One thing that has surprised us is the amount of resources that public libraries has for its patrons. Every library seems to have their own "book of things" for communal usage.

If we were to do this again, there are some minor things that would be changed. For instance, during the observation stage, we might start with an interview and tour of our home (GTPL) library before touring and looking at other local libraries.

"Now that I think about it, there are a lot of different groups of people who have a real investment in the public library". - Jonah

"I wonder what we could do to bring more people here?" - Reece

How different everyone's ideas were. Students were all over the place in terms of possible solutions and how we could solve our Driving Question. During our Grouping/Saturation, we had 15 different groups for all of our ideas.

One thing that we would do differently is try more out-of-the-box thinking exercises.

There were a lot of surprises along the way. One big surprise that was the effectiveness of the "Top 10" protocol as well as the "What, So What, Now What" protocol. Both of these activities really forced students to think about our DQ in ways that had not previously.

What would you do differenly?

We would slightly change the order of how we investigated public libraries. Originally, we looked at Herrick DL and Howard-Miller DL before GTPL. If we could do it again, we would start with our home library and interview our own direction before going our and exploring other libraries. That and we would go look at numerous other smaller libraries to see how they utilize their space and resources.

The amount of feedback that was given during this process. Everyone that we presented to was extremely helpful and wanted the best for us. It was extremely encouraging for the students to be both validated and pushed back on, ultimately pushing us towards success.

Next time we will be more specific earlier on. When we arrived here, there was some struggle to give feedback to ourselves as well as others. We would preface the feedback stage by going over what effective feedback is and how we both give/receive it.

I am Ashlee DeGraaf, and I teach 11th & 12th grade English at Jenison High School. I am also the theatre director for the high school.

During the Investigation Stage: While students are investigating the driving question of making GTPL a "must-see" attraction for our local community, we decided to check-in with kids every so often. This was almost always informal, and we always tried to listen to our group

A big surprise was how quickly the time went by. As teacher leaders, we wanted to make sure that the days were filled with protocols and structure, especially during the solution days. Students ended up needing hours of group work time to really structure the solution the way that is unique to them.

If we were to do this again, we would schedule less protocols, and, in their stead, have group and individual work time.

2. We discussed favorite classes and what made them so great. In addition, we worked together to develop some great interview questions for different library programming directors.

One major surprise was how quickly students were able to make the changes they needed to and come to a consensus. Starting off with off 110 ideas, narrowing it down to two, then expanding on those ideas in every which way, is a demanding process. Students never wavered, and always marched forward to the end goal of making the best presentation possible.

We would for sure practice more. We only really got two practices before we pitched our solution on Wednesday. While students were prepared and did well, there were a few moments in which students suffered from a lack preparation.

Another big point of redirection/clarification was having Jordan Whittecar come in and listen to a practice pitch before we presented on Wednesday. Her feedback based off of the rubric, and personal expertise, were incredibly valuable and provided numerous points of improvement throughout the pitch.

When we returned to GTPL, students immediately dove right into how we could improve the slideshow, the script, as well as prototypes for the final Pitch to GTPL.

Reflecting on this experience, we are incredibly fortunate to have had such tremendous judges and resources available to us.

Once we got back from Critical Friends, we first watched a practice pitch from the anchor doc. After talking through our likes, dislikes, and wonderings, we then moved directly into our To-Do List. This forced students to revise their ideas and decide the minute details of both the pitch and actual solution.

Problem Solving

Intrinsic Motivation

Adaptability

Time Management

2. Team Work

3. Self-Respect

4. Honesty

5. Collaboration

Thinking: "The library has lots of resources!" | "Overwhelmed by the choice of books" | "How do I find the best book for me?"

Saying: "How do I rent something from the Book of Things?" | "You should come to GTPL" | "I like the programming options available to me"

Feeling: Stressed out | Happy | "Zen"

Employees

Visitors

Readers

Taxpayers

People looking for things to do

Students (of all ages)

The Elderly

Adults

Young Families

Once we reached the end of the observation/investigation stage, we decided to reach out to the GTPL staff. Liz & Rob were able to come in to hear where we were at. This was where ideas/solutions were able to refined and the actual directions we would take became much clearer.

Now that the DQ had been refined, and we have narrowed down our possible solutions, we were then able to bring our understanding to the focus: Beyond Books. This is a two-pronged attack in which we would revamp the "Teen Area" and add a "Teen Book of Things".