Our Wildwood, Summer 2021, Volume 46

“” IN ‘UNSCHOOLING SCHOOL’ AND IN CHARGING STUDENTS WITH BECOMING ARCHITECTS OF THEIR OWN LEARNING, YOU HAVE UNLEASHED SOMETHING IN YOUR COMMUNITY THAT IS AS EXCITING AS IT IS POWERFUL.

Susan Olsen

Marc Frankel

engenders discussion, and requires genuine reflection. It emphasizes process, and that’s where the best learning is found. As a progressive school, Wildwood has leaned into the future for decades and there is much we already know. But, like any good student, we are both humbled and motivated by all there is yet to learn. The future is changing faster than we can understand and prepare for. Our commitment, by engaging in this work and being deliberate in the process, is to become smarter, better informed, and more effective stewards of Wildwood School, its students, and its future—no matter what that future brings.

Wildwood support great learning in an increasingly ambiguous, highly dynamic world—through a particular lens: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging; Pedagogy and Program; Using Evolving Technology to Amplify and Transform Learning; Physical, Social, and Emotional Wellness, Expanding and Deepening the Learning Experience; and Wildwood as a Learning Node. With Grant’s vision for the process as a template, the Design Teams got to work in early February to begin their research. Not so much fortune tellers as miners, team members are excavating the educational landscape to uncover leading- edge practices and examples that Wildwood can adopt, replicate, or improve. We will use this data, properly curated, to inform potential strategic directions for the future of the school. If this sounds like a big, open- ended investigation with a lot of possible answers, that’s good! Wildwood students and teachers LOVE that. It drives exploration,

— JOHN C. GULLA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, THE EDWARD E. FORD FOUNDATION, FUNDER OF WILDWOOD’S INSTITUTE MODEL

49

CELEBRATING 50 YEARS! | OWW SUMMER 2021