Category Archives: teaming

Creative Processes

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The Frosh Creation course has a complex layering of goals. One that the TMS team has struggled with it to teach teaming.

At a recent TMS team meeting, we were discussing this struggle and I realized how each of us occupy distinctive roles in that team. I began to notice how differently we were each looking at the problem. During the conversation, I started to wonder (One aspect of my specific role is to drift off into possibilities mid-discussion. They all know that and accept me.) could Amy, Joan, Victoria and I be archetypes for a teaming model. I began to come up with descriptions for each of us. Another realization come at that time. We somewhat align with a sequence I use in class, The Evolution of Tasks. This sequence (conceptualize-actualize-realize-display) is a guideline for a creative process.

I merged my realizations together and developed these job descriptions. I will be proposing to my team that we create teams of four students and run four team challenges in the first semester.  The members rotate role in each project.  Each challenge will include a self-reflection survey to help clarify the various experiences.  

My hope that this job training helps students discover strengths and contributions, confirms their individuality and produces synergistic results for the challenges.   

  1. Administrator
         Primary function:                  To CONCEPTUALIZE



  • Studies the problem
  • Re-explains to crew
  • Helps assign tasks
  • Guides brainstorming
  • Confirms uploads
  • Supports other crew
  1. Facilitator
         Primary function:           
         To ACTUALIZE



  • Fine tunes the plan (balancing the dream and the possible)
  • Gathers supplies/leads clean-up
  • Establishes timetable/manages work -flow
  • Quality Control
  • Supports other crew
  1. Producer
         Primary function: 
         To REALIZE



  • Develops the how behind the what
  • Creates practical instructions
  • Lead maker
  • Supports other crew
  1. Documentarian
         Primary function:                      To DISPLAY



  • Photographer
  • Editor
  • Ensures upload/submission of docs
  • Reporter of tasks
  • Supports other crew

The Seven Samurai

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This past
Friday afternoon, the members of the English Department got together after
school to take on The Warrior’s Way challenge at Red Door Escape Room. When we
all arrived, our game master took us down a dim hallway with closed doors on
either side. Behind the doors we could hear the frenzied sounds of people
trying to escape, and even a few screams when a masked game master jumped into
a room and scared his group. Our game master wore a Where’s Waldo costume, and
immediately informed us that we were about to undertake an advanced-level
escape room challenge. I took this as a compliment that Kevin must have had
great confidence in our department when he signed us up.
With very
few clues and little context, our game master split us up into two groups and
locked us into two parallel rooms, where we had to puzzle our way through the
samurai kitsch if we wanted to be reunited. Undaunted by this first challenge,
we used our communication skills (after all, we are English teachers), which
included knocking on the wall to one another, and we quickly made it to a second
room where we came together again. In this room Kate mastered the steps of
Akido, Tiz honed her Samurai sword skills, Lisa utilized her tea-sniffing
skills, and Leila saved the day by simply standing up from the bench she was
sitting on to allow a trap door to open.
This took
us to the next room, a samurai library of sorts, and the clock on the wall
reminded us that we only had a few short minutes to make it out. With the clock
ticking down, we had to harness our inner-samurai calm to solve a puzzle that
involved the different tones of bells. With very little assistance from the
game master, we dashed out of the escape room with only 58 seconds on the clock.
We made it out, triumphant, and all of the game masters were in awe that we had
made it through their challenge so quickly. More importantly though, we worked
together as a team and laughed together on a Friday afternoon. It was a great
way to start the weekend, and reminded me of how grateful I am to work with
such a dynamic department.

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.

Popsicle Sticks

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Most apps are about as exciting as furnace cleaning ads. It was with little hope that I searched for an app that would instantly and randomly create student teams. That was until I stumbled across Popsicle Sticks. Before I get into it, let me provide a little historical information for those of you who are in younger generations, the ones who are still under 60. In my old elementary school teaching days I would keep a can of popsicle sticks on my desk. Each stick had a student’s name on it. Whenever I wanted to randomly call on students to answer questions or randomly create teams I would pull popsicle sticks out of the can. It was simple and completely fair. It also got the student’s attention because they never knew whose stick would be pulled next.

