Giving Thanks | The Fluency Project: The First Quarter PBL

Despite having just crossed the threshold of the first quarter, our enthusiasm is still pretty infectious. We are entering the time of year that we’ve looked toward with mounting anticipation, and perhaps just a modest amount of apprehension: project proposal and action plan season! Needless to say, everyone in Cultural Literacy III has something to look forward to over the next few weeks.

Cultural Literacy III students at Holy Family Academy are encouraged to explore literature and life… to utilize numbers, narratives, and the arts in order to tell powerful stories. (Photo credit: Jennifer Lanas)

In quarter one, our juniors in Cultural Literacy III (Contemporary American Issues) read Kekla Magoon’s How It Went Down and paired it with close-reading and empathy building techniques. Along with preliminary research and narrative storytelling strategies, our Holy Family Academy students ideated wrestled with real-world issues present in the novel and inspired by their own experiences. In turn, students submitted project proposals ideating upon these issues with the goal of bringing the story to a wider audience, promoting awareness, understanding, and empathy. Ultimately, to become change agents we must first be ambassadors of deeply personal stories inspired by literature and life. 
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Keshawn is critiquing a proposal using the “think-puzzle-explore” peer-review sheet. Inspired by Agency by Design and Project Zero, this “Think-Puzzle-Explore” method of peer review yielded thoughtful, targeted feedback. (Photo credit: Jennifer Lanas)

To evaluate each other’s work, we adapted a tuning protocol by Agency by Design. It is a systematic way to look at student work and offer feedback to reflective practitioners. My dear friend and colleague, Kristin Alvarez is a member of ABD’s Pittsburgh cohort. When she taught this to our Holy Family Academy teachers, I immediately began thinking of how I might be able to hack it for our Cultural Literacy students to use. The resulting activity yielded some of the best peer-review conferences that I’ve witnessed in my teaching tenure.



Our Holy Family Academy Juniors selected their own topic of exploration and the medium by which they would bring their projects to life. This falls under Trev Mackenzie’s definition of “Guided Inquiry”. (Photo credit: Trev Mackenzie)


Admittedly, it is a challenge facilitating so many different projects among three sections of Cultural Literacy. In a few instances, I am coordinating meetings with teams of students spanning multiple class periods. Moving forward, we are utilizing at least one class period per week (70 minutes) as well as taking advantage of our flexible schedule that gives all juniors a one-hour block of lunch and Independent Learning Time (ILT) three-days per week. Some teams and individuals are more enthusiastic about continuing this process of guided inquiry and project-based-learning than others. These motivated teens are writing podcast scripts, blogging at home, and sketching-out plans for storyboarding mini documentaries or constructing robotics projects. In order to facilitate the project and continue the pacing of our contemporary issues curriculum, we have project benchmarks throughout the month of November and the early part of December. 



Manor New Tech High School located near Austin, Texas is an example of a school pioneering a dynamic PBL model. Their story is featured in this video highlighting PBL success from start-to-finish. We are not quite there, yet… (Photo credit: Education Week / New Tech Network)

I would be a liar if I said that 100% of our students are on-board with this departure from the traditional “culminating project” model that we are all accustomed to. We spend one class period per week studying a mentor text or conducting primary source investigations in addition to the one period that we devote moving forward on our PBL goals. Considering that we only meet three sessions per week, it is imperative that everyone do their collective part to stay focused. I have to be a reflective practitioner and flexible in terms of timing and scheduling. It’s not as though I pitched the project timeline to our juniors and their joyous shouts of approval ensued a celebratory parade down Ohio River Boulevard… Had that occurred, I would request that we ride unicorns and invite sasquatch, chupacabra, and a leprechaun to preside over the festivities.

Botticcelli's Bigfoot will serve as the grand marshall of the parade celebrating teenagers applauding a school initiative that doesn't involve extended vacation and/or the addition of nap pods to the classroom. In all seriousness, my students really seem to enjoy this departure from the ordinary, but it is admittedly more work compared to what they were previously accustomed. (Photo credit: fullfrogmoon.com)

Without a doubt, I consider it a preliminary victory for our students to take control of the story of their learning. They are engaging in deeper learning, becoming experts in the topics that they have selected.  I have become a student in the world that they creating--whereby they are expert researchers and designers of an experience that will educate others. At this phase in the process, our juniors are now looking for an authentic audience to share their work and expert knowledge. I could not possibly be more proud of our students. Needless to say, perhaps I have the most to look forward to and to be thankful for this November.


This post can also be found on #thefluencyproject blog.

Field Based Learning: Pittsburgh Writing Marathon

As the Coordinator of Educational & Cultural Affairs at Holy Family Academy, I am honored to facilitate field based learning activities that expand our students' learning ecosystem. I'm like a network orchestrator--my role is partly to organize these events, often to create the instructional resources, and also to bring our partners on board. I love when the learning experiences are organic, moments when the city is our classroom and the students create meaningful experiences by immersing themselves in their community and reflecting upon their world. My favorite field experience from the first semester happened on a picturesque day in early November.

On this day, we embarked upon the North Shore Riverfront Writing Marathon. 

Writing Marathon Google Map - Click the link to access our interactive Google Map

Its easy to create and share interactive adventures for your students to navigate new experiences. Many of our HFA students live within a short distance of these five points of interest. However, how often do we pause to "take in the sights"? Everything that you see was designed using Google Apps for Education, including the interactive map and writing marathon journal. I especially liked the feature that allows you to customize the icons on the map: notice the pencils marking writing marathon waypoints. Dreaming about and designing this trip was almost as much fun as actually taking part in the actual writing marathon.

Adarian reflects upon finding the extraordinary in ordinary "everyday-any day" experiences. The Water Steps, adjacent to PNC Park, are one of the more popular attractions on the North Shore Riverwalk. With the water shut-off on this autumn morning, the steps themselves have become our standing desks in our outdoor classroom.

Point State Park - Pittsburgh, PA

It is a well known fact that I have a natural bias toward all things Pittsburgh... Yet, it's hard to argue that we have one of the most picturesque entrances to any major city in the country. The Point and Pittsburgh's Golden Triangle inspires amateur photographers and provides our HFA students a sanctuary in which to think, write, and dream.

The North Shore Riverwalk between PNC Park and Heinz Field provides our HFA students with ample opportunities to chat with teachers. Moments like this embody our innovative approach to field-based learning. The city is a living, breathing part of our learning ecosystem.

The Mr Rogers statue, overlooking the fountain at Point State Park, sets the backdrop for tranquil moments such as our writing marathon... Mr Rogers also stands vigil over raucous events like Steeler home games: We bleed black and gold in the Steel City!

Henry takes pause and contemplates "The Point: Where three rivers meet the eternal dream of creation." Our HFA students are encouraged to think deeply and write passionately about matters of great importance. It's a personalized approach that helps students to discover who they are in our interconnected world.

I want to thank Mrs. Kristin Alvarez, for she introduced me to the concept of a writing marathon. As you can see, it was a wonderful way to expand the learning ecosystem well beyond the four walls of the classroom. On this day, the City of Pittsburgh was our classroom and muse. As an educator, it was a day that I will never forget. #HFAinnovates

If you would like to take your students on this reflective tour to see experience and write about the Steel City from a unique perspective, download the following guides:

- Interactive Google Map: Pittsburgh Writing Marathon

- Field Study Journal: Pittsburgh Writing Marathon