Category Archives: Project Based Learning

Saving The World

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 “So many climate and health calamities are colliding at once. It’s not just the pandemic that keeps people inside. It’s poor air quality,” Biden said of one of the many effects of climate change. “Folks, we’re in a crisis. Just like we need a unified national response to covid-19, we need a unified national response to climate change.” (Washington Post)

Now that our government is on board, what better time to begin a school wide capstone project focused on saving the world?

For the past several years my capstone project in Economics has been “Saving The World.” Economics, specifically consumer capitalism, has been destroying the world since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Humans have the ability to make endless amounts of stuff. For example, last year humans made 23 billion pairs of shoes. That’s three pairs of shoes for every living human on earth. Who needs three new pairs of shoes every year? This is just one example of how our insatiable desire for stuff is gobbling up all the resources our earth has to offer.

Another example of how rich a saving the world topic can be; a group of my students decided that moving to electric cars would greatly reduce the amount of air pollution. But then they began looking into how much energy it takes to make batteries, and the environmental cost of making batteries. It also takes quite a bit of energy and raw materials to make any car. Are electric cars really that much better? Maybe people should use fewer cars. Mass transportation is a possible solution. So is working at home instead of going to the office. Students were spinning off with ideas in all directions. One student even presented a report on the possibility of piezoelectric cars. Where did that come from? It’s real. Experiments are being done. Look it up.

More and more my students tell me they are studying similar topics in science classes, in religion classes in HPERD classes and in English classes. I don’t know about math class, but there are plenty of numbers to crunch in finding ways to save the world. So, why don’t we all get together and make saving the world our CHS capstone project?

Every department at CHS can find a way to get students seriously involved in saving the world projects. Students are really into it. They have been for years. To quote one student, “It’s totally drip.” And saving the world is a real thing. Our president elect said it is real. We know that presidents always tell us the truth. So it must be a real thing. Maybe we should save that last idea about truthful presidents for a different blog. But, about saving the world, what do you think? It’s going to be a problem of survival for future generations. What could be more important than the survival of future generations?


Not just recycle – UPcycle

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Sad to say the clothing/fashion industry is not very sustainable – and for years it has been thought to be the second largest contributor to pollution after oil. And while it may not hold second place  (see NY Time article) clothing and fashion still has a ways to go in cleaning up their act.

That is why I was excited to see an UpCycle challenge on Project Runway. I have to admit that Project Runway is the only reality TV competition that I routinely watch – usually on mute. I like to see how the designers approach challenges and I (like many of you) am always on the lookout for how I can meld my classroom lessons with the real world.

That is why this week’s hands on project in Period 3 Costume and Fashion Design is to create a new outfit from the pile of clothes I bought at Goodwill. Each student needs to use at least 2 articles of clothing and re-work them into at least 1 new garment.

To help them get started I shared about a costume we re-made in Company last spring for Pygmalion. We had an odd pair of wide legged pants (which 3 people could fit into), but the fabric pattern was fantastic. I suggested we make a coat out of it for one of the characters. So, Emily Walsh and Maggie Heiskell cut and ripped apart the seams and then Emily laid out the pieces and using the measurements of the actor we cut and sewed a coat.

I am excited to see what my students come up with – several of them jumped right into it,

Alexa and Christina cut and measure 2 men’s t-shirt that they will rework into shorts, mini-skirt and new tops.
Isabelle draped a scarf on a dress form to make a blouse and is cutting away the excess.
while a couple others needed more time to consider what it is they wanted to create and how they should go about doing it.

Ruth, Allie, Malia and Stella look online for inspiration from online fashion sites and Pintrest.

Day 2 of Projects. . .More students actively cutting up their clothes.
Stella even had her mom go with her to Goodwill to pick up new items as she had decided to change her project from Wednesday. She show up on Friday with a purple skirt, a pair of jeans and a picture of a halter dress that is her inspiration. Several of the girls at her table plan to transforms jeans into a skirt or dress and we talked a lot about where/what to cut and how the shape of the jeans would help us decide where we cut.

