Following up on my goal for this year, my students have been focusing on inquiry-to-action projects within our three major areas of study for this year: Changing Earth, Energy, and Colorado History. We used A.J. Juliani's LAUNCH process to guide each step and help define success criteria for each part of this process.
To help us ensure that we were completing each step and help students with visuals of what each step meant, I created thought organizers for each step or "letter" of the LAUNCH process. We talked through the steps as a class, beginning with "Look, Listen, and Learn" for L. We met together as a whole group to co-create mind-maps for each of the three areas. We had already used much of the first semester this year immersing students in content through hands-on activities and being-theres, as well as research and reading/writing activities, so students were very familiar with each content area. We used this as a way to bring together all of our thoughts and ideas about everything that we had done and learned within each area. After we had displays on each area, students chose their favorite topics to write questions about ("A"). They chose one of the three larger areas to create their own mind-maps, then used ideas from there to narrow down and ask open-ended questions. Once they had these questions (the goal was two good questions about an area of interest), we spent roughly two weeks focusing on research in order to answer those questions, and gathering any additional information necessary. (Again, all of these steps were outlined on graphic organizers). After students had finished their research and gathered sufficient information, we discussed what was needed for the "N" or Navigate ideas step of the process. For this step, students listed ways that they could make some sort of positive impact on their community, environment, on others. The second step of the "N" was to choose which of those ideas most aligned with practical needs, like time constraints, what we could do during the school day and with the current weather, etc. My co-teacher and I met with students in smaller groups to help them narrow this down. Finally students worked on the "C" or Create step. This did not have a graphic organizer because by this point, the expectations were clear through all of our planning and preparation. All of the students who chose to focus on Energy in some capacity chose to participate in the Renew Our Schools energy competition, which had many smaller tasks and responsibilities within it focusing on energy savings and learning about energy usage and renewable and nonrenewable sources for energy. Students who chose other areas of focus presented what they learned to younger classes of students, or improved the environment around our school campus in some way. In years past, we have guided students through steps using this same process. However, I think having each step of the process laid out for students on almost a weekly basis helped students to follow along with what was expected of them. This also helped to provide a clear outline of expectations for students that was differentiated, since they chose to work on so many different impact projects. By continuing through each step and thinking through the process in an organized manner, they were creating individualized success criteria for their own interest projects each step of the way. None of the outlines I provided told them what they needed to do or what to choose, but provided a framework for them to move forward. Finally, the last step of our process was "H" - highlight and fix. In the past, our projects have continued right to the end of the year and many times we haven't had enough time to really challenge students to reflect on what they did, what went well, and what they learned. This was the step I enjoyed the most, because I could tell from students' responses that they understood what was expected of them throughout each of their projects and they had a clear grasp on what type of impact they were able to make. Many even commented on what they would change if they went through this process again. Next year, I think I can still work towards introducing the LAUNCH process fully earlier on, rather than introducing one letter at a time, just to get students to think ahead about what would be expected of them. I also think that I could use my findings from this year to implement a more student-driven success criteria model for next year. If they are familiar with the process earlier, then I think students could take a more driving force in deciding what each step should entail. However, I think that my experience this year was a great first iteration of success criteria for impact projects.
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AuthorCourtney Hayes is currently a teacher at Lone Tree Elementary Magnet School in Colorado. She has teaching experience in both primary and intermediate grades, and is passionate about personalizing her instruction to meet the needs of all students. Archives
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