Tips from a MicroSociety Pre

Motivate Older Students
Help Students Find Purpose
Help students learn to do what they love and love what
they do.
Once student ’ s basic needs are met, multiply their
opportunities to discover their passion.
Best Practices for Pre-K
Teachers as Facilitators
Sometimes younger students show a stronger work ethic
than older students and everything can be a teaching
moment.
Adapt Until You Discover What Works
To be most effective, adapt to naturally occurring events
within and around the school.
Develop Values Through Practice
Creating an environment where students and teachers are
accountable to uphold the mission, vision, and values of
the school takes practice.
An openness to possibilities allows students to explore,
expand, and engender solutions on their own.
When You Are Stuck, Ask the Kids
Do not shy away from admitting to not knowing; the voice
of the students keeps the society thriving.
Vision For Expansion
An environment where students discover their personal
passions and embrace their responsibilities as citizens
offers hope for global renewal.
Tips from a
MicroSociety Pre-K—12 School
Special Edition, 2 of 2
When Colegio San Juan del Camino (SJC), a small
Pre-K through 12 school located on the outskirts of Bogota,
Colombia, introduced MicroSociety three years ago, they ran
into the same problem that many start up schools with older
students encounter: they thought MicroSociety was just a
game. How SJC overcame the challenge and won the hearts
of their teenagers is a study in a willingness to listen and
adapt.
According to MicroSociety Coordinator Laura Mejia,
“Many of our older students would open companies just to
open them, and then they would be seen walking around
campus and not in their jobs working because they didn’t think
that Micro was relevant to them.” Oleg, a 10th grade student,
explained, “In the first year, I didn’t know what it was about. I
thought it was only to make enterprises – and I didn’t like that
at all. So the next year, I was kind of an anarchist – I pretty
much wanted to destroy it.” Despite rebellion in the ranks,
Laura believes that “last year’s success resulted from the
older students actually falling in love with MicroSociety for the
first time!”
When Micro was first introduced, students had to
decide on a government for their society. At SJC, the high
school students were charged with investigating different
types of government and after digging deeply into their own
research, different groups governed the school for an entire
day! In the morning, they would describe their system of
government and provide a set of rules for the entire school to
abide by. Under Authoritarian rule for example, students and
teachers alike had to wear their socks over their pants and
adhere to strict directions. When the Socialists led,
government workers were required to wear hats and business
owners were mandated to wear uniform clothing and to
relinquish profits for the good of the society. At the end of
each day, the entire school gathered to reflect on what they
learned about that particular government and what the pros
and cons would be if enacted in their society. After full
immersion of 7 different governments in their society, the
voters chose Democracy.
During the process of deciding on a government, the
whole school buzzed with excitement, but after the form of
government was selected and elections passed, the novelty of
actively participating in MicroSociety faded for the older
students. They felt that MicroSociety was an imposition, not
only was it something entirely new to them, it was graded.
Juan, a 10th grade student, admitted, “I asked, why am I doing
this? And I wasn’t alone; most of my friends felt the same.
Perhaps that attitude resulted from years of not being taken
seriously or of feeling belittled and without purpose but in
truth, I think the main reason we resisted was because we
were scared. Micro was life and we didn’t know what we were
doing.”
When it came time to establish ventures, the younger
students took to MicroSociety immediately, but the older
students felt out of place and found nothing in Micro useful for
their futures. Clear that the older students needed to be
motivated, the staff set out on a mission to help them figure
out all that MicroSociety had to offer. They embarked on a
serious effort to help their students identify and embody each
of their passions.
According to Laura, “We were able to maintain
confidence that our kids would benefit from MicroSociety
because we had the examples of all the schools in the United
States that work, and like them, we were driven by the same
desire to help kids become motivated to learn. As we realized
that our older students needed help, we shifted our attitudes
from being only teachers to also being learners and that
changed everything. We focused on creating a society where
the whole person was the priority and everything else was
secondary. We trusted that if the teens loved what they were
doing in Micro, passion and motivation would flourish. So we
took things slow – very slow at the beginning – and we let the
kids guide it.”
For two years, it was trial and error for the middle and
high school students, but finally the staff came up with a game
changer. Each student was handed a survey titled: What do I
want to be when I grow up? The students had to pick one
profession and when the staff received their answers, they
knew exactly what they needed to do.
Click here to see the survey
Click here to see the translated version
Before the start of the third year, the students were
grouped together in “Academies” – MicroSociety classes based
solely on their career choices. For example, students who
wanted to become artists, jewelry makers and fashion
designers joined the Arts Academy, while students who wanted
to be robot makers, mechanical engineers, pilots and auto
mechanics gathered in the Robotics Academy. The Micro
Academy classes were created to provide a place where
citizens, whether in 1st or 11th grade, could investigate their
profession of choice for the first month or so before launching
their ventures. After launching ventures, the Academies would
remain a place where students could learn about related topics
that they could apply to the products and services offered by
their ventures.
Staff, students and families worked hard to identify
and secure outside professionals to help, and once the
Academies began, they were hooked! Some joined in once a
week, others once a month, while still others offered classes
periodically. In addition to strengthening the real world content
of the classes, the professionals and teachers worked together
to take students on field trips relevant to their professions.
“Everyone appreciated how they added authenticity and depth
to the Academy subject in ways that our teachers could not,”
says Laura, “And within a couple weeks, the older students
became excited!”
