Early days of the 1st projects

This week both classes kicked off their projects and it was so exciting! My own level of interest was increased as well by the enthusiasm of the students. 6th graders were very excited to learn that they would be presenting their designs to see who could decorate the Sterling sponsored dance in January. 5th graders were equally excited to hear they would have the opportunity to propose a geodesic dome greenhouse to be built at the school to support the community gardens.

Professionally I was also able to participate in a great Twitter chat on Thursday. The focus was Project Based Learning. It was the #vted chat that takes place every other Thursday during the school year and the topics change each time. Obviously I was interested in the PBL topic. Here's a link to the hashtag on Twitter. I made a lot of great connections, shared some success and struggles about the journey so far and gathered some more resources to use in the days and months ahead.

Lastly, I leave you with two media items. The first is a photo of student work for the week and the second is something I'm super proud of. During a 6th grade class, students were really struggling with how to conceptually understand dividing fractions. I started working with one student and suddenly when I turned around and the class had formed a circle to talk as one large group. Students began debating and explaining organically. I couldn't grab my iPad fast enough. I was able to grab a few minutes of the back and forth.