Breaking the Temporal Barrier

Collaboration is as much a buzz word in educational circles and professional communities as it ever has been.  We have never really produced in a vacuum, but we now see collaboration as a skill with a position on par with reading comprehension, study strategies, or any other typical skill learned in the traditional classroom. And, it's not as if great teachers have not required and instructed this skill for decades; they have, and they've done it well. However, with the virtual world flattening the working space, destroying typical borders, and allowing ideas to be generated quicker and with multiple minds involved in the engendering and creative processes, the need for successful collaboration (in concert with individual competence) seems of paramount importance in order to be successful in the world a decade from today.  I'm struck by the many futurists (insightful people who posit the real future and the changes the world will experience as a predictor for governments, think-tanks, corporations, etc.) who see humans working more and more as a hive-mind as thoughts and ideas begin to be generated and developed by multiple intelligences, virtually linked at a basic level and including the artificial and possibly even the deceased (we can argue the possible moral complications of this later!). To bring us back to 2025, though the world will not be a Borg Collective of linked hive-minds, collaboration is essential, and St. John's is replete with the teaching of collaborative inquiry, critical thinking, problem solving, and creative presentations of ideas.

As I have watched technology change and grow, capabilities rise and even fall, I have endeavored to continue to produce collaborative opportunities.  We work together on presentations involving independent reading, Greek Mythology, poetry, debate, and myriad small group and class activities that are surely similar in scope and purpose to what so many wonderful teachers do at our school. Technology began to present opportunities that were new, or at least it provided the methods to attempt to accomplish what before might have seemed impossible. Barriers or constraints that had existed in the traditional classroom might be breached and overcome.  And, collaboration across distance and even language became possible; students could visit far away places; and teachers were sharing ideas so quickly that information could become overwhelming.  But, there was one barrier that we have always worked hard at eliminating, stretching, or at least cheating- the constraint of time.  We could break down physical walls, pass over thousands of ocean miles in seconds, possess the wealth of human knowledge and opinion about any one subject with a simple hand motion, and yet we needed to find a way to break down the barrier of time as well as space.

This began by employing technology in a way that allowed students to collaborate virtually on the same project or problem even though they were in different traveling groups or sections. Now, several different classes were working together toward a common goal, even though they held no actual English time in common.  We used wikis and Google Docs to accomplish this.  We wanted students to engage in conversations about literature in a way that would allow each of them an opportunity to gain knowledge and insight from the entire grade; we were able to find programs that allowed this.  I wanted to bring in experts and people of experience during our Debate/Witch Trial unit, and Blogs served this purpose.  Technology was helping to break down barriers, but there was something missing. A lot of the work began to feel cold, dispassionate, detached.  And, even though I still use most of these methods, I really wanted the discussion and sharing of ideas to move to something physical, something semi-permanent yet malleable and modular that provided a platform for idea sharing that could span the different class periods and eliminate time from the list of prohibitive elements. So, what is old is new again!  The Idea Wall I have written of previously was an answer, and it is now becoming so much more than a simple depository of student humor or a useful space for activities, as shown in the last post.  Taking a cue from a passing comment from our Head of School, the students took it over, transformed it into a concept map or mind map of their collective experiences during our novel discussion on "The Watsons Go to Birmingham- 1963."  They brainstormed concept categories, voted and chose five, had an illustration challenge to determine the artists who would illustrate each category, then selected quotations that represented those categorized emotions or concepts.  By the final chapter, students were coming in at lunch and break to add their thoughts, and by our final essay, students were using the collective mind-map as a resource for selecting quotations in their formal, analytical writing.  It's time I begin thinking about providing more usable physical space, more student space, more collaborative space in my room.  It should be space that echoes the vastness of the virtual world that is at their fingertips.  A place for them to explore, discern, create, and refine. Right now my eyes are searching; I will find room for more!

The Video below provides a time lapse series of pictures with students moving through the mind-map of our novel.

