Ideation & Pitch Proposal

Last week in Town Hall there was a reminder to flex your creative thinking and your social expectations, and consider alternative disciplines and spaces when determining a project. We hope you have been engaged in ideation and exploration, in order to develop expansive possibilities for projects this semester. This week, it will be important to start narrowing down your ideas and potential projects. On Friday, students will pitch their projects for feedback, approval, and potential movement of project block spaces.


MONDAY & TUESDAY
Year Long Projects - Meet with Kimberly in Treehouse at 10:30am today.
Mike's Project Block - Back to the Drama Room
Tara's Project Block - Back to the Science Room
Follow the plans that were created as a group last week. What are the next steps in your ideation process? Be sure to check in at the beginning and end of the period to make sure that the choices, processes, and ideation in general is helping everyone get to project ideas. Some groups may choose to take some time to orient Juniors who were not with you last week.

WEDNESDAY
All high school students will take the Youth Truth survey, providing important feedback about school experiences and culture.

• 7:55 - Start the day in the Drama Room for Town Hall (Mike Hosts)
• 8:15 - Return to Project Block spaces to complete the Youth Truth Survey. Take as much time as needed. This information is important for the school.
• 9:00 - Town Hall in the Drama Room (Becky's Advisory Hosts)

THURSDAY

Project Block will be after lunch today, due to the Indie Lens schedule. Write your pitch today. Plan for 1-2 Minutes. Your pitch should include anything your project advisor asks for AND the following requirements:

• WHAT is a project idea that you have? Describe it. What question or interest does is further explore?
• WHY is the project important to you? Why do you think it will become important to other people? In other words, who is your audience and why will they care about what you are doing?
• HOW will you go about beginning this project? How do you think you will communicate the ideas you discover through an art form? (Be specific....not just "I will make a dance" but "I will use movements like....because....")

FRIDAY

Students will pitch their project ideas in front of their project block groups. Advisor rubric will be completed. Here's what it can look like in class:

• TIMER: Designate a timer who will set a clock for 2 minutes for each pitch. 
• VIDEOGRAPHER: Designate a videographer who will use an iPad to capture each pitch on an iPad for later reflection and consideration by other staff members.
• FEEDBACK: All audience members should complete feedback forms for their peers. Feedback should be submitted to Project Advisors today, and will be returned to students next week. Feedback should be focused on the potential of the project, not on the delivery of the pitch.

Required Evidence:

• Written Pitch Submitted to Project Advisor
• 2 min Verbal Pitch Given to Project Group
• Pitch Video Recorded
• Feedback Provided to at Least 50% of Peers
• Project Journal Started
• Project Advisor Determined (Changes must be approved by current and future advisors, who will then communicate changes to Kimberly.)
• Project Approval

Process Journal | Journaling Your Journey

As you journey through Ideation Phase (and the remainder of your project), be sure to continue recording your ideas in your process journal. The process journal is a generative text that documents your evolving thinking about a project. It is the place where innovators record brainstorming, successes, missteps, changes in ideas, thoughts on end product. While it is important that reflection takes place in the written language, it also happens through images.

This journal can take many forms based on your topic, your creation, your discipline. In general, the process journal is:

• A place to plan and brainstorm - mind maps, open + closed questions, written pitches
• A place to record interactions with sources - research, annotations, notes from educators + peers, thinking routines
• A place to explore creation - storyboards, sketches, poetry, quotes, choreography
• A place to document academic discipline - proposal outline, science reports, engineering logs, historical research, writing process
• A place to reflect on goals, learning

Project Block | Semester 2 Begins! | Monday, January 22

It might feel like a long road back to ideation, but arriving here could be refreshing! Being so near the end of your prior project, means that you can begin your next project with the end in mind. A project provides an opportunity to learn something new, deepen interest or technique, connect ideas that haven't been previously together, communicate something of yourself to the world. A project starts with you and turns into something for others to share in.

This is the first week of ideation for new projects (or part two of an existing project for those doing year-long projects). It will be important to say "yes!" in order to maximize the possible projects that could come to mind. Say yes to opportunities to do micro-projects in one day. Say yes to collaborating with people you haven't collaborated with before. Say yes to spending some time alone, thinking in silence. Say yes to new puzzles. Say yes to feedback. Say yes to experimentation. Ideation is an expansive process, at first.

Build a mountain of possible project ideas.

...

