on this woman's door,
Chris Lehmann:
and this very, very, very elegant. Older woman comes to
Chris Lehmann:
the door, and she looks at me over her glasses, and she says,
Chris Lehmann:
You have five minutes, just like that. And I had this packet that
Chris Lehmann:
I was shopping that had the white paper and the resume and
Chris Lehmann:
some clippings from what we'd done in your city. So I hand her
Chris Lehmann:
the packet, and the first question she opens up in the
Chris Lehmann:
immediate question she asked me is, what is a English teacher
Chris Lehmann:
doing? Wanting to start a Science High School. And
Chris Lehmann:
meanwhile, I am hearing the clock in my head, like I know I
Chris Lehmann:
have five minutes. I'm talking as fast as I can, which is
Chris Lehmann:
pretty fast. And I said, well, the Franklin Institute doesn't
Chris Lehmann:
want to start a Science High School. She said, Excuse me. I
Chris Lehmann:
said, you start a Science High School, you'll get great science
Chris Lehmann:
and math teachers, because the school will be about their
Chris Lehmann:
subject, but everybody else will feel like a second class
Chris Lehmann:
citizen, because the school is not about their ideas and their
Chris Lehmann:
subject. The school that the Franklin Institute wants to
Chris Lehmann:
start is an inquiry based High School where everything is
Chris Lehmann:
learned by doing hands on, figure it out, just like the way
Chris Lehmann:
people learn when they come to this museum. You want a school
Chris Lehmann:
that matches the ethos of this museum, and of course, it's
Chris Lehmann:
gonna have a great science program and science program.
Chris Lehmann:
It's affiliated with the Franklin Institute. That's the
Chris Lehmann:
high school you want to start. And she says, Keep talking, and
Chris Lehmann:
five minutes turned into two and a half hours. And two and a half
Chris Lehmann:
hours has turned into 20 years, and one school has turned into
Chris Lehmann:
three. And the other piece of this puzzle that I will tell
Chris Lehmann:
you, and it's something I tell kids a lot. I wasn't the first
Chris Lehmann:
choice of the School District of Philadelphia. I was the first
Chris Lehmann:
choice of Franklin, but when it finally got down to the hiring
Chris Lehmann:
process, there was this guy who had tons of experience. He had
Chris Lehmann:
worked with Ted sizer, he was a professor, he'd done all this
Chris Lehmann:
stuff, and I remember like he and I were the two finalists of
Chris Lehmann:
this crazy, long process where there was lots of people and it
Chris Lehmann:
was just the two of us, and I'm this kid who's never even been
Chris Lehmann:
an assistant principal, and he's this unbelievably accomplished
Chris Lehmann:
dude. And I remember sitting and going, like, well, maybe he'll
Chris Lehmann:
make me the assistant principal, right? Like, I'm literally
Chris Lehmann:
sitting in the room, like, and I liked him. He was a really
Chris Lehmann:
smart, good guy, but he wanted too much money, and I was
Chris Lehmann:
willing to take the salary. And what I tell kids all the time is
Chris Lehmann:
it doesn't matter how you get in the room. If you have a seat at
Chris Lehmann:
the table, take it and use it and do good work with it.
Chris Lehmann:
Because if I get was in my feelings, and if I let my ego in
Chris Lehmann:
my I'm not your first choice. Well, then we would have never
Chris Lehmann:
done this, right? So it's like, do your best, work hard. And if
Chris Lehmann:
they give you a seat at the table, it doesn't matter how you
Chris Lehmann:
got it, do good, work with it and never apologize for having
Chris Lehmann:
gotten there.
Peter Frank:
Sure, and such a testament. I think the passion
Peter Frank:
is such a key element. I think that's also part of why people,
Peter Frank:
like, at least, if I give them five minutes, it's gonna be a
Peter Frank:
lot of valuable like, like, this guy is clearly passionate about
Peter Frank:
what he's doing. He's bringing something to the table. So let's
Peter Frank:
figure out what it is. I've
Chris Lehmann:
been the happy, fun ball for 54 years. It's
Chris Lehmann:
true. There
Peter Frank:
you go. Well, we won't taunt you. And
Bill Stites:
you know what? I love, Chris. I love the fact
Bill Stites:
that the process of getting to where you are now, the process
Bill Stites:
of trying to sell the school, the process of going through all
Bill Stites:
of that, it models the process that you go through with
Bill Stites:
inquiry. You got to come up with an idea, you got to present the
Bill Stites:
idea. The idea will either be accepted or it won't. And you
Bill Stites:
need to go back, and you need to iterate on it. You need to go
Bill Stites:
back and work on it and sell it and develop that. It's one of
Bill Stites:
the topics that we've been talking about on the podcast,
Bill Stites:
not in those specific terms, but the idea of, how do you deal
Bill Stites:
with not achieving immediately and still pursuing those goals.
Bill Stites:
And I think it's great that you went through that, because you
Bill Stites:
can talk to that, you can talk about how you got to where you
Bill Stites:
are now, that I think will resonate with the students that
Bill Stites:
you're working with and that you're educating. I think it's a
Bill Stites:
great use case, and it's a great example, because you're truly
Bill Stites:
leading by example.