“When the teachers introduced the Micro Academies, it was
really awesome,” recalled Oleg, one of the most vocal students
against MicroSociety in the beginning. “At First I was skeptical.
In the years before, I worked in the food business and in the
government, but I didn’t like either one, so I was really lazy.
The Robotics Academy turned me around – I learned how
important it is to do what you love and to love what you do. I’ve
liked engineering since I was 3 years old, and that’s what I do
well. In this way, the academies changed my mind because
now I can do what I like to do and what I’m going to study in
college.”
In their Academies,
students gained many handson opportunities. For example,
the veterinarians visited a farm
once a month, where they
experienced firsthand a wide
range of different animals.
After learning about the stages
of pregnancy, they even got to
meet a newborn calf! After the
students of the Medical
Academy discovered that the
local college provides
seminars for potential medical
students, Andrea, their facilitator, arranged a visit in which the
students got to assist in an autopsy. As you can imagine, this
encounter with the real world prompted a few students to reexamine whether or not they were meant to be doctors .
Overall, regardless of the challenges the academy
encountered, all of the students of SJC expressed gratitude for
getting to experience the professions in such a real way.
Approaching their fourth year, the students of SJC are
in for a surprise. MicroSociety will start earlier than ever before.
Citizenship Lesson have been condensed and strengthened
such that at the end of two weeks, the students will enter the
Academies, investigating the professions they choose and
running their associated ventures. In the second half of the
year, those students will have the opportunity to start any type
of company they want! Everyone is curious: Will they open up
businesses concerning the profession of their Academy? Will
they group up with friends and start a company that has
nothing to do with any of their careers? Or will students pursue
the knowledge and skills of their chosen profession by applying
them in a different one? We will keep you updated in the
months ahead!
Highlights:
1. Understand what type of older population you have in your
school.
2. Find out what students want to be when they grow up and
group them together by their interest.
3. Working with your students and their families, find
professional volunteers in the areas of interest identified
by your students and have them work with the group at
least once a month.
4. Give your students real world experiences outside school
to get them motivated. They need to see to believe.
At SJC, students as young as two years old are
immersed in MicroSociety with just as much planning and
integrity as their older role models. For preschoolers and
kindergarteners, the year kicks off with deciding classroom
rules in order to create their own classroom constitutions. First,
the students begin analyzing the Constitutional Rights and
Duties of children by studying well-known fables. After reading
the stories and/or watching movies about them, they discuss
what the characters did or did not demonstrate in terms of the
rights they are working on. Finally, the students made a
Constitution Book with coloring pages of all the characters,
highlighting their Constitutional Rights.
Click here to see the translated version
suggestions for parents to reinforce shared goals with their
children. One such assignment for families to work on together
involves creating posters of rights and duties at home, in which
parents are encouraged to introduce more specific family
values.
As part of MicroSociety, younger students often have
jobs within their classes. At SJC, however, the typical jobs,
such as line leader and caboose, are expanded to give
younger citizens a greater sense of importance and
involvement.
Examples of Micro Jobs:
Secretary: Helps the teacher pass out materials in class;
counts how many students are in class and how many
Examples of the Fables and Rights SJC citizens work on:
are absent, and gives this list to the Messenger and the
Goldilocks and The Three Bears: The Right to Housing
Delivery Express.
Cinderella: The Right to a Decent Childhood
Delivery Express: Takes the number of students attending
The Jungle Book: The Right to an Education Click here to see the
class that day to the cafeteria in the morning and also
Thumbelina: The Right to a Family
Pre-K & K video
picks up the daily snacks from the cafeteria to pass
The Ugly Duckling: The Right to Equality
them out in class.
Interpretation of their
The Tin Soldier: The Right to Health
Tour Guide: Leads and guides students to their
constitutional right to a
destination. The idea is for him/her to describe the
In addition to
decent childhood
scenery and any potential obstacles (rocks, stairs) that
reading and analyzing
they could encounter.
fables, each grade level
Salesperson: Sells or rents out objects that other teachers
creates a class video
may need to borrow from the classroom; sells objects in
interpretation of a
the classroom to fellow peers.
constitutional right of their
Buyer: Purchases objects/materials from the salesperson.
choice! Complex concepts
Messenger: Counts the attendance and takes the daily
such as rights and duties
number to the school’s secretary. He is also in charge of
described in a National
delivering any notes or materials to other classrooms.
Constitution take time and
Banker: Pays each worker and also gives money to the
patience to fully comprehend
classroom buyer when the need arises.
so teachers of SJC
frequently send home
These jobs rotate every seven weeks and a salary
chart is used to
identify how
much each
student earns.
“Since some of
our citizens are
too young to
identify their
names,” Laura
explains, “we incorporate what they are learning at the time in
class. For example, next to each name there is a shape they
can identify, as well as a color. Everything is a teaching
moment!”
According to Laura, one of the best practices for
working with preschoolers is routine. “In order for the kids to
understand and love what they are doing, they have to do it
regularly,” she explains. “The teachers have to be super
consistent, and we have to be on top of the ones who aren’t.
For instance, some of our teachers were not having their kids
wear the costumes so we had to sit down and talk about how
important it is, and how being able to wear a costume allows
our smaller students to feel not only bigger, but also to feel
empowered.”
