glenn carstens peters

REDI Lab 2016: Final Projects

I am not sure why they say that cats have nine lives (neither does Google by the way), but I now know why they say that managing people can be like herding cats. Working with nine students in the REDI Lab this trimester gave me an experience of what I imagine it is like to herd cats. Engaging in nine different self-directed pathways toward the completion of nine different highly personalized projects made me feel like I was managing a creative studio, full of the chaotic and clarifying twists and turns that are a part of the learning process.

During the trimester, students in the REDI Lab have continued practicing the mindsets instilled in the first few weeks of the term as they worked through the complexities of self-directed learning and long term projects. From there, students  moved toward the completion of their individual projects which culminated in some strong final presentations. In the process, students produced 4 hours of audio content, 5 articles, 5 short stories, 15 biographies, an 18 page business plan, 24 poems, 30 minutes of edited video content, a 223 page incomplete manifesto, and more than 540 pages of writing in their learning journals.

As we continue to create learning opportunities that allow Colorado Academy students to realize their talents, we will take inspiration from what our students produced this year. Our hope for the future is that our REDI Lab students recognize the new skills and competencies they have acquired and that they apply them during their senior year, during the college admissions process, and during the metaphorical nine lives they will lead in a rapidly changing world.


2016-2017 Student Projects