Chris Lehmann:
Thanks. And I think the other piece of all
Chris Lehmann:
that iteration is you have to listen, you know, as high score
Chris Lehmann:
values, inquiry, research, collaboration, presentation,
Chris Lehmann:
reflection. But that idea of collaboration, that idea that
Chris Lehmann:
your idea should interact with my idea, and that the synthesis
Chris Lehmann:
will be better than each of our ideas alone, is a huge part of
Chris Lehmann:
that inquiry process, right? It's like when you listen deeply
Chris Lehmann:
and really listen for how your ideas can be impacted by others
Chris Lehmann:
ideas, we get better. Like one of the things I say to anybody
Chris Lehmann:
all the time is I have the greatest job in the world. I
Chris Lehmann:
wake up every single day and I work in service of the best idea
Chris Lehmann:
I ever had with teachers and students and families who make
Chris Lehmann:
that idea better, right? Like the day that that gets boring,
Chris Lehmann:
get out of the game, right? I might eventually get too tired,
Chris Lehmann:
but I hope that even up to the day I retire, I'd still love the
Unknown:
work. Let's
Peter Frank:
get to the work. We've got SLA and inquiry
Peter Frank:
schools. Can you explain the difference? The
Chris Lehmann:
SLAs are three schools in Philadelphia, right?
Chris Lehmann:
We are School District of Philadelphia schools. So I have
Chris Lehmann:
this bizarro title where I am the CEO of SLA schools. Even
Chris Lehmann:
though all three SLAs are School District of Philadelphia
Chris Lehmann:
schools, we're a union shop. I'm a Teamster like the whole nine
Chris Lehmann:
yards and. Then inquiry schools came about because Diana
Chris Lehmann:
Laufenberg, who is the executive director of the organization and
Chris Lehmann:
amazing educator in her own right, and visionary, she was a
Chris Lehmann:
teacher at SLA, and she's not a city kid. She grew up in rural
Chris Lehmann:
Wisconsin. It's where she lives. Again. She's lived most of her
Chris Lehmann:
life, not in cities, but she loved the idea of SLA, and she
Chris Lehmann:
came to visit us in the second year of the school. And when she
Chris Lehmann:
came to work, she was like, I'll give you an advisory cycle. Like
Chris Lehmann:
stranger said, I want to come here and work for two years. And
Chris Lehmann:
I was like, I don't want you for two years. I need you for four
Chris Lehmann:
because that's one full advisory cycle, which I'll get to what
Chris Lehmann:
advisory is in a bit. And she agreed to give me four years of
Chris Lehmann:
living in a city, and she loved the school and hates living in
Chris Lehmann:
cities. And when she left, you know, she's one of my dearest
Chris Lehmann:
friends in the world, and she was like, what does it look like
Chris Lehmann:
to like build this workout? And the first project we had was to
Chris Lehmann:
replicate SLA, to build SLA Beaver, which was our second
Chris Lehmann:
school, and we needed a nonprofit to do that work, to
Chris Lehmann:
help the replication process. We needed for any number of
Chris Lehmann:
reasons. We needed somewhere to be able to park the grants and
Chris Lehmann:
spend the grants, and we needed somebody who was willing to do
Chris Lehmann:
the work. And Diana was like, I will work with the founding
Chris Lehmann:
principal at SLA Bieber, Chris Johnson, who's still there, and
Chris Lehmann:
myself and the founding faculty to really help shape that staff
Chris Lehmann:
right, and it helps shape that process. And then from there, we
Chris Lehmann:
realized we had this amazing thing that Diana is incredible
Chris Lehmann:
at helping educators get better at the idea of inquiry in their
Chris Lehmann:
classrooms or in their schools. And so to this day, Diana works
Chris Lehmann:
with schools literally all over the country and sometimes all
Chris Lehmann:
over the world. I'm not on the board anymore, but they have a
Chris Lehmann:
project, I believe, in Nigeria, I think, and she can do
Chris Lehmann:
everything from come in and work with a faculty on like, Hey,
Chris Lehmann:
here's how you tweak the work to complete school redesign to
Chris Lehmann:
school startup, you know. And we have a number of folks that
Chris Lehmann:
we've worked with over the years who are incredible educators who
Chris Lehmann:
help her with that work. They worked with a group of schools
Chris Lehmann:
in Cleveland, which were some of the by test score for whatever
Chris Lehmann:
that were, some of the lowest performing schools in Cleveland
Chris Lehmann:
that were looking to transform their pedagogy. And she did
Chris Lehmann:
incredible work with nine schools in Cleveland. She worked
Chris Lehmann:
with a group of schools in Henry County, Georgia. She's like some
Chris Lehmann:
really big projects that I'm proud to have been there for the
Chris Lehmann:
genesis of it all, and then, as Diana's friend happy to watch
Chris Lehmann:
this amazing educator make schools all over the country
Bill Stites:
better. So Chris
Hiram Cuevas:
for our audience, because we're predominantly all
Hiram Cuevas:
independent schools, she works with those two. There you go.
Hiram Cuevas:
Help our audience understand where SLA fit. It doesn't seem
Hiram Cuevas:
like you're quite public. You're almost private. Are you
Hiram Cuevas:
considered to be a charter school?
Chris Lehmann:
No, no, we are a Philly public school. I mean,
Chris Lehmann:
that's the kind of nifty thing. And like, we take very seriously
Chris Lehmann:
that we are a proof point, along with schools like MC squared in
Chris Lehmann:
Cleveland along like with so many of the really funky,
Chris Lehmann:
wonderful public schools in New York City, along with, you know,
Chris Lehmann:
many schools across the country that are doing amazing work
Chris Lehmann:
inside the public system, but we are very much a proof point that
Chris Lehmann:
big public systems can innovate and can do things differently.