One student got the whole table to laugh when, after asking my advice on how she should cut sher jeans she remarked “Wow, you really know what you’re doing.” I was impressed when Bridget, who hasn’t fully engaged in the class, came to see me on Monday (the day we closed campus) to ask to take her project home so she could work on it. This is not required as most girls don’t have access to equipment so I paused this project and we switch to a unit on Fashion History.

In an interest survey given to the class I already know that most of my students want to do hands on projects over slide presentations, reading, research or writing. I am hopeful that I can keep them engages as we transition to Online Learning during March.

Here are the pics from Day 2:

These Seniors are fully engaged trying to figure out how to deconstruct their clothing items.

Bridget surprised me on Monday asking to take her project home so she would work on it while campus was closed.

I like having several students at the machines at one time. They can help each other out with questions, since I can’t be everywhere at once.

Christina is trying to figure out how to do a half shirt, half halter on the dressform.

Voice, Choice, and Ownership in PBL

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Have you considered doing more project-based learning in your classroom but have concerns
about planning projects properly, using class time wisely, and teaching standards effectively?
With these concerns in mind, Michelle Koski and I attended a PBL Design Camp at High Tech High
in San Diego, and here are some highlights of what we learned:

  1. Planning projects can be time-consuming but is doable and worth it.
  2. Yes, you can have traditional standards-based teaching with PBL, and you should!
  3. There is no “right” way to begin or plan a project.
  4. Ask students for their feedback, not just after the project but before and during the project as well.
  5. Students are PROUD of their work (not their grade).
Voice, Choice and Ownership in PBL! So, how does that happen?
At High Tech High’s PBL Design Camp, middle and high school educators from all over the country came together, each with the spark of an idea for a project. By working with their school partners and hearing critique from other camp participants, they were able to develop a project that suited the needs of their students and their teachers. 
Michelle and I are two such participants who have benefitted from the PBL design process. The idea for our cross-curricular project came while discussing two independent projects we do for our students. My Dystopian Fiction students write dystopian scenes that focus on world building, character development and action sequences. Michelle’s Costume and Fashion Design students create costumes for plays based on fashion trends. For our project, we have decided to combine the two and have Michelle’s students design costumes for my students’ writing. My writer’s will pitch their story ideas to her designers who will choose a partner to work with. The partners will meet regularly during the design phase of the costumes to work on revisions of both the writing and the costumes. 
We plan to conduct this project during fourth quarter. Here is what we hope to gain in terms of learning outcomes:
  • Both classes will learn the process of critique and revision
  • As writers, Dystopian Fiction students will learn to clearly communicate their vision with sensory imagery and vivid language.
  • As designers, Costume and Fashion Design students will learn to collaborate and communicate with a “client” in order to create a product that reflects more than the artist’s vision.

Stay tuned for the results of our project…


Website Project Final Exam

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This is the second time I have had my students create websites for their final exams. This time I asked them what they thought of this type of final. I was blown away by the consistency and strength of their answers. The eight questions each began with “Which type of test is better for…” The answer choices were bubble sheet, timed writing, and website project. From memorizing to creating, the overwhelming choice was the website project. You can view the results here.



The last item called for comments. Here are a few of the better typical comments. You can view all 138 comments here.
  • I believe that ultimately each asks for a different level and way of thinking and analysis. A bubble sheet test asks for memorization and no in depth analysis, simply a regurgitation of facts. Timed writing requires one to take information and develop it further into a grander and deeper idea. A website takes both of these ideas and allows for the deepest and most well thought out development of them.

  • I think it is more valuable to do projects because you can more creatively show and connect what you have learned rather than just memorize stuff and spit it out on a test and then forget about it after.

