Emerson the Brave
By:  Julie Kovacs

Project at a Glance :

Emerson Hoogendoorn, a former Waukazoo student who was diagnosed with pediatric brain cancer, wrote a book about her cancer journey with her teacher Julie Kovacs. After Emerson passed away and her book was officially published,  Ms. Kovacs's 5th grade SAIL students were asked, "How can we plan the most EPIC book release party ever in honor of Emerson the Brave?" They planned and implemented the amazing book release party that Emerson would have loved!       
 
Driving Question:

How can we plan the most EPIC book release party EVER in honor of Emerson the Brave?
             

Standards:

• ​SL.5.4
• RI.5.9
• W.5.7

Team / Culture Building:

• Collaboration Tower​​

Entry Event:

• Lock Box - students worked in small groups to solve puzzles, earn lock codes, and collect clues to help them figure out their driving question: How can we plan the most EPIC book release party in honor of Emerson the Brave? 

Ms. Kovac's 5th grade SAIL students

Stakeholders:

• Emerson's family
• Waukazoo Elementary students, staff, and families
• West Ottawa Community

Empathy Building:

• Stakeholder Map
• Empathy Map

Inquiry / Need to Knows:

• Interview & Artifact Analysis with Emerson’s Family - students interviewed Emerson's Grandma Barb and cousin Maison to learn more about her.  They shared stories, videos and favorite objects of Emersons. 

• Students interviewed the Waukazoo Librarian to learn more about book release parties.

Incubation:

• ​Based on the interviews students came up with four components for the book release party:  location, activities and entertainment, decorations, and publicity.  They used the Chalk Talk activity to add ideas for each topic.

• Next, they did the 100 Ideas protocol followed by Rule of Thirds.

• 3 - 12 - 3 protocol helped students start to develop their ideas.
• Students Created a Top 10 list.

Checking in:

• Each theme was written on a separate sheet of paper which had three sections for feedback: I Like, I Wish, and I Wonder. Students then had a chance to share individual feedback, and after processing as a group, they went back to edit their theme ideas.

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Solution Building:

• Saturate & Group
• Dot Voting - was used by the class to choose their party theme: Life Is A Story, Embrace It
• Students created a Pros & Cons list to decide where to host the launch party.

Critique and Revision: 

• Fireside Chat - at our weekly crew meetings, the SAIL students discussed their PBL progress. They thought about what they had accomplished, how teams were performing, and what still needed to be done. The Driving Question provided the focus, and the Empathy Map helped keep students reminded of what they were really trying to accomplish...planning a celebration for Emerson that her family would appreciate!

Authentic Audience:

• ​The book release party was attended by people from each of the stakeholders' groups, as well as the greater West Michigan community due to the news stories published about the event beforehand.

Final Presentation:

• The Party Is Real!! - Students designed various items for the party including publicity flyers, bookmarks to give away as part of a craft activity, and a large banner. They also created a slideshow about Emerson and her dream of publishing her own book which was shown at the party.

Reflection and Feedback:

• Interview with Emerson’s family -Emerson's mother Ami and her siblings Gunnar and Breslyn stopped by the day after the party to share how much they loved the Book Release Party. "It was very emotional," Ami said, "but I loved that everyone was there talking about Emerson." 

Emerson The Brave News Story

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

Meet the Educator:

Julie Kovacs teaches 3rd - 5th grade language arts in the SAIL (Students Accelerated in Learning) program at Waukazoo Elementary, West Ottawa Public Schools. 
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     I'm so proud of these 5th graders for helping to share Emerson's book with the world. Working on this book project first with Emerson and now with these amazing students has been the highlight of my teaching career.