Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow.

While writing a regular blog might not be my strong suit, I would like to think that taking action is.  For the past four months, I have been highly engaged in the development of my Cohort 21 action plan, and while it’s not over yet, I have already grown tremendously through this experience, both as an educator and as a leader.

Furthermore, I am proud that I have tried something beyond what I have already mastered.

*Full disclosure- this is a rather lengthy blog post…however, stick with me and I will fill you in on all of the details of how I tackled by How Might We question.

How Might We:  “How might we foster engagement & innovation, while leveraging students’ passions and meaningfully addressing real world problems?”

 

Launching the 20time Project:  Lift Off at RDS

Friday, January 13th marked the official launch of the 20time Project at RDS.  A detailed email outlining the 20time Project was sent out to students and parents of the Grade 7/8 Program, and an RDS 20time Website was born to keep everyone in the loop!  Guided by a talented group of 20time facilitators (5 teachers, including myself), our Grade 7/8 Program (28 students in total) embarked on this major project-based learning opportunity, and have continued doing so, every Friday morning from 9-10:30am.

 

A Typical 20time Session:  Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery

The structure of 20time at RDS has been modelled after Cohort 21’s Face to Face Sessions – and by modelled, I mean completely imitated!  Each week, we begin our sessions together as one large group, where we outline the schedule for the day, share project inspiration, showcase students for noteworthy 20time work, and highlight a tech tool.  We then break into four small semi-permanent groups, where the students are given time to develop their 20time Projects by working through assigned tasks, collaborating in small groups, meeting with their 20time facilitators 1-on-1, and starting on a weekly homework task, etc.

 

Weekly 20time Content:  Don’t Reinvent the Wheel, Realign It

Content for our weekly 20time slide decks has been highly influenced by the inspirational likes of: Cohort 21, @lmcbeth and her expertise in design thinking (as well her colleagues at the Future Design School), IDEO.org’s Design Kit, and of course the work of Kevin Brookhouser (author of The 20time Project).  Many of the design thinking resources and exercises that we utilized in Cohort 21 were directly integrated into the 20time Project at RDS; as the students used design thinking to combine a personal passion with a real world problem, as a means of establishing an idea for their 20time Project.  If you’re interested in viewing some of this content, please check out our weekly 20time slide decks. These can be viewed by visiting RDS’s 20time Website.

 

20time Student Projects: Design Thinking Powers Innovation

Powered by design thinking, each of the students developed creative and innovative 20time Project ideas.  Each student’s 20time Project is uniquely their own, and the scope of topics is vast, from exploring, “how might we stop global warming by playing sports?” to “how might we use a video game to create awareness about animal habitat destruction?”  For a full list of the student’s 20time Project How Might We statements, click here.  Please note that these How Might We statements are hyperlinks to the students’ 20time Google Sites- but unfortunately most of these sites only exist in the RDS domain, and as a result are not publicly viewable.

 

20Time Project Deliverables:  Organization and Accountability

To keep the students organized and accountable we employed the same three 20time Project Deliverables as Kevin Brookhouser outlines in his book The 20time Project.  The deliverables are as follows:

Project Proposal (Due Wednesday, February 1st, 2017)

Elevator Pitch (Due Friday, March 10th, 2017)

TED Talk Presentation (Monday, May 29th – Friday, June 2nd, 2017)

In addition to these deliverables, the students have been required to complete various weekly assignments ranging from:  writing blogs, selecting an expert and empathy interviewee and conducting an interview for each, completing progress checklists, a “Product” Prototype show and tell, etc. Click here, to view the details for our Weekly Assignments.

 

20time Highlights & Reflections

Collaboration→  Collaborating amongst the 20time facilitators, during our weekly 20time Planning Sessions, has been one of the most notable highlights for me.  As an educator, time is always a precious commodity; however, I am a firm believer that in-person touch points are integral to making people feel valued, and invested in the task at hand.  As the initiator of 20time at RDS, I have taken the lead in developing the greater part of this course, however, the support, input, feedback and contributions, from the other 20time facilitators has been indispensable in enhancing 20time as a whole, and shaping the direction of 20time for future weeks.

Differentiation→ Meeting students individual learning needs has been rather seamless, as the structure of 20time lends itself well to differentiation.

Design Thinking→  By integrating design thinking into 20time, as a means to establish students’ 20time Project ideas, I (as well as the other 20time facilitators) have become more confident in Design Thinking as a whole.

Innovation→  Starting 20time at RDS feels like as a positive step towards a more innovative and flexible approach to our Grade 7/8 curriculum.   

Kindness→  The kindness, time and expertise, that expert and empathy interviewees have shown to our Grade 7 and Grade 8 students, has genuinely impressed me…some interviewees have spent upwards of an hour answering questions – now that’s impressive!

