Category: Kuwait

[See all my final project posts. Always open to input!]

The more I think about the unit we’re creating the more ideas I get and the more excited I get. I’m just nervous to get my hopes up and not have it turn out as awesome as I’m hoping!

I did some brainstorming with Lindsay (MYP art teacher) last week. Note to self: always brainstorm with an art teacher!

MYP Next Chapter: Our school is slowly switching over to the Next Chapter of MYP so we’ve been given the freedom to start incorporating the new guide in our unit planning. Instead of having a unit question, we’ll have a statement of inquiry {The Medium is the Message}. We will also have a key concept, at least 1 related concept and a global context. After perusing the new guide for Art, my thoughts are: key concept=communication, related concept=audience (& expression?), global context=personal and cultural expression. Based on talking to our MYP coordinator, we will probably have to make our statement of inquiry a little more detailed to better incorporate the concepts & context. We will also need a few inquiry questions to “give shape and scope to the unit.” This might be something that we can work on with students throughout the unit (according to the Developing MYP units pre-publication).

We had originally thought we’d use Community and Service as our Area of Interaction. However AOIs are disappearing in the new unit planner. We need to decide how deep we want to get into the new unit planner. Either way, we also need to decide which Approches to Learning (ATLs) we will focus on.

Design Cycle: Although we will be experimenting with incorporating some of the Next Chapter guide into the Art part of the unit, we won’t be using the new guide for Design. However I will still be trying to ‘redefine’ how Design is done at our school. After a couple months of integrating the design cycle into French and Art, I just read the entire (old) MYP Technology guide last week. Wow. So much information. And it seems so many things that need to be tweeked at our school. The main thing I’d like to focus on changing for this unit are the rubrics. We currently use the year 5 exit rubric for all students grades 6 through 10. We also don’t (or rarely) use task-specific rubrics. I could use some help in this area! I don’t really have any idea how to rewrite/tweek the rubrics for year 2 students or how to create task-specific rubrics. Help! 😉

The other area we’re still developing is the problem. I want the students to launch a social media campaign about a relevant problem in Kuwait. I don’t want to leave it too open because they are grade 7 students. But I don’t want to limit them either. My original idea was to allow them to choose between littering (an enormous amount in Kuwait) and tourism (almost none in Kuwait). A littering campaign might focus on the negative aspects of Kuwait and convincing people in the country to make a difference. A tourism campaign might focus on the positive aspects of Kuwait and convincing people outside the country to visit. I still don’t know if these two problems are too different from each other and if we will need to have a more streamlined focus throughout the unit. Thoughts??

Design Folder: The design folder is another thing I’m working on ‘redefining.’ We currently use packets. Our design technology classes complete them digitally (they are in computer labs) however most of the elective classes that we are integrating the design cycle into complete hard copies. The packets are long and boring and students hate them. Here is an example from one of the French classes.

Although this won’t be a group project, I want students to be able to learn from each other giving attribution where necessary. One of my favorite aspects of being a connected educator is all the new ideas I get to ‘steal’ and adapt from other educators around the world. Why not teach our students how to do the same thing?

I’d like students to use Tumblr to create their design folder in order to document the process they go through (and easily share it with classmates). I chose Tumblr because it is simple and the focus is often on photos. My guess is that many students already have Tumblrs. This will be an opportunity to discuss separating school life and personal life online.

In order to help guide students through the design folder, I have created a sample Tumblr blog that I will share with students. I have put relevant information for students and also created [Your Turn] posts to guide students as they document the process. I have organized the posts using hashtags. This is still a work in progress! I’m currently working through Julie’s templates to see how I can make my posts more helpful for the students. I will also have to change a few things as I adapt the rubrics. Creating the design folder in Tumblr has completely transformed our packets. What do you think??

Digital Citizenship: We will have to teach our students to learn from and with each other…not just simply plagiarize. My biggest concern with Tumblr is that it makes it so easy for students to copy & paste and then pass off other students’ work as their own. We will need to incorporate digital citizenship into the unit. The main takeaway I want students to come away with is that they can use and build on other people’s ideas with attribution. We can use Common Sense Media to teach a couple digital citizenship lessons and then hold students accountable with our Acceptable Use Agreement. Many of our students have school iPads so the free iBooks textbooks and workbooks might be an option (if we can get them loaded on their iPads).

I’d also like to familiarize students with Creative Commons licenses. Students will need to choose an appropriate license for their design folders and display the license on their Tumblr blogs.

Photography: This unit started as a photography unit and is morphing into something much bigger. If all goes as planned, I think we will be able to ‘redefine’ the unit through the use of technology. I’m envisioning the students using their photography to make a change in the world through a social media campaign. I think that “the medium is the message” does a great job of encompassing what we’re hoping to accomplish. I wish that the Kuwait Grand Photography Contest was just a month or two later…then we’d have even greater potential for the students to feel invested.

Expert Advice: This is where we’re struggling the most right now. I’d love to find a social media activist/expert who can Skype/Hangout with the class to talk about using (social) media to impact people’s decisions/actions. We can show this video and introduce them Witness.org but I think it’d be much more meaningful to actually have a real person. Someone who uses pictures/videos and social media to affect how people act and the way they think would be perfect. Ideas??

Small Details: Lindsay is on board for a pre-assessment (à la Julie) where students spend a class period taking pictures around the school. This will give Lindsay an idea of their technical skills and get the students thinking about the message of their pictures. I’d also like to incorporate a lesson on ‘powerful images.’

I’d love any input from anyone! We’re still very much in the planning stages so I’m hoping to crowd-course this a little in order to refine my ideas and make sure that they will actually work! Thank you 🙂