School Committee
                                                                            By:  Chad Jackson

Project at a Glance :

This project is for 4th and 5th graders at Lakeside Elementary. The majority of students will voluntarily sign-up to participate in the committee. Other students will be selected to participate. The group of students will include general education and special education students. This project will explore the Lakeside school community and identify areas of improvement to further strengthen the school community. Additionally, the project focuses on a variety of SEL standards including self-management, self-awareness, social awareness, responsible decision making, and relationships skills. This project will occur during the entire school year. The group will meet 2 times a month. ​
 
Driving Question:

How can we improve the school community?             

Standards:

• Inclusion of all students
• Communication -  soft skills, non-verbal 
• Active listening - not talking over others 
• Flexibility - adapt quickly 
• What does safe, respect, responsibility look, sound, and feel like
• Growth mindset and accepting feedback (i.e., share Austin’s Butterfly video)

Team / Culture Building:

• Students used the Hopes, Fears, & Norms protocol.​

• Me Bag
• Tower protocol

Entry Event:
Students engaged in a scavenger hunt to explore school community and begin build empathy. 

Stakeholders:

• School
• Teachers
• Staff
• Students 
• Friends 
• Families
• Community
• East Grand Rapids School Board Members
• Principal

Empathy Building:

• Students created Empathy Maps​​

Inquiry / Need to Knows:​

• Interviews
• QFT protocol
• Speedboat activity

Incubation:

• Listening exercises (roses and thorns, “I feel” statements)
• Video modeling and/or role playing 
• Interactive games/social-emotional activities 
• Talking Chips
• Idea Quota​​

• Tell it to a Toddler
• How would _________ solve this?

Checking in:

• Use of “I feel” statements, non-verbal check-in’s (with thumbs), emoji, 5-point scale

• Reviewing Hopes, Fears, & Norms
• Checking in to ensure students understand the driving question
• Table talks 

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Solution Building:

• Critical friends
• Dot voting
• 6 Thinking Hats
• Poster session
• Gallery Walk
• $100 test/ NUF test

• Checking in with principal to share ideas
• Following tentative timeline
• Creating/following agendas
• Small groups and critical friends 

Critique and Revision: 

• Dot voting​

• $100 test
• Poster session
• Giving students the voice/choice to identify the best solutions for the driving questions.

• Revisiting Austin’s butterfly to support students with accepting feedback
• “I like, “I wonder” protocol
• Gallery walk

Authentic Audience:

• School community
• Teachers
• Staff
• Students 
• Friends 
• Families
• Community
• East Grand Rapids School Board Members
• Principal
• PTO members

​Final Presentation:

• Potentially combination of visuals, role-play, discussion, etc.

Click here for teacher's full plan.

• Planning template link.

Reflection and Feedback:

• Potentially the presentation rubric or some form of it (school board, PTO, teachers, students will assess)
• SMART standards - Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevance, Timely
• NUF test protocol

• Emoji check-ins
• Hard copies of check-out forms for self-assessment (i.e., focusing on safe, respectful, and responsible) and data (use of target visuals to support self-assessment)
• Growth mindset, revisit Austin’s Butterfly video​.

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

Meet the Educator:
Chad Jackson is a School Social Worker at East Grand Rapids Public Schools.

     “I love PBL because it is easy to incorporate the protocols and support all students while using an inclusion model.”