You get the idea. So let’s move beyond the good old days. When I saw a random selection app called Popsicle Sticks after the memories came flooding back I gave it a close look. This program is even cooler than the original popsicle sticks in a can. Class and student names can be typed in or imported via a cvs file. The second method is quick and easy. Once the names are imported the app will randomly call student names each time the teacher pushes a button. It does this with a synthesized voice connected to your classroom speaker system. Not even you know which name is coming up next. How’s that for cool! It can also setup a scored discussion. The teacher can track every time a student gives a good or bad response during a discussion. And finally, the best for last, it randomly creates teams of any size you wish. What a great way to mix students for quick activities and projects. Never a dull moment, and everyone gets to meet everyone! Below is a screenshot of a set of teams I created with one click of a button. Let me know if you would like to know more about the awesome app.

Hot Seat Discussions, Part 2

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Remember my post on hot seat discussions? During my last round I added a new twist. It was such a big hit with my students I have decided to share the process. To recap, students are divided into teams of five. A topic is proposed. In this case we chose to discuss the place of transgender students in sports. This fit our study of 14th Amendment rights to equality.

The essential question we came up with was “Should transgender athletes be allowed to compete against cisgender athletes?” Keying on the essential question the class developed five supporting questions. The supporting questions are:

  1. Are male athletes, as a group, biologically superior to female athletes?
  2. Should there be separate competitions for male and female athletes?
  3. Should some sports be gender neutral?
  4. What defines a person as being transgender?
  5. How do we balance the concepts of competition and fairness in athletic competition?

One student in each team selected a supporting question to research. After completing the research we set up a day (or two in this case) for the discussion.

Beginning with the first supporting question, each student who researched the question took her or his place in the hot seat. Hot seat students then took turns volunteering to speak on their topic. Students were given a maximum of 30 seconds to speak in each round. Rounds continued until all hot seat students were finished adding new information. Other students were then given the an opportunity to ask questions. This process was repeated with new students for each question.

After the supporting questions were discussed the essential question was opened to the entire class for discussion. By this time many in the class were eager to discuss the essential question. Much information from the supporting questions was brought up during the discussion of the essential question.

Grading was rather simple. I gave students a check mark each time each time they spoke and crossed the check mark when they added new information. I added this to their research score for the final grade.

Student comments reflect the success of this assignment. Here are just a few.
” Listening to everyones different research and opinions opened my eyes to different outlooks and thought processes behind the topic.”
“I really enjoyed our discussion on transgender athletes and working to solve a difficult problem.”
“I thought researching and presenting an argument allowed me to be creative and stand up for what I believe in.”
“I thought the sub-questions were an effective way to tackle the question.”


Should I feel guilty about how much school I’ve missed the past 2 weeks?