The Art of Writing

Philosophy

Too often, writing is seen as formula, as a scripted act ruled by expectation and attention to instruction.  And though formula is important and required for adequate communication, writing is an act of individual expression; and, as such, it more closely resembles those curricula that mainstream education continues to debase, de-fund, and exclude: the arts. Teaching writing is not simply a matter of focusing on structure and form, but of inspiring and encouraging individual work ethic, creative text manipulation, and the effective persuasion required to amply communicate original thought and ideas. Though we focus on structure and process at the beginning, this is simply learning the brushstrokes, the keys and scales, the differing instruments and media by which artists convey elements of the human condition.  The goal is that the artist must learn the basics before true expression becomes paramount and supersedes technical ability.  The same is true for the effective writer.  The rules must be learned before they can be broken, before expression supersedes format.

The Beginning 

I've been watching my two year old learning how to run.  At first, it was a series of jerky leg movements, a quick time of tiny steps that increased his speed only marginally but perhaps required four times the effort of a simple walk.  Since then, he has begun to learn to trust his balance and take longer strides, and he is beginning to become a little dangerous in his speed as his mother and I try to contain him in the yard.  There's the haggard phrase "one must walk before he runs" that is thrown around whenever we start something new, something hard, something that requires effort, patience, persistence, and resilience.  But really, it's completely true.  There aren't that many ten year old writing prodigies in this world; nor are there fifth graders creating masterpieces of sculpture; nor do we really want to listen to a concerto composed by a tween.  Like all great art, writing requires that we conquer the basics, and, as teachers, the basics are where we must begin.  Sentence Structure, Paragraph Organization, Topic Sentence Construction, Thesis, Detail, Support, Explanation, Introduction, Body, Conclusion, Brainstorm, Outline, Draft, Revise, Edit, Proof, Publish...the vocabulary and process of writing must be internalized, absorbed, mastered before the words are polished, gleaming in musical phrases, and the voice, once hidden and unrefined, fills our inner ear with its unique rhythm and complex tones.  And yet, to the beginning, to the process we must bend our efforts.  Until writing is not some daunting mountain, but an instinctual process, we have to stay with the bland and necessary beginning, we must teach the basics, instruct the process, facilitate their eventual breakthroughs.

Work Ethic

There are myths out there that our geniuses, our most celebrated minds, casually work toward their ends.  That somehow the greatness that has eluded their counterparts for centuries or even millennia simply falls about them and follows their every whim.  "Mozart wrote whole symphonies without making an error; Einstein failed math and simply played mind games to come up with his theories; Newton watched an apple fall and suddenly understood gravity."  Ridiculous.  Mozart drove himself mad due to his obsession and constant work on his music- that had several drafts; Einstein built a machine to wake himself up in the middle of the night so that he could record his dreams in case they should shed light on his work (it is said he slept 4-5 hours night and worked continuously); Newton invented an entirely new type of mathematics in order to explain his theories.  Genius is not easy. We are not going to be a janitor one day and suddenly, with little effort, solve extensive and complex geometric theorem left on chalkboards by conceited professors.  Success in any endeavor requires practice and effort and, perhaps most of all, stamina and resilience. We so readily accept this when it comes to sports. We are willing to schedule our kids for six or eight hours a week in practices; and yet, we shy away from expecting the same dedication in other pursuits. We would never expect our ten year old to be a master at the piano after a year of once-a-week lessons and little home practice. We'd say, "Well yeah, that's what I expected.  He never practiced."  We'd say the same if our child missed the free throw in the big game when he only practiced from the three point arc, or if he tried to build a simple chair without ever having held a saw.  Though, we still often wonder why his writing skills seem to remain stagnant or are only improving at what seems like a snail's pace.  What is acceptable practice for writing?  One half that of sports?  A quarter?  Considering the artistic nature of writing, can gains be as appreciable as they are in sports?  Can we see the development in front of us in the same way?  Hopefully, the advent of electronic data capture and virtual portfolios will help, but that's definitely not as exciting as watching your daughter finally get that ace in the game when just a few months ago she could barely serve over the net.  What does work ethic truly mean, and when it comes to artistic yet academic endeavors, what sort of expectations should we set?  I think relying on the geniuses whose examples began this section seems most appropriate.  Michelangelo comes to mind: "If people knew how hard I had to work to gain my mastery, it would not seem so wonderful at all."

