2.       Would you use Design Thinking in your future classroom? If I were to return to the classroom, I would look into using Design Thinking.  I do feel that it is something that would take time and not necessarily be implemented on the first day.  And with each year having new students, it is something that needs to be re-done every time you receive a new group of students.

3.       What benefits could using Design Thinking have on students? Design thinking can benefit students by making them feel heard and seen by their teachers.  If they see that their input on how they want to learn is being heard, considered, and implemented, they may take ownership of the changes and be more invested.

4.       What benefits could design thinking have on teachers while they are planning instruction? One benefit of design thinking, for teachers, in planning instruction is that it will allow the student to be more active in their learning.  Teachers using design thinking are creating lessons and activities that are adapted to fit the needs and wants of the students.

5.       What was your favorite part about this article? I liked how it broken down each step into smaller steps and then provided us with worksheets in the appendix.

Angela Sofinowski

a.       I like that the article says that education is an intentional process and design thinking is the mindset that we embrace that intent and work to make our environments a part of it. I also learned that Design Thinking is very broad in that it can be utilized to reinvigorate any element of the educational process. From the physical classroom to the curriculum to the system at large, by taking into consideration what we are doing and who we are doing it for/with, we yield more positive results.

2.       Would you use Design Thinking in your future classroom?

a.       I would love to but I do think that implementing this in my classroom would present some unique challenges. As a secondary teacher I do not house the same students all day. I have 6 different classes, with 20-35 students. And I teach different levels of my content so student needs/wants/interests are varied. I could take a collective inventory and work to implement changes that would benefit/appeal to a majority of the students, but I would not be able to utilize input from 150+ students as some suggestions would cancel each other out.

3.       What benefits could using Design Thinking have on students? What benefits could design thinking have on teachers while they are planning instruction?

a.       Anytime we create buy in for students there are going to be benefits to their learning. When students are comfortable in a space they allow themselves to be more vulnerable. Learning is an incredibly vulnerable process…admitting you don’t know something and taking chances to get yourself to the proper conclusions is messy and scary and you need to have a certain level of comfort before you are willing to make those attempts. Some of the examples in the article also bring up the point of access. Imagine putting all that effort into creating engaging and informational bulletin boards and finding out they are too high for the students to see. If they can’t see them, they can’t access the information. The same goes for other unintentional barriers we create in our rooms and with our content. By shifting perspective we make things more accessible for the students and they are actually able to learn.

b.       By creating more engaged learners, you will rejuvenate teachers. I do not care how much work something is for me on the back end, if I see the results in my students and I know that  I am making  their learning more accessible and they are more engaged in what we are doing, I will put that effort in every single time. I also think that the majority of people get in to teaching because we have a natural curiosity and we love to learn ourselves. By reimaging our curriculums, and my refreshing our perspectives, we are learning alongside our students. I know that my students thrive on my passion for my content area. I might look like a big goon half the time, but when I am making connections and experiencing things with them, they appreciate my enthusiasm and it rubs off on them.

4.       What was your favorite part about this article?

a.       This is going to sound so dorky but I really like the set up of this article. The presentation is engaging and easy to follow. It didn’t feel like reading an academic article…this is like something I stumbled across on my Pinterest page and found interesting. The set up also makes it easy to go back and reference. I love the inspiration that I get from things like this but when they are this long it can be daunting to think about going back and referencing it again. Because of the way this article is organized I can more easily find the elements that I want/need to revisit.

It is a mindset. It is collaborative, experimental, and discovery based. It is human-centered. It encourages you to think and believe that new and better are possible. This process can be applied to much more than the world of education.

It can be used for curriculum, spaces, processes, and systems. In my classroom, I would consider the space in different ways after reviewing this article. I try to reflect on my experiences year to year to enhance the space in my classroom and make it extremely student-centered. I would love to take this design thinking approach and apply it to curriculum. With virtual learning, I feel like I have been doing this. My student intern and I are currently creating a Black History Month mini-unit with a focus on research and writing. The kids are loving it.

Since it is human-centered, I think students will feel more valued. Students could feel more at home in class and more a part of a class family. I think teachers could feel more empowered to make a difference.

I would tend to agree with Angela and Brittney about the presentation of the article. The information was easy to read and organized well. I especially liked the problems quoted on pages 5 and 6 because they were very relatable. I appreciate the mindset of the article that new and better are possible and that we should view problems as opportunities.

  2. Would you use Design Thinking in your future classroom?
I would use this process in my classroom. Schools should be student centered! All aspects of school should be engaging for the students. I feel like school has come to be more and more about data and less about the kids; this process brings it back to focusing on what the kids are interested in and what they need. This process also seems to get students involved in their education which would most likely lead to more student success.

  3. What benefits could using Design Thinking have on students? What benefits could design thinking have on teachers while they are planning instruction?
Students will be able to be more involved with their own education. This will spark more genuine student interest. The more they are interested, the more the will care, and the more they will be successful. This will carry over to the teachers as well. We love seeing our students prosper. I believe an overall satisfaction will arise throughout the school's climate.  

  4. What was your favorite part about this article?
I loved how visually pleasing the article was. It was well structured and not an overwhelming article. The information was presented in many different ways that helped my understanding of the key points of the process. 

