Game on!

Wow, I'm very impressed with my colleagues insight and excitement for this project. I have to say, I was somewhat skeptical when Katie first approached me about participating. It's not that I don't like working collaboratively, but most of the time I feel so overwhelmed with trying to keep up with my classes and all the new technology, that I feel like if I take on anything else I might spontaneously combust. After our first working session, I immediately felt at ease though.

Over my teaching career, I have worked in lots of groups. Like Andy, I also worked in middle school three years before coming to the high school, so working on a cross curricular team was part of that culture, and it's what I missed most after leaving that environment. Middle school is conducive to the team approach; high school is not however. I was hopeful that when we went to Houses, that it would lend itself more to cross curricular instruction, but for some reason, that hasn't happened yet. Sooo...as people have already stated, we won't have the same students or even the same grade level. Not so advantageous for the benefits of a project like this.

As far as the topic for this project, it was surprising how easy it was for us all to agree on one, but even though it is a timely and worthwhile topic, it really only ties into to the science and engineering curriculum, so somewhat of a curve ball. In the past when I've worked on teams, we would usually revolve our topic around a novel we were reading in English, and all the other content areas would see how they could tie into the main themes of the literature. Now that I've had time to process this project more and talk to the kids about it, it does seem like it will be somewhat forced into my curriculum.

Another challenge that I have encountered is the students themselves. I originally thought I would do this assignment with my Creative Writing class, but I feel it wouldn't work because this class doesn't even talk. I literately have to call on students every time we do peer evaluation or have a class discussion because no one volunteers to participate. Also, I didn't really want to try anything too experimental and self-directed with a class of 30 freshman (Good luck with that Brian). What I have finally decided on is my Literary Design class because most of these students are pretty vocal and creative.

As one can see, there are many challenges ahead. I'm not exactly sure what direction I'm going, but I guess the fun will be in the journey and collaboration. Again, I'm not sure we will make the connections with the students a pure cross curricular team would make, but I do think we adults will benefit from sharing. I think I am most excited about working with a fun, intelligent, enthusiastic group of teachers who are on top of their game!

Dana

Awesomeness

As the great University of Kansas head Football coach Turner Gill would say, "This here project got me fired up." I can still remember true collaboration as it happened in my first few years of teaching.    Me, a Science teacher, working with Social Studies, English, and Math teachers on collaborative projects on a very frequent basis.  The four of us getting together almost daily to share what worked and what didn't. Contemplating how we would change this and tweak that.  Our teaching lives were built around collaborating within our "academy," and we had a damn good time doing it.  Oh yeah, the students learned a lot too.

That was almost 15 years ago.  The pressures of standardized testing, reduced plan times, and bigger class sizes have forced many of us to go into hiding.  We've settled with simply doing our "own thing."  Sure, we collaborate in our department meetings, but the idea of reaching out to someone outside of the Science Department is almost strange to me now.

Last year, Amy Cameron and I did a unit on Endangered Species.  It was a fun, successful project, but I must admit, it was weird working so closely with another teacher.  Not because Amy is weird.  Well, she did brush her teeth with dog toothpaste once, but whatever.  It was the collaboration that seemed so foreign to me.  It had been years since I had practiced true collaboration.  I didn't seek out advice from my colleagues.  I had simply grown accustomed to running my classroom my own way.

I found the most important step was to just TRY to collaborate.  I set aside my worries and went with the flow.  As our project progressed, I found it not only easy to collaborate with Amy but very enjoyable and rewarding as well.  Most importantly, I believe the students learned some valuable, worldly lessons that will stay with them for a very long time.  By being open to learning and sharing knowledge, the rest took care of itself.

So, my goal on this project is simply to TRY and see where this thing leads.  So what if I hardly know Sutcliffe or that Leech is clear across the building? I AM GOING TO TRY.  Everett is like 1000 times smarter than me, and Dixon is reading this right now shaking her head at all of the grammatical errors.  SO WHAT?  I am going to TRY.

There will be challenges and obstacles, without a doubt.  We don't share the same students, and we all have different plan times.  Not only do we teach different subjects, but we work with students with vastly different ability levels as well.  This will be a challenge, but one I am going to TRY to give my very best.

