Creating an Inclusive School Environment 
                                                                 By:  Lauren Swenson

Project at a Glance :

This project is designed to cultivate classroom/school culture at the beginning of the school year and establish norms for the learning environment for all students. It was created with upper-elementary in mind, but could be modified to accommodate lower-elementary students or secondary students. Each “day” is a 30 minute segment.
       
Driving Question:
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How can our class create an inclusive and welcoming environment for our school?             

Standards:

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.2  Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, including how characters in a story or drama respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic; summarize the text.
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.5.1 Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons and information.
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.5.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 5 topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.5.4 Report on a topic or text or present an opinion, sequencing ideas logically and using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace.
• Skills:  Teamwork, Collaboration, Inclusion, & Presentation

Team / Culture Building:

• Hopes, Fears, and Norms
• Bug List​​

• Values Cards

Entry Event:

• Hula Hoop Pass Game (video example HERE)

Stakeholders:

• Students
• ​Teachers - General Ed, Special Ed, & Enrichment
• Principals

Empathy Building:

• Empathy Map for stakeholders​​​

• ​​Empathy Map​

• Love/Breakup Letter​​
• Jigsaw book club

Inquiry / Need to Knows:

• Determine Stakeholders
• Interview Stakeholders​

• Brainstorm Problems in the School using the Love Break up Letter protocol

Incubation:

• Use open-ended questions to push student thinking and the Idea Quota protocol to help them think of as many ideas as possible.​​

• Rule of Thirds

• Rip-Slap Pass
• SCAMPER​

Checking in: 

• Check In with students once a week about how the project is going with Check In & Check Out Circles
• Book club groups will meet once a week to discuss the question “How are the characters  welcomed or included in the book?”

• Pluses and Deltas
• Emoji Faces
• Tell it to a Toddler
• Check In & Check Out Cirlces

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Solution Building:

•  Students will take their ideas that they came up with during the rip-slap-pass protocol and narrow it down to what can be new, useful, and feasible.
  

• NUF Test
• $100 Test

Critique and Revision: 

• Students will take their top decisions that they have narrowed down from the NUF and $100 tests and use dot voting to anonymously decide as a group what decision to move forward with.

• Groups will give each other feedback by using the I Like, I Wish, I Wonder protocol.​

Authentic Audience:

• Students from different classes
• Principals
• Variety of teachers  

Final Presentation:

• Students will create a pitch and prototype to present to the authentic audience. 
• Students will create their pitch in a way that makes sense to them, create a prototype that best reflects their ideas, and present their products on Flipgrid to share with the authentic audience.  Students will edit the video to creatively pitch their ideas.​

Click here for teacher's full plan.

​Reflection and Feedback:
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• Other students in the class will watch the Flipgrid videos and use a group rating sheet to provide feedback.
• For the rest of the authentic audience, they will be emailed an Emoji Faces group rating.

• Students will use Pluses and Deltas to reflect on how the project went from the authentic audience’s perspective
• Students will use a group reflection on their own to rate their performance in the group and their group members’ performances.

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

Meet the Educator:
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Lauren Swenson teaches 5th Grade Teacher at South Elementary in Coopersville, MI.

     "I love how PBL embraces more than just the Common Core Standards. It reaches out beyond the classroom into real-world, employable problem solving skills that students are often missing. PBL allows students to embrace their creativity and know that their voice matters to our society."