  • Bubble sheets are more stressful in a time that is already stressful. The website was given to us earlier in the year giving us more time to make it the best we can. I also learned a lot more creating a website rather than studying for a test.

  • The three are very different but I think the website lets you write to the best of your ability and get put out all the knowledge you’ve learned. Timed writing would give us less time and won’t let us be able to out as much information.

  • Bubble sheets are good for memorizing dates and names, but often it is forgotten soon after. A timed write allows you to go into detail on a subject, but the time limit makes it harder to consider different options. A website allows to cover a range of topics in depth and gives enough time to think deeply about the benefits and consequences of the fact

  • I believe bubble sheet tests are good assessing your knowledge but you won’t necessarily remember the information later. Timed writes are good at assessing your knowledge as well but I find myself making up information to take up space in the essay. I feel like website projects are the best type of final exams because you have to be an expert on the subject to write about it.

  • The bubble sheet and timed writing tests are faster and better at assessing factual knowledge, but the website project leaves more room for creativity and for us to express our own perspective on topics. I think the website project is just as effective at educating us, but it is less stressful.

  • Bubble sheet tests can encourage studying, but more common than not students will cram information into their brains, take the test, and forget it immediately after. Timed writing tests are stressful and don’t always produce the best work because everyone is rushing to get their thoughts into words. Project tests are by far the best because they are fun, collaborative, and make learning about a project enjoyable and fun. It also encourages collaboration between students.
  • I think website projects have the most value because they allow students to synthesize new information while applying other information we have learned throughout the semester. They are also good because it is an interesting project that does not cause a lot of stress.


The comments were amazing. There is really nothing else to add. I did not know students thought about learning in this depth. Of course, this is just one example of the power of Project Based Learning, but firsthand experience makes it so much more meaningful. 


I would enjoy hearing about and discussing PBL with others. Please let me know if you are using it in your curriculum.

She Kills Monsters (Drama 101)

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Monster Time!!!

Students work on numerous Costume and/or Monster building activities on a Wednesday afternoon at Company.
So whether you know what it means to LARP (Live Action Role Play) or maybe you remember D&D (Dungeons & Dragons) or maybe you just felt like the odd kid out, this play’s for you.
The fall production of She Kills Monsters is in full swing and Wednesday afternoons are Monster building time.
We have goblins, demons, kobalds, succubi, and so much more.

We also need to build the armor that will protect our heroine and her crew as they fight these monsters.

On any given Wednesday the Costume room at the theatre could have as many as 10 students working on building the monster costumes. While it can be hectic, I find it is quite fun to be moving around the room helping students troubleshoot their costume construction hurdles or suggest other methods for getting a similar result.

Emily Walsh as a “BugBear”.
Emily, a sophomore, serves as Costumes Crew Head and is designing and building 6 BugBear costumes for the play.

(While I was in the process of writing this blog, I was asked to write a blurb for the Alumnae Newsletter and I think it does a great job of expressing my feelings about working with Company).

When I graduated in 1998, I never thought I would one day be back and teaching at Carondelet. But after working as an elementary School Librarian in San Francisco for four years, and getting tired of using all my money on rent, I felt the need to return to the East Bay.

As I was looking to see what was available for someone with a Masters in Library & Information Science (San Jose State ’05) and a love of Theatre Arts, I found a posting for a Library Assistant position at Carondelet. While I knew I was over qualified, I was also drawn to opportunity to work at my Alma Mater, to give back to the school that had helped shape me. 


Now as I start my 13th year on campus as a Faculty member and I can’t help but look back at all the students I have worked with and the opportunities that have come my way since I returned in the fall of 2007 to Carondelet. 

