Helping Students Realize their Potential with Passion Projects

We began passion projects a little more than a month ago. Our first project focused around the student-selected topic of homelessness. I quickly realized that I had underestimated my students- and they just continue to blow me away!

To begin our next LAUNCH Cycle for another passion project, we returned to our wall of wonders- a collection of student and teacher questions about topics we are interested in. Students shared the ideas they found the most interesting, and we settled on four topics of study for students to choose between:

• How do you make a house?
• How are families affected by deployment?
• How do you make a video game?
• Why do bulls not like the color red?

Developing Topics

I was initially concerned with the topic of why bulls don’t like red. It seems like a pretty simple question to answer after a bit of reading. As my students found the answer to their question, they realized that bulls don’t dislike the color, they just dislike being teased and aggravated. Our discussion touched on animal mistreatment, abuse, captivity, and animal entertainment such as the circus and zoo. Rather than simply telling my students that their topic wouldn’t work, I encouraged them to learn what they could and then develop more questions to guide further research.

Student Projects

I’m thrilled with the projects my students created. Are they perfect? No. Are they amazing? YES! These projects are a great reflection of student learning. You wouldn’t believe how excited they were to share their projects during parent-teacher conferences.

How to Build a House

These students decided they would make a model to demonstrate their learning. They used their model to explain the process to the class. Their model included framing, drywall, electrical wiring, and roofing.

Deployment

These young ladies were very concerned when learning about the stress that families, service men, and service women face during and after deployment. After learning about PTSD, they decided to create a presentation and share their new understanding with the class. They also wrote letters to veterans and their families. See their presentations here.

Video Games

A large number of my students chose this topic. Almost every student wanted to use what they learned about world building, conflict, and character development to write their own video game stories. Student teams used Scratch to create their games. Our class spent time asking questions about the game making process and exploring the games.

One student decided he wanted to write a blog about making video games. He spotlighted a particular group of students and outlined what made their game special.

Animal Cruelty

This group of students decided they wanted to develop a website to inform their peers about the conditions under which animals in captivity live. The class was challenged to consider how they spend money at the circus and zoo.

Standards-Based Instruction

Are you wondering how I “fit in” standards? I purposefully timed our passion projects to fall during our nonfiction reading unit. As we completed our first passion project together, I introduced a simple T-Chart. The left side said, “Text Says” and the right side said, “I Think.” This super simple organizer served to guide our reading. Students were summarizing, making connections, synthesizing, determining problems and solutions, and reading with real purpose. We practiced these skills together during our first passion project, and they worked more independently on the second. I also reinforced these reading skills during guided reading groups.

Student Empowerment

One of the reasons I love passions projects is because my students love them. There is real purpose behind reading, freedom for creativity, and students have the opportunity to publish their work for a large audience. I continue to remind myself to stop underestimating my students...but do you see why they amaze me? They have so much to offer the world, not just later as adults but right now. Passion projects show students what they are capable of. I love empowering my students!

Developing a Passion for Learning with Passion Projects

One of my major goals for this year is increasing personalized learning in my classroom. At the beginning of the year, I set a few goals for implementation. One of these goals is using a design thinking process called the LAUNCH cycle, for student-driven passion projects. Our nonfiction reading unit seemed to be a perfect fit for our first project.

We began by reading the book, Giant Steps to Change the World. My students found inspiration from famous world-changers. We researched these heroes and realized that they are just people like us. If they changed the world, so can we!

Learning Process

I was concerned about managing all 27 of my students studying a different topic, so we agreed to vote and choose one topic for our first passion project. My students took some time to brainstorm wonder statements, explore Wonderopolis, and discuss ideas together. Many students found interest in the topic of homelessness. We decided on this essential question: how does a person become homeless?

We generated as many questions about the topic as we could so that we could determine the direction for our research. Next, we spent days researching. Google Earth Voyager helped us explore what homes look like around the world, documentaries revealed the disadvantages homeless children face, and articles shed light on the relationship between poverty and homelessness. Our Parent Liaison also joined us and led a student activity to help my students understand the challenge of managing resources on a budget.

Learning Outcomes

Through all of our learning, I saw my students practicing the nonfiction reading skills outlined in our current reading unit. They summarized, determined the main idea, synthesized information across texts, drew conclusions, and identified cause and effect relationships. More importantly though, my students had a genuine interest in our topic, they were invested in their own learning, and they made comments like, “Do we get to read more for our project today?” Toward the end of our project more than a few students came to school with huge smiles because, “I can’t wait to do our project today!”