Another top practice according to Laura is the concept
of ‘transversality’, meaning how
you immerse the subjects into
Micro and how you immerse Micro
into the subjects. At the beginning
of the year, Laura and Chayo, SJC’
s principal extraordinaire, meet
with all of the preschool and
kindergarten teachers to design a
curriculum MicroSociety map. The
map aims to integrate important
issues in their society with what the students will learn in class
throughout the year. “For example,” explains Laura, “while
teaching the primary colors, they will integrate the Colombian
Flag and the SJC emblem, discussing which colors are used
and what they mean. That way we can tie in discussions about
our society in SJC and relate it to our country.” Additionally, the
teachers have each student investigate the jobs of their
parents, present them to the class, and determine if there are
similar jobs in their MicroSociety. This activity ties in family,
unity, society building, language skills and much more!
The school also finds that devising new ways to do
things is very important, especially with their younger citizens.
So every year, the teachers do something new with their
students. Next year, we’re going to instill savings! While
learning to count or add, students will tie in the importance and
ethics of saving money. They’ll learn not to spend money just
to spend it, but rather to make an important decision and to
have a goal of what they will be spending the money on.” The
preschoolers will have 3 jars as visual aids as they learn how to
save, how to give, and how to spend. Perhaps adults should do
the same!
Highlights:
1. Identify the background your children.
2. Discuss the type of community you want and the
rules needed to secure it.
3. Read stories and fables that reinforce the meaning
of these complex topics.
4. Believe that all children no matter their age can learn
and can help build a society.
5. Encourage them to speak up and have faith that
even they can help change the society!
For MicroSociety to be effective, it must be adapted to
the culture both within and surrounding the school. It also must
evolve with the changing times and needs of students. “During
the first two years when the older students treated Micro as a
game,” Laura explains, “they wanted to change jobs all the
time. It did not seem to matter that they had to work just as
hard to give their two weeks’ notice, find a replacement, and
apply to new jobs. Wanting to instill the idea of following
through with decisions and referencing our Citizenship
Contract, the teachers and administrators worked hard to
encourage responsibility to the society while at the same time
helping students find ways to stick with their career of choice in
a way they found meaningful.”
For example, just a few months before graduation last
year, a student in the Architecture Academy suddenly decided
that rather than architecture, she wanted to pursue psychology.
Despite the stark difference between the two career paths and
impending graduation, the Academy Facilitator adapted! With
help from the Facilitator of the Psychology Academy, they
brainstormed ways the student could be a psychologist within
the Architecture Academy. Ultimately, she discovered that the
Architecture Academy offered her an opportunity for practical
psychology experience within a field she also enjoyed and
decided to spend the remainder of the year trying to help her
colleagues explore why some were not showing up on time to
their company or to their class, why they were not motivated,
and what could be done to help motivate them.
Having seen the benefits of collaboration, it became a
common practice at SJC. Whether a student joined an
academy just to find it was not quite what he/she expected or a
student joined a company to be with her friends, they were
encouraged to analyze what they really wanted to do and if it
was possible to still pursue their passion within their existing
Academy.
Another student at SJC faced a different kind of
challenge. He shared an interest in opening a stock market and
the staff greeted his idea with enthusiasm and support. Once
he began to explore the complexity of the project however, he
became skeptical, bombarded by the horrid
What-if monster: what if there weren’t enough
companies to support it, what if no one else
was interested, what if it failed.
Laura reflects on the experience. “You
can encourage students to cultivate ideas, but
ultimately, it’s up to them. Either way, reflection
is critical to help students feel ok about and learn from their
decisions!” When the student decided against starting a stock
market, he and Laura sat down to talk about it. They discussed
the possible consequences he could have had if he had gone
through with the idea, such as starting the school’s newest top
venture, sparking the interest of other students, making more
money, or less, and even about going bankrupt. They
discussed that even in the worst case scenario, he would have
been able to get back up again and pursue other options. More
importantly, they discussed the impact each decision would
have on their MicroSociety as well as how the consequences
would play out in the society outside of SJC had this occurred
later in life.
One of the most commonly repeated themes
embedded in the inner workings of SJC is that every moment
can be made into a learning opportunity, with the Citizenship
Contract serving as a guide. For instance, as part of an
assignment in one class, students were each given a piece of
paper with a number
between 1 and 7 to
match a corresponding
table. At the end of the
class, many of the
papers were returned
covered in writing and
doodles. Though
frustrated that the
papers she planned to
use for an entire week
lasted for only one class,
Laura began thinking of
the walls surrounding the school, which were also covered with
graffiti. She was not the only one who was disturbed by the
graffiti so she and several teachers collaborated to create a
PowerPoint filled with photos of the scribbled papers as well as
pictures of the school walls. For each picture they showed,
students were asked to identify what they saw. The students
assumed that they were all graffiti. Of course, there was that
student who identified her work as art, but the art teacher was
present and readily explained that art is not made by
vandalizing someone else’s property. Together, the entire class
reflected on the impact of graffiti, on their school walls and
elsewhere in town, and discussed the lack of respect for
citizenship that goes with it. Afterwards, The attitude change
was palpable.
Highlights:
Regardless of how a MicroSociety evolves, it should
be an environment of peace with the HEART Strand at its core.
At SJC citizenship values are defined before the economy of
Micro begins. According to MicroSociety Coordinator, Laura,
“The process begins with researching the background of the
students. Doing this helps the staff discover what may motivate
their students and what type of citizens the society will need.