I am told that I wear a lot of hats on campus: I am the Librarian & Textbook Manager, the Yearbook Advisor, teach in the Visual & Performing Arts Department, and help moderate Company, our amazing theater program with De La Salle. As a student, it was through Company that I found my place and explored my passion for sewing and costume design which led me to major in Theatre Arts in college with an emphasis in Costume Design & Arts Management (BA Theatre Arts, Notre Dame de Namur University ’02). Now it is my pleasure to help guide and mentor students interested in Costume, MakeUp or Hair design. Three days a week after school, you can find me at the DLS Theater in the old band room working with students on the current show.

This year’s fall production of She Kill Monsters really takes me back to high school. It is set in 1995 in a small midwest high school and focuses on a pair of sisters, Agnes and Tilly. She Kill Monsters is a comedic and action-packed story about a high school girl who discovers her dead little sister had a life she knew nothing about. Dungeons & Dragons Fantasy Role-Playing Game was Tilly’s refuge and a place of freedom.  By the end of the story, the audience can decide who the real monsters are. Helping my students recreate the look and feel of 1995 (grunge, preppy, etc) as well as creating the fantasy characters in D&D has been so much fun. I hope you can join us!

Social Fabric: Oakland School for the Arts Fashion Show (and campus visit)

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Amy has been nudging me to visit OSA (Oakland School for the Arts) for about a year now.

So a couple weeks agoe, she and I took off in the afternoon to check out their Fashion Design class/program with Linda Riccardi. There was such great energy in the room while we were there as they are getting ready for their annual Fashion Design Show.

I had to laugh as Linda took us around the campus to her classroom. For those of you who aren’t familiar with OSA it is a charter school that is in the same building as the Fox Theater in downtown Oakland. Linda kept apologizing for the size of her room and the mess–I told her I wish I had her space–especially as I saw what she had. Her room is a little larger than Andrew’s (room 45) with a smaller room storeroom attached. The room is set up as a fashion/clothing workroom.

Along one wall are 5 sewing machines and assorted measuring tools.:

 
Brother semi-pro line as used on Project Runway Juniors. Variety of Seamstress rulers and hoops.

 Along another wall are threads and 2 more specialty machines. And around the room are 6-8 professional dress forms.

Another wall had slopers (hand drawn/measured pattern blanks)

In the center of the room are three large cutting tables (on adjustable stands). With students busy at work completing their designs for the upcoming show.

Amy and I were able to take the time to wander around the room and talk to the students about their work, how they developed their ideas, what their backgrounds are like and how many of them are working with Linda for the first, second or third year (the program is only three years old).
Mia’s crocheting to represent Irish Lace
 
Seeing the student’s work and hearing their stories around their collections gave me such ideas for invigorating my curriculum and pushing my students to the next level. Meeting the students, and seeing how Linda pushes these students made me want to do more in my class. Too often I find myself struggling to get the students to produce something that sometimes I am willing to accept anything that comes close to what they are asked for. Now I know that most of the students in my class are not looking to pursue a career in design or fashion, but by lowering the bar for all of them I wonder if I have done them a disservice. As I stood in the room at OSA and talked with these students I started to have all these ideas of how I could redesign the curriculum to better engage the students to get them to that depth point that we want instead of just skimming the surface.
Friday night I was able to attend the OSA Fashion Design Class spring show: Social Fabric
I was blown away with the detail and depth to which some of the students were able to reach with their pieces.
Here are some of my favs:
The student called her collection “ghosts” and played with the idea that ghosts are often tied or bound to earth instead of being able to move on–she also explored the idea that the faces are obscured.
                                    

This student was inspired by his African Heritage and envisioned Africa in the Future–his headdresses were so detailed and had so much color.

This is the finished piece to to one of the earlier photos–this student sewed yarn strand by strand onto clear vinyl to make her designs.

Right now as we wind down this school year–I actually can’t wait for next year to get here to tryo out the new ideas I have for helping my students dive deeper fashion and costume design and how even if they don’t think they can “do art” or “draw”–that they can still develop their and express their creativity through textiles and clothing.