Teachable Moments→ I have been astounded and thrilled by the number of teachable moments that have organically surfaced through the students experience in developing a 20time Project.  Whether it be, in feeling nervous and overwhelmed by the prospect of conducting an expert or empathy interview, confident and proud of making significant progress with an aspect of their 20time Project, realizing their 20time Project isn’t going to work and reworking the whole thing,  or learning how to handle rejection from a stranger who doesn’t share the same excitement for their project idea.  For each student, these teachable moments have looked differently, however, the learning and growth they experience, as a result, becomes an invaluable life skill.

Tech Integration→ Increasing my use of Google Forms and Doc Appender, as well as experimenting with Google Sites for the first time, has definitely sharpened my tech skills.  Both Google Forms and DocAppender have been integral tools in delivering 20time to the students, particularly for: collecting information and data, collaboration, assessment, and providing students with ongoing feedback.

Passion + Creativity→ The passion and creativity behind some of the students’ approach to solving real world problems has been truly outstanding.  We have students developing GoFundMe Accounts, planning events, creating edible products, producing works of art, podcasts, documentaries, and YouTube channels, etc.

 

20time Challenges & Next Steps (For Term 3)

TED Talks→ A challenge and next step that is quickly approaching, is creating an authentic TED-style Talk opportunity for the students, and ensuring that the students feel confident and prepared to speak about their hard work, struggles and victories in 20time.

Engagement→  While I would like to say that every student in Grade 7 and 8 loves 20time, this is definitely not the case.  For a handful of students, having so much free reign over their learning is not an enjoyable challenge, and they would much rather be told exactly what they need to do.  Thus, one of my next steps (and current challenges) is definitely thinking about how to engage students that are disengaged in 20time.

Photobook→  To document our first year of 20time, I will be creating a photobook of the student’s 20time Projects.  Not only will this be useful for future 20time students, but it will make a great book to show prospective parents.  Thank you, @jmedved for the awesome idea!

 

20time Challenges & Next Steps (For Next Year)

Assessment→  For the most part, we have tried to de-emphasize marks in 20time, however this year the student’s reading, writing, and speaking skills have been assessed through their 20time tasks, assignments and project deliverables, as part of their Language Arts mark.  Next year, I think it would be important to sit down to discuss what we want assessment in 20time to look like moving forward.  A the moment, I’m not convinced that assigning a grade towards 20time is necessary (or a good idea), however, I do think there is value in having the students 20time Projects more formally represented on their reports cards…especially for Grade 9 admission purposes.

Blogging→  As the saying goes, “practice what you preach”.  For the last two terms I have been encouraging our Grade 7’s and 8’s to blog about their 20time Projects, and yet I’ve not been blogging myself!  Next year, I definitely need to up my blogging game…and my educational presence on social media in general!

Community→  Next year I would like to try to tap more into the RDS Community, as a viable resource to assist students with the development of their 20time Projects.  While I have done this a bit this year, there is definitely lots of room for improvement in this area!

Deliverables→  Next year, I would make empathy and expert interviews a mandatory 20time Project deliverable, as the momentum that students’ gained from completing these interviews early on was significant in the development of their 20time Projects.  As well, I would allow the students to work ahead of the 20time Project deliverables if they were ready to do so.

Exemplars→  Arranging students exemplars for 20time work next year, using examples from this year’s students, is definitely on my next step to do list.

More Time→  I would propose that 20time is a year-long course next year at RDS so that students have more time to develop their 20time Projects.  As well, I would push to have a two-hour long 20time session each week, rather than an hour and a half.

Tweak→ As Cohort 21 so fondly puts it, this is the end of the beginning!  At the end of this school year, I would like to seek feedback from both the students and the 20time facilitators about how we can tweak 20time at RDS for the coming year to make it even better!

 

My Cohort 21 Experience

It’s hard to believe that our final F2F is here…I’m definitely not ready for Cohort 21 to be over!

Participating in Cohort 21 has been an exceptional professional learning experience, that I can’t say enough positive things about.  The structure of Cohort 21, is a perfect combination of innovation and collaboration, and when you’re sitting in a room full of change-makers, you can’t help but feel inspired and empowered to explore new and innovative ways to refine and redesign your teaching practice.  Furthermore, the opportunity to meet, learn, share and network with so many amazing CIS educators is truly amazing; and makes you quickly realize that although the programming of you school might differ quite significantly from someone else’s, everyone is facing a similar challenge, and that is ensuring that their students are future ready.  Cohort 21 pushes you to be a future ready educator, to take risks, and to push the limits of your comfort zones to rethink learning! Thank you, to the talented team of Cohort 21 facilitators and coaches, and fellow Cohort 21 participants, for your involvement in my action plan journey!

Click here to view my 2016-2017 Action Plan Story