Synnovation Lab News Blast
Version 1.3 May 2018
Summer Reading Activities
Dive into the Synnovation Lab this summer with a little poolside reading! Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All by the Kelley Brother's is the summer reading required for all Syn Lab students. We also encourage parents to read the book to learn more about the culture of the Synnovation Lab.
Summer Reading Activities:
- Join the Google Classroom and participate in the activities. Click on the link and enter code: t0273gt
- Complete and bring on the first day of school the "30 Circles" Activity
- Complete and bring on the first day of school the "Mind Mapping" Activity
What Is Personalized Learning?
If you watched the “Most Likely to Succeed” YouTube video from the first Synnovation News Blast, you may remember that the key goal of school through the industrial revolution and beyond was to train a consistent, compliant, factory-ready workforce. As our economic needs have changed, so has the demand for a different skill set based on innovation, ownership, problem-solving, collaboration, and creativity. The solution to fulfilling these growing demands is personalized learning.
Michael B. Horn, a futuristic, technology-driven education advocate, once defined personalized learning in the following way:
At Sycamore we have chosen to invest in our staff to transform their classes into personalized versions while focusing on making significant changes to school infrastructure that gets in the way of effective personalized learning for each student.
The Synnovation Lab focuses on these key elements:
Student agency and ownership
Relationship-driven
Learner-focused
We also asked ourselves several important questions, including:
Who should own the majority of the learning process; students or teachers?
How do we manage the juxtaposition of mastering consistent course standards and giving students choices in their learning?
Should the length of a course be determined by completing seat time of 180 days times 48 minutes or by the length of time each student needs to master the standards?
Should each student be held to the exact same length of time for each course?
It took us roughly three years of collaborative work with teachers, parents, and students to come up with a personalized learning system that we believe is researched-based, right for our community, and most importantly right for students.
We would like to very clearly emphasize what Personalized Learning in the Synnovation Lab is NOT:
A free-for-all of learning whatever you want
Students teaching themselves
Online learning
Please watch the video below for a great description of how Summit Public Schools uses Personalized Learning.
What Personalized Learning Means to Our Staff
Below is a brief description of Personalized Learning from each of our Synnovation Lab teachers.
Blended Foundations of Fitness Update
As we finalize schedules, we want to confirm which PE Course you are planning to take in the 2018-2019 school year.
Students have two options:
- Blended PE: Mondays & Wednesdays 6:30 a.m. or Tuesdays & Thursdays at 6:30 a.m.
- Foundations of Fitness: Students will leave the Synnovation Lab to go to PE Class every day.
Please complete this Google Form to indicate which course you are planning to take. THANK YOU!
Extend Learning Through Travel
We have a great opportunity to extend classroom learning and personal development through international travel this summer! Connect with other students and connect the History, Art, Science, Literature curriculum to a real-life experience!
Summer 2018--Mr. Cole is leading a small group to Berlin, Prague, Krakow, Budapest, and Vienna in early July! Details on this page.
Summer 2019--We are starting the process of planning our Summer 2019 travel. Indicate your travel preference on this survey to help us make our decision.
Teacher Spotlight
Greg Ulland, Math
Greg Ulland has been an educator and coach since 1998. He has a passion for helping young people reach their potential, but is equally passionate about students reaching true happiness. He takes pride in the hard work and cooperation that is demonstrated by the students in his classes.
Greg Cole, Social Studies
Synnovation Lab
Email: Warrena@sycamoreschools.org
Location: 7400 Cornell Road, Montgomery, OH, USA
Phone: 513-686-1770
Twitter: @synnovationlab