At Long-View we are not trying to be another school or just “do school,” but rather we are working very purposefully to create an environment focused on learning.

We define learning as constructing knowledge together. The most important part of our pedagogy is that we are reasoning together, trying to understand something together at a deep level. Everything we do works to create a culture centered around this idea. Rooted underneath that work and culture are the assumptions we make as we approach learning and teaching.

We assume children have significant capacity for understanding….

For the week before Winter Break, no learners whittled in the maker space, scribed on the whiteboards, or curled up with books in the library bean bags, but Long-View was busy nonetheless. The teachers of Long-View devoted the week to analyzing and sharing the work of our learners in mid-year conferences with their families. Along with artifact portfolios, conferences are one of the primary ways we document and communicate how children at Long-View learn.

Throughout the year, Long-View teachers study learners to understand their progress and guide instruction. We think hard, and often collaboratively, about their work. We pay attention to daily behaviors and interactions, and often document particular moments and written products through photos and videos. These digital documents, and the written products themselves, are what we call artifacts of learning….