Go Beyond Challenge - Update #1

 

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Last month I wrote about the Go Beyond Challenge that I raised to several teachers in the district. Things have been going well. Here are some updates.

• I am formally working with seven teachers, ranging from 1st grade through 12th grade. Some of the other new things I'm doing within the scope of the challenge involve many other teachers. We're a small district, so this has already involved 20% of our staff.
• I wrote a post on my Teaching Like an Artist blog that summed up my goal when I'm working with students during this challenge. I'm looking for opportunities to encourage their talents and also to encourage them to press through their areas of weakness. I want them to see school as intensely personal, revealing what they're great at and giving them a chance to get better at everything else. That should come in handy no matter where they find themselves in the years ahead.
• For actual projects, I've worked with a high school Cold War History class, where students made podcasts and websites so far. That work will continue throughout the semester. I also am in the middle of a writing project at the 6th grade level. There students are writing stories for younger students. It's an improved approach to this project from a few years ago. 
• With the other teachers, we've been planning. Topics so far are game design, creating video tutorials, virtual debates and informational videos for our community.
• I'm happy to say my proposal to speak about the Challenge at the MACUL Conference was accepted. I look forward to reporting how our efforts have moved the teachers and students forward in a big way this year, including helping them to see their own potential as leaders among their peers.
• Lastly, I was thrilled to come across Dr. Sonny Magana's book, Disruptive Classroom Technologies, last week. How had I not heard of this before? I'm including his T3 Framework in all project planning moving forward. I was focusing on Triple E and the 4Shifts Protocol previously. From what I've seen of T3 so far, it is exactly what I have been looking for. Some of us from the district will meet with Dr. Magana this week to discuss how T3 can help our district.

Here's a tweet I posted about the book today, along with the quote from his book.

Enjoying Disruptive Classroom Technologies by @sonnymagana This is why I’m not excited when I hear about how some new tool really hooked the class. There could never be enough money to keep thrilling them with new tools. pic.twitter.com/CWMDSIjKuS

— Mike Petty (@mpetty39) November 7, 2021