The best part of this project was having the opportunity to help my students grow in understanding and compassion. We learned about extremely difficult situations and we experienced empathy. From that place, my students were inspired to take action and do something about the present problem. They were inspired to encourage others with kindness, and they were empowered to make a difference. I am so proud of them!

Product

As our final project, we assembled care bags for members of our community with materials provided by a grant written by my co-teacher. The care bags were distributed during a food pantry held at our school. My students felt so proud that they could make a difference for so many families at our school. 

We also created separate care bags so that each of my students could keep one in their car to share with someone in our city. We discussed the physical and emotional challenges of homelessness and decided to include toiletry items, snacks, and an encouraging note. Several of my students have already shared their care bag and were eager to encourage their peers to share theirs as well.

Reflection

Through this whole process, I realized a few important things. Logistically, I made the right choice in having my students agree on one topic to begin with. Working together with my students allowed me to really focus on reinforcing comprehension strategies for my students to apply as they read. For our next passion project, I plan to have my students study three or four different topics. I’ll continue to learn the best way to manage different groups, topics, and projects as the year goes on.

I also learned the importance of pacing with my students. On days that my students seemed to lose steam part way through our reading time, we would participate in guided discussion, revisit our questions, and read to find out how others are already working to help the homeless. These activities provided variety so that my students weren’t expected to read and research for our entire reading block.

Finally, I learned to stop underestimating my students. They are only nine years old, but they have amazing ideas, caring hearts, and eternal optimism! I’m so glad they chose such a serious topic because they showed me what they are truly capable of. One of the best parts of the LAUNCH Cycle is the idea that students create something and share it with the world. My goal was to empower my students to realize that they can have an impact on their world, and by the end of our project we did just that.

 

Personalizing Learning in the Elementary Classroom

The beginning of the school year is always full of possibilities, and I’m so excited to start a new adventure with my students this year.

I intend to continue gamified blended learning like last year, and one of my new goals is to take steps to further personalize learning for my students. I began increasing student agency in my classroom by offering more choices and then teaching students to self-assess and plan their own learning steps.

I found new ideas for personalized learning through two sources this summer. Empower by John Spencer and A.J. Juliani is so incredibly inspiring! The book is focused around the idea of students owning their learning. I was also inspired this summer by hearing author Barbara Bray speak at ISTE 2018. Her books about personalized learning are a great resource for teachers!

What is personalized learning?

Personalized learning is focused around the learner. If individualized learning is creating a specific learning plan for each student, and differentiated learning is focused around the teacher providing instruction for small groups, then personalized learning empowers the learner to make choices to drive their own learning. Barbara Bray’s website Rethink Learning offers a great chart that compares these three learning approaches. I plan to give the following ideas a try this year to further personalize learning.

Geek Out Blog

Last year I began blogging with my students. Each student used their personal blog to reflect on their learning, share triumphs, and publish classwork they felt proud of. Not only were students able to publish for an authentic audience, but our class also practiced the skills needed to be positive members of an online community by providing positive feedback and encouragement.

In addition to the ways in which my students used their blogs last year, I’d like to add what Spencer and Juliani call “Geek Out Blogs.” This format allows students to select the topic, format, and information they publish. They are able to "geek out" about what they love while owning the entire writing process from brainstorming to researching and publishing.

Personalized Learning Paths

I began using a blended learning model in my class about a year and a half ago. Over that time, I’ve learned to create online content, track student progress, connect online and face-to-face learning, and engage students through gamification. My next step is to create multiple learning paths for students. Multiple learning paths means that students have many paths and resources available to best meet their learning needs. This will empower students to reflect on their progress and make informed choices about what support they need to be successful. The map below shows three learning paths within Classcraft, the gamified learning platform I use.

This map shows multiple learning paths for success. The yellow path is the general
content, red provides remediation, and purple includes more advanced applications of skills.

Passion Projects

I’ve been interested in trying passion projects, 20% time, or genius hour for a while now. Did you know that Google employees spend 20% of their work time pursuing projects of their own choosing? This concept has fascinated me. If we truly want students to be intrinsically motivated to learn and create, then I think this is a great place to start. This year, I’ve considered our district curriculum units and have chosen one unit where I can begin implementing a choice-driven project.

Wonder Week

Spencer and Juliani challenge teachers to choose one week, possibly right before a longer break or at the end of state testing, where students are given time to explore a topic or idea they are fascinated by. The idea here is to promote student curiosity and creativity. I am looking forward to exploring and creating with my students in this way!


