Our current IB-PYP unit is How We Organize Ourselves, and the central idea is "Humans organize to meet needs." Since the school year began, we've been examining organizational structures like our class library layout, conventions in fiction, routines in our day, conversation protocols, mathematical processes (including order of operations), and more.
I also wanted students to get into a coding mindset, as seen in our Choose Your Own Adventure tour of the U.S. regions. This time, I invited them to create flow charts around some topic of real world organization. As the user/viewer follows the chart with a question, there will be a different path (or result) that depends on his/her response to that question. Creating these requires a thorough understanding of the topic, a good sense of abstract thinking skills, and patience to create a layout that's easy to read. Student topics ranged from organizing craft supplies to organizing routines before school. One student, who participates in our morning announcements team, gave tips on how to be a broadcast anchor. Here are some of the drafts:
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When we did this project, I wanted my students to study U.S. regions (a 5th grade state standard), use research and writing skills, use technology in a new way to add to their project toolkits, and to apply creative and logical thinking skills.
I showed my students the goals and an example of a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure slideshow I made about Canada. Then we discussed what we thought a good project would include. Some of their ideas:
Students worked in pairs, trios, or individuals, according to their preferences, and they also chose the region to focus on for the project. Some had background knowledge about specific places, and others were researching everything. The slides started with a choice about which state or city to visit, and each choice led to another choice, or a dead end, with regional highlights as part of the virtual tour: Today we built art pieces to express what we want our class culture to look like! What a great maker-based way to review foundations of IB-PYP and to establish collaborative learning practices right from the start of the year! As we began the school year, we started with conversations about what we want our class to look like. As fifth graders at an IB-PYP school, my students are familiar with the language of attitudes and attributes of learners, as well as general school expectations. As a teacher, I also have three key expectations that I share with students: Be Kind, Participate Constructively, Keep Improving. As a next step this year, I wanted to establish my commitment to a maker mindset right from the beginning. This time, I asked my students to create something to show what they wanted our classroom to be like. We talked a little about art, and how it could be a drawing, a sculpture, a song, a video, a play, or a dance. I put out a few materials - a few different colors of paper, a bit of string, some index cards, but nothing too fancy - I didn't want to be the idea starter. When they asked for specific things, I got them out if I had them available. I gave them some time to work in groups, and then we gave our first presentations. We got six posters and one three-dimensional sculpture. There were some things that were working really well, but overall, the results weren't what I hoped for. I had tried not to prompt them, but their projects looked a lot alike - they were working to please me and check something off a list for the most part, not working to express themselves authentically. However, we did observe and reflect about our collaboration, and we had a chance to do initial shared presentations, so we were off to a good start. |
Jamie Wright
I've had the privilege of working with hundreds of students and families in IA, CT, NC, MO, TX, and Canada. I love being a teacher-librarian! Categories
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