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Should I feel guilty about how much school I’ve missed the past 2 weeks?
Last week I was on Shalom. This week I went on two Urban
Plunges. And soon I am leaving for Ven a Ver Appalachia.  As I said yes to be a part of each of these
experiences I never once decided to look at a calendar to see how close all of
these events were. Yikes. Obviously the idea of discernment and praying on
things is lost on me – I always feel like it’s better to say yes in the moment
and figure out a way to make it all work later.
The amount of time that I have spent/am spending outside of
the classroom during these last couple of weeks has me feeling guilty,
especially since I have three sections of freshmen and none of these
trips/experiences are geared toward them. To make matters worse my freshmen
have a huge project (The Little Big History Project) due on Friday and I have
not been there as much as I would have liked to check in with them and help
them.
I seriously considered giving up one of these events to be
physically present in the classroom – but didn’t. I am not sure that I made the
right choice but I am rationalizing that I did by being super thankful for the
following things;
Big History/Big
Voices team is awesome
The value of a collaborative class is that we have 6 teachers
plus the incredible ally-ship of Michelle and Joan which makes this team super dynamic
and sustainable – also our group chat memes are 🔥. My teaching life changed
dramatically when I was teamed with Joanie and Gaeby who are the best buds ever. We pick up the slack for each
other, we check in on each other’s students, and we cover for each other when
needed. I know that when I am gone they are there to help my students because
we are all doing the same things. The reality that my class will be able to go on without me is both humbling and liberating.  Having Jenny who I share all of my 9th
graders with helps me to have a more holistic view of my students, helps us
each use our strengths, and allows me to learn SO much from a teacher I have an
incredible amount of respect for.  In simpler terms my freshmen were in good hands without me. 
I need to see my
students outside of the classroom
It is easy to really forget all that is on our students’
plate, and at the same time it is easy for them to not realize that their
teachers are real dynamic humans who exist in the real world. The time spent in
small groups on Shalom or working with them side by side on Urban Plunge was so
valuable to me. I have a great appreciation for them and the ways in which they
are burned out but still wanting to engage. Though I could have done without
sharing a cabin with the juniors on retreat,I have a better appreciation for
their experience and also feel like I gained more rapport with them. I came back with a
better sense of how to lesson plan for them for the rest of the year because I understand them just a bit better.
Also – it is hard for me to “catch up” after missing school, so I can only imagine how hard it is for our students. I definitely came back more compassionate to my students who have had extended absences as frustrating as keeping up with make up work can be. 
I needed to
connect with my colleagues more than I realized.
The most valuable thing about these retreats to echo Siobhan’s
recent post is that I get a chance to connect with my colleagues in an “unproductive”
way. Spending 3 hours in rush hour traffic on a bus with Tiz, Ashley Chavez,
Monique, Siobhan, and Natalie was actually awesome. Serving 1500 meals with
Ashley Clemens who I never see during the regular work day was awesome. I came
home from all of those experiences so drained but so recharged at the same
time. From what I am learning about myself and what I have learned in the engagement team is that we all want connection and I would argue that retreats are one way for teachers/staff to have this in an authentic way.
How do you all feel about missing a lot of class time for
other school sponsored events? What do you get out of the experience that leads
you to faithfully sign up for some of these events? 

Discovering the Value of Teaming

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I have to admit, the concept of teaming kind of goes against my nature. While I do truly enjoy people, I am an introvert who feels totally comfortable running alone for hours in the mountains. I once spent three weeks backpacking the John Muir Trail through the Sierra by myself. I even drove across country by myself once, perfectly content with just music and the road. Every time I reread Into the Wild (the junior summer reading book, which happened to be my recommendation), I feel a kinship with Chris McCandless as he travels alone from place to place, learning about life on his own terms. 

