Our last class together...

Today marks the end of our time together and I want to thank all of my amazing ALC 9 students for the many things they taught me over the past 5 months... 

1. Students are very capable of taking their own risks (and experience safe failures) - and though it is scary at first, they come out relatively unscathed and with more knowledge about themselves and what they are able to do, on their own. 

2. I really like being a Facilitator, rather than just a Teacher. Taking a step back and becoming more of a Guide for my students has really made me rethink my pedagogy. How can I be more of a "Guide" in the other courses I teach?

3. You can do a lot of meaningful work in 5 months... You can also do very little. Thank you for showing me the scope of work production and providing me with some useful exemplars for my next batch of kids! 

4. Your interests, talents, skills, and abilities were overwhelmingly cool! I learned so much about what YOU are passionate about. And now that you know a little bit more about both your passions and yourselves, I am excited to see how you apply this to your life in the future. 

5. Lastly, but not the least important, I LOVE seeing my passion becoming a reality and I'm glad you were here with me on my journey. I Challenged myself over the past 10 months in planning, pitching, preparing and then finally implementing a course that I have dreamed about for a long time. I took my own risk and came out relatively unscathed, with a lot more knowledge about myself and my pedagogy. Thank you for being my guinea pigs :) 

I've compiled a video showcasing the hard work we did! I hope you enjoy it: 

https://www.wevideo.com/view/572509933

For our last class, we wrote in our logbooks for the last time and focused on what amazing things were accomplished in our time together. I also had the students word on a 6 Word Memoir, focusing on what they took from the ALC course or what advice they would give to new students taking it. I am excited to put them up on my bulletin board for everyone to see! Here are some examples of what they came up with: 

Here are some pics from our Celebration of Challenge Success that took place today:

Thank you for reading! Check back in February for my next ALC 9 adventure! 

Until then... 

The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.

Albert Einstein

ALC 9 Challenge Trade Fair - SUCCESS

Well the day finally arrived... Down to the very last minute (1:08 to be exact!) I had students putting final touches on their amazing projects. We all met in the library and quickly got ourselves set up and ready to present. I quickly toured around to see that everyone was good to go, and then took a step back to let the magic happen... 

The first class that toured through was a grade 7 class. They were curious enough to take a peek at each project, but didn't really ask too many questions. It wasn't until the grade 8s started to pour in that the interesting conversations started to happen. I circulated around to eavesdrop on what my students were talking about and was impressed with what I was hearing. Here were my grade 9s, my "guinea pig" first class from September, talking in depth about the Challenge they chose to complete. They were answering questions eloquently and providing lots of detailed reasons as to why they chose to do the Challenge they did, among others. One of my favorite moments was hearing a grade 8 student say to another, "Next year, I'm going to build a carburetor." If that's not evidence enough that this class was a hit, I don't know what is... In talking with my students about their projects, they were incredibly happy that they got to spend the last 5 months working on something they were actually interested in. And though some students projects were clearly stronger than others, each one was completely unique and you could tell that they each learned something about not only their Challenge, but themselves. 

When I dreamed of pitching this course to my principal, my vision was very clear: allow the students the time to, with my help, complete a meaningful challenge in a supportive environment. I'm happy to say that my vision has become a reality. My students learned a lot, but so did I. One of my students at the Challenge Trade Fair said to me, "You need to do a project of your own Mrs. W." I told him that I did; the past 5 months has been my own Challenge and I too also learned a lot about myself and what I'm most passionate about: engaging, meaningful, life-changing teaching. 

Wednesday is our last class together. After we spend some time reflecting, we will spend some time celebrating our successes! I also want to take the time to thank my "guinea pigs" for all of their hard work. I am so excited that next week I get to start again with a new batch of students and a new set of Challenges! 

Here are some pics from today's Challenge Trade Fair: 

The Countdown Is On!

Invitations have been sent. Promotional Posters have been created and are ready to go up. Challenges are receiving their final touches. It's hard to believe the End is Nigh! 

Today, students worked harder than I have seen them work before. I pumped some inspirational Friday afternoon Songza Jams and they busily worked on adding details, pictures, and other final touches to their Challenges. I am starting to feel less nervous about the final results and definitely more excited! I am so incredibly PROUD of each student and what they have accomplished over the past 5 months. 

Next week I will be opening my classroom each lunch hour for the "mad dash" to the finish line... Our Challenge Trade Fair on Monday, January 25th. Also next week, we will be using our class to present our Challenges to each other in a safe environment. We have all bonded and supported each other over the past two terms, so it will be nice to present our Challenges to each other first. 

Here are some pics from today's class: 

10 days to go!!! 

Presentation Success!

Yesterday's class was such a hit! My good friend Anne Harvey came in to present information on the Abundant Community Neighborhood Project that she is heading in Edmonton. She was an enthusiastic presenter who really had the kids engaged from the moment she started speaking. 

Before introducing her, I reminded the students of the quickly approaching deadline for project completion. Our January 25th Challenge Trade Fair is just around the corner and we have a lot of work yet to do, including advertising. Next week I will be sitting with each student to assess what help they need to ensure they are ready for the Trade Fair! 

I also took a few minutes to go over the presentation rubric that we created before Christmas. This rubric includes the 3 important elements of presentation we chose to focus on, including Voice, Contact with the Audience, and Subject Knowledge. I let the students know that they would be using this rubric to "grade" Anne's presentation and then will add 3 presentation goals for when they showcase their Challenges at the Trade Fair. 