2. Would you use Design Thinking in your future classroom?

I certainly would use Design Thinking in my classroom and feel like I use different parts of the process in my current teaching. I am not your typical math teacher that regularly has students take notes, practice, and then take an exit ticket. Believe me, this is needed at certain times; however, it is not my regular structure. I use problem-based learning and have students explore new concepts while applying background knowledge. My students also have opportunities to collaborate with others and problems are generally related to their interests. I am fortunate that I only have two daily classes. So I only have sixty-two students to get to know. This allows me to get to know them on a personal level and infuse their interests in lessons. I am interested in faithfully implementing all five steps of the design process in my classroom after reading this article. 

3. What benefits could using Design Thinking have on students? What benefits could design thinking have on teachers while they are planning instruction?

Student Benefits:
-Increases engagement and participation
-Builds student confidence with the content area
-Better performance on formative and summative assessments
-Promotes a sense of belonging and importance of the classroom community

Teacher Benefits:
-Promotes risk-taking, trying new ideas, and freedom
-Feeling a sense of accomplishment for making connections to students and increasing engagement
-Feeling proud of student performance

4. What was your favorite part about this article?

I liked the visual of the five steps of the Design Process on page 15. It provides an overview and for teachers in a simple way. The visual is free of educational jargon and also provides some questions to stimulate thinking. This is something that I will share with my math teachers at our next department meeting.

  2. Would you use Design Thinking in your future classroom?

I use Design thinking in all of my planning. When I deliver PD, I always end with a feedback form to collect feedback and then plan for future events with that feedback in mind. When I was in the classroom and struggling with a particular class, I would survey the learners so that we could collaboratively identify strategies for success in the classroom. I find it to be academically dangerous to not use Design Thinking to support student achievement. 

  3. What benefits could using Design Thinking have on students? What benefits could design thinking have on teachers while they are planning instruction?

Design Thinking gives students a voice and options. It allows students to provide feedback to the teacher and to guide their own learning. When students have choices (planned intentionally by the teacher) they are likely to feel more engaged in learning. Design thinking increases intentionality of teachers. It also helps teachers to know their students better. 

  4. What was your favorite part about this article?

As the IB Coordinator at my school, I really appreciate the connection to the Design Process. We teach the Design Process to students and it is important to make connections between the Design Process and the teacher planning process.

 

2.       I would definitely use design thinking in my classroom. I believe that classrooms should be student-centered and I try to make learning as student-centered as possible. Every day I try to design ways to interact with my students around the content. I also set up the physical environment of the classroom based on how I want students to behave. I make sure to have visual expectations around the classroom for behavior. I make sure that my classroom is warm and welcoming. I also make sure that all of my lessons are engaging as possible. 

 

3.       Design thinking could have many benefits on students. Design thinking allows for student voices to be heard and valued. It also increases student engagement which then leads to an increase in participation. As a first grade teacher, engagement is key. Students in first grade tend to lose focus very quickly if the lesson is not engaging or hands-on. The more engaging the lesson, the better. I can tell that design thinking would have a great impact on student engagement. A benefit design thinking could have on teaching while they are planning instruction is remembering that engagement piece. Allowing for students to discover, interpret, and experiment, like the article references, allows for increased engagement. 

 

4.       My favorite part about this article was that it included many pictures, real life examples, charts, graphs, and tables. It was visually appealing and I am a very visual learning. Although the article did have a lot of words, I was able to easily understand what I was learning about due to the other text features. 

I learned that it could be implemented in many different ways. I originally thought that it just had to do with curriculum and planning. I didn’t realize it could be used to help in so many different ways, like space, processes and tools, and systems, as well as curriculum. I also learned how to use the Design Process. I’ll admit, I still find it slightly confusing, but the workbook at the end helped me better understand the process. I think if I read this article a second time and attempted the process using the provided workbook, I’d better understand. I like that you can start by listing both wishes and gripes. Ideas can come from either! Rephrasing your idea to “How might we…” is a great way to really make it a plan as opposed to a wish/gripe.

Yes! I can think of several challenges I’d like to address using the Design Process. Since they talked about collaborating with a team and not doing this alone, I’d love to sit down with my grade level team and create a plan together following these steps. Specifically to increase student engagement, but I’m sure my teammates have other ideas and we could choose the best one for all of us.

I think using the Design Thinking could benefit students by creating a better (more successful) environment for them; whether that be the actual classroom space, how I teach the curriculum, or really any other area. Any challenge I use this for would be to help my students in some way, so it’d benefit them. If I have the students use the Design Thinking process themselves (which is a fascinating idea) it could not only help address whatever challenge they identify, but also improve their morale and give them both confidence and pride. They’d feel like they had control, or at least a large input, in their own learning and that is empowering. It could benefit teachers while planning instruction by giving a clearer goal. I know that I sometimes feel like I’m just following along a pre-determined route when following the districts curriculum, so if we using DT process to plan instruction, we’d feel more empowered and probably more enthusiastic about actually planning. It could possibly help us identify challenges in instruction and find solutions. Especially for instruction for students with special needs. 

I never heard of “rules” for brainstorming. I honestly feel like their “rules” make sense and could make any brainstorming session more productive. Also, the workbook at the end really helped give me a “picture” of the process and better understand it.