As a
school leader, there is never enough time, energy, or money to meet all of our
scholars' needs. It's a frustrating, yet ever-present, part of my role. Before
our staff came back to school in August 2016 for professional development, I
wanted to think of a way to meet some of the needs of our scholars that may not
be met by our current school structure and systems. I was also hoping to
provide an opportunity for some of our staff to follow passion projects.
I called
it, "Equality's Shark Tank."
The
purpose was essentially to support innovation and out of the box thinking, to
meet our scholars’ needs in new ways, to test out new ideas and follow through
on passion projects, and (I mean this statement with all sincerity) to make the
world a better place.
I started
with the concept of the TV show Shark Tank. If you haven't watched the show
yet, you should.
The show
is comprised of:
- Budding
entrepreneurs who get the chance to fulfill their dreams.
- They present their
ideas to the sharks in the tank .
- The sharks are
titans of industry who turned their ideas into lucrative empires.
- The contestants
try to convince any one of the sharks to invest money in their idea.
Equality's Shark Tank was comprised of:
- A
"pot" of $20,000 of SHARK TANK money.
- A
committee of Sharks (5 total) who selected the projects.
- An
invitation to ALL staff to submit their proposals.
- A
15 minute in-person presentation to the Sharks.
- A
deliberation using a pre-determined rubric for the Sharks to award the
money.
The ideas
could range from special speaker series, curriculum materials, technology,
afterschool groups, materials for a class project, classroom environment
improvements, gardens, murals, artwork, demonstrations, creative experiments, pet
projects to complete with scholars, software for a course, overnight field
trips, or experiential learning opportunities for scholars.
The
projects were rated on a rubic in the areas of:
- Innovation:
a new method, idea, or strategy at Equality
- Value
to Scholars: is seen as useful; it
solves a defined problem or meets a need
- Wow
Factor: shows a personal touch that
may be unconventional at our school; implements ideas in new, clever and
surprising ways
We had numerous submissions and the Sharks had a very
difficult, yet rewarding, time deliberating on the best use of this money. In
the end, the following projects won:
- $3,000
to start a robotics club and invest in the proper equipment
- $4,500 for a special guest speaker and a full day
of activities to speak to our staff and scholars on the power of an
inclusive environment
- $6,000
to provide a funding foundation to launch Equality’s first overseas trip
to Costa Rica in summer 2017
- $500
for a special guest instructor to teach scholars afterschool how to write
a beatbox concerto
- $3,000
to teach a group of our scholars how to invest in the stock market with
real money (and at the end they will donate their final amount of money
back to Equality in the form of a legacy gift of their choosing)
- $3,000
to provide additional professional development courses for our teaching
staff provided by Equality’s Adult Programming
All in all, it was a successful launch of Equality's Shark
Tank. While we want all of the projects to be successes, we also acknowledge
the level of risk to some of them and look forward to seeing what works with
our scholars.
If you’d like to donate to Mr. Morine’s Investment Group,
he’s currently raising additional funds for technology items needed to support
his group. Please donate here!
I’ll report back in a few months to let you know how the
projects proceeded.
Caitlin Franco
Founder & Executive Director
Equality Charter School