Are students likely to go to college or technical school when
they graduate from high school? Is there a significant drop out
rate or high crime in the community? With Micro, you can use
this knowledge to reinforce a principle, a strategy, and/or
citizenship values, while also helping students to better
understand empathy, appreciate the struggles of peers, and to
consistently treat others with dignity.”
everyday life. Next, they define the type of society they would
like to have and the characteristics of citizenship required to
achieve it. According to Laura, “Citizenship Academies are
extremely important for the students because they provide
them the opportunity to analyze the pros and cons of their
country and their community in order to commit to the kind of
society they would like for their school. The ideas should come
from them.”
Principal of San Juan Colegio, Maria del Rosario
Bermúdez Escobar, aka “Chayo”, believes that establishing
your citizenship values is only the beginning. “Values”, she
explains, “must be carefully and purposefully worked on,
reinforced throughout the year, and in many cases this requires
stopping an entire class to deal with issues as they arise. Most
importantly, all of this must begin with students at a very young
age so that they grow with these values over time.”
The school year at SJC begins with Citizenship
Academies where students analyze and reflect on the positive
and negative characteristics of their country, their community
and their school, as well as the values of people they see in
1. Prepare students to make thoughtful choices before
they apply for work.
2. Should they change their mind, brainstorm ways to
see if skills and knowledge needed for their second
choice can actually be pursued in their current work
before allowing them to change.
3. Adapt naturally occurring events, especially the
challenging ones, to become learning opportunities.
4. Pause what you are doing to explore them.
5. Resist the desire to control kids and instead engage
their minds.
Conversations in the Citizenship Academies are
candid and they end with
a commitment, a
commitment to become a
better citizen and for each
citizen to understand the
attitudes and behaviors
required as responsibilities
of citizenship. Their
commitment is translated
into a Citizenship Contract
which all students sign.
The rules it contains are
global in nature, not
specific. Each grade then
discusses their desired
rules, and these are
laminated and posted in every homeroom.
Chayo knows the rules of citizenship and carries
copies of them at all times. Whenever the opportunity or need
arises, she can be observed reinforcing them with an individual
citizen, a class, or with the entire school. When something
occurs that breaches their values, she takes out her copy and
reminds her students what they agreed to when they developed
their rules and signed their Citizenship Agreement. In order to
ensure consistency throughout the day and across the school,
Chayo trains her teachers to reinforce this modeling in their
classrooms and during Micro. The teachers, in turn, train
students to guide their newer classmates, reminding them that
this society is their own and everyone has a role in building,
adapting, and upholding it.
have to do is feel to know that you have values.”
Chayo also teaches a Values and Ethics class to all of
her students where she uses innovative activities that allow
them to reflect on the attitudes and behaviors that are not good
for any society. In one such activity, students make tunnels and
bridges in the sand. When values are not adhered to they
discuss how structures corrode and break down. She asks
“Where is the problem? How do we make it better?” and then
she guides them through a process of consensus to find a
solution.
At SJC, values take form through service, which is
fundamental in order to coexist. According to Chayo, “it is
through service that we establish a shared sense of solidarity.
Since we are only able to meet our goals with the help of
others, building this solidarity is essential. Through it, we gain
self-confidence. When a family is in need, we should help. If
someone is struggling in school, we should help Throughout the
year, SJC citizens are encouraged to be open to the community
and to be directed by a sense of justice and concern for others.
Consequently, students participate in many different
educational projects, fundraisers and sports activities in the
neighboring community. Our goal at San Juan Colegio is to
contribute to reducing the inequality in our country by helping
students develop a consciousness of feeling, a sense of
responsibility for the whole society. With all the challenges
children face today, with broken homes, crime, drugs, limited
job prospects, the school must be a family for them, one that
grounds each student.”. As Chayo says “Our children don’t go
to school only to learn math. They go to live, to be safe, and to
grow and mature through a process of discovery. Our children
depend on us and we must hone our values in order to deliver
for them. No matter what happens, values provide our rock.”
At SJC, every morning begins with a daily phase of
something ethical, followed by a reflection. For instance, one
morning students heard: “There is no greater ignorance than
the one who does not listen.” Working in groups, students
analyzed times when they weren’t listening and something bad
happened as a result. In addition, if Chayo hears of a problem
in a particular classroom, she will fashion a quote and visit the
classroom to discuss it.
Highlights:
Values lie at the HEART of SJC and reinforcing and
honing them accounts for much of the school’s success. The
staff and students frequently reflect on how people talk about
values but don’t live up to them, from littering when no one is
looking to politicians making back room deals. By seizing every
opportunity to talk about values, children are inspired to
discover their own and doing so provides them joy. As soon as
students walk on the campus, they are expected to
demonstrate the values of its citizens and if they should falter,
their peers are there to remind them. As Chayo explains, “It is
so important to understand that kids are social beings. They
must have confidence in the right way to behave. So while
mistakes are made, it is essential to talk about them openly, not
just in homeroom, but all day. This kind of candor actually
builds confidence in the students. When they speak, they know
it is their word. And they know that we all have the same goal in
the end. Knowledge without feeling is ineffective and all you
Chayo admits that changing an adolescent mind is not
easy. Everything bores them. So it is important to experiment,
especially during Micro time and in this way, they discover their
potential. With the practical application, “students reaffirm their
values because they receive immediate feedback from their
peers. They must grapple with business ethics, financial ethics,
even media ethics.” Laura agrees. “Immersed in a real society,
with real problems, they have to fend for themselves while
adults give them encouragement. In Micro, it is easy to see that
every right comes with an obligation and in this way, everyone
becomes involved in creating values.”