Revise, Revise, Revise

Great writers improve their work.  This cannot be understated.  Most spend far more time (years even) revising their efforts than the initial drafting of them before finally relinquishing them into the world.  Hemingway's unfinished work, Islands in the Stream, is a great example of a master's work before the process of revision. It is said that he would go through his novels striking out every unnecessary adjective and adverb, every description that seemed superfluous, every turn of phrase that he deemed too cute, that muddled the truth he wished to express.  This process was unrelenting, personal, and time consuming. Islands never completed this process, and the novel is singularly distinct in his body of work. Personally, I find it un-Hemingway-like in many respects.  There is a reason: he wasn't finished yet. Of course, as I remind the students, writing -as art- cannot be finished. Calling once more to the artist for support, I lean on Leonardo da Vinci who once penned, "Art is never finished, only abandoned." And so it is.  We improve, we can always improve.  And this is the thrust of the process, where one must spend that energy, that time.  Revision, as taxing as it can be, as humble as it requires us in accepting our own fallibility, is the most necessary step in the writing process.  There should be appreciable improvement from draft to draft; there should be major changes- the questioning of one's own abilities and arguments; there should be mental capital expelled onto the page.

Let it Go

"If you truly love something, let it go.  If it comes back to you, it is yours forever."  I remember hearing this said about a variety of wounded animals my brother and I would find foundering in the tall grass of the field behind the house where we grew up.  If somehow it survived our makeshift hospital and constant poking, if by instinct or force of animal will it grew strong enough to survive on its own once more, then we we be told to let it go.  And every artist must go through the mental struggle of letting go of something that represents hours, weeks, years of effort, refinement, and personal investment.  My brother (a talented artist working out of Richmond and VCU) describes it as giving away his children, hoping they find good homes.  --Here's his gallery's website if you're interested. His work is amazing--  But, he has to let it go at some point.  And writing, like all art, is only truly art once it is shared with the world.  With written work, we call this the Publishing stage.  And, after multiple revisions, even though the work could be improved, even though it is not finished, because it is now a part of you or at least part of you is in it, you must let it go- you must send it out into the world.  As we endeavor to teach writing, even though this stage of the process is not time consuming or mentally taxing, we must continue to encourage writers to take pride in their work, to feel something for it, to understand the investment in it was purposeful and individually distinctive.  The work should be cherished by the artist.  Perhaps it is not to the degree of parental love and concern that my brother posed as analogous, but our students should feel something when looking at that finished piece. They should see it as an overcoming and a becoming: the next step on their journeys as writers, as artists, and as learners.

The End

Well, there isn't one.  Like a novel series that always leaves one wanting more and willing to spend $19.99 on the next new release, we're left hanging from a cliff.  We can take steps every day to become better writers, practice with letters, emails, journals, editorials, etc., or revise everything into polished glass; but, that's not the end.  Every artist learns from every piece of his own work; every artist improves. And, there is no real end.  I tell my students that their endings, their conclusions, should leave the reader thinking, not hanging.  I'm definitely still thinking about how to teach writing even as I close up this brief entry.  Unfortunately, perhaps from my earlier mention of him and his revision methodology, I am only able to think of the ending of For Whom the Bell Tolls- a novel in which Hemingway, knowing the rule, completely breaks it. Though we can assume what happens next, we never really know; we are left on the cliff, in a very similar place as the opening, our hearts pumping along with the protagonist: "Robert Jordan lay behind the tree, holding onto himself very carefully and delicately to keep his hands steady. He was waiting until the officer reached the sunlit place where the first trees of the pine forest joined the green slope of the meadow. He could feel his heart beating against the pine needle floor of the forest."