Whenever I was forced to do group work in school, I would quietly resist. When I first came to Carondelet and our PD days inevitably required groups of teachers to create and perform skits, I felt a muted dread. Maybe it was the nature of these assignments, or never explicitly being taught how to work with others, but I generally believed that I could complete most tasks better and more efficiently on my own. So when Sarah and Rachel from Teaming by Design came last year to present their work, I was an unlikely candidate to subscribe to their ideas. But something clicked for me that day, and I began to see teaming in a totally different light.
I have made it one of my main goals this year to learn more about teaming, and how to implement teaming into my classes. Over the summer, I read Amy Edmondson’s Teaming to Innovate, and became more aware of the overall purpose and effectiveness of working in teams. When done well, teaming promotes experimentation, embraces failure, and encourages diversity. When I imagine the future working world that our students will enter into, I believe that collaboration will be a skill that is just as valuable as reading or writing. Earlier this year I talked to a friend of mine who works for a major tech company about the role teaming plays in his work life. He said that just about everything is done collaboratively, and that when he hires people, problem solving skills, creativity and interpersonal skills are the most important qualities he’s looking for.
I have always tried to mix in some group work assignments into my teaching, but mostly with the intention of breaking up the monotony and giving students a chance to socialize. The point of my group work was never to teach students how to work together. I did always quietly hope that my group activities would inspire students to collaborate equitably and tap into each other’s strengths to produce a quality piece of work. But what would often happen was the student who cared most about the grade for the assignment would do the majority of the work, and the other group members would stay out of her way and let her proceed. 
Something important I have learned this year is that there is a difference between group work and teaming. Teams determines their own goals for a project, and determine their own process for meeting those goals. Teaming is not a matter of giving students an assignment and explaining the steps or assigning roles; teaming happens when students have the opportunity to create the terms of the project themselves then determine the process that will work best for them.
While I mostly consider my Podcasting and Storytelling class a writing class in disguise, it has also evolved into a teaming class. About six weeks into the semester, I begin transitioning from a whole class environment to one that is entirely team-oriented. Before my students choose the two people they will be making a podcast with, I take a week to mix the students up in as many different teams as possible and have them complete mini-teaming activities. One activity requires the team to build a structure using only the contents of their backpacks, and the highest structure wins candy; another asks them to develop the best possible podcast idea in ten minutes then pitch it to the class. It’s like speed dating for podcast partners, and I want them to see the possibilities for who they might collaborate best with.
During the fall semester, I let my students have free choice for who they would work with, and despite all the teaming activities and discussions about how heterogeneous groups often work best, many still chose to work with their friends. But I decided that if I was going to learn about teaming dynamics, I would have to set my micro-managing tendencies aside and just watch as the different groups went about the very complex task of creating a podcast. 
As the weeks went by, it was like I was watching a social experiment unravel, and I gathered as much qualitative data as I could. A handful of teams worked unexpectedly well together, agreeing on a topic that they were all interested in and taking personal responsibility for completing their share of the work. Some went through ups and downs, struggling for a few weeks, then making comebacks and bursts of progress. And some absolutely crashed and burned – a few friendships fell apart and one team turned in each of their parts of the podcast individually because things had turned toxic.
Here are a few of the reflections I got throughout the semester:
“I am a bit of a micro-manager and control freak. It was easy for me to be this role because I am a total type A personality. I think my micromanagement worked well overall for our team because I made sure everyone was finished in time. I really hope they weren’t annoyed with me being up in their business, but we did get our work done and that is what matters.”
“They kept asking throughout the research what our topic is for the podcast. It was somewhat frustrating because I kept having to repeat myself. I felt like I made it clear what our topic was, but they showed otherwise. In the first place, I should’ve forced (teammate) to speak about a topic she’s interested in.”
“At times, it was easy for me to freak out on my teammates, but I remembered that this project is a team effort and that my teammates are there for me. Collaborating with them taught me to think outside the box, try unfamiliar editing ideas, and not be afraid to speak up. After this project, I feel very confident about my communication skills with others.”
One of my biggest takeaways so far is a reminder of how absolutely complex human beings are, especially when they come together to collaborate. Also there is no formula for teaming – the point is for students to get into that messy interpersonal space and learn something about themselves and how they interact with others. Like most everything in my teaching, this is a work in progress.
If anyone is interested in meeting up to continue the conversation on teaming, there is a small group of teachers that meets in my room every few weeks to talk blended classes, teaming and other new things that we’re trying in our classes. Just let me know and I’ll add you to the email list. Or come observe my podcasting class sometime – I’d love to get more feedback.
One of the best teams ever!

A Writing Class Disguised as a Podcasting Class

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In the first few weeks of each of my English classes, I always open up a real-talk discussion about writing. I start by acknowledging that writing is one of the most challenging tasks that students are asked to do in school, which usually elicits vigorous nods throughout the room. Writing is nuanced and abstract, and requires students to consider ideas, structure, evidence, arguments and precision all within the great messiness of language and syntax. Many students lack confidence in their writing abilities, and their approach to writing assignments often consists of suffering through the process, like a trip to the dentist, with the assurance that it will be over eventually.
While I am aware of the challenges my students face, time constraints often reduce my instruction of the writing process to a series of steps: brainstorm, research, thesis, outline, draft, revisions, final draft (with consideration for audience, voice and tone thrown in if time allows). Sometimes I fly through all of these concepts in a matter of days, hoping that something will stick to each student. Sometimes I have my students turn in each part of the writing process for points, hoping that this will inspire some sort of epiphany, like “Mr. Schooler, some really unexpected ideas came up in my mind map that I never would have seen if you hadn’t reviewed the process of circling ideas and drawing lines between those bubbles!” At the end of this rushed process, the essay is turned in and I boomerang it back to each student within two weeks with a grade on top and feedback that is skimmed and tossed away.
 
