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Infectious Diseases: Knudsen, May 14, 2018

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Infectious Diseases: Knudsen, May 14, 2018

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In collaborative groups, students in Ms. Knudsen's class were tasked with working for the Nashville Mayor's office as they prepared for an impending zombie virus outbreak in the city of Nashville. Using statistics and epidemiology from the influenza virus from 2018, students set up plans for citizens to shelter-in-place, transportation to/from vaccination centers, and a public service announcement trying to reduce the spread of zombie germs.

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Historical Fiction or Fact? Sanders, May 14, 2018

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Historical Fiction or Fact? Sanders, May 14, 2018

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After the final test, Mrs. Sanders had students play with historical fiction as well as real world application. Using concepts, battles, and lifestyles from ancient history as their inspiration, students completed 1 of 4 options (including a script for ""Real Housewives of Sparta,"" models of the Great Wall of China, and a setting of the Battle of Thermopylae in outer space) using digital resources.  "

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Graphic Design and Writing: Ward, May 14, 2018

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Graphic Design and Writing: Ward, May 14, 2018

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Using basic graphic design elements, students in Ms. Ward's class created posters and covers for their final projects (creating chapbooks and autobiographies) using Canva (online poster tool). Students considered elements like theme and tone as well as color theory and font options in order to thoughtfully craft their poster to match the mood of their writing piece.

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STEAMformation is a three year system for professional learning and leadership designed to build and sustain a culture of STEAM teaching and learning. This comprehensive partnership will engage key stakeholders to create a shared STEAM vision, develop educators and administrators, cultivate inquiry-based, transdisciplinary instruction and prepare our future workforce. The focus of year one is to develop high quality STEAM experiences. Its primary goal is to foster a community of stakeholders sharing a common language, knowledge, understanding and vision for STEAM education and to ignite community engagement around this cultural change.

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Innovators/Emails:
Caroline Hayle: caroline.hayle@mnps.org
CC Denning: claudeen.denning@mnps.org
Greta Knudson: greta.knudson@mnps.org
Brad Clifton: robert.clifton@mnps.org
Kesita Sanders: kesita.brown@mnps.org
Audrey Lyell: Audrey.Lyell@mnps.org
Shana Ward: Shana.Ward@mnps.org
Alexis Bright: alexis.bright@mnps.org

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Oregon Trail Create-Your-Own-Adventure: Clifton, May 14, 2018

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Oregon Trail Create-Your-Own-Adventure: Clifton, May 14, 2018

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"The standards of Westward Expansion were split between the two 8th grade teachers. In Mr. Clifton's class students created an online ""game"" using Microsoft PowerPoint (linking slides/shapes together so when certain outcomes are clicked it takes you to a certain result or slide). Students based their games on historical figures and places, based on the remaining standards, while also making the games engaging and fun."

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After reading Flowers for Algernon in Mrs. Lyell's class, students completed a graphic design project that combined textual evidence and character relationships/conflicts with the Social Emotional Learning standards. Pairs of students were assigned one of the SEL standards and used one of the characters from the novel as inspiration to create a visually-appealing poster. Students also used graphic design basic elements (color theory, font, composition, etc.) to inform their poster's designs.

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Using students' collaborative skills and Mrs. Hayle' facilitation skills, Mrs. Hayle presented students with a challenge (including several constraints) at the end of the year, and provided very little guidance as they went about solving the challenge. Students created a rocket ship and parachute apparatus in collaborative groups that fit inside the constraints while also collaborating appropriately.

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Facilitating from the Middle: Sanders, April 17, 2018

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Facilitating from the Middle: Sanders, April 17, 2018

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Instead of leaning solely on direct or individual instruction, Mrs. Sanders worked to grow in the area of collaborative facilitation. She worked to circulate between groups as well as provide appropriate scaffolds and assistance to each individual and group. Students spent more time on-task as well as accomplished more within a class period than they had previously without this facilitation.

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Drones and Rocketry Mash-Up: Denning, April 17, 2018

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Drones and Rocketry Mash-Up: Denning, April 17, 2018

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Together with Ms. Knudsen, Mrs. Denning create engaging projects around drones and rocketry. Not only do students go through the design thinking process with Mrs. Denning and complete multiple prototypes and design within particular constraints, they look for career and real world connections with the same drones/rockets in Ms. Knudsen's class and create online presentations.

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Using the 4Cs as her guide, Mrs. Denning recreated her rubrics to be based in the 4Cs and real world connections. These rubrics utilize common language to what they use in class and in their collaborative processes. Students are also clear on weaknesses and goals based on how they self-assess as well as their feedback from group members and Mrs. Denning.