Chris Lehmann:
And that's not always easy. You know, in 20 years, I think I've
Chris Lehmann:
had seven superintendents, so there are moments, but no, we
Chris Lehmann:
are not a charter school. We're not a private school. 99% of our
Chris Lehmann:
funding is public funding. And then the other, you know, one to
Chris Lehmann:
2% a year is grants we write, running educon, doing those
Chris Lehmann:
things, like ways that we sort of fundraise for some of the
Chris Lehmann:
extras, but 98 point something percent of our funding is all
Chris Lehmann:
just public funding. Like I said, we are a union shop. Our
Chris Lehmann:
teachers union is the Philadelphia Federation of
Chris Lehmann:
Teachers. The principals union is casa, which is part of the
Chris Lehmann:
Teamsters. We're a public school. And I you know, as far
Chris Lehmann:
as all the contract stuff, all the everything, we work within
Chris Lehmann:
all of that, and we make it work inside that system. And I think
Chris Lehmann:
that matters, because I think there's a lot of people in the
Chris Lehmann:
world who say you can't do this in the public system, and I'm
Chris Lehmann:
really proud of the fact that I think we've proven that you can.
Chris Lehmann:
I mean, we're on this is our 19th year now. I think
Hiram Cuevas:
that's a wonderful story, because I grew up in
Hiram Cuevas:
public schools as well, and so it's a testament to you know,
Hiram Cuevas:
you have the right motivation, you have the right people in
Hiram Cuevas:
place. You guys are doing it right.
Unknown:
Thank you. How
Bill Stites:
do kids come to SLA then? Because, again, if it's a
Bill Stites:
public school, I mean, I grew up right across the river. I grew
Bill Stites:
up right over the Walt Whitman, you know what I mean? And you
Bill Stites:
went to your local high school. You went to your local
Bill Stites:
elementary school. How do you get your students?
Chris Lehmann:
Sure, so, like a lot of big cities. Philadelphia,
Chris Lehmann:
public system is at the high school level, a system of choice
Chris Lehmann:
so kids can apply to five different high schools. We are
Chris Lehmann:
criterion based schools. So we do look at kids test scores and
Chris Lehmann:
grades. There's, I think, four tiers of criterion based schools
Chris Lehmann:
in the school district Philadelphia. We are the third.
Chris Lehmann:
Lowest tier. On purpose, we don't believe that this is a
Chris Lehmann:
elite way to teach, but we are magnet school. And then, most
Chris Lehmann:
importantly, though, KIDS interview, and they sit down
Chris Lehmann:
with an SLA adult, either a teacher or an alum and a current
Chris Lehmann:
SLA student, and our kids help us interview the prospective
Chris Lehmann:
kids and all the kids who do well in that interview, which is
Chris Lehmann:
the overwhelming majority of them, they go into a lottery,
Chris Lehmann:
and then the district runs a lottery for all of the criterion
Chris Lehmann:
based schools, and you get the kids, they tell you, you get so
Chris Lehmann:
our biggest thing that we're really looking for is like, we
Chris Lehmann:
ask a very simple question at the end of the interview, and
Chris Lehmann:
the interview is about seven minutes long. Number one, they
Chris Lehmann:
present a piece of their work, a project, something they did,
Chris Lehmann:
they're proud of, and they talk about the work, they talk about
Chris Lehmann:
themselves as a learner, and then we ask them a question, why
Chris Lehmann:
will SLA be a better school? Because you came here. We want
Chris Lehmann:
kids who want to be part of a community that believes we can
Chris Lehmann:
be better together. It's interesting in in those moments,
Chris Lehmann:
because kids are kids, and it's not like we don't have
Chris Lehmann:
discipline issues we do, right? I mean, humans are humans, but
Chris Lehmann:
kids are kids, and it's kind of a fun moment when a kid has done
Chris Lehmann:
something that they're not super proud of, and you consider them
Chris Lehmann:
like, Hey, do you remember that question we asked you? Like, how
Chris Lehmann:
are you answering that right now? And that's a really
Chris Lehmann:
powerful thing. But, I mean, I think the other thing that's
Chris Lehmann:
really important to understand, though, is that SLA Middle
Chris Lehmann:
School, on the other hand, is a neighborhood school. So we've
Chris Lehmann:
actually shown that this doesn't require criteria to work, that
Chris Lehmann:
all kids can learn in this way. And we really think that that's
Chris Lehmann:
an important thing. I think that, like I said, Philadelphia
Chris Lehmann:
is a choice based system. So there was a push when we started
Chris Lehmann:
that we needed to be a magnet school. People were actually
Chris Lehmann:
surprised when I set that early criteria. People were like,
Chris Lehmann:
don't you want to set it higher than that? Don't you want? And I
Chris Lehmann:
was like, No, I don't I want a wide swath of kids.
Chris Lehmann:
Interestingly, because of where we set our mark, we have in
Chris Lehmann:
addition, to be one of the most diverse in sort of classic
Chris Lehmann:
racial diversity, one of most diverse schools in the country.