But the writing process is so much more sacred than what I often reduce it to. In its highest form this process can produce clarity from abstractions, allow for discovery of new insights and can actually transform one’s understanding of themselves and the world around them. Writing is often a big messy struggle that can teach lessons of resilience and perseverance that transfer to so many aspects of life. My approach to many projects in life mirrors my own writing process, whether it’s building a chicken coop, cooking a holiday meal or redesigning my back yard.
Two years ago, I attended the CCCC (Conference on College Composition and Communication), and one session that stood out to me was given by a professor who shared his experiences teaching a podcast project in his class. At first this seemed somewhat out of place for a conference that focused mostly on writing instruction, but I started to wonder whether a podcast wasn’t just another form of writing. A podcast producer must work with ideas, organization, evidence, tone and word choice all while considering the audience at the other end of their work. This idea stuck with me for a while, germinating, until I decided to create a Podcasting and Storytelling class.
When I started telling people I was teaching a podcasting class, they often asked me about recording. As someone whose recording experience is limited to making mix tapes and CD’s in college, I started to wonder whether or not I was in over my head. In fact, my knowledge with podcasts is pretty limited too – I have spent hours listening to them running the trails of Mount Diablo, but I have never tried to make one.
But I took solace in the fact that I do know quite a bit about the writing process, and that this class is really just a writing class disguised as a podcasting class. And, while in the first few weeks, many of my students thought that it would just be a chill, blended class where they would listen to interesting podcasts, I knew what the class would turn into, and I was thrilled that I had successfully duped them into an extensive writing project.
After an introductory unit in which we deconstructed the art of storytelling, my students formed teams that would work towards the long-term goal of producing a podcast. The first phase of the project was to identify a topic that everyone was interested in and research all they could about that topic. Each team member was responsible for documenting their research, and writing reflections on how it would direct the team’s project. One of my teams started out by wanting to do a podcast on the Byron Hot Springs, an abandoned building in Byron that teenagers sneak into since it is supposedly haunted. Over the next few weeks, this team went into a full deep dive, learning all they could about this location. They discovered that it had originated as a train depot, then became a luxury hotel that stars like Marilyn Monroe visited, then served as a satellite Japanese internment camp, then burned down twice mysteriously and now stands as just a shell of a building. One student read about how Charlie Chaplin used to visit the hotel and she decided to watch one of his films. This team even found the owner’s name and the current value of the property on Zillow. I like to think that this team got much more out of this research experience than simply searching for usable quotes from the internet, which is what many of my students do when I assign research papers.
As we shifted from the research to the production phase of the project, each team had to brainstorm and determine a central idea for their podcast. They had to give a quick two-minute pitch to the rest of the class, then receive feedback on their ideas before writing a formal proposal. As we have now shifted to the production phase, the goal is to create original content that can be used in the final cut. This involves writing scripts and monologues, conducting interviews, and considering the best organizational structure to tell their specific story. This has turned out to be a spontaneous process full of dead ends, revisions, regrouping and improvisation. But the attention that these students are putting into their work is greater than the attention my students usually put into a rushed essay process. Most of our class sessions are collaborative workshops, and I bounce from team to team listening to them discuss various rhetorical choices, like word choice, structure, tone, audience and voice. Instead of me flying through these skills that I have always tried to instill, these students are implementing these skills within the context of their projects. They have determined that these are the important qualities of their writing that they need to consider.
My ultimate goal for this class is to create a Carondelet podcast channel that gets thousands of subscribers, and becomes something our school is known for. But I still have no idea what these final projects will be, and I expect that some will be better than others. This class has made me consider which is more valuable for my students, the process or the final product, but that’s a subject for another blog. One of the great things about teaching a semester class is that it allows me to make my own revisions, and I don’t have to wait a whole year to do things better. And while I still think it is important that students write essays in school, it has been invigorating to reimagine the different forms essays can take. 

Grouping Students on Personality Update #1

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In my September 14th post about “Grouping Students Based on Personality” I shared that I would have my students take the 16personalities.com test and then group students based on the following four categories:

Analysts (intuitive/thinking)
Diplomats (intuitive/feeling)
Sentinels (observant/judging)
Explorers (observant/prospecting)

I first met with Stacie, Sarah and Kristy to discuss how best to break down the groups. We all agreed having students from all four categories would be the ultimate, but in the event that I only had 2-3 students in one or more the categories, we agreed having at least three categories represented in each team group would be best. We also discussed sizes of groups and agreed groups of 4-5 (6 if necessary based on class numbers) would be be best.

