Dixons Allerton Academy: Days 2 and 3 - Posted by Cady Staff

Day 2:  The Comic Super-Heroes Project has begun with the Year 8 group at Dixons Allerton. To view the plan for our first full-day of the project, here is the link to Day 1 of the project web page. We were surprised that some of the students were a little resistant to the idea of project-based learning, possibly because it was so different, more independent and the expectations weren't as clear, as they were used to. The resistance melted away and was replaced by creative, original super-hero designs by the end of the full day of lessons, activities and brain-storming. Students gave feedback in their reflective journal responses and we continued to plan the full-day of project-based learning for next week. Holly, Angela and Andrew all put together brilliant presentations for the first day, and we planned more interactive, team assignments for our next session.

Day 3: There is a significantly different amount of prep work that goes into a day facilitating activities with students rather than adults. When students are involved, my energy, sense of humor and patience have to be raised to a whole other level. I pumped myself up on the train ride to Dixons Allerton, listening to music, looking over our plan for six hours of lessons and activities, reviewing the parts I would be leading and facilitating, and hoping for the best. When I ran into Holly, Angela and Andrew in the morning, I felt encouraged to hear that students had been coming up to them with ideas about their super-heroes throughout the week, even though there were no scheduled lessons or assignments due. At the start of the day, we set up the tables and seats in the formation of Freytag's pyramid and reviewed the story arc by applying it to an episode of X-Men. Then, Holly led the students in a discussion of stereotypes in comics. Andrew led the group through the history of how super-heroes are created and portrayed in relation to the current events and political climate of the time. After the first break, we all role-played different super-heroes and students rotated through four stations asking interview questions and taking notes about the history, character traits, super-villain and scientific explanation of super-powers. The students enjoyed the fact we all refused to break character and they tried to pit us against other "super-heroes" in the room.

After lunch, we postponed a current event comic strip activity and allowed students to jump in and design their own superhero's back story, scientific explanation and characteristics. The students invented and shared brilliant ideas. We introduced the concept of Kind, Helpful and Specific critique and asked students to give each other constructive feedback. There was a buzz of energy and creativity flowing through the room. It was a successful, productive day - with its challenges of course - but in the end, students reflected that they really enjoyed it and they are looking forward to next Friday. They were creative and engaged throughout the day. We are struggling to plan full six-hour days each Friday on top of all of the other weekly responsibilities we all juggle, but the school leaders are supporting our efforts and so far, the project has gotten better, each day.

Yewlands Technology College: Days 2 and 3 - Posted by Cady Staff

Day 2: On my second day at Yewlands, I started by meeting with the three teachers who will be transforming Year 7, next year, at Yewlands along with some representatives from the primary feeder school. Carolyn, Kirsty, Ray and Dean are the team of teachers working on the transformation, so far. They are an inspired group of teachers ready to make positive change. I got to observe them in action and saw the rapport they have with their students and the passion they have for their subject areas. When we met in the morning, we did two project tunings with Josh and Vendala (two interns from High Tech High) - one about a Humanities-based chocolate project and one about Potato Olympics.

After the tunings, we began to brainstorm the mission statement and shared vision for the new Year 7 experience at Yewlands. That vision included preparing students to be empathetic, resilient, hard-working, curious and independent. When we began to create shared expectations, the teachers had to go back to their regular teaching schedule for the rest of the day. Next week, we will get a full day to work together, discuss significant learning, plan projects and come up with design principles and a mission statement for the new Year 7 experience.

Day 3: My third day at Yewlands was full of meetings, project tunings and the writing and revising of our mission statement for transforming the Year 7 experience. Dean, Kirsty, Carolyn and Ray had their classes covered for the day so we could all discuss plans for next year. When I got to observe them in their classrooms the previous week, I got to see the innovative ways Dean uses technology to engage his students, the great rapport Carolyn has with her students and the way she facilitates group work, the joy Kirsty teaches with and the supportive, productive classroom culture she creates, and the way Ray personalizes writing assignments and pushes all of his students to grow and improve as writers. They are all passionate about their work with students and they believe in the power of project based learning.

We shared significant learning experiences from our past at the start of the day and we built off of the characteristics of "significant learning" to create our mission statements and projects based on our passions. We found that all of our significant learning stories shared the characteristics of creating meaningful, lasting work for a real audience; allowing us to make mistakes and learn from them; pushing us out of our comfort zone; asking us to make "adult" decisions with consequences; and lastly, the significant learning opportunities were fun and made us feel pride in ourselves and our work. By the end of the day, we had created the first draft of our Year 7 mission statement with our shared vision:

We create real-life learning opportunities that inspire and challenge; allowing students to develop perseverance, pride and independence. A strong foundation of reading, writing, communication and mathematics is at the heart of our learning. We are a responsible, respectful community delivering accelerated progress for all.

