Celebrating different Cultures in our Community 
By:  Jessica Forman

Project at a Glance :

This project is designed for a  virtual tech cultural studies class who will be investigating various cultures throughout the semester. These students are 11th and 12th graders who spend the majority of their time in our media lab besides this class. The project is designed to create a more inclusive school and community. Students will be observe how we currently include and celebrate multiple cultures in our school and community. They will then investigate how we can improve upon these prac tices using various media platforms, podcasts, interview, etc.  
​
​Driving Question:

How can students at HHS elevate our community culture that continues to celebrate diversity? ​               

Standards:

• Inclusion of all students 
• Communication skills - soft skills 
• Collaboration and Global Thinking 

Team / Culture Building:

• Hopes, Fears, and Norms 
• Creative DNA ​

• Value Cards ​

• Collaborative Tower building activity.

​Entry Event:

• Scavenger hunt around the school or community.
• Day in the life of someone from another culture.

Stakeholders:

• Cultural Studies Students 
• Students at Holland Public Schools
• Teachers/Staff at HPS
• Holland Community 
• Parents & Families 
• Exchange students

Empathy Building:

• Students will create an Empathy Map for various stakeholders.​​​

• Stakeholders Map​
• Pains & Gains chart
• Shadowing those from different cultures than their own.
• AEIOU protocol

Inquiry / Need to Knows:

• Interview a panel - possibly including  Hope College's Center for diversity and inclusion student organizations, Holland Human Relations Commission, HPS Superintendent, HPS Community Coordinators, HHS Administration and Diversity and Inclusion Coordinators and Exchange students. 
• QFT protocol

Incubation:

• Use research gathered during the Investigation stage to generate ideas.
• Create Mood and Idea boards 
• Mind Mapping
• Bug List ​​​

• Idea Quota protocol
• Anti-Problem protocol to explore the opposite of the DQ.
• Speedboat ​

Checking in:

• Check-in at least every-other day at various times. This will depend on how things are progressing 
• Use Google forms for periodic check ins.
• Pluses & Deltas protocol
• Top 10 list 
• Start, Stop, & Continue ​

---

Solution Building:

• Use the Saturate and Group protocol to organize ideas.
• Share Google forms with the  school for feedback.
• Break off into groups and continue developing solutions - voting at the end which presentation gets shown. 
• Use the NUFF Test to determine best ideas moving forward.

Critique and Revision: 

• Use a Poster Session to share out ideas.
• $100 test 
• DOT Voting for final product to present.
• Critical Friends with teachers, community coordinator, students, and government for feedback
• Use Compass Points activity to analyze solution ideas.​

Authentic Audience:

• Holland Public Schools Staff and Administration
• Superintendent

 Final Presentation:

• Create a prototype showing the solution idea.
• Students will decide how they want to present to the staff - whether this is a video, presentation, prototype classroom experience, etc. 

Click here for teacher's full plan.
Reflection and Feedback:

• Judges panel/pitch out will provide - helpful, specific, and kind feedback.
• Use a rubric for each stage evaluating the students use of Skills for Success. 
• Feedback from several stakeholders on solution ideas:  1. Cultural Definitions - "Great idea. We will work on it in Mass Media. Thanks!"  ` Mass media & Broadcast Instructor. 2.  Field Days -  "These are fantastic ideas, especially because they came from students and are so well-developed! I hope the PBIS team can help turn these ideas into a reality this Spring or (at the latest) next school year." - PBIS Team Member​

Click here for the teacher's Journey through PBL on Padlet . . .

Meet the Educator:
​Jessica Forman teaches 11th and 12th grade psychology and cultural studies at Holland High School. 

     "This is a class that I have tried many different strategies with to cultivate exciting engagement, and nothing has sparked their interest quite like PBL. For a group of students who do not particularly feel connected to this school, they definitely feel connected to each other."