This is Jennifer Gonzalez welcoming you to episode 62 of the Cult of Pedagogy podcast.

In this episode we're going to talk to three teachers who have created an incredible model

for cross-curricular student-directed learning. They call it the Apollo School.

I feel like we've reached a point where most teachers embrace the idea of student-directed learning,

the philosophy of being the guide on the side rather than the stage on the stage. We can also

appreciate the value of cross-curricular studies, blending math and science, for example,

or integrating arts and music into history class. So why are so many teachers still basically

using the old model where we plan and deliver the lessons and separate subjects in lock step using

the same traditional schedule as always? Two reasons I think. One, because it works more or less.

We move students through the system, they learn some stuff, pass tests, and graduate with an

acceptable repertoire of knowledge and skills. Acceptable. Enough to function, to continue on to

college and survive more or less. Except that lately more and more voices are telling us that this

repertoire of knowledge and skills isn't quite cutting it. They aren't quite as adept at problem

solving and collaboration and inquiry as they need to be for the 21st century. The other reason

we stick to the traditional framework is the one I believe is more powerful. It's because we don't

know how to change. We have no template for what school could look like if we restructured it

to reflect priorities like cross-curricular connections, student self-efficacy, and inquiry-based

learning. Well, I have a template for you today. The Apollo School is a program that operates

inside a regular public school, Central York High School in York, Pennsylvania, which just happens

to be right down the street from where I did my student teaching in 1993. Apollo was a block of

three classes. English, social studies, and art all blended together and co-taught by three teachers,

one from each subject area. Students arrive in the morning and set their own goals for the day

...