Brainstorm, Ideation, Reflection - Go!

Part 1: Brainstorm

I had the awesome opportunity to brainstorm with my two fellow Elementary Spanish teachers. We had an entire “work day” to develop our Project Based-Learning "Clean Water" Project.

Main Decisions/Thoughts from our Brainstorm Session:

Question 1: How are we going to monitor this big, independent type project/presentation?

Ideas:

- Give the students a list of Spanish-speaking countries they can choose from (ones we have already found websites for that have a lot of information) - This will make the research easier for 4th grade students.

- Give students only three options for their presentation (Google slides, poster, brochure) and create a model of each of these, and model everything on the same day. Therefore all kids would be starting at the same time.

- Have "water-related" computer activities available and ready to go for those students that finish early.

Question 2: How will we make this project applicable to students and tie it the community we live in?

Ideas:

-Students will present their project to another grade level class in the school - and the end of their project will entail how the would solve this water crisis in their Spanish-speaking country, and it would entail some lessons or guidelines we can follow as members of our community to conserve and preserve water resources.

- We will take all of the students "solutions" to their water crisis (ex: build a well), and vote on a fundraiser that each of the 3 Elementary schools could do in order to raise money for a water organization. We researched a water organization that allows you to set up your own campaign and once the money is raised they send you updates on what your funds were able to build/were used for. Students could do a walk-a-thon, change wars, etc. that would include the whole school and raise this money for a "water solution."

We also had the opportunity to create a “Clean Water” planning sheet for their research, and a “Presentation Rubric” for when they design their presentation with a partner.

Part 2: Ideation - Incubation Journal

I keep a pad of paper on my desk where I write down random notes and “To Do” lists everyday while I am at work. I decided this would be the best method, and easiest for me, to keep track of my POP ideas. Below are some photos showcasing my thoughts and ideas from various days. Please ignore the cat in the corner. (this is my Halloween theme stationary!)

Part 3: Reflection

The incubation activity for lab #4 sparked some great ideas and thoughts about my Project-based learning POP. From the lab activity I was able to answer and eliminate some of the lingering questions about my project and truly look at how I was going to structure the next 6 weeks for this “Clean Water” PBL activity. I also found the ideation and brainstorm session to be essential. I chose to do the “ideation” journaling before the brainstorm session, and am actually glad this was the case. Every day I would jot down some ideas in the morning, and then at lunch I would look at the ideas and gauge the plausibility of it actually happening. I basically did a “incubation” period during this ideation time. Additionally, I was able to bring these notes to the brainstorm session with my fellow Spanish teachers and use them as a guideline for our discussion. It was great to start recombining and morphing new ideas based on my notes and their input. We actually were using strategies from the assigned reading chapters for Module 4! Overall, I think the brainstorm session was a huge success because of my initial “ideation” time and incubation periods.

This ideation phase of design helped me develop a solid foundation and new strategies for differentiation and student choice for moving into the prototype phase of design.

A few of the things I will be incorporating include:

- “Dirty water vs. clean water” activities to spark student understanding.

- Partner Research (on a Spanish-speaking country and their water solution)

- Presentations: 3 options (PPT, poster, brochure)

- Presenting – choose the class they would like to present too

- Water Charity – perform a fundraiser to raise $ for a water solution in a country

- Look for more opportunities for student choice while project is underway