Yewlands, Sowing Seeds of Change - Posted by Cady Staff

Yewlands is putting so much thought and positive energy into really creating a strong project-based learning experience for their incoming Year 7 students next year. Over the past month, they have tuned initial project ideas; they have brought in consultants to offer expertise (focusing on Maths and Literacy); they have thoughtfully presented their plans for next year to their whole staff; they have been working on transforming the timetable for Year 7 to make the necessary structural changes for project-based learning to work best; and they have been working with their feeder primary schools to help transition incoming students and families.

Project Tunings

We used this Project Tuning Protocol to tune project ideas including a project proposed by Lucie called Re-Inventing the Wheel (challenging students to create simple machines to solve problems) and a Survival Project designed by Dean and Carolyn with the driving question: how would we survive in a post-apocalyptic world? The group has been including current Year 7 students in their project tunings and incorporating both teacher and student passions in order to set foundations for more engagement.

Planning Transition Day

The Year 7 teachers have also been planning a project for Transition Day, when the incoming Year 7 students get their first experience working together at Yewlands. They have been co-planning a transition project with primary teachers that will be done in the majority of the primary feeder schools. Students will then be coming in from a variety of different schools for the Yewlands Transition Day (July 4^th). On that day, Year 7 teachers will lead a project that will allow them to get to know their students and their passions; and give incoming students the chance to pitch and plan their first field trip together at Yewlands.

Celebrating Current Beautiful Work and Recruiting Supporters

During my time at Yewlands, I have gotten to meet with many different teachers who are currently developing or have previously done beautiful project work with their students.  For example, I met with David Blake (a Design and Technology teacher) about his work on the annual Christmas Fayre. This meeting pointed out how there are already impressive pockets of project-based learning at Yewlands. Besides the beautiful work created and sold at the Christmas Fayre for a charity, I also saw evidence of great project-based learning happening in the rooms I visited that day with David. For example, I walked into a cooking class and students had just baked amazing pastries and breads that were truly real world, delicious work. What could be more authentic than savoring your project by eating it and serving it to others? Their proud instructor emphasized how they cannot truly understand the concepts and science behind the cooking until they get to work - experimenting and seeing the principles in action. When we left the Design and Technology area, I saw the current Year 7s asking each other survey questions and tallying the answers – already getting used to more interactive and dynamic ways of working together.

Presenting to the Staff

Yewlands has been planning for some exciting and bold changes for next year with a core group of school leaders and teachers. They really allowed the teachers involved to drive the planning process and make decisions about BIG ideas and structures for next year. It seems easier and more natural to trust and empower your students when you feel trusted and empowered, yourself, as a teacher, first. The teachers involved have been entrusted and empowered through this planning process. Once a plan materialized that could be communicated and shared with the whole staff, the teacher-leaders were given the chance to present their plan and the thoughts/ inspiration behind it. Their presentation and the meeting went really well. More and more teachers are interested in becoming involved in “the movement” towards enquiry-based/ project-based learning. The key seems to be that the program Yewlands is creating is being driven by the teachers and students themselves. They made a conscious choice to have the teachers present to the staff about work they are excited about, rather than having school leaders present a plan that must be followed.

Visiting High Tech High

Next month, a core group of school leaders and teachers involved in transforming Year 7 next year (along with school leaders and teachers from primary schools in the area) will be visiting High Tech High.  They are planning a visit that will focus on their enquiries and help them strengthen their plans for next year.

Next Steps…

Every step of the way, Yewlands has been building a strong foundation for the changes ahead. Every week, I look forward to being a part of the next step of the process. They are sowing the seeds of change as they inspire and recruit more and more willing, enthusiastic planters in their midst. It is not a sweeping change that is being forced on a school, but rather change that has been carefully planted over time. The blossoming of beautiful work is naturally strengthening the interest and enthusiasm for project-based learning at Yewlands.

Final Chapter of the ACS Sign Design Project - Posted by Cady Staff

At Atherton Community School, two sessions before our scheduled field trips to the Bolton Design Centre and the new school construction site, we had students build individual cereal boxes with their personal logos and branding.  We wanted the students to think about the deeper meaning behind signage by creating a sign to represent themselves, first. They shared their personal cereal boxes with their peers before we broke them up in groups of four for their next challenge. In their groups, students developed logos for their school representing both their individual logos and a connection they shared. Students went through the design process to create strips for a display tube that would then house their individual cereal boxes in the school. It was truly a spirited day of design challenges and creativity!

