My Visit to High Tech High in San Diego California -Thursday

     Thursday morning dawned and we were off to High Tech High! At last, the portion of the trip I was waiting for all along. We rode a chartered shuttle and it took about 15 minutes to reach the HTH campus. It was then that it hit me how big this place really is. HTH is not really a building, its an entire charter school campus. What I had come to think of as HTH was really just the first building in the entire charter school. Its called The Gary and Jerri-Ann Jacobs High Tech High. It serves approximately 570 students with approximately 35 teaching staff, 9 support staff and at least 3 administrators. Some of their staff have become famous world-wide for the work they are doing.
The most famous of the staff is probably Larry Rosenstock.

He is the CEO of HTH, the originator of the HTH mix of educational concepts (from what I could tell) and the chief architect of HTH's vision. My impression of Larry; a very smart person that seems to have been there and done that-- and probably wrote the book too. We got to have an audience with him during our visit and I will be writing up the contents of that interview in my next post. All total we got to interview Laura McBain, Ben Daley, Larry Rosenstock and a team of other faculty members. We also were taken on a tour of the facility by HTH students. Our team was presented with the entire spectrum of professionals and activity at HTH.

Walking through the doors of the original HTH building was a moment of high expectation for me.

You are greeted with the Great Room (I think) and you are immediately struck by how bright airy it feels. Along the lines of their "Creation vs. Consumption" mantra the entire facility was purpose built to reflect the school's beliefs. Students are greeted with light, art and lots of windows. You bear witness to project after project on display in all areas. Bathrooms, windows, electrical panel covers, almost every wall and many ceilings are covered in student designs, projects and artwork. Everything there has a feeling of cohesion by inclusion. If you see it, it serves to remind you of the purpose of the place, learning and evidence thereof. As I was told, the windows in each classroom and office are designed to get you moving to see what is going on in the room -curiosity as a motivator. Someone later made mention of the two feet rule; "If you see something going on that interests you, move your feet over there!" I have to admit, I was struck by the sheer scale and depth of decoration of the entire building. My pictures are not going to do it justice. The entire place is 39000 square feet. It was intended to hold 390 students in accordance with their belief of one student for every 100 square feet of space. I found out that the current level of 570 students was due to the current financial crisis gripping most of California educational systems. Honestly, it did not feel crowded at all, in fact it was just the opposite. As we moved through the building there were lots of smiles and waves and greetings of all kinds. People just seemed happy to be there that day.
     One of the most evident aspects of the student work that is visible is the quality of thought and the amount of effort involved in its creation. Most of the work displayed is an evaluative product or "Exhibition" designed by intent to display the learning behind the project. A good example is this window project from and Art and Math collaborative project. One of the most striking examples, and most intricate and beautiful sits on display in the conference room. The wooden puzzle-wheel was created a a group of students over the course of a semester. As I understood it, it was a reflection of how projects and content and process work together to produce a cohesive whole.

It was entirely student made using wood and tools you normally find in an Industrial Technology classroom. Amazing work and fully functional complete with gears and hand cranks. 

      I was especially curious to see what kinds of technology was offered at High Tech High. I mean, lets be honest, as a Tech professional, when you go to a place called High Tech High, you expect a certain level of awesomeness. I mean, they put it in the name of the entire facility. What I learned is that High Tech High is a bit of a misnomer. The school itself is not floating in money and can't afford to buy every possible piece of technology they want. So that was a bit of a surprise. Honestly, it was comforting to find out that my district was just as good technologically as "High Tech" High. I saw the data room, with corresponding windows to let the world see the nuts and bolts as we walked past the offices toward the Conference room. Outside the data room, poised for techno-nerds like me, was a sign intended to ward off any technology questions (which I am sure they get a lot).

It was a nice write up. I was especially caught by the one computer for every two students. The seemed about what I would expect, if they did not have a 1:1 ratio (which is what I actually expected). The sign mentions helping "students interact and learn how to collaborate with one another." This ties right in to deeper learning tenants and was an expectation I had as a tech professional. It was a staple of educational technology -foster collaboration and cooperation. If anyone should understand how to make technology work in a school, surely it was this place. Not surprisingly the answer I got from them was technology is used all the time, but only when "instructionally appropriate." The "instructionally appropriate" definition for them was almost all the time. I saw evidence in every class I visited (save one) of technology use by the students during instructional time. 

More in my next post...