Heath Cooper

     Listening to Cooper recite Slayer lyrics from "Raining Blood", Don speak towards his prior experience with the quilt project, Everett doing his famous Frank Martin impersonation or listening to Dixon talk about how to turn poetry into project based learning.  This, in my opinion, is the best part of the project.
     I listen to my wife talk about her day at work (working with adults all day) and it is much different than ours, not better just different. There are days where she would love to switch places with me but the truth is, we need more time to work with each other (adults) to look at what we are doing through another colleagues perspective.  Interacting with our colleagues has great value in understanding our students better, ourselves better, and helps us appreciate our team as a whole.  The feeling of being on my own little island up in the new wing is very real and stepping back onto the mainland and seeing the big picture that day was very refreshing. Having more interactions with our colleagues is not only essential to the success of our project, but more importantly it builds relationships, inspires us and frankly is a lot of fun.  We hear bits and pieces of what other staff members are doing and achieving but until you sit down and really collaborate with them, we really don't know how talented our staff really is.  I knew the group I was working with were all excellent educators but I got to see it first hand on this day.
     As far as the project goes, my initial thought was, "this is going to be easy".  I was brought back to teaching on the "TAG Team" at Grandview Middle and Martin City Middle where I had taught for 5 years and cross curricular projects were year long constants.  Alternative Energy would be the topic, ok lets go!  Not going to be that easy.  Several obstacles presented themselves immediately.  The first was timing, how can we integrate these projects so that they fit with one another within a specified time frame.  The second was having different cohorts of kids.  We don't teach to the same kids!  In my 7th grade science class it was always the same kids and tying concepts in from Mrs. Schultz class was easy, they all had Mrs. Shultz.  How is this going to work if we all teach different kids?  The third obstacle was; even though it seems easy for me to stray slightly from my curriculum, it would not be so easy for any teacher who would be judged by their scores on EOC exams.  2 weeks away from their curriculum would have a major impact on those scores. There were other issues as well, but those were the ones that stood out for me.
     The next step is to overcome obstacles.  Since our initial meeting, we all have been brainstorming around them and are looking at possible solutions.  One being that maybe the adult collaboration is more important than student outcomes and therefore not matching all of the kids up won't be such a big deal.  A possible solution to tested subjects could  be that EOC tested concepts could be intentionally put into all parts of the projects.  For example Don could show and teach me the benchmarks that his kids would be doing/missing and I could teach that concept as it pertains to hydrogen fuel cell efficiency or whatever concept I was teaching.  
    There is still a lot of discussion that needs to take place before we have a concept model in place that is flawless. I am looking forward to working through those problems with my colleagues and know that their talents and friendship will make it a fun process.
    This is the first blog I have ever written... Where the hell is the grammar check...

Leech

I went into the day with excitement because I had done project based learning with Robin Reich and Cherl Landers last year with the Quilt Project that we had gotten a grant form the Grandview Education Foundation to fund. It was a great experience. The group of teachers we all folks I was excited to work with and learn from. The ideas that flew all afternoon we amazing. However, the longer I was there the greater my anxiety became. I was the only teacher that would be doing this project with a class that will take the EOC at the end of the year. We decided to consider how renewable energies would effect/change the world in the future. I struggled with how I was going to find Geometry in renewable energy. My knowledge of the subject is very limited and with the EOC ever looming over my head I was feeling like I was somewhere between a rock and a hard place. Well, the group of teachers I was working with were fantastic. They were sympathetic to my situation. They were willing to brainstorm with me and see where this was going to go. By the end of the day I came to the place that I really wanted to do the project, but...I had some concerns. Did it really fit my curriculum at the level my students could understand? Would the project move us closer to being ready for the ever present danger of the EOC? Did I already say...does this prep my students for the EOC? And what about the EOC? You get the idea.

Then I got to the real heart of the issue personally. My students need to be informed about renewable energy. They will live with it, and need to make informed decisions to embrace the future. But most important...Is the EOC really the goal in the end. Not so much. I want my kids to be able to do research and analyze data and be able to make decisions with good information. I want them to be able to communicate what they have learned from their research and influence others to make good decisions. 

I am on board and excited. My Advanced Geometry kids are going to work really hard to cover our curriculum and carve out a week, give or take, where we can step aside from strictly geometry and do research and analyze data and do GOOD math (not just limited to geometry) that crosses boundaries of content, curriculum, goals, finances, futures, and all of our lives.

Hang on....its going to be a ride.
Don Sutcliffe

            Being approached to work on a cross-curriculum project was certainly something that piqued my interest. In recent times, it seems education has veered away from cross-curriculum activities because of testing and pacing guides. This was an opportunity to work with peers that we just do not get to collaborate with much, so it was definitely worth hearing more about.