On our last project day at school before our field trips, we divided students into three groups for three rotating challenges. Students worked on symbolic representations in one class, a design challenge focusing on budgeting limited resources in another class, and researching subject area topics and quotes in their last class. It was a calmer day having the students rotate in smaller groups, rather than working as a large team.

Field Trip Days       

Students were divided into two groups of 20 and 21 during our two field trip days. One of the groups went to the Bolton Design Centre to work on designing signs for the new school, along with creating sign samples on the laser printer. The other group worked on their exhibition presentation preparation and got to go on a walking field trip to the construction site of the new school building. I was really impressed by how well the Bolton Design Centre organized the day of team building and design challenges for the students. I also learned so much about Atherton on our walking field trip to the construction site of their new school building (which is rebuilding the old high school). Some of the teachers worked at the old school building and I learned about the history of the school. Atherton Community School is filling the gap left behind in the community when the old high school closed.

Presentations and Exhibition

The final step of the Sign Design project involved students presenting their learning to each other, their teachers, their parents and to a panel of school leaders and architects. In their Sign Design groups of four, students created PowerPoint presentations using these Roles and Guidelines. Students presented their laser cut sign prototypes and their top design idea to Chloe Andersen, an architect working on the signage for the new building. After formal presentations to their peers, teachers and architect (who completed a Rubric the students were given beforehand), students exhibited their work to parents and community members at a Friday exhibition and showcase of both the process and final work.  As one teacher described the communication exhibition by saying, “There was a real buzz about the place!”

For more details on this project, please visit the Sign Design Project Web Page.

The Goole Docks Project Update - Posted by Cady Staff

It was so wonderful to have the time to really plan out the Goole Docks Project before we started it off with our group of Year 9 students. After Louise came back from her trip to High Tech High, she said she was energized and inspired, and definitely wanted to do the project first, which is advice that Jeff Robin (a brilliant art teacher at High Tech High) gives any teacher involved in project-based learning. Here is a video created by Jeff Robin called WhatPBL Is, which emphasizes the merits of doing the project first. (Here is a link to more videos created by Jeff Robin.)

Louise and I spent some of the day meeting and planning with Helen. Helen is helping to coordinate Goole Studio School, opening next year, and she is a logistical genius when it comes to juggling community connections and planning fieldtrips. She helped us plan the Goole Docks fieldtrip that was coming up in a couple of weeks and she helped organize interviews with Goole Dock workers (scheduled for two weeks after our project kick-off).

After our meeting with Helen, I shared a project web page template with Louise and we worked on filling it in with information about the Goole Docks Project. Louise totally took ownership of the web page and continues to update it with the project plan and resources for students. You can visit the Goole Docks 2013: Part I project web page here.

On part of the web page, we created a shared calendar and began mapping out each day with the students. We also decided to create a book as a final product, as well as a visual display for the exhibition. This first part of the Goole Docks Project will be built on next year in the Studio School as students delve deeper into answering the question: What can be done with an empty dock?

Doing the Project Ourselves, First

We did the project ourselves (including the field trip) before the students during the half-term break. We went to the Goole Docks, drove the route we would drive the students around and we completed each step involved in creating a chapter for the Goole Docks book. We recorded our interview with Daniel Wells during our trial field trip. Later, we transcribed that interview to complete an example of our book chapter for students. We used our example on the project web page to help guide students as they go through the same process.

Goole Docks Fieldtrip

Slideshows of Student Work 

After many hours of planning and working with community connections, the dream of the Goole Docks field trip became a reality. Students interacted with Goole Dock workers, experienced a boat and driving tour of the docks, and then met in the boardroom to discuss the future of the Goole Docks. It was a successful, inspiring kick-off to the project.

The Interviews

The next step of the project was when all of the interviewees came to Goole to be interviewed by students about the past and their vision for the future. Students divided into groups of 3-4 and conducted interviews with six different individuals connected with the Goole Docks. They gave up half of their day to answer students questions and get their pictures taken for the book. Students were a little nervous at the start, but really got into their interviews. They recorded the interviews on iPads, checked out from the school for the day. 

The next step of the process was transcribing the interviews and choosing their favourite few quotes and summarizing the heart of the stories they heard. Following the interviews and a project work day, all of the Goole students had a day off the normal time schedule. A group of 40 students who signed up for a Project-Based Learning day worked on thank you notes for the interviewees, designed the cover for the book and created artwork for each portrait.  The project and the book are well on their way…

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!