Have you had success personalizing learning with your elementary students? I’d love to hear about what you have tried or would like to try with your learners!

5 Essential Instructional Design Tips for Blended Learning

It’s hard to believe that I started implementing blended learning about a year ago. What began as an interest in learning about the subject quickly became the most effective way I have found to deliver meaningful and personalized instruction; and gamifying blended learning in my classroom has raised student engagement and motivation to new levels.

The most important concept that I have learned during my journey is that there must be quality instruction at the core of every online lesson. Here are my top five instructional design tips that I take into consideration as I create online instruction for my students.

Creating a quality online lesson does not simply mean changing current lessons into an online format.

First, a boring worksheet or lecture in class is even more boring when students are working online, because they are not interacting with their teachers. Second, students learn differently online than they do in a classroom setting. Taking these differences into account while developing online content not only increases student engagement, but it also helps to increase retention of skills and content. 

Variety is crucial.

I want my students actively engaged in their learning, not simply going through the motions. I've learned that too much routine and predictability can lead to boredom. For this reason, I use a variety of modalities to deliver content, practice skills, and assess student learning. As much as possible, I provide students with this variety by using videos, infographics, audiobooks, songs, collaborative google docs, online games, and to engage with while learning. Visit my Symbaloo Webmix to see some of my favorite web tools that I use. 

It is important to present content in a visually inviting way.

Writing in paragraphs and sections gives the reader a visual break, chunking ideas into manageable parts. Organizing online content with the purpose of aiding student processing and comprehension is just as important. I try to avoid too much text on one page, otherwise my students tend to become easily overwhelmed and they do not fully engage in the lesson. 

Online learning must connect to face-to-face instruction.

It’s no secret that learning done in isolation with no opportunity to transfer skills leads to low retention of content. It’s crucial for my young learners to apply their online learning in face-to-face settings. Sometimes I use online data to drive face-face lessons, and other times my interactions with students affects the online lessons I plan for them. It just depends on the skills we are learning and the needs of my students. Either way though, my students have come to understand that the learning they do online will directly connect to the content and skills we are learning in the classroom.

These students and I are analyzing poetry after learning figurative
language techniques through their online lessons. 

Consider pacing and feedback to build and sustain momentum.

I can’t stress enough the importance of timely feedback. If too much time passes, students can lose momentum and interest in their online learning. For this reason, I strategically plan self-assessment and peer-assessment opportunities within our online units so that my students do not always need my feedback to progress. This balance ensures that my students maintain their excitement for our learning together. 

Benefits of Flipped Assessments

Amy has been a music
teacher for 23 years.

Imagine the teaching schedule of a special area teacher in an elementary school. They are responsible for teaching every student, but in most cases, they only see them one time per week for about 45 minutes.

This time of year is exciting for my students because they are learning to read music and play the recorder. During a typical lesson for this unit, our wonderful music teacher, Amy Beasley, assesses each student individually. So with 32 students, she has very little time left for actual instruction. To complicate matters more, our students struggle to retain their learning in special area classes due to only seeing our specials teachers about once per week.

I started thinking about the amount of time individual assessments take out of Amy’s teaching day and a solution came to mind. If we allow students to take their recorder tests at home using Flipgrid, then the entire class period can be used for instruction. As Amy and I discussed this idea we brainstormed a few more ideas and we found so many benefits to using this assessment model. 

Increased Instructional Time

Assessing students through video means that Amy does not have to spend class time individually assessing each student. Instead of having about 10 minutes of instructional time with students this week, Amy can spend more of her class period teaching. 

Individualized Feedback

Before, Amy’s time with each student was very limited, meaning there was little time to provide feedback- but not anymore. Amy and I set up individual google docs for each student so that she can provide specific feedback. This also helps her to track the progress of her 132 fourth graders.

Increased Practice Time

In the past, not many students were motivated to practice at home. Now though, they naturally practice as they record themselves, trying over and over to get it just right. It’s not a perfect solution to promoting practice at home, but some students are practicing more than before.

Positive Music Experience

When using Flipgrid to take their recorder tests, students are able to perform without the pressure of their entire class watching them. Of course, students who play instruments will learn to perform in front of others, but at this young age, recording performance assessments is a great way for students to build their confidence and have a positive musical experience.

Online Instruction

In addition to having students practice and record their assessment at home, Amy and I also developed a way to provide instruction for students as they practice. A simple Padlet page now has a variety of short videos in which Amy plays each song for students so that they can hear each piece.

