Our course is grounded in 10 principles of Outward Bound’s Expeditionary Learning (EL Ed, see below), such as the primacy of self discovery, collaboration and competition, and service, as well as 7 ‘Gold Standard’ elements for Project-based learning, originating with John Dewey’s experiential philosophies (PBL Website). In turn, our community fieldwork partnerships will practice the following principles:

These combined EL and PBL elements shaped best practices for our learning inquiries with local students, but also with our peers in the VMI classroom, allowing us to reassess how learning is, as Dewey claimed, ‘a moving force’ both continuous and interactive, both individual and social, that requires us to share and develop our academic, personal and civic habits and commitments. To that end, our aims are to

• build a strong connection to the world
• develop high standards for learning
• assess and understand what we’ve learned via reflection
• foster an ethics of practice and service
• connect with teachers’ passion for learning and alertness to opportunity
• support students responsibility for their own learning
• create a spirit of adventure and challenge
• make room for in-depth study, fieldwork, interdisciplinary connections
• enable teacher and student leadership, teamwork, organization
• generate new roles for learners—collaborator, apprentice, explorer, expert

Adapted from Key Expeditionary Learning Design Principles, Guide for Planning a Learning Expedition (Outward Bound, 1998)

This fall, students will make three to four visits to their partner classrooms to observe student learning, participate as model students, and lead activities related to literature-based inquiries designed by their teaching partners. These visits supported ongoing classroom initiatives to nurture hands-on, interactive learning, and increase student ownership of knowledge. As part of this new VMI / RCS partnership initiative, cadets will help coordinate and mentor students in reading, writing and critical thinking, initiated in one-book literature circles. All VMI cadets must take courses in Public Speaking and Rhetoric,  so these skills came in handy as they mentored and critiqued student work in interviewing, podcasts, lively debates and fishbowl discussions.

Rockbridge County High School

Sarah Payne, 9th Grade English
Sarah Leadbetter, 12th Grade English

Annie Knepper, 12th Grade DE English

Central Elementary
Coleen Cosgriff, 5th Grade Writing and Language Arts

Ron Berger, a founding member of expeditionary teaching in the U.S., advocates that we encourage “beautiful designs” and pride in student work. He reminds us of a basic tenet of any work, especially work done by students:

“Is there a more profound lesson than taking pride in creating work of importance and beauty for a real audience?” (“Beautiful Work”, bie.org 2020)

His principled recognition of beautiful designs in student work is one emulated by both EL and PBL Learning.  It’s also a lesson that VMI English Majors, who make up most of our courses, become familiar with in their forays into the writing process. They learn, as Berger notes, that “we bring almost all work through multiple drafts or rehearsals to refine and improve it.” At the end of the term, after multiple drafts of pre-proposals, teach-ins, reflections, peer reviews, we were inspired in our efforts to polish and share our unit designs in the form of “models of excellence” learning cards. As part of their final teaching portfolios, cadet teams designed these teaching resource cards to introduce educational proposals for a two-three week Expeditionary Learning Unit aimed at student audiences in their respective partner classroom. These teaching portfolios include designs for immersive and guided instruction activities, and reflect on their experience in three domains-academic, civic and personal. Most of their unit designs were inspired by both what they saw teachers offer, but also through interactions they had with local students.

“Your visit 2 weeks ago really kicked off the final push to wrap up the podcast prep work and what you designed really hit the nail on the head. I couldn’t have done better myself and I learned a thing or two from you all. “                

 Ms. Cosgriff, Central Elementary