On the radio, the reporter is talking to a first-time high school principal of a new charter school in New Orleans…
As I’m always on the lookout for scenes that demonstrate improvisation at work, the story gets my attention. The woman is starting a job she’s never done before, yet clearly with the confidence that she is prepared for the experience. That’s an improviser talking. I turn up the volume…
The subject of the story is Channa Cook. Her age is 28. She and Kristin Leigh Moody are the co-founders of Sojourner Truth Academy in New Orleans, a new charter school that opened to its first class in August (then had to close its doors for awhile to let Hurricane Gustav blow through, but is now open again).
All around the U.S., championed by entrepreneurial educators like Cook and Moody, charter schools like Sojourner Truth are springing up as responses to failures or shortcomings in public school systems. In Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath, New Orleans has become a laboratory for experiments in education. Seven new charter schools opened in New Orleans this fall, where half of the 33,000 high school students are charter school students.
At Sojourner Truth all 122 students in the first class of 9th graders have been made a bold promise by Cook and Moody. “We promise the parents college,” says Cook. “Not only do they (students) have to apply to college. They have to get accepted.”
Listen to Channa Cook’s story to hear how an improviser changes the game. As you listen, note the fundamentals of improvisation that are in play:
1. Emotion. The Sojourner Truth ‘brand’ is built on emotion. The determined confidence of Cook and Moody. The gratitude of the parents. The hopes and dreams of the students.
2 . Theme. The school is named for a pioneering educator whose story provides the theme of its education program: Balance self-improvment with community uplift.
3. Objectives. Very clear and unambiguous. The objectives are for Sojourner Truth’s students to continue their education beyond high school, and to champion social justice in the process.
4. Accountability. The principal is making herself personally accountable to the students’ families. and there’s no bureaucracy for her to hide behind. Students themselves are accountable to their community, and to one another. “Each one teach one” is one of the school’s mottos.
5. Commitment. After doing volunteer work after Hurricane Katrina, Cook moved to New Orleans from her home in Los Angeles. An improviser understands that breakthroughs, and beneficial disruptions of the status quo can occur only through committed action.
6. Rules. To be productive, the game must have clearly-understood rules. Students attend from 7:30 AM to 5:30 PM. Breakfast is mandatory. The story didn’t say what the rest of the rules are, but you can bet that whatever they are, Cook and Moody have made them very clear.
7. Environment. The school shares a building with a Head Start program and a Juvenile Drug Court. This is not what you’d call your traditional school environment, but by acknowledging it instead of complaining about it, and interacting with it instead of ignoring it, Cook and her team are preparing themselves and their team to keep the focus on education.
Tags: Accountability, Channa Cook, Charter Schools, Commitment, Emotion, Environment, Fundamentals, Katrina, Kristin Leigh Moody, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Objective, Sojourner Truth Academy
[...] Some of my favorite GameChangers are working these days in New Orleans. As we are going to see eventually with Detroit, artists cannot resist large blank canvases, storytellers chaos, designers dead space, or musicians dead air. The seeds of innovation are best sowed on dormant ground. This is where we find the opportunities for new growth, for the expansions of understanding and ability. [...]