Mass-Customized Learning program launches at Central

Last spring, Principal Ryan Caufman introduced a new pilot program to sophomores and juniors called Mass-Customized Learning (MCL). It was presented as a project-based learning style that would interconnect English, history and art courses. This fall, about 50 students are participating in the program, where they have three periods of their school day dedicated to MCL. “We start the day with a family meeting every morning; we talk about what sessions are going to be held that day and what the teachers are going to go over. Then we plan our schedule out on an automatic website...There are mini lessons you can go to, you can have work time, or there are assessments you can take,” said junior Olivia Garisto, one of the students in the pilot program. Each MCL student must pick a topic, or “theme,” to center their curriculum on for the semester. According to Garisto, you can pick any topic as long as it’s school appropriate. She is doing her project on feminism. “I’m doing a video that incorporates all of [our subjects]. I’ll be talking about the history of feminism, art aspects of artists that have taken on feminist issues and then I’ll do an English history paper.” The lessons provided to MCL students are not content-based, but are instead focused around thinking skills that will help them complete their projects. “We have a thinking skill called compare and contrast, so we’ll do ideas of comparing and contrasting. Then [these lessons] also reinforce their understanding of how compare and contrast might work with what they’re doing for their project,” said art teacher James Grandi. “We focus on not just these thinking skills, but we do soft skills as well like time management and relationship building. There’s a bunch of them that we work on because we don’t just want good thinkers; we want people who are good thinkers, but then also have good personal skills as well,” he added. After a lesson is taught several times, the students have the opportunity to take a skills assessment on it. These assessments are set up like quizzes where students can earn points in that particular skill set, said Grandi. However, the majority of their grade is based on the project they chose. These projects are where the selective learning-style of MCL comes into play. “There’s a lot of self-teaching in [MCL], that way you can pick what fits with your learning style instead of just sitting and listening to a teacher talk,” said Garisto. “You have a lot of openness and freedom to learn the way you want to, so instead of checking out halfway through your regular class, you have time to really get involved in your learning and be passionate about the topics you choose.” Garisto also said that while MCL students do have a great deal of freedom, the preconceived notion that they receive no guidance is far from accurate. “We have all these mini lessons that are teaching us new things every single day and there are aspects that you do teach yourself, but you work at your own pace.” Grandi also said that he thinks the way people perceive MCL has been one of the main obstacles of the program: “I think the rumors [about MCL] are that kids can do whatever they want to do or they’re just not doing anything and they’re not learning anything. Well, that might be true for a few kids--and I think that will come out later just like with anything else--but because someone’s sitting in a class not disturbing anything doesn’t really mean they’re learning either. I think that we, as viewers, have to not judge right away.” Because there is not as much routine structure aligned with MCL, there is more accountability placed on the students. “If you’re someone who procrastinates a lot, it’s really difficult to get your head in the game, so to speak. You have to really be on top of yourself to make sure you’re getting your stuff done,” said Garisto. However, there are definitely MCL students who think the experience of the program is worth the extra responsibilities: “It’s really inspiring what everyone is doing. Everybody helps out everybody,” said junior Sydney Little. “There is a lot of talent and innovation here, which makes me feel really happy and honored to be here.” Another MCL student, junior Sage Sadak added, “We get to chose what we do here. We get to care and get involved with the community and it’s really great.” “If you want to take control of your own learning style, this is definitely a class you should take next semester,” said Garisto.

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