We send you warmth and cheers in this holiday season! Along the way, we also want to send you a bit of food for thought, as you savor this holiday time and envision the new year.
6crickets has turned nine years old this year! We have been on an exhilarating journey prevailing through the pandemic and the Silicon Valley Bank run. We are as excited and energized as ever to change the world of education!
To this end, we have chosen to focus on the out-of-school time. Parents work 2,000 hours a year, while students are in school for only 1,000 of those hours: out-of-school time is half of K-12 education.
Rapid innovation requires rapid iteration and experimentation. Software products often have an innovation cycle of weeks. That means, every few weeks, a new version of software or website with novel capabilities or improvements can be released for real-world use. We have all witnessed how “software has been eating the world” and making history.
How could we reduce the innovation cycle for education and speed up innovation for K-12 education?
Out-of-school time is a fertile ground for creative teaching, engaged learning, and fast innovation! We have seen our talented teachers and local education businesses teaching chemistry and physics through Minecraft, programming and game design in Roblox and Unity, strategic thinking in chess, social emotional learning using Among Us, and fostering creativity in art, music, and theater. We have seen unbounded creativity in so many topical curriculums. When we tap into student agency, we have seen such great excitement and enjoyment in learning, and so many more opportunities opening up for students.
Out-of-school time is a perfect place to have the whole village raising our students. In addition to our dedicated school staff, our community partners and local businesses can greatly contribute here. It creates a win-win-win ecosystem: Our students tap into the best, creative programs from our local community; we create jobs and foster local businesses in the important area of education; and our school staff get great help and are overworked less.
6crickets is devoted to this beautiful picture of out-of-school-time learning for every student in every school. Let’s re-imagine out-of-school time together!
Happy Holidays!
The 6crickets team
Bring the best expanded learning to every student in every school!