There is no direct mention of project based learning in that statement, but PBL is a tool we plan to use to make our mission statement a reality in each classroom.

After looking through 60 examples of project cards from High Tech High,  Ray and Kirsty brainstormed two projects - one being an induction project for the incoming Year 7s this year to design plans and persuasive arguments for their own first field trip next year; and the other, a project called How Far Would You Go? giving students the challenge of planning real trips on a budget for a travel agency. Dean and Carolyn designed a Survival project requiring students to work together to build shelters and learn survival techniques from the past and present. Lucie, taking the lead on the transformation of Year 7, also began designing a project called The Power of the Wheel asking students to design machines using a wheel as a power source during STEM Week next year, which coincides with the Tour de France riding through Sheffield. I am really excited for our project tunings next week!

Atherton Community School: Days 2 and 3 - Posted by Cady Staff

Day 2: I had such a great day at Atherton! They are planning a really exciting project designing all of their signage for their new building (opening next year). I got to present to the students at an assembly about critique and they are really getting into the Kind, Helpful and Specific critique format. I am really enjoying getting to know the students. All of the teachers are great at shining a light on students' strengths, and the best part is watching students then celebrating each other's strengths through critique.

The whole school has posters up about Ron Berger's Kind, Helpful and Specific critique in every classroom. It's really exciting to see! The students' strength is definitely kindness. For their next project, Atherton Community School is using Bolton Technical Innovation Centre, a community resource full of 3-D printers, computers with CAD software, laser cutters and top quality equipment for printing that is about 10-minutes away. The Centre will allow students to design and possibly manufacture the signs for their new building. I am working with Ian Mayhew to design the project that kicks off next Wednesday with a kid-friendly Stanford Design workshop for the students that will introduce design thinking and the project. We will be documenting the plans, process and student work created for the project on this project web page: https://sites.google.com/a/hightechhigh.org/athertonsignproject/

Day 3: The Sign Design project at Atherton Community School has officially begun. Before I arrived on Wednesday (aka project based-learning day), Elizabeth Haddock had already tuned the project with a group of students who contributed brilliant ideas about grouping and modeling productive team-work. Ian and I finished planning the project kick-off on our two hour train ride to the school. Ian created signs (with prizes and humor attached) to help draw attention to new signage in their current building. The plan and presentations for the first day of the project can be found here: https://sites.google.com/a/hightechhigh.org/athertonsignproject/day-1

Chloe Anderson, an architect for the new school building, came in as a guest speaker and presenter. Together, we led the students through the design process and a design challenge. As Chloe and I worked with groups of students, Ian met with teachers to discuss ways that their lessons during the week might connect with the Sign Design Project on Wednesdays. The day ended with students presenting their prototypes in groups of four - with every student participating in a presentation lasting only one minute. Students presented and listened to each other respectfully, snapping their fingers with approval after each group. Before closing the day, students shared recognitions. About ten students shared meaningful recognitions about their peers. It was a great way to end the first day of the Sign Design project!

Goole High School - Day 3: Posted by Cady Staff

Day 3: This Monday was my third day at Goole High School. Many schools were closed due to snow, but Danuta (the schoolhead) prides herself on keeping Goole High School open for the community. I got up early to trudge through the heavy coat of snow quickly turning to brown sludge. I got the opportunity to teach a classroom of 8th graders an hour long Intro to PBL lesson, along with guiding the students through a session of Kind, Helpful and Specific critique. It was so much fun to get to interact with a classroom full of students. I love teaching, and the students were such a positive group! They said they loved my accent - I'm definitely still getting used to the fact that I have an accent here. Students shared great significant learning experiences and constructive feedback.

After a morning of teaching, I watched as Stuart launched the plan for Studio Schools to the 8th graders. He asked students interested in applying to stay back for an hour-long project to get a taste for project-based learning. Students formed groups of four and created persuasive songs, raps or posters to convince Sara and Nate (the HTHMA interns) that Goole is great and they should come back. I especially enjoyed the group that was brave enough to perform their original song about what makes Goole great (I am humming it as I type).

At the end of the day, Louise and I mapped out the Goole Docks project on a Google calendar and we planned next steps for making the community connections, fieldtrip plans and interview arrangments. There is still a lot of work to be done, but we'll be ready for the launch in two weeks. I think the kids and community members will really bring the project to life! I can't wait to get started!