From this point, we focused on the initial divergent and convergent questions that would drive our social justice issue such as “How many ELL children are in our schools?” “What do we know about our EL’s?” And “How long does it take for a student to become English proficient?” just to name a few. We are not necessarily focusing on the achievement gap between ELL students and English only students, but rather, the overall rate of academic growth and overall equity of achievement. The question of “how” automatically lends itself to be approached by actions and strategies that lead to resolution. Next, we discussed and identified the the end users. We identified the end users to be the students (as those the question concerns), teachers (as the primary tools), parents (as a concerned party), administrators, support staff and community partners (all have a stake in seeing our students thrive).
After identifying the end users, we began the research part of the discovery phase. First, each team member was assigned a different part of the phase. Two team members were assigned to create a survey with questions about supporting ELL students in the classroom. The purpose of this survey is to assess the perceptions and experiences of community partners and experts with respect to how ELL’s learn in school, as well as the support they receive. Our team consists of 4 current teachers and we decided to send this survey to each of our administrators, ELD coaches, teacher colleagues, parents and experts. The 3rd team member was assigned to conduct interviews with parents of EL students.
My contribution this week was to create a visual reminder of the Social Justice Design Thinking question and send out the survey to my colleagues. One challenge we faced during the discovery phase was coming up with the design thinking question. Our initial question had to be modified a few times throughout this phase which is a good thing because we were diving in deeper and finding the true injustice and inequity we wanted to help bring to light. However, once we had an idea of the area we wanted to focus on, ideas and the collaborations between my teammates began to hit full stride. We all focused on our assignments and were not afraid to challenge each other and ask clarifying questions to ensure we were moving in the right direction. I loved this aspect of the design thinking process, new questions constantly arises which creates the lane/path that we needed to be on. Another challenge was the demands of each others schedules, we are all full time teachers, students, parents, husbands, wives, etc. so it was difficult to meet virtually. We were able to collaborate consistently via google docs and google chat but it’s always great and beneficial to have face to face conversations. We were only able to meet virtually on one day out of the ten day assignment window so this was challenging but we worked through it.
The design thinking discovery process can be applied in my classroom or with colleagues. In my classroom, I believe I can implement the process by having a discussion with my students about what designers do in this world. Talk to students about engineering, architecture, interior design and/or product design. When we’re working on science projects and experiments, I often ask students to “wear your scientist goggles” but for design thinking I would ask my students to wear their “designer glasses.” I would ask them to look around the classroom and ask the how they can improve the classroom or how would they redesign the classroom? With my colleagues, I would use this process to further develop our after school programs, parent involvement, teacher morale and any area we believe needs improvement.
Vision and Mission (initial)
In district x, the purpose of education is to prepare students to be productive and responsible adults. We believe that technology is an essential tool for learning and exploration that will maximize the learning capacity of teachers and learners.
Action Steps:
- Ensure teachers are equipped with technology and give them opportunities to collaborate and connect with other teachers.
- Ensure teachers are trained and equipped with skills they need to utilize the technology.
- Provide consistent and ongoing support with technology to teachers and students.
I believe my learning space identifies with student growth, organization and celebration. I do my best to keep an organized classroom because I truly believe it minimizes the stress levels for my students and myself. I recognize and preach student growth to my students and is celebrated throughout the classroom space. I have student growth posters created by each student showing their growth in reading fluency, lexile, iRead (reading intervention program) writing and their creativity through art. My students sit in groups of 4 to ensure they are constantly collaborating with each other and I do my best to mobilize students once a month by changing their seats. I want them to work with a variety of people to develop understanding and diversity. Outside of the classroom, our school is the oldest school in the district and has been the last school to receive any type of upgrades. The latest upgrade was new blacktop all over the school and a new paint job. As they say going goes, “you can put lipstick on a pig but it’s still a pig.” Our school is old, in dire need of building repairs, our school has outgrown the multi-purpose room and there is no grass in any part of the school besides the front school lawn. The school is not a pleasant site in my opinion and does not foster excellence. However, the staff makes this school extremely welcoming and a safe place for parents and students to enter and open up dialogue from small conversations to important conversations about their children.