{"id":65,"date":"2018-01-26T01:25:57","date_gmt":"2018-01-26T01:25:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/lisamitchell\/?p=65"},"modified":"2018-01-26T03:52:12","modified_gmt":"2018-01-26T03:52:12","slug":"pbl-and-the-mouse-library-changed-my-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/lisamitchell\/2018\/01\/26\/pbl-and-the-mouse-library-changed-my-life\/","title":{"rendered":"PBL and the Mouse Library changed my LIFE!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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We have had an amazing week in Grade 2. \u00a0I received an email from our Advancement Department earlier this week, asking if they could film a project that the Grade 2 students had been working on since September, for CHCH Morning Live. \u00a0They wanted to highlight our project as an example of academic excellence. \u00a0WOW, I couldn\u2019t believe it. \u00a0We work at a fairly large school of approximately 1200 students, and they had chosen our project to highlight! My teaching partner and I were ecstatic. \u00a0What a wonderful way to celebrate the efforts in our classrooms. Click\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0to see the segment about our Mouse Library project, it starts at three minutes into the clip<\/span>. <\/span><\/p>\n

So let\u2019s rewind a few months, in August 2018, the last few days of summer holidays, I participated in a <\/span>PBL conference held at Hillfield Strathallan College<\/span><\/a>. \u00a0It is going to happen again this year, so check it out! To be completely honest, I had a rather closed mindset on the way to this conference. My husband and two daughters were enjoying the last few beautiful days of summer holidays out at our cottage. \u00a0They were going to build shelters to watch the Solar Eclipse, and I was headed back to school, early. \u00a0I know…terrible attitude! \u00a0I can redeem myself a bit by saying that closed mindset was busted wide open as soon as I entered our auditorium to view the movie Most Likely to Succeed. \u00a0It was shown as a meet and greet opener for the PBL conference. \u00a0I completed the conference, which was absolutely amazing, with an exciting project that I was eager to get started on once we all got settled back into the school routine. \u00a0I was hooked!<\/span><\/p>\n

Then Labour Day hit and the kids arrived and the busy school year began. \u00a0We started planning our initial lessons on routines, expectations, and classroom learning tools. \u00a0Nothing cutting edge, or even anything that resembled PBL from my amazing conference, but I figured we would get to this project at soon as we established some routines and started to work on some of our Grade 2 skills. One of the lessons we have used for years has been very effective for our little Grade 2 people. \u00a0We read the Library Mouse by Daniel Kirk and gave each student a small stuffed mouse from Ikea. \u00a0The mouse serves as a visual reminder that sometimes we must be \u2018quiet as a mouse\u2019 in the classroom, and also, that we can do anything we put our minds to. \u00a0The Library Mouse is an author in the book, so we provided 2\u201dx2\u201d pieces of paper and mini pencils for our students to write a book with their mice. \u00a0Our kids were writing and the mini pieces of paper was an absolute hit with the children. \u00a0Even our reluctant writers were asking to write at every opportunity. \u00a0My teaching partner and I couldn\u2019t believe the motivation with using the tiny materials, why hadn\u2019t we thought of that before? We started to check off the list of things we wanted to cover in Grade 2.<\/span><\/p>\n

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A custom designed couch with a version of the Nutcracker written by one of our students who was performing in the play over the holidays<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Things got even more exciting when a student asked, \u201cWhere can we put our books so our mice can read them later?\u201d \u00a0Before attending the PBL conference I would have probably provided a little plastic bin to set on our library shelf to house the little books – problem solved, done, moving on to next lesson that we had carefully planned. \u00a0THANK GOODNESS, the post PBL conference teacher in me, smacked me on the head before I could get out the bin and instead replied, \u201cThat is a great question, how do you think we could solve that problem?\u201d \u00a0That part is key guys, not the smacking on the head part, but the fact that PBL jumped out and bit me, but I could have easily missed it entirely. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The elevator, one of the challenging parts of the project – check out the gear that they rigged up to allow the elevator to move.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My teaching partner and I figured they would come up with some sort of a shelf, maybe something that would attach to our existing classroom library, maybe spend a period or two building and designing. Another area of our curriculum we needed to cover, more checking off of skills. That little shelf idea turned into a 4-story mouse library, complete with; lighting, a fireplace, a laser cutter, 2 elevators, a rooftop patio, a computer lab, a mindfulness zone, a launch pad maker space, a snack zone, a gender neutral washroom, a maintenance shed, a living museum, and many other learning environments, not to mention the dozens and dozens of little books. \u00a0We spent approximately 3 months working on the project. \u00a0Everyday from that moment on we were running a race to keep up with our students\u2019 interests. \u00a0We abandoned our carefully planned sequential lesson plans and instead, jumped around in our curriculum to incorporate learning skills as they fit in with our design project. \u00a0As it turned out, we created a Gold Standard PBL project, incorporating all eight standards throughout the early months of the school year.<\/span><\/p>\n

Everyday was thrilling in the classroom.\u00a0 The energy and engagement of our students was remarkable.\u00a0 We wanted a laser cutter so we could cut out more shapes, so we learned to write persuasive letters to our head of college.\u00a0 We weren’t happy with how some of our designs were working out so we invited some Sr. Technology students to come and give us some support.\u00a0 Every public space needs artwork, so we investigated well known artists and created our own Mousterpieces.\u00a0 The Mouse aLisa, The Mouse With the Pearl Earring, Mouse-casso, and Vincet Mouse-Gogh were among some of the favourites.\u00a0 We took a field trip around our school to learn more about marketing and advertising by looking closely at the signage and posters.\u00a0 We then used the design elements that we studied to create mock ups of our posters and hired the Sr. School Design Technology students to create them for us. We paid them in cookies! According to one student the Grade 2 students were ‘tough’ customers.\u00a0 They had very specific goals in mind and there was no saying ‘no’ to these customers!<\/p>\n

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The Creativity Zone with books about art, and supplies to create with.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To give you a little bit of background information, my teaching partner, Barb has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Parson\u2019s School of Design in New York. \u00a0She always wants to add the \u2018fun factor\u2019 to our curriculum. \u00a0I, on the other hand, used to be a banker. \u00a0Yep, you guessed it, WAY more type A. \u00a0Along with my teaching responsibilities, I am also the curriculum coordinator of our Junior School. \u00a0I like having all my ducks in order and am \u2018very\u2019 accountable. \u00a0My point in providing this information is to acknowledge that teachers may be hesitant tackling PBL; perhaps they are afraid they will not \u2018cover\u2019 the skills and curriculum that is required. \u00a0The thing I have learned about education is that it is not a checking off a list that counts. Now believe me, nothing makes me happier than checking things off on my lists.\u00a0 Education and PBL, to me at least, are more of a process, a mindset. \u00a0As soon as I got my mind around that and opened myself up, the learning was AMAZING, not to mention FUN.\u00a0 And… we could barely keep up with the skills the kiddies wanted to explore while working on their project! \u00a0Barb and I make an awesome teaching team because we both are able to demonstrate our strengths as we work together.<\/span><\/p>\n

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This is the Gender Neutral Pee Pad<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you are interested in the ‘nitty gritty’ of our project, read on!\u00a0 There are 8 elements in a Gold Standard PBL Project. \u00a0<\/span>For more information on these 8 elements visit this blog post<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>This is what the 8 elements looked like in our Mouse Library project. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

#1 Key Knowledge, Understanding, and Success Skills<\/b><\/p>\n

This is the heart of any PBL project and these are some examples of our key learning<\/span><\/p>\n