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!