The project that Anne is heading is incredible! One of its focuses is to create "Block Connectors" in as many of the 200 neighborhoods in Edmonton, who take on an active role to help citizens within the neighborhood interact with each other. Nowadays, in many communities, people have very little interaction with each other. They pull into their garage, shut the door, without much interaction with even the people living directly beside them. Anne's project aims to create a real sense of community, based on interaction, sharing of human assets (skills like helping shovel, community clean up), and enhancing the sense of both pride and safety within one's cul-de-sac or street.  

Anne quickly got the ALC students talking about the communities they live in, the interaction they and their parents have with neighbors, and the skills that their families bring to the community. She had the students working with various partners, interviewing each other and then collecting all answers written on sticky notes, and adding them to poster paper for discussion afterwards. Circulating around, the students seemed to be really engaged and interested in what they were discussing. 

Anne and I were discussing her presentation afterwards and the topic of human assets came up. In her project, the Block Connectors ask each neighbor what skills or assets they can add to the community. Perhaps they are very outdoorsy and would like to help maintain the skating rink and toboggan hill or maybe their kids are of babysitting age. Whatever skill they are able to bring to the neighborhood is greatly appreciated! We realized that the students in my ALC option are doing the very same thing within their project - they have chosen an "asset" or skill that they have passion about and are completing their Challenge on it.... Wow! What a connection to make! 

Overall, this class was a huge success! I am so happy I decided to have an expert presenter come in to show students what a GREAT presentation looks like. Next class we will take time to reflect on Anne's presentation and use what we learned to help guide our upcoming presentation practice! 

Enjoy the pics below! 

Merry Christmas from ALC!!!

The best way to spread Christmas Cheer, is singing loud for all to hear! 

We had fun in ALC today, singing along to the Best Christmas Songs of ALL Time (courtesy of Songza!), crunching candy-canes, and working hard on the final stage of our Fabrication Phase. With 6 classes to go after Christmas, we are working hard, checking things off our ALC to do list! 

We did take about 20 minutes of the first block to discuss what a good presentation looks like. With Anne Harvey coming for our first class back in January, we wanted to be sure we were prepared to really focus on her presentation. We came up with 3 categories of presentation skills and decided on a 4 point rubric to grade both Anne, and our classmates when we complete our trial "Challenge Fair" on January 15th. I began working on developing the Rubric based on what the students came up with during our discussion and will post it as soon as it is done! 

Here is the rubric... We will be using it to score Anne's presentation and then making any adjustments that are needed afterwards. 

In the meantime, Merry Christmas from ELJHS' ALC Option!!! 

Wow! It's Fabrication Day.... 13!

It's hard to believe that we are on Day 13 of Fabrication! The finish line is quickly approaching and there is still so much to do. At the beginning of today's class, we spoke about our timelines and just how much time we have left.... 7 classes to be exact! But of those 7 classes, 1 is a special presentation, another is the Challenge Trade Fair, and the last one is going to be a celebration of our success! Eesh... This is going to fly by fast! 

Students are busy working on various stages of the Challenges. Some are very close to completion, while others are a bit behind. Some students have admitted that they will need to do some work over the Christmas break in order to get caught up. Pretty typical of junior high students, wouldn't you agree! I just hope everyone is ready to go for the January 25th Challenge Fair! 

A student working on composing an original, Baroque inspired, song. 

Here are some important things coming up that I am pretty excited about: 

Wednesday, December 16th - we will be working as a group to discuss what a good presentation looks like. I want to discuss things like presence, tone, word choice, posture, etc. We will create a rubric as a class to score presentations based on what we discuss in class. *This rubric will be used to grade each other's Challenges before the actual Fair! 

Thursday, January 7th - we will have a special guest coming in! My close friend, Anne Harvey, is a project manager with the Abundant Community Initiative (ACI) and a Community Recreation Coordinator (CRC), both within The City of Edmonton. She has done some amazing work bringing neighborhoods closer together and supporting them in their efforts to build a stronger sense of connection. Anne will be presenting a talk for my ALC students, one that she often uses at conferences and for University classes. We will be using the rubric we created to assess Anne's presentation for content, but also her general presentation skills as an experienced presenter. Exciting stuff!! 

Friday, January 15th - we will present our Challenges in small groups, using our rubric to grade each other and offer feedback. Students will then use this information to improve their Challenge and prepare themselves for the upcoming Challenge Trade Fair. 

Monday, January 25th - Our Challenge Trade Fair!!! Students will be set up in the library from 1:00-4:00pm to finally showcase their hard work! We will be inviting other classes, staff, and parents to come check out our Challenges! 

Again, I can't believe how quickly the time has gone by! Looking forward to seeing all of my student's hard work come to fruition in just over a month's time :) 

A Tale of 4 Cupcakes... Yummy!

Much to my surprise, and an absolute bonus on a Monday morning, one of my students brought me in 4 cupcakes she had made over the weekend for me to sample. Talk about a yummy Challenge! One was quickly eaten up by my coworker and I sampled a delicious chocolate one with my afternoon coffee. I am so impressed at how hard the majority of my students are working, especially those continuing to work outside of the class setting.

Another one of my students just returned from a trip to Japan. Jet lagged and adjusting to the quickly falling snow, we sat and chatted about his trip. It was really cool to hear about his experiences, from riding The Bullet Train to eating squid and octopus sushi. I am looking forward to learning more about his adventures as he completes his Challenge on his experiences in Japan... and eating the Kit Kat bars and other goodies  he brought back and shared with me!

I continued pulling students aside to work on midpoint evaluations. I think the students are really benefiting from having a candid conversation with me about their Challenges and are reassured that they are on the right track to Challenge completion. Adding my personalized comments on PowerSchool allows the parents to be updated on student progress as well! 

Good things continue to happen in my ALC option and I couldn't be happier or more PROUD! 

Check out this student's notes from learning Korean on their own!!