The Modular Classroom: Rethinking the Use of Space

Once I learned that we would definitely be receiving new furniture for this school year, I began working on a redesign in both the traditional usable space in the classroom and the space available on the walls.  The result is a more modular and flexible room allowing me to teach in ways that before presented challenges in transition and execution.  Please watch my video journal that highlights and explains the new use of space in the classroom at St. John's Episcopal School.

If you are new to this blog, feel free to explore the posts below from the previous school year.

Colonial Unit: Obstacles and Successes

Personal Reflection:

Overall Planning:

Students delve into the Colonial Unit in much the same way as any other unit. There are distinct and clear steps based on Brain Based Research and case study that assist them in establishing prior knowledge, connecting new information with that knowledge, synthesizing the two, and then creating and evaluating their work in a culminating experience.

In Social Studies and Literature students begin with an introduction to the material/topic. Often this is kicked off with exercises and activities designed to activate prior knowledge and establish a foundation on which to grow. I always share plans with the students.  I tell them where I expect to be and when in a general way (which units and novels during which months) as well as more specifically: "here’s where we’ll be in the following days and weeks."  Of course, things don’t always go to plan, but I don’t shy away from admitting that it just didn't work out as planned. 

Before beginning the unit, I shared the plans to have a witch trial in the classroom, a movie about Salem, and I briefly explained the life of the Puritan and Colonist during the 17^th Century.

Exposure and Immersion:

Students are immersed in the colonial experience.  They are exposed to several different media forms: a discovery channel documentary on Jamestown, a simulation of Colonial life in Social Studies, and the class novel: The Witch of Blackbird Pond.  Reading is at a fast pace (15 pages per day) with required Study Guide Questions, Vocabulary, and Journaling.  New skills are utilized in order to understand terms in vocabulary study.  This links directly with the work being completed in Language Arts and the type of Standardized testing they will have over the next many years: they are given a text designed to be at their anticipated reading level then asked to infer, summarize, and make connections. Additionally, the practice at decoding new vocabulary based on root word recognition and context clues prepares them for other components of ERB, ICEE, and SAT testing to come.  

To assess their skills and knowledge, students are quizzed every three chapters on summarizing and inference making skills directly related to guided reading questions.  These become the basis for class discussion that replaces the individualized virtual discussion that was unable to be utilized this year. At the end of the novel, a cumulative exam is given including elements of all the above and an essay question that is known and prepared for in advance.  

Culmination (The end of the pupal stage of learning and the practice of higher order thinking):

Students watch a movie by PBS depicting the witch trials of Salem using actual court records to create dialogue and recreate hearings and trials.  They are inspired to make connections with their reading and their colonies (from the Social Studies Simulation).  Members of each colony are assigned specific roles: Accused Witch, Prosecutor, or Defender.  Using supplied fact sheets, students generate arguments either for or against the accused in an attempt to convince a jury of their peers (members of the other colonies). There may be tests or examinations performed by the teams in order to convict or acquit.  After carefully taking notes and weighing the facts, the jury makes its decision -keeping in mind that they must do their best to mimic the thought processes of the 17th Century, Puritan Colonist on whom they are now expert (in past years there were controlled deliberations; due to snow days, this year the majority is all that was needed).  