Challenges and Next Steps

Amy and I are so pleased with the potential benefits of flipping assessment. Not only can it address the issue of instructional time, but it also led to other ideas to improve the quality of at-home practice and feedback for individual students.

The greatest challenge that Amy now faces is motivating the majority of her students to actually record their assessments at home. We initially thought that the benefit of not playing in front of the whole class would motivate most students, but that hasn’t been the case. The next step is finding the right incentive to encourage student follow through.

Creating A Global Classroom

Last year, my class had the opportunity to travel to the island of Borneo through Google Expeditions. With the aid of smartphones and VR viewers, each student was able to explore the rainforest with me as their guide. While on our trip, we studied the ecological changes happening there as a result of deforestation. It was amazing!

Integrating technology in this way allowed me to provide a learning opportunity that used to be impossible. I want to be able to plan lessons with rich experiences for my students- opening their minds to the world both near and far.

I recently learned about Skype Classroom -a free community of teachers and experts working together to provide live virtual lessons, field trips, and collaborations around the world. Skype Classroom has learning opportunities appropriate for every grade level, and students do not need their own devices to participate. Your class can discuss a book with its author, collaborate on projects with classes around the world, and visit experts in their field.

Since each Skype Classroom experience is a live event, you can interact closely with your collaborator, asking specific questions and making your lesson or field trip highly relevant for your students. Here are a few examples of the experiences I’ve scheduled for my class.

Civil War Museum

My class traveled all the way to the Virginia Historical Society in Richmond to learn about the life of a Civil War soldier. We were able to see artifacts, learn about primary sources, and gain a better understanding of life in the 1800s.

Indigenous People of the Amazon Rainforest

In a few weeks, we will have the opportunity to visit the Amazon Rainforest to learn about issues facing the indigenous people, study cultural similarities and differences, and explore the ecosystem there.

Writing Tips from an Author

To begin our poetry unit, we will visit with an author. She will share a lesson about writing with your senses and then guide us through practice. This will be a great way to make our writing come alive.


Give it a try! All you need to begin cultivating your global classroom is a free Skype Classroom account and a webcam. If you have tried Skype Classroom, I'd love to hear your favorite lessons, field trips, and collaborations. Comment below!

Designing Online Learning Experiences That Empower Students

Earlier this year, I was inspired by a teacher who required her students to assess their prior knowledge and then choose their learning path for each lesson. Soon after, my co-teacher and I made specific changes to our math workshop in order to increase student agency and ownership in our own classroom. Our goal was to provide ways for students to direct their own learning while also considering long-term projects as performance assessments.

I’ve recently started learning more about empowering students from author John Spencer. In this short video, he suggests 10 ways teachers can start offering choice for their learners.

I considered each of these suggestions when designing my latest online math content, a learning quest through Classcraft. My students engaged with this quest during their independent work time in math workshop over the course of four weeks. Each task in our quest includes a part of our fictional story from our “realm,” lesson content, assessments, and game rewards for student players.

Each location on the map contains lesson content and
learning tasks for students to complete. 

Student Choice in Daily Learning

Materials
Each learning task includes a variety of teaching materials such as charts, videos, songs, and examples. Students can choose how they want to learn and practice each skill.

Scaffolding
My students are able to choose which topics they practice first. They can build their confidence with topics that were easy for them to understand during small group instruction or they can choose a more challenging task.

Pacing
We provide students with ongoing instruction in each topic as they progress toward mastery, allowing them to spend more or less time on a topic based on their need.

Self-Assessment
My students determine when they will take the formative assessments for each topic based on their personal progress.

Student Choice in Final Performance Assessments

Project Format
When many students have shown mastery of most of the topics, we give students choice about how they want to demonstrate their learning with final performance assessments. Students can choose the format, audience, and specific topic of their project.

Project Management
While working on projects, students manage their own work. My role as the teacher is to help students stay on track and provide additional resources as the need arises.

Students have chosen final project ranging from paper and pencil tasks
to creating teaching videos and using manipulatives to model a problem.

Evidence of Empowered Students

One of the benefits of teaching in small groups in a math workshop format is that my co-teacher and I have a clear picture of each student’s progress toward mastery. At the same time, we want our students advocating for their learning needs. Part of what makes this possible is the visual aspect of the quest map. It makes it very easy for students to track their own progress, plus they are motivated to complete tasks to gain points toward leveling up. We have found that students are advocating for their learning needs more often by expressing their need for additional face-to-face help with specific topics. This is empowered learning!