Although I have a title of Executive Director (privileged to do work I love with people who inspire me), I still call myself a teacher. I have always been, and remain, completely in thrall to the process of human learning.
Back in 2008, in my sixth year as an English teacher for Envision Schools, I was lucky to be involved in the design and implementation of a multi-disciplinary project that was chronicled by a professional documentarian. Many of you will be familiar with this video of the Campaign Ad Project, but for those who aren’t, it’s a blast-from-the-past glimpse into who I am as a teacher, why I love teaching in a deeper learning culture, and why I am so committed to the overlapping concepts of project-based learning and performance assessment.
Young people deserve learning experiences that are challenging, exciting, supportive, and memorable—what I like to call “learning you can tell a story about.” ELP’s mission is to help learning communities create the conditions for these kinds of experiences to be typical, not extraordinary.
Follow Justin on Twitter @jusowells.
This rounds out our introduction of every ELP team member. In upcoming installments, we’ll pose questions that prompt deeper insights into the ELP team. If you have a question for the team that you’d like answered, please send your question to Courtney Katen for a chance to have it answered in a future newsletter.
