Change is underway at a network of Colorado Springs schools looking to break away from the traditional model for teaching. Each of these Next Generation Learning schools redesigned themselves to create more relevant, authentic learning experiences.
It’s been a radical shift from the traditional mold that created teachers who were “so worried about a test score ... that we created almost robots that were afraid to create or innovate,” said Scott Fuller, the Next Generation Learning coordinator for Colorado Springs School District 11.
Take Trailblazer Elementary on the far northwest side of Colorado Springs. Several years ago the classrooms had kids sitting in rows. And teacher Alycia Eschler was like all the other teachers, telling the kids “exactly what we were going to do and how we were going to do it and how they would show mastery.”
Now, the school is striving to live up to its name and things are different for Eschler.
Read the rest of the story at Colorado Public Radio.