AP Statistics Posters are up in the Inner Court

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You may have noticed that the beautiful AP Statistics Research Posters are on display in the Inner Court.  Please stop by to take a look at their great work and to see how our community feels and behaves regarding a wide variety of topics.

The students did all of the work themselves.  As part of this project they:

  • Researched a topic of interest to them
  • Designed and built a survey using Google Forms.
  • Selected a random sample of participants using Minitab Express Statistical Software.
  • Administered the survey via email.
  • Analyzed and cleaned the data using Minitab Express Statistical Software.
  • Designed and built their research-style poster using Powerpoint.
They are very proud of their work.  If you teach any of these researchers, it would mean a lot if you could tell them you read their poster and engage them in dialogue about their findings.

Gamifying the French Classroom

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Last year, I attended a workshop put on by the French Consulate entitled “Gamifying the French Classroom.” It was interesting but not as practical as I would have liked–most of the games were for purchase or required software I don’t have.

Ever since attending that workshop last April, I’ve been trying to think of how to bring more of a gamified feel to my projects and units. Students respond well to Quizlet Live, Kahoot, and Jeopardy! in my classroom, so why not make learning more entertaining and ultimately more engaging? After reading Amanda’s blog in the fall about her final exam review passport (and also attending her group’s Grab-and-Go PD session last month), I felt compelled to rethink my finals review as we wind down the year and make the push towards exam week.

Let me back up a few steps first. For the final unit of the year in French 3, I’ve decided to modify the traditional food unit and teach students about food trucks, regional French cuisine, and the food truck culture in Paris which I experienced firsthand over the past three summers working in Paris.

I called my unit “The Great Food Truck Race.” To determine their groups for this final unit and project, students selected from random cards I made with French regions written on them. Earlier this week, they researched their assigned regions, local cuisine, and points of interest. From there, each group designed an origial food truck and a logo after learning about their regional cuisine. I think they’ve been having fun with the project-based learning aspects of this unit, but I wanted to tap into the “race” aspect of this unit as we make our way to finals week.

And that’s when it struck me. Instead of doing a “finals review” week or a few random days here and there, why not design an entire unit around a series of review activities?

The idea is simple: each week, I am hosting a series of competitions that really aren’t much different from the typical language exercises, activities, and worksheets we’ve been working on all year. The only difference is how I’m framing these competitions.

I’ve set up a Google Spreadsheet that the students have access to in order to keep a running tally of how many points they score during each competition which constitutes the ongoing “food truck race.” By the end of these next three weeks, the group with the most amount of points will earn a small bonus on the final exam. I introduced the rules earlier this week and the excitement which greeted my announcement was unlike anything I’ve seen all year. You would have thought I’d told them they could be on their phones every class from here on out…

The “competitions” include the following activities (along with several more I’m still mentally figuring out):

  • The Price is Right game in French to review food words, quantities, and numbers
  • A Jeopardy! review of food vocab from French 1-2
  • An upcoming quiz on the conditional mood we covered during the fall semester (which I’ll let them take in partners and score purely for race points and not for the overall grade)
  • Subjunctive verb conjugation speed races to review material from two units ago
  • Instagram challenges in which I’ll assign a task and judge the videos based on creativity and use of language
  • Speaking quizzes (formerly known as “oral exams”)
  • And then more traditional assignments for this current food truck unit such as creating a realistic menu, hosting an “interview” with a local journalist and their food truck, writing up an in-class business proposal without the assistance of Google Translate or a French-English dictionary, researching French outdoor games and proposing a special Happy Hour with games of their choosing, and so forth.

After only two in-class competitions, I’m already seeing more participation and engagement than I’ve seen in past classes. I hope the momentum continues into the remaining weeks, but so far it’s been fun to teach and keeps me on my toes in terms of thinking about how to make each review session more successful, engaging, and fun!

And best of all, I’m tricking my students into studying and fully participating in French.

For now, I leave you with some of their initial food truck designs as their posts are trickling in all weekend.