1. Understand the Mission and Vision of your school
and be an example of it.
2. Understand the student population and with them,
analyze the pros and cons of the values they see in
citizens in their everyday life.
3. In Citizenship Academies, facilitate discussions
around the type of citizens they would like to see and
once clear, have students sign a Citizenship
Contract.
4. Whenever a breach of contract occurs, do not be
afraid to stop the class and/or close MicroSociety in
order to reflect on the occurrence and guide a
process of consensus about a solution.
5. Commit to forming these future citizens during the
entire school day by creating an environment where
students and teachers are accountable.
We need to know where kids are on the social spectrum. Some want affection. Some want praise. Some want a tangible reward.
Some want help trying to figure out what they want to be when they grow up. It all depends on where a child is. Once you know that,
you can help each one find their passion.”
– George Richmond, Creator of MicroSociety
When students are not flourishing in MicroSociety, we
must ask ourselves why. After all, Micro was created to give
learning purpose, and empower children in the process.
MicroSociety institutions and organizations establish a reality
where children begin to lead the society they dream of existing
in their community. Through establishing & managing a
government, exchanging goods, services, & currency,
channeling passions into shareable products, and building
relationships with peers, teachers & professionals, students
scale Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. And as we watch them
take charge of the society they built and see what excites them,
we can create more opportunities for each student to succeed.
In MicroSociety, finding your purpose is all about discovering
your passion.
For the students in the Medical Academy at SJC, one
of the more unusual perspective-changing moments happened
on a field trip to a local university. Having recently finished a
class on anatomy, SJC high school students were invited to
assist in performing an autopsy. They entered the lab room
prepped with gloves, ready for the chance to be treated like
real medical students. Little did they know, however, that this
experience would have a major impact on their personal
journeys of self-discovery.
Artur, a senior at the time, described it as one of his
biggest challenges. “To actually see a dead body for the first
time was really difficult. I was looking at all of this and
wondering if I really wanted to become a doctor,” he said. “But
MicroSociety prepared me to persist. I loved that I could do all
the things that medical students do and I decided to stay with
my decision.”
Artur was not the only student in the Medical
Academy who found his passion. When several of his
colleagues heard their peers complaining about back pain, they
realized that they were all wearing backpacks on one shoulder
and wondered if their pain was only the beginning of an even
bigger problem. Their hypothesis was that this habit was the
source of their pain and wondered if it might lead to Scoliosis.
Driven to find out the truth, they wasted no time. “The group
spent 2 or 3 weeks studying the topic,” recalled Artur. “Then a
doctor came and talked to us about Scoliosis and we were able
to ask him questions about anything we didn’t understand from
the materials we studied.” They learned that although wearing
a heavy bag on one shoulder cannot cause scoliosis, the
compression of the spine and asymmetrical tensions created
within the musculo-skeletal system can exacerbate existing
conditions and lead to a more rapid development of abnormal
curvatures.
According to Laura, “The medical group wanted to do
more than just learn about Scoliosis. They wanted to share
their information – signs, symptoms and treatments – with
others.” On their own initiative, the team assembled a
presentation and asked Laura if she would arrange for them to
present it to the school and to her surprise, they specifically
asked her to make sure the entire student body attended!
News spread. The school buzzed with excitement
anticipating what the students of the Medical Academy had to
say. Not a single student was absent that day. In Artur’s words,
“We saw the impact we were having on everyone. The pictures
we used were very impressive and now everyone wears their
backpacks as they should.”
Inspired by their success, the medical group next
presented to classrooms at a neighboring school! To their
delight, teachers from the school not only enjoyed the
presentation, they reported changed behavior by their students
as well. All students were
wearing their bags strapped
across both shoulders! Today
the Micro Medical Academy has
a reputation in the community
and students from both schools
know they can turn to them for
help with medical problems they
may have and if they don’t know
the answer, they will find it!
“When I started in the
Medical Academy, I wasn’t really
sure if I wanted to study
medicine,” admits Artur. “But
then I learned that I was good at
it and I was also a good teacher for my younger classmates in
the academy. I learned that this is exactly what I want to do – I
want to make people feel better and I want to do anything I can
to help students enjoy school. Everyone is susceptible to their
health. Even the poorest person can get cancer. I'd like to help
them and I am ready to work hard to do it.”
When it comes time for MicroSociety, the students are
not the only ones who choose where they work. Each year, the
facilitators are matched with companies of their interest. When
asked about her passions, math teacher Andrea said “If I hadn’
t been a math teacher, I would have been a doctor.” Today,
Andrea leads the medical group in their explorations of medical
conditions in the Micro Medical Academy. Loving what they do
helps teachers want to share their passion and that
encourages facilitation.
For the upcoming year, SJC began interviewing new
professionals interested in working with the students in their
academies and ventures. Unlike the prior years, these
professionals were also interviewed by students. Mateo, a 9th
grade student, met with the professional interviewed for
teaching the Photography Venture. Knowing what he and his
colleagues were hoping to accomplish over the year, he asked
questions such as “With respect to the policy, what would you
teach us?” and “Which is more important to you – the angle or
the focus?”
Nicole, a 9th grade student, offers this advice to the
teachers and students of other MicroSocieties: “Keep
innovating in your MicroSociety. At the same time, try to give
us a view of how life really is and how hard it will be for us
when we graduate – don’t sugarcoat it.”
