Next Tuesday, Sept. 8, thousands of students in Michigan, from kindergarten up through universities, will go back to school.

They will sit in desks facing their teachers. Maybe the desks won’t all be in long straight rows. Most classrooms nowadays have desks set up in groups of four or five, because we do lots more group work and discussion among students nowadays.

But thousands more students will use a different kind of classroom, and they might not even be sitting down in the morning. The classroom will essentially be a computer screen and the desk could be anywhere.

The courses are online.

The teacher will not be facing the student “live,” unless she is skyping or on the screen some other way. So, the “classroom” of today looks way different from the one we have known for hundreds of years. Here’s a short definition of “classroom” to keep in mind:

Classroom: Any place where one learns or gains experience: The Sea is the sailor’s classroom.

This year at Brandywine, we are changing the name of the building where I go to work every day. Bell Education Center is becoming Brandywine Innovation Academy (BIA). The classroom at BIA may be in a student’s kitchen, on a backyard deck, or, if the student needs face-to-face assistance, right in the BIA building with a teacher.

What has not changed from the traditional classroom is that the student must still learn the material, the student should be engaged in the learning and the teachers will make sure students learn.

We are excited to expand the learning opportunities for students this way.

For more information about Brandywine Innovation Academy, call us at 683-8805, or check our website at www.brandywinebobcats.org.

 

John Jarpe is the superintendent of Brandywine Community Schools. He can be reached at (269) 684- 7150.