Student-led Parent Night

After attending my first EduCon at the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia, I was inspired.  Also inspiring has been reading Paul Solarz's Learn Like a Pirate.  Both of these experiences have motivated me to not only move to a more student-centered classroom (something we've been working towards all year in the Rio Lab Class), but to a more student-led classroom.  One where students make choices about their learning and everything they do in the classroom.

The first step towards this goal was to have a student-led parent night.  One of our aims this year for the Lab Class was to try to increase parent participation with middle school parents.  We have held a couple parent nights to show parents what we are doing in our class that is a little different than what they've seen in the past.  We've gone over class technologies, discussed growth mindsets, and even had parents participate in number talks.  This time we decided to leave it up to the students.

The students had lots of ideas (as they always do!).  Ultimately what they decided on was to have the parents go through what a typical day might look like in the Lab Class.  They planned everything.  The created the groups that were in charge of the various tasks and chose who would do what.  Everything from flyers & posters to food & beverage to all of the activities that the parents would do.  They decided the order of events and who would say what.

Going into the night of our parent night, I really expected many to fail (which would be a learning experience in its own).  As parents began to arrive, the students became a little nervous.  The food group got all of the pizza and snacks ready to serve.  The parents filled the room and then some (we had 22 of our 27 families represented).

Our number talks group kicked things off with a number talk using the Bridge Riddle from TED-Ed.   They set it up with a brief explanation of what number talks are and how we do them in our classroom.  They then showed the first part of the video which sets up the riddle.  Parents then had to collaborate with each other to try to come up with a solution.  They were highly engaged, but struggled both with the riddle itself and the collaboration.

We then went into a blended learning model where students led three group: 1. An independent group using the computers where they taught how to use Student Connect to check grades, ST Math, and blogging using Blogger. 2. A collaboration group where they did a hands-on experiment and did some research together and 3. A student-led discussion on "grit" including the spaghetti challenge where parents tried to build the tallest structure that they could in collaborative groups using just raw spaghetti and marshmallows.

Overall, the student-led parent night was a huge success.  The parents were highly engaged and seemed to have a really good time.  We had several parents thanking us for a fun evening and that they learned so much.  I was really proud of our students, and it showed me how much they are capable of when given the opportunity.   Sometimes we just need to get out of the way and let them lead...

Post by Jay Sorensen (@MrSorensen805)

Planet Density Project

This week in the Lab Class we worked on a mini project or performance task on planet density.  Students were given the assignment through Google Classroom.  They were given a HyperDoc that had all of the necessary links and information they needed to complete the project.

We started with a couple of short videos to introduce the concept of density and how it relates to planets.  There were also a section of resources that were provided including videos on how to subtract and multiply with decimals.  They were also given a NASA website that had all of the relevant information that they would need to complete the tasks.  Students watched the videos and gathered the information on their own.  They used the data that they found to answer questions and fill in a table on a Google Doc provided to them through Google Classroom.

Once they finished filling in the information and answering the questions on the doc, they had a short quiz that they took using a Google Form and Flubaroo.  Flubaroo is an Add-On that automatically sends them their results.  

Students then completed the final portion of their planet density project.  They were to design an "alternate universe" where they had to multiply the current planet densities by a number of their choosing.  They also had to find the difference in density to their "home" planets.  They designed their universe using Google Draw.  Some chose to use pictures of existing planets and others drew their own.  Some were very creative...

 Others used existing images to create their alternate universes.  They were still creative with their naming and stories...

In the end, the Lab Class students did a great job.  They were highly engaged and worked independently with a little help from each other and the teacher.  It was really neat to see them really take ownership of their learning and work throw the process in a student-centered environment. 

Student-Centered Centers

Today in the Lab Class we tried doing student-centered stations (or centers) where students rotated around the room doing various activities.  One station had students working independently on a Gooru collection on brain science.  Students looks at the various parts of the brain and what they do, how the brain works as it relates to learning, and at how having a growth mindset can improve your learning.

At another station students created a ThingLink using a picture of themselves where they added tags to pictures of themselves to show what they learned about their brains and how they learn.  They first took pictures of themselves on their netbooks and then added information to the images with ThingLink.  This became known as the "selfie station".

The final station had the students playing the Factor Game.  Player A chooses a number (1-30) and Player B circles all of its factors.  Then vice versa.  The game continues until all of the numbers are circled.  The players score points for the value of each number circled.  A lot of strategy is involved and it's a great way to practice with factors.  Students were highly engaged and having fun while learning...what a great idea!