Final Thoughts:

I believe strongly in this type of unit that departs slightly from the more independent reading performed in preparation for the Explorer Project.  I find it very predictive of future success and ERB scores than  most other methods.  The Reading Workshop Model can be as equally predictive, but its full effect cannot be utilized in the shorter time period of the middle school schedule taking into account all the other subjects competing for time both in school and at home.  After the completion of this unit, scores on homework, quizzes, and the final test are highly illustrative of areas in need of attention.  A high quiz score with a low test score indicates issues committing information to long term memory, most likely caused by a failure to prepare adequately or an ignorance of preparation strategies that adults take for granted but that children may need to be directly taught.  A low homework average is indicative of an inability to keep up with daily work as it involves effort only and not precision in the answer.  Failure to plan or the inability to utilize organizational strategies are the most common causal factors.  A low quiz grade suggests one of three problems: 1- Inability to read and digest the basics of given literature at grade level. 2- Failure to perform reading on a regular basis.  3- A reading fluency rate (basic words per minute) that prohibits the reading and comprehension of grade level material on a time-dependent basis.  As these are important skills in every classroom (regardless of subject matter); discovering them now presents a great opportunity for intervention and practice.  

Those following the fifth grade classroom closely may have seen that I have devised a hybrid curriculum that molds pieces of reading and writing workshop model education with the more traditional components of a novel study based approach highlighted by Project Based Initiatives to serve in a reinforcing and assessing role.  Independent reading and sharing is constantly encouraged: students are required to read and present on at least three novels over the year, connecting these with elements taught in mini-lesson format and supported by frequent assessments to ensure mastery. In accordance with this hybrid model, students will embark on our study of poetry.  Multiple poems will be studied and different linguistic devices and techniques learned to further their knowledge of literature.  Each will begin to choose a poem that connects personally, study it in depth, break it down into a script, and then perform it as if it were a short one act play.  Our Poetry Parade is just weeks away!  

Our Colonial Unit Has Begun

Quick Update: Colonial Integration 

I wanted to share a brief update on the growth of our integrated unit. Currently, we have students forming colonies in Social Studies; they must choose their type of colony, raise money, create a compact or agreement, travel to the new world, journal about their experiences, solve problems encountered along the way and upon arrival, and then discuss their successes or failures as a colony. In English, students are reading a class novel; using subtext to enrich the book with webpage links, images, discussions, and quizzes; taking in-class reading assessments structured similarly to common standardized tests; and discussing Puritan life in depth.  They will soon be making horn-books, writing letters home, and engaging in a "witch trial" in which they will be defending or prosecuting members of their Social Studies' colonies utilizing persuasive writing and oral debate.  In Science, students will be researching colonial plant dyes and then creating them to dye fabric to form their pieces of a hand-sewn tapestry that will be a combination of all the student-colonies.  In Music class, students will be writing and playing colonial style music while using sewing techniques to create period clothing.  In P.E. they will start playing typical period games such as Rounders or Blind Man's Bluff.  In Math, students are calculating the percentages of lost food in a storm, calculating the area of their colonial land, etc. We are beginning the early stages of planning a Colonial Day that will be a capstone experience during which students will wear their clothing and articles, sing their music, bring in typical colonial food for lunch, experience the harsh reality of plowing fields and clearing trees, and play period games- it will be a sort of "colonial year in survey" in which students will begin with clearing land and end in a celebratory thanksgiving event.  

We are working hard at continuing to enrich the unit while ensuring that students have plenty of practice at the essentials each class is designed to instruct.  Reading comprehension, expository writing, presentation skills, strategic/critical thinking, problem solving, arithmetic, scientific method, gross motor skills, and musical theory are still being stressed, but they are linked within a single experience. The amount of growth this unit has achieved over the last three years is astonishing. I know that it will only continue to become a richer and more fluid experience for the students.

Teachers and Staff Currently Involved in Unit:

Mr. Herod, Math
Mrs. Granello, Social Studies/L.A.
Mr. Herrin, English/Writing
Mrs. Haynes, Music
Mrs. Dawson, Support Staff (Sewing Expert!)
Mrs. Torrey, Science
Mrs. Jaqua, Science
Mrs. Kelly, P.E. 

