Early in the year, Mr. Mann brought a challenging concept to Math Block in Sage and Crimson Bands. It wasn’t exclusively a math concept, but an invitation to think differently about risk-taking. What does it mean to be intellectually fearless?

The phrase "intellectual fearlessness” comes from the book Thinking, Fast and Slow, by psychologist and economist Daniel Kahneman. When Mr. Mann introduced the concept, learners recognized fearlessness as a sort of bravery that, to the observer, presents as a lack of fear. They observed that while a person might have the experience of feeling afraid but taking action anyway, that same person might seem “fearless” to others.

Sage and Crimson learners also grappled with the term “intellectual,” which they defined as “of or relating to the mind.” They connected the attribute with learning and conjectured that “the growth of the mind is learning.” One learner posited that intellectual fearlessness was simply “the willingness to learn.”

Ideas kept building as another young learner suggested that being intellectually fearless would include being vulnerable….

Interest-Driven Projects in Computer Science

“Computer science is a good place to try out failure,” Laura Manor explained at lunch one day recently. In leading computer science at Long-View, Ms. Manor teaches an academic discipline that’s much newer than math, literacy, and other sciences. Consequently, the field has fewer well-defined benchmarks and task sequences for primary-aged learners than others, and a wealth of opportunities for all ages of learners to attempt ambitious projects that may or may not reach their targets or result in a polished end product.

The individual projects pursued over the last months by learners in Crimson Band – generally, this year’s most experienced Long-View learners – exemplify this spirit of intellectual risk-taking….

Lisa ZapalacJanuary 15, 2023Long-View Micro School

Build Week 14: Get The Green Flag

Build Week 14 challenged learners to start the journey to earn a Green Flag Award from the National Wildlife Federation’s Eco-Schools Program. This Green Flag is the most prestigious of the Eco-Schools USA awards and only one other school (a high school!) has earned the Green Flag in one year. And that’s what we challenged our learners to do: earn the Green Flag in one year. This Build Week was an opportunity to make significant progress toward that goal….

build weekLisa ZapalacDecember 21, 2022Long-View Micro Schoolbuild week 14

Learn More About Long-View: An Interview With Lisa Zapalac

Last week, one of our Co-Founders sat down with Voyage Magazine to answer questions about Long-View. Read the article online here and find out how Long-View started, what is unique about our school and our business model, and important lessons Lisa and team learned along the journey from idea to reality….

generalLisa ZapalacDecember 13, 2022Long-View Micro Schoolinterview

The Lexicon of Mystery: Reading Work Made Visible

Sometimes, a theme can feel almost contagious in a school as small as ours, drifting from one discipline to another. While learners puzzled over mystery tubes in Science Block, Violet Band readers began their work as detectives across the hall in Literacy, exploring mystery as a literary genre.

The intellectual work of reading mystery is both complex and irresistible. Violet Band’s unit encouraged readers to start by identifying the “crime-solver” and the nature of the mystery itself – a task that’s often less than obvious in the exposition phase of a mystery novel, when a generalized atmosphere of weirdness may appear before an actual conflict emerges. Once an inciting action occurs, the reader begins to act as a detective herself, paying attention to details that might be clues…

literacyLisa ZapalacNovember 11, 2022Long-View Micro Schoolreading, writing, mystery, thinking, strategies

Podcast Featuring Kevin Moore and Lisa Zapalac: What does an extraordinary education look like for every student?

Yesterday Kevin Moore and Lisa Zapalac sat down with education podcast “The Hummingbird Stories” to talk more about Long-View and the assumptions that drive an extraordinary education for every learner. The Hummingbird Stories hosts conversations with the most innovative, equity-minded leaders in education from all across the country. Lisa and Kevin were a part of Season 2 of The Hummingbird Stories, in which the hosts asked the question: What does an extraordinary education look like for every student? Listen to the podcast here.

Lisa ZapalacNovember 3, 2022Long-View Micro School

Unit Zero: What Do Scientists Do?

One day in September, a perplexing set of objects awaited Violet and Aqua Band learners in Science Block. Simply described, they were cardboard tubes with the ends blocked off by duct tape, and with four strings protruding from small holes in the sides. When learners pulled the four strings, however, surprises ensued. The four strings didn’t react as one might have expected. Inside the tubes, where no one could see it, a mysterious mechanism governed the action of the strings. What was it?

Over the next week or two, the learners investigated, working in small collaborative groups. They turned the tubes over and around….

Long-View Recognized as Leader in School Innovation

At Long-View we work hard to impact the world of education, not just for the children and families we serve at our micro school, but across the world. We have a particular area of expertise and innovation in the discipline of mathematics, and our math team has worked hard to spread our approach to educators across the country. And recently, we were nationally recognized (twice!) as a leader in school innovation by Transcend, a national nonprofit that supports school communities to create and spread extraordinary, equitable learning environments. At Long-View, we have been hosting visiting schools and leaders from Transcend since 2017, and are proud to be recognized by them in The Innovative Models Exchange and in The Canopy Project….

Lisa ZapalacSeptember 20, 2022Long-View Micro School

Kaylie White and Kevin Moore Discuss Long-View’s Math on Podcast, “The Art of Teaching and Learning”

Several weeks ago Kaylie White and Kevin Moore were interviewed by “The Art of Teaching and Learning Podcast” (Classical Education). In the podcast, which strives to podcast promote learning about the tradition of a liberal arts education, Adrienne and Trae, the hosts, interview Kevin and Kaylie to learn more about how our math team at Long-View constructs classrooms where learners experience math as a discipline that is engaging, interesting, and helps students learn thinking and communication skills. Listen to the podcast here.

Lisa ZapalacSeptember 8, 2022Long-View Micro School

Building Culture for a New Year

After a summer of exciting work with colleagues from Long-View and other educators from beyond, some invigorating sessions of Open Math, and some down time too, we’re now fully immersed in our new year at the micro school.

We kicked things off with Launch Camp, when our newest learners spent two days diving right in to the Long-View way of life – building pendulums from scratch to learn about momentum (and collaboration), choosing the first just-right books for their personal book bins (and understanding that THEY are taking charge of their reading lives), and even figuring out how much is too much in one’s backpack on the walk to the park at lunch time (while realizing that the adults at Long-View trust them to manage all of these details)….

generalLisa ZapalacAugust 30, 2022Long-View Micro Schoolculture, new year, launch camp