Head of School Jim Connor and OnSIP CEO Mike Oeth discuss Germantown Academy's expansion of Technology and Entrepreneurship education
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to go back to High School, but knowing what you know today? I know I have. Last week, I received exactly that opportunity and it didn’t require a Delorean or 1.21 gigawatts. I took a vacation day and left my job as CEO to become a High School student.
It all started last year when I bid on an item at a silent auction fundraiser for my daughter’s High School, Germantown Academy (GA), in Ft. Washington, PA. The item was “Be a GA Student for the day.” I’m pretty sure I was the only bidder. Apparently no one else thought that being a High School student again, if only for a day, sounded like fun.
Spoiler Alert: It was fun.
The day started when I was greeted by Jim Connor, the Head of School, and given my visitor’s security pass for the day. Then I headed off to my first class, Chemistry Lab. Gone are the days of overhead projectors and transparencies. I liked the SMART Board interactive whiteboard we used. They were in every classroom I visited. They allow for a truly interactive educational experience. At first, I thought the markers were writing on the board. Then I noticed if the image moved, the notes also moved with the image. I was impressed.
SMART Boards are a far cry from old school projectors and transparencies
I was also impressed by the students in the class. I’m the “new kid” and a grey-haired adult and a fellow-student’s parent. In no way did I imagine that I would be interacting much with students. Matt, who I found out later is the center on the football team, stood up and asked if I wanted to be his lab partner. I accepted and we moved to the back of the room to start weighing our flask before and after filling it with various gasses. The time flew and soon the bell rang signaling the end of my first class.
Right after class, I saw my sophomore daughter for the first time. I was expecting an embarrassed grimace. Instead, I got a smile. And since she saw that I was preparing to leave, she waited at the door for me and walked me to my next class.
Next Up: Power Trips with Dr. Torrey. This was an English Literature class studying human relationships and the element of power. As a corporate CEO and entrepreneur, the idea of power and interpersonal relationships intrigued me. The topic for discussion was last night’s reading assignment of The Handmaid’s Tale. I felt a little like I was having one of those not-prepared-for-class stress dreams. Luckily, the students were more prepared than I was. It was just that. A discussion and not a lecture. Dr. Torrey was able to lead the discussion through the salient points of the novel, but he did it through the feedback of the students.
After a quick break, I headed off to Computer Networking. In this small class, we configured two servers and two clients to eventually host a WWW server and an e-mail server as well as DNS and DHCP. In the previous English class I had felt free to offer my opinion and did so, but in this class I felt compelled to take to the whiteboard to explain the how and why of device drivers. For the first time that day I did not feel like the unprepared student. I was happy to see at least a few students getting the basics of computer networking at the high school level.
Dickens' England with Mr. Mattern was up next. They were discussing the Dickens' classic Oliver Twist. At least I was familiar with the text and joined in the conversation even bringing in references to Breaking Bad and The Avengers. Again, it was a lively conversation with engaged students. Interestingly, this was a history course and not a literature course. He was teaching history via the lense of literature. I found this to be a very engaging way to teach history.
Digital Media was my second techie class for the day. This class of about 20 students was divided into groups of three or four and was making digital movies exploring real movie-making techniques like the establishment shot and exploring concepts like depth of field in a shot. The students were still just assembling footage in iMovie with no finished product yet, but the early results looked promising. I hope I can see their finished work. Again, it was encouraging watching students interacting with technology and not at 140 characters at a time.
GA's Singing Patriots perform at The National Museum in Krakow
Singing Patriots was the last class of the day and the only one I had with my daughter. I hadn’t told her about joining her, so she was surprised to see me. I was hoping that some guest-star would appear and lead the class in an impromptu, perfectly choreographed song and dance number. But sadly that never materialized. What did happen were warm-ups followed by diving into the material. One of the students in the Bass section left the risers and walked over to my stand to make sure I was on the right page. Then he invited me over to sing with the other Bass singers. Again, the friendliness and sense of inclusion really impressed me.
Six hours and six classes later, the academic portion of my “day as a student” was sadly over. The time flew by. The last thing on the agenda was lunch with Head of School Jim Connor, with special guests Grace Judge and Carla Zighelboim where the topic was Tech Ed, Entrepreneurs and New Media. It was a fascinating and lively discussion. Carla was an impassioned speaker on advances GA is planning the areas of teaching entrepreneurship and technology. I was thrilled to learn that GA is planning on more Technology and Entrepreneurship education.
Overall, the day felt similar to my own High School experience. When you strip away the new technology, school is still just an environment where students are excited and willing to learn. I was one of those students back in the 80’s, and I was one again last week. I think the 1980’s version of myself would adjust just fine in this environment.
The world has changed so much since my high school days. I can't say if this is a good or a bad thing. Too many times, attempts to “fix” education attempt to rectify parts of the system that aren’t necessarily broken. Technology, software, and networks are an integral part of our daily lives, but teaching those building blocks seems to be left to the colleges. Maybe simply exposing students to this technology at the high school level is enough.
I do know this. If they have the “student for a day” silent auction again this year, I’m definitely bidding.