Next, I labeled each of the students according to the four categories and then I focused on grouping the students (I have one all-girls class and two coed classes).

I also reviewed student surveys for how reading groups worked in our first unit. What I found was that students were all at different points in their reading within reading teams, thus for our SpiderWeb discussions I had to match students that were in the same section of the book. Some student feedback included a desire to stay in their same on-line discussion groups when we have SpiderWebs. Thus, I have decided to keep groups together on-line and for in-class discussions and have told the groups that they will need to determine reading deadlines themselves so that everyone is on the same page.

Instead of reading quizzes and questions, students are tasked with showing authentic engagement on the discussion boards and through SpiderWeb discussions. Michael Schooler had a great idea to continue to promote autonomy and the buy in has been tremendous. I allowed groups to tell me their reading deadlines as well as three times I accessed them individually on the discussion boards.

So, now my next question becomes how does this new teaming approach work? Will students hold one another accountable and have a better overall experience then they did in the previous unit?

The current unit centers around reading a refuge memoir, How Dare the Sun Rise, by Sandra Uwiringiyimana. Students are reading in teams and will complete a group research project about immigration and/or the refuge crisis. I have not given any formal directions, only told students they need to help one another understand and grapple with the text before deciding on something they want to research more about and educate the class on. I want my students to grapple with texts and ideas and ambiguity forces them to do that. No longer am I the expert with all the answers. No longer am I the one in charge of what a project looks like. Rather, students are in charge of everything and I am just a “mere” facilitator and adviser.

We are now two weeks into the students reading as a team – in on-line discussions and in-class SpiderWeb discussion. Thus far, keeping teams grouped together has provided more engaging than my previous unit.We had our first SpiderWeb discussions this week and I was smiling to myself as students were bringing up ideas/insights/questions/debates from their on-line discussion boards.

I will re-evaluate once we complete our unit and have the students take another survey.

On an overall note, taking a self-paced approach and connecting a new teaming strategy in my three sections of Writing Seminar has challenged me as a teacher. However, I know that my classes are now student-centered and that is extremely liberating for me after 10-plus years of traditional curriculum and teacher-centered learning That is so exciting and refreshing – even if it forces me to be a “student” also and come up with new, creative approaches on the fly while becoming a different type of task master with regards to assessment and individual student progress.

When Going Back to Step 1 is a Good Thing (and Your Students Agree)

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As I pass the midway point in the Semester, I have found that my Social Advocacy class is realizing that each team needs to be on different steps in the Design Think process. In the first half of the semester all of the teams were approaching the Design Think model in a linear fashion, and I believe that this served them well. Now that they have be testing their prototypes, they are realizing that they need to rethink their original plans.

In the class we discussed the idea that when we test, we are trying to discover the problems with our designs. Instead of taking the approach that we will succeed, rather we are eager to explore ways that we can grow in our designs. Realizing that we won’t have a perfect solution, this changes the emphasis of the project. Now instead of the teams look at the impact that they will be making on the social justice issue, they are invested in putting the user (the people effected by the issue) first and wanting to revise what they have planned to better serve them.

One specific group that I would like to highlight are a group looking into ways to reduce date rape on college campuses. They had an initial idea of using the idea of “Angel Shots”, but creating their own version of it to avoid copyright and permission issues. This faltered for a variety of reasons, but it hasn’t put a damper on their project. During a video conference with a Post Graduate student from Cambridge University, the team presented their project to date. Madi Vorva (Post Graduate Student) invited them to seek out other organizations and clubs to partner with them. Now the team is effectively going back to the Empathize Phase to learn more from people in college invested in this issue, just as the girls from Carondelet are. At our last meeting the team was reaching out to women empowerment clubs and Professors of Gender Studies at Colleges.

Although it could be seen as a negative that they are essentially back to step one, they see this as an exciting step because they know what didn’t work. They know that they need more support to make this project a success.

Interestingly I haven’t had any of my students ask what this will do to their grades. Throughout the project the emphasis has been on growth in the project, and that we are never done. Our goal is to keel pushing forward, and the most important people are those effected by the social justice issue. We aren’t the most important people. Our grades aren’t the primary focus. People matter more, and that is our motivation.