{"id":10401,"date":"2015-12-03T04:00:11","date_gmt":"2015-12-03T12:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/?p=10401"},"modified":"2018-10-08T12:37:07","modified_gmt":"2018-10-08T19:37:07","slug":"an-lrng-challenge-to-educators-in-2016-how-will-you-join-the-evolution-of-learning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/an-lrng-challenge-to-educators-in-2016-how-will-you-join-the-evolution-of-learning\/","title":{"rendered":"An LRNG Challenge to Educators in 2016: How Will You Join the Evolution of Learning?"},"content":{"rendered":"

New funding opportunities through LRNG will support connected learning by leveraging rich resources in communities and helping young people connect their interests beyond classroom walls.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat if learning had no bells, no walls?\u201d<\/p>\n

This was the question we posed to educators across the country last year in our first LRNG Innovators Challenge<\/a>. What kinds of projects could educators dream up to extend learning beyond the classroom? What opportunities would they create to build on their students\u2019 interests? And what would happen if we gave teachers the resources to make these dreams a reality?<\/p>\n

Amazing things it turns out.<\/p>\n

Elementary schoolers in rural New Mexico harvested and dehydrated herbs from their school\u2019s garden to make soap and tea as part of a summer STEAM program<\/a>. Middle and high school students in South Central Los Angeles invented apocalypse-themed games<\/a> as part of a 36-hour game jam. And in Washington DC, teens in a hands-on history class<\/a> interviewed older Washingtonians about their experience living through the great migration.<\/p>\n

\"Students<\/a>

Students interview older Washingtonians in an art gallery in Washington DC.
Photo\/ Center for Inspired Teaching<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

These are just slivers of the larger programs each team of educators created with support from\u00a0LRNG, a partnership between the National Writing Project and John Legend\u2019s Show Me Campaign. Though the grantees\u2019 work varied in location, size, and ages of students, all 14 introduced new opportunities for\u00a0connected learning, or learning that happens when students follow their interests and create work that\u2019s meaningful to them.<\/p>\n

With continued support\u00a0from the\u00a0John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, LRNG will be able to offer rounds of challenge grants to innovative educators in 2015 and 2016.\u00a0Plus, LRNG Innovators Challenge was so successful that it has been adopted by\u00a0Collective Shift,<\/a> a new nonprofit launched by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation whose mission is to redesign social systems for the connected age.<\/p>\n

This year, we\u2019re asking, how can teachers take advantage of rich resources in their communities? We\u2019re challenging teachers<\/a> to develop partnerships and programs that connect in-school and out-of-school learning. The deadline for the LRNG Innovators Challenge is January 13, 2016<\/strong>. Winners of the $20,000 grants will be announced in March 2016.<\/p>\n

Here are a few more examples from last year to get your creative juices flowing:<\/p>\n