Highlights:
1. Discover where your children sit on Maslow ’ s
Hierarchy of Needs.
2. Once basic needs are met, help each child discover
their passion.
3. When someone is not happy on the job, find out
why.
4. Finding one ’ s passion can be a trial and error
journey, so it essential to multiply opportunities for
discovery.
“Teachers are accountable for planting a seed in every child – a seed that will help create human beings that love to learn, love to
create, and could one day rule a community or even a country. Facilitators must commit to help the cause – to help create better citizens of tomorrow.”
– Laura Mejia, Micro Coordinator
For San Juan Colegio, the year begins with teachers
and administrators coming together to analyze the needs of
the 21st Century student and their roles as teachers in that
rapidly changing context. “Although most of our teachers come
with an education in traditional teaching methods,” shares
Laura, “we spend concentrated time exploring why
authoritarian qualities are the most important to relinquish and
facilitative methods the most effective to adopt for reaching
students and accelerating learning.”
Effective facilitation requires an openness to
possibilities, a desire to encourage the whole child and a true
curiosity about what students think and feel so that ideas flow
between teacher and student.” Laura explain “When our
teachers no longer impose authority, students feel empowered,
they take risks, experiment, and persist until they derive their
own conclusions. In the process, they become intrinsically
motivated and more responsible for their own learning — it can’
t get any better than that.”
Facilitative teaching can be difficult to describe. You
know it when you see it in part because after encouraging
students to focus on some key concepts, they will look to each
other instead of the teacher for comments and follow up
questions in class discussion. At SJC, encouragement is key.
“We ask a lot of who, what, where, how and why questions to
help guide students to a deeper understanding,“ explains
Laura, “and in time, we find that students will assume more
management over the collaborative process. Our teachers help
students construct meaning by probing for process related
thinking.” We want to teach less in order to learn more so we
engage in a fair amount of discussion. We constantly test
assumptions about the meaning of words and our intentions
behind them and look for specific examples to ensure that we
are in agreement” says Laura. “We find that encouragement
motivates our students and accelerates both their cognitive and
affective development. We also find that facilitative teaching
methods lead naturally to greater experiential opportunities and
that is perfect for Micro.
Facilitative methods are especially important when it
comes to behavior. Even though everyone at SJC is constantly
practicing their technique inside and outside the classroom,
when time does not permit addressing a behavior problem in
the moment, a teacher will send the student or students to
Laura. “For that, communication is key. The teacher will share
events with me but I always try to enter a situation without a
preconceived notion of who was right or wrong. Instead, I ask
the students to tell me what happened from their perspective
until they agree on the facts. At that point, we usually go back
and revisit the school’s mission and the values that all students
agreed to in their citizenship contract. Then we discuss where
their behavior fell short. I try to use familiar analogies to help
students better grasp the impact their behavior has had not just
in the classroom but the school as a whole.” Peer pressure is
also explored. “In Micro, it is easy for students to grasp the
impact positive peer group behavior has on the success of the
venture so we frequently draw on our Micro experiences in
discussions about peer pressure. We discuss how when it
comes to making decisions, we need to connect with our inner
voice of right and wrong, not the voice of another,” explains
Laura.
At SJC, the emotional, humanistic environment of the
community, open communication, and a genuine regard for
individual students are crucial elements essential to
complement their learning process.
According to Laura, facilitative teaching at SJC is
reinforced through the curriculum as well. Teachers identify
strategies for developing effective lesson plans using Bloom’s
Taxonomy to encourage creativity and to help students arrive
at solutions in their own ways. For students, Bloom’s
Taxonomy provides the framework they need to form a
personal connection with and understanding of what they are
learning in the classroom. Finally, Blooms serves as a reminder
that finding definitive answers is not the goal of teaching —
rather, the goal is the process of exploration.
“When students arrive at school at the beginning of
the year”, explains Laura, “we analyze the type of society we
have outside the school and compare it to the one we want
inside the school. We analyze the school’s
mission and values within the context of
that desired society and discuss how we
can all become better role models to
realize that dream. Over time, we
have grown to appreciate how
Micro provides a unique
opportunity for students and
staff to bond and for teachers
to become students once
again.”
Allowing students
to explore and expand the possibilities lies at the core of SJC.
In the video below, Marc-André Lalande explains, “Standards
are important but the way to teach them doesn’t have to be
standardized.”
Finding a balance in designing curriculum isn’t always
easy. Before deciding what he or she is going to teach in the
coming year, teachers consult with current and future students.
This way, the curriculum is set neither completely by the
teacher nor completely by the student. “We practice the advice
George Richmond gave us: Ask the kids! in every way. It is
super important. It is the number one thing we do. Still, they are
not always sure of what they want, so sometimes we have to
guide them,” says Laura.
Click here to watch a video on Bloom’s Taxonomy & Vygotsky’
s Zone of Proximal Development
Highlights:
1. Implement, reflect, modify, and try again!
2. Yes, you have heard it before, but never stop asking
the kids.
3. Listen, observe, and modify again.
4. Let Bloom’s be your guide and a guide for your
students.
“I think the real problem in the world is that education and jobs are imposed – people end up doing what they don’t like. Micro affords
us options and the time to experience them.”
