A Craftsman's Legacy - Giving Every Child A Voice

A Craftsman's Legacy - Giving Every Child A Voice

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If you haven’t had an opportunity to watch the series on PBS called “A Craftsman’s Legacy,” I would encourage you to take some time to do so.  Throughout the four seasons of this series, the host visits varying craftsman to learn about their industry and to uncover the artistry and the history associated with the product they make, whether it be swords, stills, soap, quilts, shoes, cowboy hats, jeans, pots, and on and on… Each episode runs 26-28 minutes.

What intrigues me the most is the way the host brings to life a discussion of the art, the history, the science, and the math, and the industry know-how required to understand, to make, and to market the products, and what he finds (not unexpectedly) is the intellect and cross-curricular expertise that comes with every product made.  

At a time when so much emphasis is placed on college readiness and immersion in the digital realm, this show highlights the people who took a different route and it presents their choice and their work as being as highly valued as the work done by people in every other industry.  

And, on top of that, it answers the question of “Why?” we hear so often when introducing new and challenging concepts to students. Each of these craftsman pursued a passion and each found the foundational skills they were taught to be interconnected and transferable into their passion pursuits. 

If these episodes were to be shown in the classroom, numerous opportunities exist, during each one, to pause and to examine the intricacies of the work and the unknowns that must be solved, in order to attain the vision for the product. Even more, consider what classroom discussion will look like when the student who takes AP Calculus and the one who takes Advanced Welding come together to discuss the process of Gold-Smithing and jewelry craft. 

A discussion like this would give value to the knowledge of every participant, and each child, with their individual talents and areas of expertise, is able to bring something to the discussion that ties them to their peers and that legitimizes their passions and their excellence.

Imagine the classroom where there is interdependence among the learners, with each one having an equal seat at the table of learning!

As one of the Season 4 episodes reveals, you can’t make a proper whiskey still without understanding the value and purpose of pi. Similarly, an understanding of the chemical and material properties of copper, compared to stainless steel, is essential if you want the product to possess the proper flavor. Incredible!

Undoubtedly, each student would leave the discussion with an understanding they didn't have when they entered it, whether they learn about the concept, about the skill, or about one of their peers. 

I watched an episode on furniture making earlier today… . The final lines of the series talk about the use of technology to reduce materials waste and to enhance the quality of the end product, with the last line being “As Craftsman, we can always learn something new.” …. A concept that perfectly relates to teaching. 

Teachers are, after all, craftsman, and our students - and the relationships and lessons we leave with them - are our legacy. 

What are we doing, today, to make sure that every student, no matter their passion or their area of expertise, is given a valuable and worthy in our classroom? 

What are we doing, today, to help them see how the foundational skills they are learning can transfer into their life-long, legacy-leaving pursuits? 

Check out the show here: http://www.craftsmanslegacy.com/episodes/season_4.  To watch the full episodes, you co need to create a "Legacy Society" account, which is free.

Does a Problem-Based Learning Approach Fit My Classroom?

It’s April, 1348 – one of the wettest springs in memory. People of your town are constantly muddy and soaked and chilled to the bone. Crops aren’t growing as well as they should be at this point in the year. An unknown messenger just showed up at your door bringing the first reports of the plague to your town. The “Black Death” is spreading rapidly. 96,000 already dead in Florence, and Florence is uncomfortably close to your home in Lucca. How will you protect yourself? How will you protect your community? How will you leverage the knowledge of others to help?

In many ways, the solution to this scenario, posed by Dr. Shelagh Gallagher is complex – it’s cross-curricular and requires us to consider what we know and how we would apply that prior knowledge and understanding to the situation. And there are a lot of unknowns. In fact, there likely isn’t a single solution - there may be only a “best option.”

This example of a problem-based learning scenario is one of countless possibilities for you to get your students to begin actively applying the content they learn to the world in which they live. And the best part – this doesn’t have to be a major undertaking and can be done using a “post-hole” approach. It starts with a rich scenario or a driving question that sets the stage for students to work with one another, to apply already-known (or to gather newly-learned) understandings, and engage in deep thinking. Some describe Project-based learning activities as a “fieldwork” approach to instruction.

Consider three questions matter when designing a problem-based learning activity or unit:

1. What do I want students to learn/understand/demonstrate at the completion of this unit? - These are your learning targets, your standards-focused outcomes, your assessment components. Consider using a “demonstration” of learning at the end as your unit/activity assessment. 
2. What do students already know? – This is often not just their subject-specific knowledge, but rather a breadth and depth of life experiences and academic understandings that could be acquired from the “groupthink” process. One of the best possible outcomes that could result from using a PBL approach in your classroom is that students will bring their unique knowledge and experiences into the conversation - whether gained from personal experience, personal exploration, or family or community connections.  In the scenario posed, above, I'd use my prior reading of Ken Follett's Kingsbridge trilogy to support my solution. 
3. What do students still need to know? – This is the yet-to-be-learned material – the embedded instruction component. Sometimes foundational or conceptual skills in a given unit or subject, sometimes “on-the-spot” learning, sometimes real-world experiences, sometimes “soft-skills” driven (communication, teamwork, public presentations, etc…). This might also be seen as a differentiated learning environment, where students/groups might receive the same instruction.

Better yet, complex problems such as this one can be the basis for engaging eLearning and Blended Learning lessons, particularly because they launch students into the problem-solving phase of learning, challenging them to consider and act upon what they already know while preparing for the application of new knowledge that, perhaps, has not yet been uncovered.

And because of the internet (and its array of crowd-sourced Problem-Based learning websites) it's relatively "easy" to do - give students a situation or scenario that would require them to apply learning from your class, and task them with developing a question about it. What's important is that the responsibility for learning is released to the students - they need to be free to ask questions about their learning and to uncover the answers to those questions. As teachers, it's not our job to "always" provide them with the right answer - our job is to provide them with the tools and resources to access and to determine the answer using the evidence they have available to them.

As you close out the first trimester (and approach the end of the first semester!) of this school year and leap into your planning and revisions for the one to come, you might consider using a scenario-based, or problem-based approach to breathe new life into a tired, outworn (or outdated), or under-performing lesson or activity in your classroom.

Maybe you start by integrating a video from OK Go, Dude Perfect, or RealLifeLore as the tool that helps your students develop their questions (also mentioned in my last post!). Or, maybe you go a little further and utilize some of Robert Kaplinsky's lessons, or even those from Andrew Stadel at Estimation180.com.

With the right preparation and support, this approach can be made to fit every classroom - whether using a full-on approach to redesign your classroom or as a "post-hole" approach to help solidify the gaps in understanding that students have in your units. 

It answers the question, "Why do we need to know this."

It activates prior knowledge and applied understandings from other coursework.

It transfers learning to other subject areas. 

It creates excitement. 

It pushes students to be active learners.

It forces them to find solutions, applying the skills gained in your class to real life. 

This is a great time to reach out to your instructional coaches, building administrators, and/or department leaders to get help finding resources (which may include your colleagues), brainstorming “problem” ideas for your subject or specific-student group, and/or to get feedback and assistance as you design assessments/lessons/units that integrate this method of instruction.