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Reflections

Reflections: This CBL is impossible to compare to my previous efforts because the delivery was so different from what I had planned and so different from my skill set. However, I can still see that I have learned a lot from this experience, and while I hope that there is not a lot of remote instruction or learning in my future, I know that if there is, I can improve on what I have done here and integrate a similar lesson in the future. So lessons learned: Group work is difficult, though not impossible using only virtual contact. I was really torn about even continuing with this project because what I enjoyed most about my previous efforts was seeing the groups take on unexpected membership and watching and guiding students as they work together and hold one another accountable. I was able to see some of this, but without group contracts and oversight, I know that some of the work was not evenly distributed. Also, so many of my students worked independently, which was contrary to the na
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Final Projects

Unfortunately, only slightly more than half of my students completed the final project, but due to these extenuating circumstances, I did not have much leverage to encourage participation.  The quality does not match that of the projects from last semester, but there is evidence of some work and some thoughtful reflection. Here are some of the final projects my students completed. Jocelyn's podcast Gavin's Magazine Spread Austin and Maddy's Magazine Kywren and Caroline's Children's Book
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The Work

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Since we could not form groups in our usual way, I utilized the discussion board feature of our online learning platform, CANVAS, to create a space where students could share about their own stories and read about those of their classmates. I had them complete the following assignments: What's your story? We are going to start a challenge based learning project this week that focuses on this question. We started this idea a couple of weeks ago with the encyclopedia of your ordinary life.  So think about the entries you made for the encyclopedia and the moments that have shaped you into who you are.  With that in mind I want you to create a posting on this discussion board that answers these two questions:  1.  List three words that capture different aspects of your story - only three words 2.  What role do you think you plan in your story: hero, villain, sidekick, bystander, or some other role that I haven't thought of.  You do not have to explain your answers; just write the w
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CBL Overview

-Overview of our storytelling challenge: A major component of high school is figuring out who you are and where you are going. A lot of students also struggle with reconciling those ideas with where they have been. This challenge is about that pairing.  ⧫ Big Idea: Identity and Community ⧫ Essential Question:  What is OUR story? ⧫ Challenge: Find a creative way to tell your group's story. This project was supposed to be the culminating event in a unit on biography, autobiography, memoir, and author's purpose. We read and discussed several texts in these genres to identify effective storytelling, theme development, author's craft, and how these elements connect to author's purpose. We looked at written texts and non-written texts and did a couple of personal reflective writing assignments to get read for our launch activity on Monday, March 16th. 
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