Chris Lehmann:
We also have some of the greatest academic diversity in
Chris Lehmann:
the city of Philadelphia. We have kids across the sort of
Chris Lehmann:
spectrum of achievement from when they come in, and then the
Chris Lehmann:
growth we see of them is incredible. So for example, we
Chris Lehmann:
get compared to all of the time the other two sort of very,
Chris Lehmann:
very, very, very high achieving schools in Philadelphia, Central
Chris Lehmann:
and Masterman, but they have as an entrance criteria, 85th
Chris Lehmann:
percentile on the state tests. And we have 50, and that's 50th
Chris Lehmann:
percentile not on the statewide but of the city wide, which is
Chris Lehmann:
not quite as high as the state. And then we also have the
Chris Lehmann:
highest percentage of kids with IEPs and five oh fours of any
Chris Lehmann:
school in the district, because we think that every kid deserves
Chris Lehmann:
a different learning style, and so kids with IEPs here don't
Chris Lehmann:
feel different. So we've become a real school of choice for
Chris Lehmann:
families with kids who have some learning difficulties or special
Chris Lehmann:
needs. And those are all things that we're really proud of,
Chris Lehmann:
because we really do believe that the diversity in all of the
Chris Lehmann:
manifestations we have every zip code of the City of Philadelphia
Chris Lehmann:
representing the school, we have over 30 home languages spoken,
Chris Lehmann:
and then we talk about it intentionally, and what does it
Chris Lehmann:
mean to have a community that comes together like this? And
Chris Lehmann:
it's funny, I was literally just sitting with a couple of seniors
Chris Lehmann:
two days ago. They were saying their biggest concern about
Chris Lehmann:
college is that when they go visit places, they don't see
Chris Lehmann:
diverse groups of kids sitting together in the same way that
Chris Lehmann:
they have experienced at SLA, and they are very, very
Chris Lehmann:
concerned, and we've heard that for years that kids struggle to
Chris Lehmann:
find the intentional diversity of the SLA student body, and not
Chris Lehmann:
just the diversity itself, because there are plenty of
Chris Lehmann:
colleges that have diversity, but the fact that kids about it.
Chris Lehmann:
They have friends of all different races, they have
Chris Lehmann:
friends from different neighborhoods, they have friends
Chris Lehmann:
from different nationalities, and that is something that we
Chris Lehmann:
celebrate.
Peter Frank:
So let's talk about the schools themselves now. So
Peter Frank:
in a nutshell, Chris, as much as that's possible, let's talk
Peter Frank:
about an inquiry school, and what makes an inquiry driven
Peter Frank:
school different from the public schools. I
Chris Lehmann:
think the way that an inquiry driven school,
Chris Lehmann:
the way the SLA and I'll speak just specifically, the SLA
Chris Lehmann:
model, the way the SLA model differs from a traditional
Chris Lehmann:
school, is in two ways, right, because we've talked a lot about
Chris Lehmann:
inquiry, we also need to talk about the other sort of how we
Chris Lehmann:
care for kids. We believe deeply in the idea that kids need to
Chris Lehmann:
feel their own agency to ask powerful questions about the
Chris Lehmann:
things that they are learning. It is a far less didactic
Chris Lehmann:
methodology of teaching, right? So the inquiry cycle at SLA is
Chris Lehmann:
literally inquiry. What are the big questions we can ask?
Chris Lehmann:
Research? How do we find answers to those questions?
Chris Lehmann:
Collaboration. How do we work together to make those answers
Chris Lehmann:
deeper and richer presentation? How do we show what we know in
Chris Lehmann:
reflection? How do we step back and learn from what we've done
Chris Lehmann:
that iterative cycle is going on all of the time. Does that mean
Chris Lehmann:
that we never stand up at the front of the room and lecture
Chris Lehmann:
for 10 minutes? Of course, not. The mini lecture has its place,
Chris Lehmann:
but it also means the other piece of that puzzle is. So with
Chris Lehmann:
the idea of presentation, I don't believe that you manifest
Chris Lehmann:
your learning best by answering the questions on somebody else's
Chris Lehmann:
test. I believe you learn best when you create an artifact of
Chris Lehmann:
your learning that allows you to manifest the learning by the
Chris Lehmann:
thing you wrote, filmed, built, blew up, experimented on, what
Chris Lehmann:
have you. And again, that's not to say that quizzes don't have a
Chris Lehmann:
role. If you want to give a quick little quiz to dipstick on
Chris Lehmann:
a skill, sure, if you want to isolate a discrete skill, she'll
Chris Lehmann:
give a quiz. But if you really want to see what kids
Chris Lehmann:
understand, ask them to do something, ask them to make
Chris Lehmann:
something, ask them to write something. And so every unit at
Chris Lehmann:
SLA ends on that project that is a manifestation of, basically
Chris Lehmann:
the kid's answer of the essential question of the unit,
Chris Lehmann:
right? That they have come up with. Then there's, how do you
Chris Lehmann:
manifest it from the teacher life, right? So you need to have
Chris Lehmann:
a common language of teaching and learning. So like I said,
Chris Lehmann:
everything we do at SLA starts with our core values. All of the
Chris Lehmann:
planning we do is structured using Understanding by Design,
Chris Lehmann:
and every project that we give is graded on the same five
Chris Lehmann:
category rubric, the design of the project, the knowledge
Chris Lehmann:
displayed, the application of that knowledge, the presentation
Chris Lehmann:
of the project, and the process you followed five categories.