            When we met, the biggest challenge of finding a collaborative project was surprisingly easy. With four core teachers and Andy Leech’s engineering class, it was agreed that we could tie into a theme with alternative energy. The science and engineering part was simple, but the other three subjects would be a little more work. However, we knew there would be challenges, but everyone was willing to find answers to them. Here is a partial list of the obstacles:

·      How could we time it with disparate pacing guides?

·      How would math apply?

·      How much time could be devoted to it with the pressure of testing?

·      What would the final product be?

·      Could this work with different age groups?

·      Would the content be too challenging for a freshman class?

Everyone had a great attitude and we searched for solutions. For the social

studies piece, I teach Government and Recent History, so the most natural match was Government. While I have not yet settled on a path, it does align itself with the subject of interest groups or PACs.

            One of the issues mentioned above was timing. We wanted to do this project before Christmas even if we did not complete our part at the same time. However, we had agreed as a PLC that interest groups would be taught closer to Spring Break. Just as others in the group had to do, it was easy to see that all of us would have to compromise to make this work. Interest groups will now be taught before Christmas.

            The important thing with most of these questions should be, “What is best for the students?” We might be rushed to complete all of the usual content before Christmas, but if they get into the project then this will only enhance their learning for second semester. In the short-term, it will allow the students to do research – which is great – and to analyze the effect on interest groups on the political process. And they will be able to fully utilize technology with their laptops. We will just have to go a little faster before Christmas to make it work. That is a trade-off worth making.

            While there is a lot of work to be done, it is worth doing if we can replicate this next year with some tweaks. With the theme we have, it is a subject that is timely and the students should be excited about it. I am really looking forward to it even though I know there will be some snags. Just like the students, we have to learn from the mistakes to make things better.      

Brian       

Introduction

Welcome! We started this blog to document some of the instructional/technological shifts we have embarked on at GHS. This is such a huge year for us here...well of course every year is huge but this year seems different. In just over a month, we are going to deploy MacBook Airs to almost 1100 students. We've been anxiously (nervously) awaiting this day now for over a year (and secretly I'm afraid we are going to be more nervous when they actually arrive in student's hands!). Anyway - our fearless Instructional Tech leader (Scott) has been telling parents "It's kind of like learning to ride a bike without the bike." This statement seems to really settle with me each time he says it because it's so true in this situation. You see - it doesn't really matter that teachers have had their devices since October 2012. And that we have a VanGuard team who went through numerous specialized trainings last year in order to begin creating a cohort of teachers who other staff members could lean on as they worked to familiarize themselves with the Mac. This team is FANTASTIC. They jumped in when we weren't sure everyone else was quite ready. We asked them to "spread their wings" across the staff and share their knowledge and training with others. I would say that overall - this was a very good decision to move forward with this team and they became integral in the planning stages of the 1:1 deployment to students. Like I was saying before...we've been trying to ride the bike without the bike. Of course, all we have been doing is well and good and necessary. But the real work is looming just over the horizon.

As we began reflecting on this experience last year and projecting needs for this school year, it became apparent that we were really missing the instructional hook. The hook for the tool. Because really - if you think about it - the laptop is really just a tool. A tool that can enhance all the things we currently do...but if not done correctly...and without a clear vision and purpose - will become just another glorified worksheet with a fancy whistle attached. Thus, the Challenge Based Learning (CBL) Pilot Project was born. Now - could we move to Project/Problem/Challenge based learning without the devices? Of course. But these become a mighty tool to enhance our students' abilities to truly showcase their tech savvy-ness through communication, collaboration, and other 21st century skills.

SO - 5 teachers (Cooper, Everett, Dixon, Leech, and Sutcliffe) all jumped on board. We met last Friday to kick off the project and I was blown away by what occurred. I probably shouldn't admit this...but what the heck I will anyway - I went in with absolutely no agenda. I had been thinking and thinking about the day and how I really needed to give these guys some guidance on the project but I couldn't ever seem to wrap my brain around exactly what steps we needed to take to get there. Well - I needn't have worried. Believe it or not - within about 10 seconds - a challenge was born. Everyone rallied around a topic and started immediately talking end result. What was it they wanted students to produce to showcase their knowledge of the topic. Now...I don't want to give away too much because I think it's important for the project to speak for itself. Herein lies the purpose of the blog. The team agreed to document their thoughts, worries, excitement, fears, trials, etc. as we move through the project.

Happy Reading...

Katie