In-Service In-spiration

Grant Lichtman Came to Town

We had an in-service day today: Monday, January 26.  I thought I'd give a little bit of an in-sight into what we did (please forgive all the prefix word play; I am a bit of an English nerd).  I recorded the video below about 30 feet from a sleeping baby, so you may have to crank the volume up a bit.  Below you will also find a video of Grant's TEDx talk in Denver.  My purpose here is to give you some information about what we do on these days, and why it's important to your child.

Grant Lichtman TEDx

You may need to log in on a PC to view the above video.  I've had trouble viewing on my own iPad.

Explorer Project Capstone

Capstone: Video with Green Screen

As promised, here is the update to the final piece of our Explorer Project PBL experience.  A great truth about 10-11 year old students is that they are eager to perform when they have a "mask."  It may be a metaphorical or actual barrier between themselves and an audience, but it amounts to the same thing.  If given a persona to remove them (at least by a step) from their audience, students who otherwise may shy away from public speaking or dramatic interpretations are apt to flourish and break from their shell.  I believe that this is the great promise afforded to us by the integration of Drama into the curriculum.  Throughout the year, students are given tasks/projects that encourage them to interpret text in a creative and dramatic way.  Coupled with many presentations in class, students learn confidence in front of crowds, gain knowledge on how to reach an audience, and are more prepared for the new type of assessments often utilized in the higher grades.  Perhaps most importantly, they enjoy themselves.  Many of my units are capped by this type of activity.  Often, the product is not really the point of the majority of the work accomplished, but it provides a definite goal and a rewarding experience that helps propel the students during the difficult work leading up to it.  This will be echoed in the coming units (capstone performances of the Witch Trials, Poetry Parade, Greek Wax Museum) whose broad base of effort and practice are not always evinced in the final performance but are the actual purpose of the unit itself.

Below are some videos of the initial run-throughs and practices along with some final product.  The bulk of the videos are to be added to the wiki pages for viewing and as a final enrichment of the overall experience.

Rehearsals

Some Final Products

(See the rest on the wikipages)

Next post will be about the new unit:  Witch of Blackbird Pond.

Inside the Classroom: Introduction and Explorer Project

Introduction:

Well, 2015 is upon us, and I've committed myself to something here that may take off or may founder.  The overall purpose is to connect you, as a parent, into the inner-workings of the classroom in a way that has not been previously accomplished at this grade level.  I am not going to become entrapped in the details, this is not about specific homework or classroom assignments, but I have the intention of providing a meta-experience in the following months.  The plan is that you know and understand some of what we do in the classroom and why we do it.  I think so much is lost in the transition from home to school and back again, so much is lost in the rush to make the start time of the next game or lesson; there seems to be less time to simply sit and discuss the positives of the experiences that we have, perhaps time only to gripe and complain about those things that are not going to plan.  I've seen this myself with friends and colleagues and family: when we have little time, it seems that serious discussions often turn to venting- emotional discharges that serve a purpose of relieving anxiety and reducing stress, but are no more illustrative of the overall experience of the day or week than a simple snapshot (the single frame of a video shown without reference or context) would be.  In an attempt to mollify or at least ameliorate this, I am going to give you periodic glimpses of what was in the past sacrosanct and unplumbed; what we only knew of by our own experience several decades prior, or as those singular and random snapshots. However, I hope to frame these glimpses in such a way as to provide a story, a reference that includes the what and why from the teacher's point of view.  So here we go!  Let's try something new today!

The Explorer Project

As promised we are going to jump right in to this.  In the past, I've tried to share this.  It rarely is effective.  

In fact, it usually looks something like this:

Hallway outside the classroom

Now, this type of display is common, intended for student and colleague as well as the parent.  There are descriptions of steps of a project-based unit, examples of integration with Social Studies and Drama.  Ooh Look! QR codes! Aren't I savvy?!  But really, what does this accomplish?  Does anyone actually follow those QR codes and watch the video?  I would imagine that someone would have to be trying to fill a day or kill some time if he/she really could stop and scan and watch while walking down the hallway of an elementary school.  The plan was that this would be utilized while parents waited for their conferences, but even then there is a five year old to wrangle, work to postpone, an email to answer.  It really doesn't work.  And students, though mindful of the purpose, often lose interest the more detailed the description or abstract the discussion of education.  