Chris Lehmann:
Each category is worth 20.5 times 20 is 100 now it's a grade
Chris Lehmann:
that everybody understands. But now think about that. You have a
Chris Lehmann:
language of inputs with the core values, you have a language of
Chris Lehmann:
process with ubds, and then you have a language of assessment in
Chris Lehmann:
the rubric. Think about what it means when kids go to every
Chris Lehmann:
single class and it's not like you have a standardized
Chris Lehmann:
curriculum, it's not even close, or nothing standardized about
Chris Lehmann:
us, but there's so much that is common, like think about a
Chris Lehmann:
traditional school, public or private. Think about how much
Chris Lehmann:
time kids spend figuring out the adults, because every teacher
Chris Lehmann:
has a slightly different way they talk about the work or the
Chris Lehmann:
thing or the that. And then think about what it means when
Chris Lehmann:
kids cognitive load is spent on the work, not the adults, and
Chris Lehmann:
when you have a common language of teaching and learning that is
Chris Lehmann:
progressive, that is inquiry driven, that is asset driven and
Chris Lehmann:
stuff driven. Kids can shoot the moon and they know it and they
Chris Lehmann:
feel it and they believe it, and I think that is a very different
Chris Lehmann:
model than what kids usually sit in in classes all over our
Chris Lehmann:
country.
Bill Stites:
So Chris, one of the questions I've got focuses
Bill Stites:
on, like, what's the buzz? And the buzz seems to be around,
Bill Stites:
like stem, or some derivative of STEM, or what STEM is, right?
Bill Stites:
Listening to you talk about what you do, there is stem talked
Bill Stites:
about at SLA because having visited the school years ago for
Bill Stites:
some of the earliest the educon stuff, you know, and listening
Bill Stites:
to you talk now, it's like, in my mind, you were doing this
Bill Stites:
stuff before they were talking about this stuff, right? Do you
Bill Stites:
talk about STEM or is it just simply implicit in what you do,
Bill Stites:
in the way in which you do things? Where do you see that so
Bill Stites:
you can fit in with all the buzz worthy conversations?
Chris Lehmann:
That's a great question. The kids like to joke
Chris Lehmann:
around that, like the school is misnamed and yet not right,
Chris Lehmann:
because over 40% of our kids every year major in STEM or STEM
Chris Lehmann:
related fields. That's one of the highest percentages in the
Chris Lehmann:
country. We have two CTE programs. One is digital video
Chris Lehmann:
and the other is engineering, and both our programs are
Chris Lehmann:
amazing, but the engineering program is, I think, a model for
Chris Lehmann:
and again, both of them. And think about both of those, right
Chris Lehmann:
engineering and dig vid, both lend themselves to inquiry,
Chris Lehmann:
right? Both lends themselves to like, how do we ask a big
Chris Lehmann:
question? Then, how do we make something with our answers? But
Chris Lehmann:
our science department and our science discipline is amazing,
Chris Lehmann:
our math discipline is amazing. But I think the thing is this,
Chris Lehmann:
which is that, to your point, the overarching theme of, like,
Chris Lehmann:
how do we learn is really the driving piece of the school. Now
Chris Lehmann:
the thing is this, which is that, I think what I would argue
Chris Lehmann:
is that this idea of that inquiry cycle has its roots in
Chris Lehmann:
science. But like, tell that to a historian, and they'll tell me
Chris Lehmann:
that I'm wrong, and history has can make just as good a claim.
Chris Lehmann:
And so what our big bet was, and it goes back to the story I told
Chris Lehmann:
about the Franklin. What our big bet was was that this idea of
Chris Lehmann:
inquiry, of asking big questions, seeking out answers,
Chris Lehmann:
and making stuff, and then asking hard questions of
Chris Lehmann:
ourselves about what we learn, that that is the scientific
Chris Lehmann:
mind. But the thing is, it's good for poets too. It is a way
Chris Lehmann:
of thinking about the world that allows you to attack a problem.
Chris Lehmann:
And you almost go back to, like Jamie cassips, you know, great
Chris Lehmann:
quote, what's the problem you want to solve? And I think that
Chris Lehmann:
when you think about things that way, this lends itself to stem
Chris Lehmann:
and then we have this incredible engineering program that sort of
Chris Lehmann:
powers like an experience of, you know, what, a fifth of the
Chris Lehmann:
school every year that sort of then becomes part of this as
Chris Lehmann:
well. But I think that most importantly, what we are able to
Chris Lehmann:
show kids is that all of these lenses, math, science, all of
Chris Lehmann:
these lenses, become lenses for which you can question your
Chris Lehmann:
world. And I think that that creates a relevance. Sense and a
Chris Lehmann:
power and an agency in what the kids see themselves doing. That
Chris Lehmann:
is at root stem. And then the other piece of the puzzle, of
Chris Lehmann:
course, we use technology. I mean, you know, the the techs
Chris Lehmann:
everywhere, right? We use it all the time, and the kids just
Chris Lehmann:
aren't afraid of it, and they don't think they're going to
Chris Lehmann:
break it, and the teachers aren't afraid of telling kids,
Chris Lehmann:
open up your laptops and all that stuff. So I think you're
Chris Lehmann:
right. Like, that old question of, what is an English teacher
Chris Lehmann:
doing? Wanting to run a Science High School is still a fair
Chris Lehmann:
question. And the answer is that, like, more than a
Chris Lehmann:
discipline, the really important thing is, what's your pedagogy
Chris Lehmann:
and how does that pedagogy inform the way you teach the
Chris Lehmann:
disciplines?