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In order to make the Middle Ages relevant, students in Mr. Clifton's class worked in groups to create a mock "app" for a Smart phone. They pretended to create a travel guide app that would guide clients through important towns and aspect of medieval life as well as highlighting importance and relevance between history and today to make an engaging app and tour.

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This lesson (Ms. Bright) was created during the Arts Integration Training with Susan Riley. In the lesson, students drew parallels between Barack Obama's Presidential Portrait (painted by Kehinde Wylie), Wylie's other works (remixes of Renaissance paintings), and paintings commissioned by the Catholic Church during the Renaissance. Ms. Bright led students through the art critique process using I Notice Cubed and other art and primary source strategies. The focus of the lesson was to have students understand the role of power during the Renaissance and how it was expressed in the artwork.

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Collaborate Board Activity: Ward, Feb. 28, 2018

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Collaborate Board Activity: Ward, Feb. 28, 2018

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During one of the IFL units, Ms. Ward wanted to increase student collaboration. Using post-it notes and other tools, students collaborated in small groups and in the large class setting to learn from each other and encourage their critical thinking skills.

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Students in Ms. Bright's class used Discovery Education Board Builder to create boards that showcased their learning about the Middle Ages. They were given certain constraints and stipulations for their board (numbers of images, text, etc.) and worked to use their critical thinking and creativity skills to make engaging material about the Medieval era.

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Students in Mr. Clifton's class worked together using Microsoft OneNote to create concept maps around life in the early 1800s. Students looked at multiple aspects of life and culture, as well as how people's lives (women, African Americans, white males, etc.) were different during this time based on their social class. In groups students collaborated and thought critically to create their digital concept maps.

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After studying animal adaptations, Mrs. Hayle pretended students had been contracted by LucasFilms to create the next aliens for the Star Wars films. They had to use their knowledge from the unit about adaptations to make creatures that were appropriate to live on certain planets (we used our own solar system for inspiration), went through a collaborative design thinking process, and created models and explanations of their creatures.

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Students in Mrs. Hayle's class created "pumpkin pickers" to explore the engineering design process. They worked collaboratively within a certain set of constraints to create "pumpkin pickers" using certain supplies. Students also had to critically think and be creative as they used normal household items in new and different ways.

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Students combined art, design, and environmental issues in Ms. Knudsen's "arts awareness" project. Taking an environmental issue about which students were passionate, collaborative groups created an arts piece that would be stationed somewhere around Nashville to raise awareness about their issue. They created supporting artist statements and documentation, a model of their arts installation, and presented these items to their peers.

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Students in Mrs. Sanders's class created tools that would have helped make life easier in ancient Mesopotamia. They worked in collaborative groups to brainstorm potential innovations and inventions, selected one tool to prototype, and built models of this innovation. They also created supporting documentation to explain how this tool would have impacted everyday life in Mesopotamia, and what this innovation has inspired in our world today.

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Robot Collaboration: Denning, Oct. 4, 2017

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Robot Collaboration: Denning, Oct. 4, 2017

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Using a specific collaborative process, Mrs. Denning engages all the students in the robotics groups. There are specific roles, checkpoints, presentations, and tasks each group and group member must complete before moving on to the next step. At the end, students have group-programmed a Lego robot to do a particular task.

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Augmented Reality Airplanes: Knudsen, Sept. 2017

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Augmented Reality Airplanes: Knudsen, Sept. 2017

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Students used the design thinking process in Ms. Knudsen's class (and Mrs. Denning's class) to create paper airplanes that fit certain constraints in the design challenge. They filmed their airplane flight attempts, graphed the results, created posters, and also attached the films and posters to an Augmented Reality tool (Aurasma). Students posted their Aurasmas in the hallway for display and encouraged peers to use their smart phones to view the projects.

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Historical Fiction: Clifton, Oct. 4, 2017

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Historical Fiction: Clifton, Oct. 4, 2017

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In Mr. Clifton's class, students wrote a historical fiction piece, but were required to do all the research to make it as factual and correct as possible. This student researched the particular route her character would take, as well as the name of the civilization during ancient times to ensure her piece was correct.

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Suspension Bridges: Denning, Sept. 26, 2017

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Suspension Bridges: Denning, Sept. 26, 2017

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In Mrs. Denning's class, students worked collaboratively to explore different types of suspension bridges. They created boards on DE to showcase their learning. Students also got to watch a video example of a suspension bridge that did NOT work as a cliffhanger/segue into the next class.

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Teachers attended two prep Webinar sessions in February and March to begin planning for STEAM Family Night. All teachers led STEAM sessions and we had over 200 parents, students, and family members in attendance.