Carondelet News Channel (en français!)

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I had originally planned to begin a new unit in my French 3 classes this past week and a half leading up to Spring Break, but everyone was showing signs of exhaustion after the completion of our last chapter, projects, and oral quizzes (on a light topic such as environmental issues and endangered animals in Francophone countries). They did a great job, so I wanted to reward them with something different than usual as we transitioned into Spring Break. I wanted a creative challenge that we could successfully complete in a week, and the pressure was on–I honestly had no idea how it would turn out, but I was excited to tap into my journalism background and do a journalism mini-project-based unit.
Over the past week, I taught my students all they might want to know about the news and media in French. I helped them expand their vocabulary in French after reading recent headlines, listening to topical news podcasts, watching daily news broadcasts, and parsing through satirical news sites in French to see if students could figure out what headlines were real and what were parodies (ask me if you want to see the presentation–the headlines are hilarious). We even debated current events and students defended their opinions about the news and journalistic integrity.
During our final long block period (today’s class), I charged the students with creating a class-wide 15-minute news broadcast. Running through some modified design thinking exercises, students in my 5th period (sole Carondelet-only) class pitched and then voted on their ideas for the show, concept, title, and logo and came up with the following:

In groups of 2-3, the girls were responsible for the following 2-minute segments: 

  • Introduction and Carondelet-local news (including Mr. Cushing’s departure from the school as he prepares to go on tour with the Spice Girls)
  • San Francisco Bay Area news about a local scammer and Anne Hathaway impersonator
  • International news chronicling the Carondelet trip to France next week in the wake of today’s Notre Dame Cathedral fire in Paris
  • Sports covering the Carondelet swimming, rugby, and lacrosse teams
  • Arts and lifestyle covering the construction of the art class’s school bus in the inner court that was tragically stolen overnight and replaced with a gigantic croissant
  • And the broadcast closes out on a very high note covering the erratic weather we’ve been experiencing recently.
They quickly edited their videos using either iMovie or the Apple Clips app which Karina and I presented about on Friday (and I’m looking forward to creating a screencast or future blog entry showcasing all the cool features Clips has to offer if you weren’t able to attend our Grab-and-Go session last week). 
Here is the folder of all their videos if you’re at all curious to see what they were able to produce with the quick 80-minute turnaround during today’s class. I had a lot of fun helping them think through their scripts and watching the final production (which we won’t get to watch as a class until after break), and I am so proud of them for their creativity and sensitivity and attention to world news as it relates to this class.
This was one of my most favorite long block periods of the entire year, and I am looking forward to getting even more creative next month when I roll out a food truck race competition in my French 3 classes.
That’s it for this blog, see you on the other side of Spring Break, everyone!

I Feel Like I’m Living in an Amanda Jain Blog

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Students in my English 3 have been tasked with a project that I named, “Where Were Your People in the 1920s.” It’s a mini-research project, and I hope it will be engaging, reinforce some research skills students have, and illustrate that not everyone in the 1920s was spending their days/nights at glamorous parties; we’re reading The Great Gatsby. The project directions are pretty simple: interview a relative, find a primary source specific to your family (like an old photo), and research a world event inspired by your interview. Then, create a visual component using Adobe Spark that incorporates the research, interview, and primary source piece. I have never used Adobe Spark, but it receives great reviews regarding how user friendly it is.


When I introduced this project, the students did not budge. They were super reluctant to even begin, and when I asked them about this, they essentially said that it was too much work, there was too much ambiguity, and there were too many decisions to be made. They were reluctant to even open up the Adobe Spark app, which is free. I then asked if they would prefer reading questions, and they said yes.

I think that this response is normal, however. Whenever I have to learn something new or do something new or even start a new novel, I experience a desire to avoid the learning curve. Getting through the uncomfortableness of a beginning is tricky. So, I gave up on the project and gave them reading questions.

Just kidding! I’ll let you know how it goes.