Hiram Cuevas:
I love the way that your teachers have that
Hiram Cuevas:
vernacular already in place. It resonates with me frequently
Hiram Cuevas:
when trying to emphasize Standardization has its place,
Hiram Cuevas:
and it's really essential if you're going to try and
Hiram Cuevas:
communicate effectively to your students, because their job is
Hiram Cuevas:
not to try and figure out the teacher, right, and really
Hiram Cuevas:
they're supposed to be working together. You mentioned that we
Hiram Cuevas:
don't necessarily have stem, but we're the highest. You'll get me
Chris Lehmann:
in a lot of trouble if you say that. I said
Chris Lehmann:
we don't have STEM. We have lots of STEM. You
Hiram Cuevas:
don't call it stem necessarily. And what's
Hiram Cuevas:
interesting to me is our Upper School head at one point when we
Hiram Cuevas:
were trying to figure out how to brand stem here at St
Hiram Cuevas:
Christopher's, he's like, Well, it's stem this year it's
Hiram Cuevas:
steamed. The next year, it's stream. The following year, why
Hiram Cuevas:
don't we just call it school? Right? And I was like, That's
Hiram Cuevas:
SLA. It's school. They get it. And it really honed in for me by
Hiram Cuevas:
having inquiry base or experimental design, however you
Hiram Cuevas:
want to call it. It crosses barriers and crosses disciplines
Hiram Cuevas:
more often than it's isolated in an individual silo. And it's
Hiram Cuevas:
just so great to hear your passion. And so I want to go
Hiram Cuevas:
there.
Chris Lehmann:
Well, we'd love to have you. So there you go. I
Chris Lehmann:
think that's right, I think, and again, it is that hysterical
Chris Lehmann:
steam stream evolution. When everybody starts cramming it in,
Chris Lehmann:
we've got old words. We've got old words that have meaning and
Chris Lehmann:
power. And sometimes I think we rush past those old words to
Chris Lehmann:
find the latest and greatest acronym, and in doing so, miss
Chris Lehmann:
the power of the fact that we all stand on these incredible
Chris Lehmann:
shoulders of the educators that we can learn from, I say all the
Chris Lehmann:
time, like people ask me, What do you want for SLA graduates?
Chris Lehmann:
And I say, my North Star is very simple, thoughtful, wise,
Chris Lehmann:
passionate and kind, and those are old words. I want their
Chris Lehmann:
heads full of thought. I want them to have the wisdom to apply
Chris Lehmann:
those thoughts in meaningful ways. I want them to have the
Chris Lehmann:
passion to push through when the world tells them something
Chris Lehmann:
cannot be done, and damn it, I want them to be kind. That's as
Chris Lehmann:
far away from Ed you speak as I can imagine. Those are old
Chris Lehmann:
words. Those are words our grandmothers would understand.
Chris Lehmann:
And as a dad, those are the values I want for my children,
Chris Lehmann:
thoughtful. Have your heads full of thought. Be wise. Be
Chris Lehmann:
passionate, be kind. Again, you don't need edu speak for that.
Chris Lehmann:
We need good words. Maybe that's the English teacher running the
Chris Lehmann:
Science High School. There
Bill Stites:
you go, and that's perfect. And one of the things
Bill Stites:
you mentioned in what you just said was the technology at your
Bill Stites:
school is just everywhere. It's just there. It's like oxygen.
Bill Stites:
That's where I was going. Thank you No, but it's one of the
Bill Stites:
things that I can honestly say, that I've heard you say, I've
Bill Stites:
taken from you and I've used time and time again, that
Bill Stites:
technology should be ubiquitous, that it should be like oxygen.
Bill Stites:
It should be just there. You shouldn't notice, that you
Bill Stites:
should just be able to use it part and parcel of what you need
Bill Stites:
to work and to survive on a day to day basis. And what is great
Bill Stites:
about that is I think it encapsulates the way in which I
Bill Stites:
think we need to think about the tools that we choose to use, how
Bill Stites:
we have to work on building them into what we do to make students
Bill Stites:
successful and to achieve in those ways that an inquiry
Bill Stites:
driven school, a stem driven school, can simply do and not
Bill Stites:
have to worry about it. And it speaks to an equity issue as
Bill Stites:
well that I think is incredibly important, because it just can't
Bill Stites:
be those that can afford the tool it should be available to
Bill Stites:
everyone, so everyone has equal access to it. So I really just
Bill Stites:
want to thank you for that statement, because I think that
Bill Stites:
it helps solidify a lot of the conversations that we were
Bill Stites:
having here at our school, and the conversations I have with
Bill Stites:
other schools about their technology programs and their
Bill Stites:
technology use. So thank you,
Chris Lehmann:
my pleasure. I think that, you know, what's
Chris Lehmann:
interesting is that I still believe that right like
Chris Lehmann:
ubiquitous, necessary and invisible. And I think coming
Chris Lehmann:
out of the pandemic, we see kids have a different relationship to
Chris Lehmann:
their phones that they did pre pandemic. We now ask kids to
Chris Lehmann:
keep their phones away. We don't collect them. We don't believe
Chris Lehmann:
in the yonder path. Couches, but we say to kids, you shouldn't
Chris Lehmann:
have your phones out in class unless it's for a reason, and
Chris Lehmann:
that's why, no reason we don't collect them like so for
Chris Lehmann:
example, Matt Kay does this wonderful thing where he puts
Chris Lehmann:
kids in pods for discussion groups in his English class, and
Chris Lehmann:
he has one of them take out their phones and record it, and
Chris Lehmann:
then they upload the discussion as an assignment, and then he's
Chris Lehmann:
able to be sort of listening in on kids cover, right? Because on
Chris Lehmann:
kids conversations about the text, even if there's eight
Chris Lehmann:
conversations, right? Because one of the classic problems,
Chris Lehmann:
like one of the classic conundrums of the English
Chris Lehmann:
teacher in the classroom, is you have a choice. You can either
Chris Lehmann:
run, you know, I mean, I'm oversimplifying this, but you
Chris Lehmann:
can run the big conversation where you're able to, sort of
Chris Lehmann:
like, listen in and help the kids with their ideas. Or you
Chris Lehmann:
can run pods, you know, small groups, but then you're running
Chris Lehmann:
around to eight groups trying to, like, help and whatever, and
Chris Lehmann:
you'd miss some of the really cool ideas kids have. And Matt
Chris Lehmann:
found a way to solve that dilemma and like, split the
Chris Lehmann:
difference, which is, yep, go in your pod to have a conversation,
Chris Lehmann:
but then upload the conversation so I can take part in it. But I
Chris Lehmann:
do think that the thing we all missed is the billion dollar
Chris Lehmann:
industry around keeping our attention and the algorithm and
Chris Lehmann:
how addictive that algorithm is. We did a reboot two years ago
Chris Lehmann:
where we said to ourselves, all right, zero cell phones in
Chris Lehmann:
school. None, nobody. And we talked about why, and we read
Chris Lehmann:
articles. We did all those stuff we did as a school Ed thing,
Chris Lehmann:
teachers, too, me, too. And then we said, what did it mean when
Chris Lehmann:
we didn't have this thing beeping in our pockets all the
Chris Lehmann:
time at us? And we talked about how much easier it was to learn
Chris Lehmann:
together and how much more present we were. And we said,
Chris Lehmann:
Look, we're not going to ban them. You can have them at
Chris Lehmann:
lunch. You can have them in the halls. Let's keep the learning
Chris Lehmann:
spaces, learning spaces. But we want to help kids, and honestly,
Chris Lehmann:
quite frankly, help ourselves, because I'm the worst offender,
Chris Lehmann:
be more intentional about when we use the tools and why, and
Chris Lehmann:
when we use, especially these tools, which are designed to
Chris Lehmann:
hold our attention. And I can tell you that since we did that
Chris Lehmann:
two years ago, I have cut my daily cell phone use by over an
Chris Lehmann:
hour and a half. So I was well over four and a half hours like
Chris Lehmann:
when we did this. We the kids do that. We all tracked our usage.
Chris Lehmann:
We did it together. I was well over four and a half hours a
Chris Lehmann:
day, and now I try to keep myself under three hours a day
Chris Lehmann:
where that phone is being used, and that includes ways for
Chris Lehmann:
driving that includes all the things. So I think that this
Chris Lehmann:
notion of like, Yes, we love the tools and all the things. And
Chris Lehmann:
obviously this doesn't change how much we use Google Docs, how
Chris Lehmann:
much we use Canvas, how much we use all the other tools. But
Chris Lehmann:
when it comes to this question of like, what does it mean to be
Chris Lehmann:
intentional about our attention, and how can all of us do a
Chris Lehmann:
better job of that. I think we've learned a ton in the last
Chris Lehmann:
five years. For sure,
Peter Frank:
it easily aligns what I've learned about inquiry
Peter Frank:
schools and your approach and the idea of community, and how
Peter Frank:
important the community aspect is. So you're helping the
Peter Frank:
students, you're helping yourselves. That's a key element
Peter Frank:
there. Before we let you go, I want to make sure you get a
Peter Frank:
chance. I know you hosted edu con. Yeah, just a couple months
Peter Frank:
ago, 2025 Do you want to just give our listeners some idea of
Peter Frank:
what that is, maybe something that they're interested someday,
Peter Frank:
and then we'll let Bill wrap things up here. Absolutely. So
Chris Lehmann:
educon is this conference we've hosted, I
Chris Lehmann:
think, since 2008 January. 2008 was the first one. This actually
Chris Lehmann:
brings us full circle to go birds, because the conference
Chris Lehmann:
every year is in between the NFL conference finals and the Super
Chris Lehmann:
Bowl, because hope springs eternal. And in the years that
Chris Lehmann:
we've done this twice, we won. And I mean, it really is true
Chris Lehmann:
that you can't do anything in Philadelphia, if the Eagles are
Chris Lehmann:
playing, no one will show up. So we list this conference. You
Chris Lehmann:
know, it used to be the last weekend in January, then the NFL
Chris Lehmann:
expanded their schedule, so now it's the first weekend in
Chris Lehmann:
February. That's really the only reason we move the weekend where
Chris Lehmann:
the Friday is a site visit. We open up the school to anybody
Chris Lehmann:
who wants to come and spend time with us. Friday night is a panel
Chris Lehmann:
discussion of really interesting people that serve to sort of
Chris Lehmann:
frame the big idea for the conference for us for the next
Chris Lehmann:
two days, and then the Saturday and Sunday, we turn the whole
Chris Lehmann:
school into a conference center. The entire conference is run by
Chris Lehmann:
SLA adults and kids, right? So it's me and my AP, it's a couple
Chris Lehmann:
of teachers, a couple of students, it's parents. And
Chris Lehmann:
then, like the conference itself, there's 60 SLA kids who
Chris Lehmann:
are helping us run it, and we invite people who are doing this
Chris Lehmann:
work from all over the world to come and facilitate a session.
