Project Launchpad: Teach, Design, Reflect!

All grades Project 1 week

Project Launchpad: Teach, Design, Reflect!

Lynnette D

TH:Cr3.8.c

1-pager

Purpose

The purpose of this learning experience is to equip teachers with the skills and confidence needed to design creative and engaging projects that lead to deeper learning for their students. Through a series of collaborative and exploratory activities, teachers will experiment with innovative teaching practices and refine their project design processes. The experience emphasizes risk-taking and reflection, allowing educators to craft meaningful educational experiences tailored to diverse student needs, while aligning with National Core Arts Standards.

Learning goals

Teachers will deepen their understanding of project-based learning design principles and develop the ability to create engaging learning experiences that promote deeper learning among students. Through hands-on activities like the 'Risk-Taking Design Challenge,' participants will cultivate skills in iterative prototyping and adaptive design. They will also learn to effectively use peer feedback to refine and enhance their projects. Finally, by actively participating in reflective journaling and peer critique sessions, teachers will advance their capacity for self-reflection and critical analysis, informing future instructional choices.

Standards

[National Core Arts Standards] TH:Cr3.8.c - Implement and refine a planned technical design using simple technology during the rehearsal process for devised or scripted drama/ theatre work.

Products

Teams will collaboratively develop a dynamic learning experience prototype tailored to their students, incorporating deeper learning principles. This will involve ideating and refining multiple iterations, drawing on peer feedback to enhance the design. By the end of the project, each team will present a comprehensive design portfolio detailing their project's evolution, the risks they embraced, and the insights gained throughout the process.

Launch

To kick off the learning experience, initiate a dynamic "Building Futures Workshop" where teacher teams creatively construct a 3-D model of an ideal learning environment using simple materials like cardboard and tape. This hands-on activity encourages imagination, collaboration, and immediate engagement with the concept of designing spaces that foster deeper student engagement. Each team will then present their visionary model in a short presentation, setting the stage for understanding how to integrate creative design into educational contexts.

Exhibition

On Day 3, teams will present their designed learning experiences in a dynamic showcase event featuring a 'Risk-Taker Award Ceremony'. Each team will articulate their project design journey, emphasizing their biggest risk and reward moment, to an audience of community partners, peers, and school leaders. This celebration will include exhibits of their projects' process and development, fostering an atmosphere of collaboration and innovation. Through this exhibition, teachers will share insights and reflect on their creative problem-solving and deeper learning advances, inviting discussion and feedback from the community.

Rubric

Competency Progression Rubric Competency-first rubric

Category	Learning Goal	Stage 1	Stage 2	Stage 3	Stage 4
Collaboration	Collaborative Design and Creativity - Demonstrate ability to collaboratively construct a 3-D model of an ideal learning environment using imagination and creative thinking.	I can work with my team to brainstorm ideas and share my thoughts openly, helping to build a creative 3-D model of a learning environment using cardboard and tape.	I can work with my team to create a basic 3-D model of an ideal learning environment, sharing my ideas and listening to my teammates' suggestions, while using creativity to build and improve our design with simple materials like cardboard and tape.	I can work well with my team to build a detailed 3-D model using cardboard and tape, showing creative ideas and listening to others' suggestions to improve the design.	I can work closely with my team to build a 3-D model of an imaginative learning space, sharing ideas, listening to others, and combining our creative thoughts to make a unique design we all contribute to.
Critical Thinking	Iterative Prototyping - Exhibit skills in iteratively developing and refining learning experience prototypes based on peer feedback and personal reflection.	I can develop a learning experience prototype by experimenting with different ideas and carefully considering feedback from my peers to make effective improvements.	I can build and improve my learning experience prototype by making changes based on feedback from my peers and my own ideas I can try out new ways to make my project better and explain what changed and why as I work towards completing it.	I can demonstrate my ability to improve my learning experience prototype by making thoughtful changes based on feedback from my peers and reflecting on my own observations.	I can actively refine my learning experience prototype by thoughtfully incorporating peer feedback and detailed self-reflections, demonstrating how my design improved over several iterations to effectively engage and benefit students.
Innovation	Risk-Taking and Reflection - Show willingness to take risks in design processes and reflect on outcomes to inform future decisions.	I can take creative risks when designing projects by trying new ideas—even if I’m not sure they will work—and reflect on the results to learn what went well and what I can improve next time.	I can take risks in my design process by trying out new ideas, and I can think about what worked well and what I can do better next time.	I can confidently try new ideas in my design process, and after each attempt, I thoughtfully consider what worked well and what I would change next time to make my project even better.	I can confidently take creative risks in designing my project, actively seek and incorporate peer feedback, and thoughtfully reflect on my process and results to make informed decisions for future improvements.
Communication	Presentation and Communication - Effectively articulate project design journey and insights, including risk-taking experiences, to an audience of peers and community partners.	I can confidently explain the steps I took in designing my project, share the risks and rewards I experienced, and engage my audience with clear examples of how these choices led to deeper learning for my students.	I can share the story of how my team and I created our learning environment model, highlighting one brave choice we made and what we learned from it, so that the audience understands our design and its purpose.	I can confidently share my team's project design journey by describing specific risks we took and the rewards gained, using clear and engaging language that helps my audience understand our creative process and the insights we discovered.	I can confidently present my project design journey, clearly explaining the biggest risk I took and the reward it brought, while engaging my peers and community partners through compelling storytelling and visual aids.
Problem Solving	Creative Problem Solving - Employ creative problem-solving skills to address design challenges and integrate deeper learning principles into educational projects.	I can use creative problem-solving skills to confidently tackle design challenges by experimenting with various ideas and approaches, using peer feedback to make improvements, and effectively integrating deeper learning principles throughout the project.	I can explore different ideas and choose a solution that combines creativity with deeper learning principles, and I seek feedback from my peers to make my project design clearer and more engaging.	I can brainstorm and test different ideas to solve design challenges, showing how I use feedback to make my project even better, and I can explain how each change improves my project's ability to engage students in deeper learning.	I can creatively solve problems by designing a learning experience that engages students and incorporates deeper learning principles I gather feedback from my peers to improve my project, effectively communicate my design journey, and reflect on the risks I took and the rewards I gained during the process.

Learning Journey

Empathize

Students will interview fellow teachers to uncover insights into their experiences with student engagement, analyze collected data collaboratively to identify common challenges, and present findings tied to deeper learning principles as they prepare to define their project direction.

Day 1