Real World Swirl: When the City is the Classroom

Dov Stucker is a co-founder and Lead Teacher of Burlington City & Lake Semester (BCL) – a partnership between the Burlington School District and Shelburne Farms. He taught Social Studies at Burlington High School from 2011-2021, including School Innovation Seminar, a course that engaged students in the complex work of school redesign. Before returning to the classroom, Dov worked for nine years coordinating community-based learning and service-learning projects in Burlington and the French West Indies. Highlights from the episode include: an opening reflection on the prowess of Norwegian cross-country skiers; the origin story of BCL and the team-based design that brought it to life; how schools can rethink partnerships, expand who counts as a teacher, and build learning ecosystems beyond the classroom; what rigor looks like when it’s rooted in trust, risk, and relevance; how student-led portfolios can reveal learning more honestly than traditional assessment; the importance of the question, "What can we do here that we can’t do anywhere else?" when designing a meaningful learning experience; and a lightning round that somehow combines stalking and ice cream!   Learn more about BCL BCL Blog – Student Reflections Free Range Humans Podcast featured in a Shelburne Farms Blog Post Questions? Thoughts? Feedback?  Email us at [email protected] or Tweet us at @jal_mehta and @Rodroad219