Chris Lehmann:
And I say facilitate, not present, because the pedagogy of
Chris Lehmann:
the conference is the pedagogy of the school. We don't want
Chris Lehmann:
people sitting and getting we want sessions that are inquiry
Chris Lehmann:
driven, that are project oriented, that get people
Chris Lehmann:
talking and doing and making and we've been doing this now, minus
Chris Lehmann:
the COVID years well past 15 years, even subtracting the
Chris Lehmann:
COVID years where we couldn't do it, and we brought together
Chris Lehmann:
literally hundreds of educators every year to take apart these
Chris Lehmann:
ideas together. Sam sheltayne, years ago, said, like, this is
Chris Lehmann:
the educon tribe, and it really is this incredible. Incredible
Chris Lehmann:
experience every year where, like, educators, who either feel
Chris Lehmann:
like they're doing it alone in their building or a school in a
Chris Lehmann:
place that maybe doesn't have a lot of CO conspirators around
Chris Lehmann:
them, are able to come together and learn together and be in
Chris Lehmann:
community and communion with one another. And it's an amazing
Chris Lehmann:
experience. And every year we ask ourselves, like, is this the
Chris Lehmann:
last year? Are we going to stop doing this? And then every year
Chris Lehmann:
it ends, and we get told, you can't stop this. So we keep
Chris Lehmann:
doing it. This year, we're gonna try to get the word out a little
Chris Lehmann:
earlier. We're gonna probably open up for our call for
Chris Lehmann:
proposals in early in May. I've got this is the mean, like, my
Chris Lehmann:
big spring break job is to get ready to open us up for
Chris Lehmann:
proposals with the idea of like. So when everybody comes back in
Chris Lehmann:
early August, The sessions are up. Everybody sees what we're up
Chris Lehmann:
to, and they've got all the time in the world to kind of plan for
Chris Lehmann:
it and do it. So take a look@educom.org It's really a
Chris Lehmann:
special time. And I think that if you're looking to learn with
Chris Lehmann:
other people who are around the pedagogy, around the big idea,
Chris Lehmann:
it's a pretty
Peter Frank:
unique space. Great. We'll have links to all
Peter Frank:
that in the show notes. Many links here from your content and
Peter Frank:
what you've done here. So we're gonna let Bill wrap things up.
Peter Frank:
He's got a key
Bill Stites:
question, highly controversial. Okay, here we go.
Bill Stites:
All right. You ready for this? I am. Where are you going for your
Bill Stites:
cheese steak? Ah,
Chris Lehmann:
great question. My favorite cheese steak is the
Chris Lehmann:
same place I've been going since I was in college. It's Chubbies
Chris Lehmann:
up in Roxboro, and it's a great cheese steak, but they also
Chris Lehmann:
really good waffle fries. Now, this is a controversial because
Chris Lehmann:
Chubbies is on one side of the street and delessandros is on
Chris Lehmann:
the other. Oh, there you go, and d'alessandros has a very
Chris Lehmann:
passionate fan base. It does indeed I love Chubbies. It's my
Chris Lehmann:
favorite. But the cool thing about Philly, and this is what I
Chris Lehmann:
will say, is, unlike other cities and I like, the cool
Chris Lehmann:
thing about a Philly cheesesteak is, chances are yacuna Pizzeria
Chris Lehmann:
has a pretty good cheese steak, oh, 100% 100% every Philly
Chris Lehmann:
pizzeria knows the secret to a good cheese steak is good bread.
Bill Stites:
No, exactly, no. It's not so Chris, I will tell
Bill Stites:
you, growing up, I was a little skate rat. I lived on South
Bill Stites:
Street and IN LOVE Park, and I grew up underneath the fan at
Bill Stites:
Jim's shop on South Street. My father would say you'd gain five
Bill Stites:
pounds just standing underneath of that fan as it blew all the
Bill Stites:
grease off the stovetop there, as they made it I still go back.
Bill Stites:
I take my son there. You know, I'm up here in North Jersey. I
Bill Stites:
still drive down. That's where we go, and we just have a great
Bill Stites:
time with so thank you for
Chris Lehmann:
that, Chubbies, there is no Philadelphia without
Chris Lehmann:
Jim steaks. I
Bill Stites:
haven't been there since they reopened, but they
Bill Stites:
got the place next door, and have even expanded from what I
Chris Lehmann:
understand. Yeah, it might have finally cleaned
Chris Lehmann:
the grease
Bill Stites:
and then they'd lost the flavor. Why would you
Bill Stites:
do that?
Peter Frank:
Highly unlikely. Exactly. Nice, Chris, thank you.
Peter Frank:
We really appreciate you giving us your time. Thank you so much,
Peter Frank:
Chris for giving us all this great stuff we're going to give
Peter Frank:
out to our people here soon.
Unknown:
My pleasure, my pleasure.
Peter Frank:
This has been talking technology with Atlas,
Peter Frank:
produced by the Association of technology leaders and
Peter Frank:
independent schools. For more information about Atlas and
Peter Frank:
Atlas membership, please visit theatlas.org if you enjoyed this
Peter Frank:
discussion, please subscribe, leave a review and share this
Peter Frank:
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Peter Frank:
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