Reflecting On and Assessing Our Community Project

My colleagues and I wanted to share our Boy Who Harnessed the Wind project with the community (see my previous posts).  I worked with Ingrid Mayyasi and Alice Johnson and Dedham TV to create a video about our experiences:


To wrap up our project I shared this video with my students and had them take a self-assessment.  I wanted students to dig a little deeper and reflect on their work.

I gave what I thought was ample time to complete this but not all groups got to finish

All 1st grade students and many 2nd grade students were assigned a drawing.  Other classes got to choose (time constraints)

Expectations are posted on the SmartBoard for every class so everyone knows what is expected of them even if I am occupied with a student or a group


The final question had students finishing the sentence "Mrs. Garland should know that..."
  • We worked hard
  • We should do this again
  • My team loved it so much
  • It was fun and I'm looking forward to doing it again
  • You get a lot more work done with a friend
  • I am a good team mate
  • We worked together and didn't get off track
  • I loved this project
  • I learned something new
  • He was the best windmill maker
  • This project is fun and should be done all around the US
  • There are a lot of problems here
  • The challenge was kind of fun

My takeaways

The assessment confirmed what I felt and saw - students were engaged and invested in their project and their thinking.  I enjoyed this project that allowed me to ask the same "big questions" to everyone from grades 1-5.  Genuine problems in my students' minds were valued and creative solutions were demonstrated in the project they chose.   Students had voice and choice in this project and I would do it again in a heartbeat.  


Concluding the project

On our final day I read Emmanuel's Dream: The True Story of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah by Laurie Ann Thompson & Sean Qualls to many classes and we made connections between the two stories.



  • They are both about a young boy
  • They are both true
  • They both take place in Africa
  • Both boys were trying to make things better
  • Both boys had challenges
  • Both boys made a difference

After we chose books students could choose an activity - they could look at student work or take a selfie using the app Comic Touch and share what is great about our school and community.












Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Origami in our library

Image
The crafter and engineer in me LOVES origami. That has rubbed off on my students. Students' love of origami grows and evolves in our library Why origami? It is active! Active nonfiction books guide students through DOING something. It has a different feel from most books that share facts.  It supports literacy - both spatial and the traditional literacy. Origami encourages reading through the visual appeal of the pages - no heavy text is required to read to be successful. Captions or short directions do the trick. Short spurts make students feel successful! Leadership! Student leaders will emerge from the group and become "coaches" for the others. It is often the least likely candidate who will lead these groups.   Paper knows no language barriers. Students can sit side by side and fold together despite the fact that they do not speak the same language. Folding is its own language! It is practically FREE! Students can borrow a book and grab a stack of paper to take home a...
Read more

Circulation Policies in our Library

Image
Developing relationships with students and families is my priority. I want them to have what they need from our library, but I also want (and need) them to respect our library and other students and return books so others can borrow them. Lost books are a reality. We lose MANY of them (too many of them) because it isn't something I spend much time or energy dwelling on. My hope is that the "lost" book has found its way into a home and is being loved there. However, this is something that has been increasingly on my mind. This past summer I read Rebeka Barringer's Knowledge Quest article  “How Inclusive and Human-First Circulation Policies & Practices Can Impact a Child’s Relationship with Elementary Library Spaces” (Nov/Dec 2022) and it spoke to me. It made me think about the language used to communicate with families student buy-in (or lack thereof) in the circulation of books I decided on action items for this year to address lost books: Help students underst...
Read more

Rating Rear Ends!

Image
When I found this book, I KNEW it would get students' attention.  Any and all things "gross," "weird" or potentially "inappropriate" scream out READ ME! I took this opportunity to purchase it, read it aloud and create a fun activity that would (hopefully) get students' attention (grades 2-5). I chose four animals to feature. Each animal's "behind" had a moment to shine (or block, stink, paralyze, etc). We read and "ewww-ed." Four rear ends that paralyze, communicate, frighten, and block. Then we rated the rump. The book had a 5 emoji rating system, but I modified it so we could have a "four corner" system. I created signs and put them at the corners of our rug. Emojis used to "rate the rumps" Students walked to the emoji rating that best fit their opinion of this rear. Once we took in how the voting landed, we returned to our reading spots and repeated this process for the next rump. Read, rate, repeat! ...
Read more