This is Jennifer Gonzalez welcoming you to episode 169 of the Cult of Pedagogy Podcast.

In this episode we are going to learn about a new school in Philadelphia where educators

stopped reimagining school in their heads and actually built it from scratch.

It's called Revolution School.

In almost every conversation I have with another educator, as long as we have the luxury of

time to let our thoughts wander around some, we end up at a place where we start to fantasize.

When talking about problems and challenges of teaching or of school in general, one of

us will say something like, if only we had more time in the day with students, or wouldn't

it be great if students could just work on big long-term projects that really meant something

to them, or I would love to get students out in the community solving real problems and

making a real impact.

Usually the fantasy dissolves after a few seconds when the dreamer remembers the limitations

placed on them by standardized tests, lock-step schedules, pacing guides, and grading expectations,

a set of constraints that all fall under the umbrella of the way we've always done things.

Most people locked in these systems have dreams of how things could get better, but they

have no idea where to start.

Some teachers figure it out by building a school within a school, like the three who started

the Apollo school, a three-hour interdisciplinary program at a high school in York, Pennsylvania.

I interviewed them back in 2017 in episode 62, and they are still going strong today.

Others do it within a single-class period, like Indiana teacher Don Wetrick did with his

innovation class, that was also 2017, episode 83.

Other people go even further and start from scratch, building a whole new school with

...