– Mateo, 9th grade
Mateo’s words ring loud and true. Eliciting opinions
from students is essential to keeping your society growing and
maturing. “Today, more than ever, young people have an
important role to play in our society,” says Carolynn KingRichmond, President and CEO of MicroSociety. “They are
closer to the future in so many ways that the average adult is
not. Technology of course has been key. Social media for
example has accelerated personal connections to issues and to
people like themselves around the world and as a result,
created a new set of expectations and assumptions about our
potential and about our responsibility to solve global problems.
These close encounters with virtual friends also create a sense
of urgency and a readiness to hold adults accountable. By
providing these young people a safe place in which to
experiment, MicroSociety offers them opportunities to practice
making serious contributions to solving some of the world’s
problems—even if in miniature—that they are capable of
making.”
SJC creates discussion groups to explore what is
working and what is not in MicroSociety. A cross section of
participants, including legislative representatives, business
managers, and even students who are not yet convinced of
Micro’s benefits provide critical insight and advice whenever the
staff is stuck in rut and unable to see where they are and
where they should go. “The students really do have the
answers for how to improve the MicroSociety experience,” says
Laura. “It is important for this idea to be constant. And this
does not stop with teachers. Our Micro business owners seek
feedback from their younger colleagues regularly and some of
the younger ones give classes that older students attend. The
key is finding what motivates each group.
Every Micro is a laboratory where students are
experimenting with what the world can be. All of the students
have a choice and a voice. Magdalena, a senior, shared
“Adults used to underestimate us – they thought we were
teenagers who only liked to party and who don’t like class, but
that’s not true. Young people are also adults. We can do the
same things adults do, and if offered the chance, sometimes
better. Now, everyone is family here and that’s all thanks to
MicroSociety.”
As adults, we often talk about the need for our young
people to be responsible, to deliver on their promises and to
follow through. At SJC, staff learned the importance of
following through as well. When they reviewed the “What Do
You Want To Be When You Grow Up” surveys, they found that
a lot of their students picked engineering. “It wasn’t something
we had anticipated,” admits Laura, “but they asked and we
listened.” Not sure how best to group the engineering kids – for
those who specifically wanted to learn robotics, auto
mechanics, aviation and other similar fields – they decided to
launch a Robotics Academy. The students, families and staff
searched for just the right professional to help. He came in
once a week to give classes on concepts such as control
systems and soldering, while also working on various projects
with students.
Viviana, an 8 grade student, explains it best. “If I
wanted to work in something related to biology, but they put me
to work in architecture, then of course I’m not going to work the
same as if I had worked in biology. That is why MicroSociety is
really important here. This school is helping us to explore what
we want and if we do that, we’re going to do it with a good
attitude.”
th
Learning from the events of this year, Laura is
determined to continue to find ways to improve their society.
As committed as ever, she tells us, “This summer, we have to
change the MicroSociety Academy so that we can really meet
the needs of our students.” The Engineering Academy was
planned out for the entire year ahead of time, engaging the
kids with a new project every two or three weeks. Toward the
end of the year, some kids shared frustration over wanting to
learn about airplanes and cars and they began to slack when
we failed to adapt and incorporate projects relevant to their
interests into the syllabus.
Laura met with the robotics teacher and the outside
professional to discuss ways of bringing more flexibility into the
experience. She explained. “Since a lot of people ride bikes
here, the kids wanted to make bicycle lights to sell in the
Marketplace. They had even decided that, if given the chance,
they would make the lights from computer mouse LEDs. And
although that was different from what the robotics class was
teaching, the electrical content was similar and the teacher was
open to changing his lesson plans. After consulting with their
students further, the staff of SJC is now working on projects for
the coming year. Aviation students will work on building
different models of airplanes, while the auto mechanic students
will build some type of car, perhaps using a lawnmower motor!”
In the Architecture Academy, one setback created a
different kind of opportunity. Unlike the teacher in the Robotics
Academy, “The architecture teacher didn’t have the same
comfort level with the kids,” admits Laura, “and the older
students became so frustrated that we had to cancel the
Academy class before the end of the year.” Feeling that their
concerns for the academy had been taken seriously, the
students immediately began to problem solve and quickly
organized a plan to complete their class project. They were
going to change the look of Laura’s office! They drafted a
design, obtained approval, painted furniture and rearranged the
office, making it more efficient and accessible to students while
conserving energy at the same time.
Aside from community partners, not all of the
facilitators of SJC had extensive knowledge in the fields of
study chosen by their students, but they didn’t hesitate to
become pupils of their students. “Students are natural
teachers,” explains Laura. “We see that in classrooms all the
time. They can effortlessly explain a subject in an
uncomplicated way, simple and straightforward. By doing this
with the younger students in their academies and ventures,
they repeat what they have learned and begin carrying out
Bloom’s Taxonomy in a very natural way. So I certainly wasn’t
surprised to see that the students embraced the reversal of
roles when their teachers needed help and worked hard to
earn their respect.”
“I think the
teachers have learned
to be more human with
us,” says Nestor, a 9th
grade student. “They’
ve learned with us – it’s
so cool to see that the
student learns, but the
teacher learns too, so
we’re like a group. It’s
nice that I can ask my
teacher if she
understands this and
she can say yes or no.
And when the teacher doesn’t know how to do something, the
students teach her how to do it.” “It’s fun to see that they also
learn,” agrees Nicole, also a 9th grade student, “But also that
they ask us what we want to do. Like in chemistry or biology,
they ask what kinds of experiments we are interested in.”
