Any quality lesson or unit begins with the environment. I work daily to set the stage for innovation, risk taking, and perseverance. Students enter the Innovation Studio and put on an apron. Every one of them can tell you that the apron is their pledge to have a growth mindset. They are ready to be challenged and learn in a new and different way. I also wear an apron as do my collaborative teachers. It is our pledge to our students that we are striving to teach them using new and better strategies, resources, and technologies. This innovative culture promotes an understanding that we are there to think critically, problem solve, and communicate. Students know that we are a team and it is our responsibility to remain active participants in learning. We fail together, are resilient together, and learn from our mistakes and our successes. Students are driven to question it, prove it, create it, fix it, show me, and share. One particular strategy has transformed my instruction, SCRUM. This framework for productivity and teamwork has empowered my fifth graders to be goal driven, independent problem solvers. They are collaborators, communicators, and critical thinkers. Through the use of story points, a backlog, and a SCRUM board, students remain on task and support each other as they work toward a team goal. SCRUM allows students the freedom and voice that they need to be innovators. Through the use of effort rubrics, students gauge their own and their peer strengths and weaknesses in flexibility, perseverance in problem solving, communication, and collaboration. Allowing them the freedom, voice, and choice to use those skills promotes innovation. The environment that I create influences the type of learners that are developed.
The U.S. Regions Golf Course Unit best defines me as a teacher and exemplifies the amount of quality instruction content that can be addressed in a truly integrated STREAM lesson. As a class they created a US Regions Golf Course. Each hole of the course represented a region, its characteristics, and geographic features. The students incorporate the basics of golf course design including hazards and inclines and declines. Teams investigated the limitations of the Sphero in different terrains and determined how that affects the speed of the Sphero in traversing each course. At the conclusion of this project teams played golf on our Regional Sphero Golf course and attempted to get the lowest score. Geography objectives included learning about each region and its characteristics, the geographic features, and waterways. Students had to read and research the types of golf courses and choose the best one for their region. They had to engineer hazards and obstacles and make sure that the engineered features match the region. In science, we determined how force and motion would affect the sphero and if friction played a part in the way the sphero moved through the course. Students determined how simple machines like inclined planes might change how they programmed the bot. Students experimented and gathered data about which surface materials would work best on flat surfaces and ramps. In order to program the Sphero, they needed to use their recently acquired math skills, rates, and ratios. They had to ask, “How did the speed setting relate to the distance traveled in a period of time?” Obstacles and hazards provided another challenge and students had to have a strong understanding of angle measurement in order to program turns, all the while using the blockly coding language. After presenting the long term goals for the project, students created the criteria for a Minimum Viable Product which translated into a student created rubric. This process is part of the SCRUM framework and is a strategy that fosters student ownership. Working in teams of four and using SCRUM, students were completely engaged in every step of the process. The Five C's Of an Innovative Environment sum up my beliefs in teaching and are demonstrated in this lesson. Creativity was necessary to design and engineer the golf hole and create the geographic features. Students even used online tutorials to create origami trees. Programming required students to analyze logical connections, overcome challenges, and determine what adjustments are necessary to effect a successful outcome. This critical thinking paired with perseverance led to many hole in ones. In every aspect of this project, communication and collaboration was key. Practicing SCRUM work sessions were interrupted by “Stand Up” meetings so students could check in, share their progress, and make decisions together to maintain productivity. Lastly, students invited other classes to come and “play” the courses. Building community in this way built their own communication and technology skills, and at the same time allowed other students to learn how to program using the Sphero. Comments are closed.
|
Author“Challenge me! Inspire me! Listen to me!” This is the message in their eyes. I see myself in so many of the students I serve, because I was not easily inspired as a young learner. Now, as an inspired educator, I hope to motivate students to find joy in learning and to take pride in being part of a community of learners. Archives
March 2018
Categories |