An Overview of the Explorer Project:

Put simply, this is an example of PBL(Project Based Learning).  That is a student-centered project that encourages students to investigate, establish problems to be solved, collaborate on solutions, exchange roles and responsibilities, and design a creative, open-ended product or products (open-ended meaning that students may expand their product into a direction and depth of their capability and choosing) with which they demonstrate their knowledge and learning.  In some educational situations, this has been in existence for a long time.  The science classroom, in particular, has been employing this type of collaborative investigation and problem solving since the formalization of the scientific method by Francis Bacon in the seventeenth century.  Many teachers of History and Math have also employed this teaching method with Literature teachers not far behind.  In some circles, the classroom is replete with PBLs to the point that very little direct instruction occurs at all.  I have seen classrooms that are always in the motion of the PBL, that are never still for more than the five minutes demanded by an obligatory mini-lesson that introduces the next step or clarifies a misconception.  

Personally, I have always been a believer in moderation.  I mix a lot of different techniques, but I do not trust entirely to any one single teaching style, technique, etc.  The PBL is designed to especially assist in extending those who are strong students and allowing a platform and a scaffold for those that may struggle, but it is not snake oil, it is not a cure-all.  In my experience, I am always wary of any claim of an answer to all problems.  From the miracle scratch removing compound for your car to the movement against Gluten as the bane of human health- anytime a person says that something is the answer to everything, I immediately doubt it. That is not to say that some products might remove a surface scratch or two, or that a healthy diet may have a little less wheat in it; and this certainly applies in the classroom as well.  Teachers fresh out of school, eager and motivated, want to try every new idea, redesign the classroom, re-invent teaching, etc.  This is wonderful; it sparks thought and reflection.  But, in my 14 years or so in education, experience has taught me to be mindful, purposeful, and thus moderative.  PBLs are useful; but, I will still lecture at times, have 50 minute discussions, allow students to work quietly and individually, and be a teacher and not simply a facilitator.  I say this as it is paramount to my philosophy as an educator: What is old is not always bad, and what is new is not always better.  It takes experimentation to see what works for you.  A case study and research based approach to the classroom is a good starting point, but a teacher must find what strategies work with his personality, style, expertise, etc.  One size fits all has never and will never be the case in education.  

That understood, below are the different steps the students travel through as they complete the PBL of the Explorer Project.  Before each and during each, students receive information through a mini-lesson or video or app that comments upon the work they are about to undertake.  Each step has a starting point and a product, but each is designed so that every student may self pace and no student can simply "finish" a step.  They are in a sense "open-ended" in that extension for the stronger student is built in whereas the student that struggles in a certain area will be equally challenged and supported. Upon the completion of the product at each step, the foundations are laid for the implementation of the next evolution- that is to say that the steps are cumulative and are aimed at the completion of a final product: The Explorer Wiki.  

Step 1(a): Initial Exposure and Immersion 

Brain research suggests that in the beginning stages of learning, a deluge of information coupled with a stated goal and subject to generalizations, classifications, and other organizational orderings allow the brain to make more connections than with a direct and teacher-guided approach to new topics. The idea is not that anything at this stage is taken to mastery, but instead students have open to them many avenues of study, varying topics, differing types of media, and a looser structure than might otherwise be typical.  It is an investigative model as opposed to a typically instructive one.  In the classroom this takes three distinct forms:  a video introducing the "Age of Exploration" that runs quickly through many different explorers examining time, country of origin, and discoveries; an iPad app "Explorers" that includes more detailed information on fourteen important explorers presented by video, written, and other visual media; and a collection of about 80 biographies organized by explorer (around 20) and representing varying reading levels.  For each, guided reading questions, notes, searches, KWL charts, etc. were utilized to add structure and aid/encourage student organization of information. 