On top of simply asking what type of projects the
students wanted to pursue, the teachers actually helped launch
a Chemistry Academy when a group of girls listed chemistry as
their area of interest. Throughout the year, the girls carried out
several small experiments, such as making paper and candles,
but they didn’t stop there. Sparked by the idea of making
paper, the girls initiated an environmental conservation
campaign and placed boxes in each classroom for used paper,
which they collected and recycled themselves!
“The students are learning not only the importance of
conserving our natural resources but also how to create
something of them when they do,” says Nicole. “The biggest
challenge is building a conscience in our peers about having a
good handle on our natural resources. Our planet won’t be ours
for long if we keep treating it the way we do. We are proud of
the work we’ve done through our MicroSociety. We have
learned to conserve and we’ve made everything we proposed.”
Highlights:
1. Do everything you can to find professionals willing to
help build the foundations of your students ’
interests.
2. Don ’ t be afraid to admit what you do not know –
your students might be able to help.
3. Plan, but remain flexible. Let student motivation
guide your decisions.
4. Seek the opportunity in every setback. It is there,
you just have to find it.
The concept of corruption infecting individuals during their climb for greater wealth and power has been documented since the dawn
of civilization. In Colombia and therefore at SJC, this concept is a reality that teachers and students alike want to change. Our motto
is, ‘Leaders with values make the difference.’ Seeing the transformation in our school community since implementing MicroSociety
has brought hope to our teachers, our students and our families. We are no longer dreaming of a more civilized society. We are taking
serious steps toward our goal. MicroSociety is fueling a movement.”
– Maria del Rosario Bermúdez Escobar, Principal
SJC is a private school. “For the country to really
change,” says Laura, MicroSociety Coordinator, “MicroSociety
must expand to public schools as well. All students need
values they can hold on to, even amidst the high levels of
corruption that we have in Colombia. Having MicroSociety in
our school has motivated our students to learn. It has given
them tools to better identify what they would like to become in
the future. Citizenship competencies, leadership, values, and
principles are reaffirmed, built, and applied within a
MicroSociety environment. It is an environment where children
have the possibility to strengthen their weaknesses, envision
their potential and gather tools to becoming future leaders of
the world. As MicroSociety spreads throughout our country, we
see kids with hope, passion, and motivation for learning –
giving them the vision that they can be the future leaders of this
country. And we are not the only ones who feel this way. Our
teachers, students, and families agree.”
Aura Hernández, a teacher at SJC, took the time to
write us a letter expressing her dream for Colombia. In it, she
writes, “My
dream is a
socially mature
country. I dream
of a country
citizens are
taught to think,
to exercise and
enforce its
duties and
rights, to really
elect its leaders, and in that way, to achieve building stronger
institutions. My dream is a democratic country for real, one that
understands and fights for the real meaning of equality. During
the time I have worked with MicroSociety, I can see that our
students are being educated as human beings with rights and
clear values, as people that not only respect, but value the
ideas of others. The students are taught to be willing to discuss
and argue for their ideals, despite all the difficulties this could
pose to their teachers and principals – because it clearly is a
risk that the teacher does not have a vertical hierarchical
position, but a more horizontal relationship.”
Like Laura said, it’s not just the facilitators that want
MicroSociety to spread through the country. Talking to almost
any student at SJC, you’re likely to hear their proposals for a
better future.
Jorge, a 9th grade
student, said, “It’s not that we
are bad people here in
Colombia, we just don’t have
leaders, and the leaders we
do have are corrupted and
they just don’t care about
society. MicroSociety is
helping me and my
classmates to become leaders
so that when we grow up and
get to the real world, we can
lead with integrity and ethics,
and perhaps not only have
important jobs and things like
that, but that we can really
help people. In MicroSociety,
they not only teach us what
we want to be when we grow up – they teach us values, which
is the most important thing because you can be really
intelligent, but if you don’t have values, you won’t have
progress. It’s a really good thing that we are doing – that we
are bringing more MicroSocieties to Colombia, because it is
making us grow up more – it is showing us what we need to do,
giving us the foundation. If we can make a mistake here at
MicroSociety, we can fix it, and so when we go out, it won’t be
a mistake because we didn’t know. It will be a thoughtful
mistake, because we’ve already learned to see the
consequences. It is important because to make a big society,
you have to start with the children – the little children are the
future. So 15 years from now, perhaps someone here will be
someone really important and they’re going to know what to do
because they had their foundation when they were really small
and that foundation is what MicroSociety gave to him or her. I
think it’s really important that more schools get this opportunity
because it can really impact and help us grow as people. If all
schools here in this town have MicroSociety, it could unite us –
like just one school, and even though we are not the same, we
can have the same foundation and ideals.”
Along with Jorge, several students mentioned that
they think the biggest problem they and their peers will face is
the lack of understanding that information, in any form, whether
spoken or written, is not necessarily true. Oleg, a 10th grade
student, adds “Yes, the biggest problem for, not just my
generation, but every generation, is that they believe
everything said in the newspapers and on the radio. And that’s
a bad thing because people are not critical thinkers, they don’t
have the ability to question what they hear or see. Education is
essential in this problem because we must learn to be critics.”
Oleg also suggests “If we could start loving learning, this would
happen. And that is exactly what MicroSociety is teaching me.”
Juan, also a
10th grade student,
agreed, “The main
problem of our
generation is lies. Our
leaders are liars. Micro
teaches that we are
smarter than we think
and that we don’t need
to do everything they tell
us – we need to use
courage, to be secure of
our thoughts, and to
always make progress
where it is needed.”