Images from videos by Erik Friedl that describe and talk about principles in Big Picture schools

The following images come from several videos that Erik Friedl compiled between 2011 and 2014.

This video was the first visit by Erik Friedl to Highland Park High School
where Enrique Gonzalez was principal.

Enrique Gonzalez

The "Palabra" program is adapted to the students
in the Los Angeles area

In other schools, teachers just teach what’s on the board and switch to the next subject.  Here we have the opportunity to work on that subject for a couple of days.

 

Our principal is a man.  Unlike other schools, where it’s just some suit with a face.  Our principal has a personality and he gets through to us.

The video was completed in October 2013.

It is different here than where I came from.  I didn't have help from my other schools.  Here I have an understanding about what I'm supposed to do.  and what I'm going to do after I graduate.

At regular high schools, you don't really know what school is really about.
Here you learn a lot about yourself and what school is really about.  you want to educate yourself.

Over here nobody judges you.  We are all seen here as students.  

The Big Picture Website

We use a portfolio system but we bring it home by asking students to show us your best work.   What are your strengths?  What are your weaknesses and deterrents?  How can we help you?  We bring in every parent to set up the learning plan to graduate.

By bringing in the community, lie the guitar and music, and having a place that is driven by the passions of young people, it changes everything.

COMMENT ABOUT A SCRATCH ON A TABLE
at Nightingale Middle School:

Is the student guilty of a crime?  The educational community is guilty for not engaging the child to respect his environment.  Most young people in America don't believe that the school belongs to them.

Three photos that turned me into a virtual mentor. I visited the school twice and now I'm continuing to remain in touch... and you can become a virtual mentor, too.

Thank you, Dr. Amen:  The ANTs or
PENAs in Spanish (invented by Mario
Llorente, translator)

Please take a moment to look at these photos.

This is what happened when I started listening to Enrique Gonzalez.  I stated thinking, "How can I personalize my lessons?  How can my student's work come out?"

Dennis Littky wrote that most people ask, "What are you going to teach our students?  What is your expertise?"
but really teachers do their best work when they bring out what is inside the students.

This is based on my SAT Test Prep work

(That's a quote from The Big Picture:  Education is Everyone's Business, 2004, by ASCD.org)

That's what these photos show.  I came to the campus of Highland Park high Scholl and I simply shared with them some ideas.

The students did this work.

See the 7 Survival Skills by Tony Wagner

This is what any adult can do.   Adopt a class, sit with some students, talk for a short time and then listen.

The best part of being a mentor is saying, "Oh, you want to make a yearbook?  Here's a simple and inexpensive way to make your yearbook.  Have you thought about using CreateSpace?  $10 plus $2 shipping and the book will have color photos."

Go ahead, order the book

Then I just sit back and wait for their questions and see what they produce.  

Becoming a virtual mentor means doing everything a school volunteer does but at distance and without the commuting time of driving to the school.

by the way -- what is your Net Impact?   YourNetImpact.com

Students at Highland Park High School create an "ANT-eating" poster

I'm a high school teacher, so I'm always hunting for activities that will engage the teenage mind.  

a)  Tony Wagner's "Survival Skills" to prepare for the global economy
b)  The Personalized Curriculum that Big Picture schools advocate
c)  Daniel Amen's work with "Automatic Negative Thoughts" (ANTs).  
d) The male/female brain differences that Rob Becker talks about in Defending the Caveman.
Students can take the initial idea and then create a project

Look what some students in Highland Park High School, near the Nightingale Middle School, created after I dropped by to tell them about Dr. Amen's work with "ANTeaters" (procedures to "eat" the negative thoughts).  The photo shows a detail of the poster.



How did this project evolve?  I met Enrique Gonzalez when he was the principal of Frida Kahlo High School in Los Angeles in 2009.  Four years later, he's at this Highland Park school and I dropped in for a visit.  Enrique encouraged me to stop in again and I spent 45 minutes with students, talking for 5 minutes about innovative schools and the power of projects, and then I asked them to make some posters.   


Now look what some of those students did!
Here's their message:  

hey again! it's ireland lopez, greg morales and drake ferris. we finished the poster board A.N.T project.

Bravo... I'm sending this link to Dr. Amen...

I'm a happy visitor and mentor.

Further reading:  Tony Wagner's page  7 Skills
Big Picture and Personalization
Dr. Amen and the ANTeater

Tips about Negative Self-Talk
Article about ANTeaters