Resources: 

Video: Link to a copy of the video used. 

App:  Link to app on iTunes preview.

Use of Explorer App in the classroom: (See Video Below)

Step 1(b):Classroom Library and Biography Reading (See Video Below)

Step 2: Investigation and Research- The Who and Why

Students are assigned one of a choice of five explorers upon which to focus.  Each student then begins to read two biographies on that explorer and fills out a research template as a helpful guide. This task allows the student to become "expert" on the chosen explorer while practicing critical reading comprehension and fluency skills on material that is at or above reading level.  This step is carried out in school and at home.  

As students are becoming expert in selected explorers in Literature, in Social Studies they are learning about the motivation of European nations to explore new routes to the East, exploit new lands discovered, and colonize these discoveries.  They learn details about the more important figures of the "Age of Discovery" as well as the characteristics of the Natives in the lands that they discover.  They navigate through the textbook and an app that allows them to act as an explorer and plan a journey to undiscovered countries.  Their planning and actions determine if their trips are successful.  Think Oregon Trail for the modern age and redesigned for European discovery.  

Step 3: Writing Workshop- Collaborative Wiki-writing

The majority of time is spent in this step of the project.  We utilize wikispaces as a free site with which to create our product. (Use username: crusaderguest and password: crusader to view the wiki entitled: ExplorerProject2014) The problem that students have been tasked with solving is the creation of wikipedia with the hypothetical situation that it has not yet been created.  Students collaborate virtually with one or more partners in the creation of an informative, organized, and visually appealing wiki page about their explorers.  Their research and investigations have been geared toward this product, and they determine what information is valid, how it should be organized, and the method of its communication to the audience.  Students begin by determining topics, researching further into them, and then planning their writing using alpha-numeric outlines.  These outlines are then expanded into full paragraphs with supporting details, examples, and quotations.  Along the way, students peer review other outlines, check for main idea and supporting detail connectivity and consistency, and offer suggestions for improvement.  Once rough draft status is reached for a minimum of three paragraphs completed per student, paper copies are made and mini-lessons given to provide exemplars of writing during the revision process.  Paragraphs are revised using peer review based on three distinct stages involving rotating partners:  Ideas and Organization, Sentence Structure/Fluency and Word Choice, and lastly Conventions.  Each peer review stage begins with a mini-lesson involving an exemplar that I created and is class reviewed with suggestions for improvement.  Students then perform a similar action with their peers who begin making changes in class and then finish at home.  Each stage requires very specific actions.

To avoid too much detail, I will focus on one early segment.  To ensure that each piece of writing contains a strong main idea supported by at least three details and each detail further supported by two to three examples or further details, students highlight their partners' paragraphs using a particular color code which they learned earlier in the year and already practiced on their outlines.  Pink = Main Idea and Closing, Blue=Supporting idea/detail, Green = Further idea, Yellow = specific example.  For each graded category from the rubric, students had a specific task to accomplish in their peer revision.  Below is an example of what this looks like in the classroom.  Notice, this is not a static room.  There are conversations, movements, actions, and transitions between materials. The idea that a true writing workshop can be run in absolute quiet is a fallacy.   

As an extension, students have the option of adding additional paragraphs, links to other sources, pictures, embedded multi-media, etc.  At the closing of the workshop, students are shown how to add references or bibliographies using Easy Bibs.

Step 4: Demonstration of Knowledge

Students write speeches/skits as their chosen explorers and perform in front of a green screen either individually or in groups.  They then use iMovie and the Green Screen app to add in music, backgrounds, etc. Movies are uploaded to YouTube and added to the wikipages previously created. This is in progress, the Blog will be updated as this step concludes. 

In Social Studies, students are given an assessment that includes short answer and essay questions. These are prepared for in advance using a study guide template, and essays may be outlined in advance with notes brought into class for use during the assessment.