MONDAY:

- All Juniors should go to assigned rooms for ACT practice. Those taking Reading & Writing sections need to be in the Science Room at 9:45am. Math practice will be in the Drama Room at 10:00am.
(Junior Student Lists - Here : Teachers have access to the document.)
- Students who have not signed up for a Project Block should report to the Cafeteria.
(Project Block Student Lists - Here : Teachers have access to the document.)
- Tara's Project Block will be with Tim in the Engineering Room
- Mike's Project Block will be with Mike in Beckah's Room

• Get to know the other people who have selected your discipline through a gathering where you share the artists, makers, writers, thinkers who you most admire/follow/seek to be at the moment.
• Create a list of your favorite brainstorming tools, idea generation experiences, and sources for project ideas. Evaluate them through discussion. Decide which ones you will engage in as a group in the next two weeks.
• Mind Maps
• Group Projects that take 2-3 days, but go through the whole process of a project.
• Small scale practice projects that are only one day long. They are sometimes bad projects that become good ideas for something more long-term.
• Games or challenges that challenge you to solve a problem or think of problems that make good project ideas.
• Playful interactions within the discipline. No pressure. Just playing for the purpose of exposure and thinking.
• Engage in some kind of making or look at a professional model.
• Create a plan for this week that is agreed upon. (Juniors will be joining you on Wednesday)

****Note: Proposals will be due next Friday, February 2nd. In order to be approved by your Project Block Advisory, they must include "What," "How," and "Why." The goal is to do a verbal project pitch (about 2 minutes long) to your group for feedback. These may be recorded for later reflection. You must also have your pitch in writing for your Advisor. 

****Note: Projects designed as year-long projects will meet on Monday, January 29th in Beckah's Room. You will need to share your plan for the semester in as much detail as possible and have an idea of who from the community you would like to have on a panel for feedback. 

****Note: If you would like to switch Project Block groups, that can be done between Monday, January 29th and Monday, February 5th. You will need a written project proposal pitch to make that request and the approval of both Advisors. Advisors will inform Kimberly of the change for attendance.

Semester Transition | Preparing for Next Week

Today is the last day of Semester 1 in Project Block! It is the last day to turn in Evidence of Learning, the last day to make up an EoL, the last day to reflect in writing or conference with advisor according to their expectations.

All students should take time to consider which discipline they would like to participate in to start the next Semester. After reflecting on your own project, Exhibitions of Learning by other students, and your current curiosities and interests, where would be a good place for you.

COMPLETE THIS FORM TO INDICATE YOUR INTEREST

This must be completed on Friday, January 19th

New groups will meet beginning on Monday, January 22nd

TODAY: If you have completed all of your reflection responsibilities and you have an interest in film production or making a living in the film industry, we have an Alumni guest who will share his experiences with students and answer questions. Kyle Arpke is a 2007 graduate of Étude High School and you can read about one of his award-winning projects here. This will take place in the drama room from 10:15 - 11:00am. Students will begin and end the period with their own Project Block Advisor and group.

Friday, January 12th | The Reflective Process

It has been an inspiring week of Exhibitions of Learning. Thank you for sharing your projects, and for the thoughtful audience engagement. There was a wide range of projects,  showing different levels of expertise, connectivity, and innovation.

GATHERING: Headlines - Write a headline to summarize the events of the last week as if they were on the front page of a newspaper. (Include an action verb!) Share the headline as if you were trying to sell the newspaper on the street corner....shout it out!


CONSIDER EXHIBITIONS OF LEARNING AS AN EVENT: As a group, provide feedback to inform future Exhibitions of Learning. We did this informally on Wednesday, but we would like you to think about how we can improve the experience for the spring.

• Keep - Create a list of characteristics about the EoL event that you believe should be kept the same in future events. 

• Change - Create a list of suggested changes for future events. Be specific and provide rationale for how you feel the change will improve the experience.
  
• Support - Create a list of areas where students need more support, in order to make the EoL event more successful. Describe what that support might look like. 

*Document the Keep, Change, Support for the planning team to consider. Share with Kimberly, Zoe, and Jackson.

FEEDBACK - If feedback forms are available, they will be distributed and reviewed. Students should read their own feedback and annotate with three different colors (highlighters work well for this). 

• Use one color to highlight areas of the feedback that you CONNECT or agree with.
• Use another color to highlight areas that EXTEND your thinking about your project or yourself.
• Use a third color to highlight areas of feedback that CHALLENGE your thinking about your project.
• Write your own notes on the feedback forms, so that you can use specific evidence in your written reflection or conference with your project block advisor next week. 

REFLECT - If feedback forms are not available or there is time remaining, students should silently reflect on the following in their Process Journals. It is not necessary to create a written or formal response to every question, but students should organize their thoughts and prepare evidence from the process journal and project.

↑ Intent: Thinking about initial thoughts, questions, expectations.

• What topic did you study during Project Block this semester? Why did you choose this topic?
• What were your initial thoughts about the topic?
• What were your initial expectations?

← Process: Thinking of what happened in the research phase.

• What research did you do? What new information did you encounter because of this research? 
• What did you learn about your topic that you did not know before this semester? 
• How did your views of the topic change based on your research?
• How were your views of the topic affirmed based on your research?

← Product: Thinking of what happened when everything came together.

• What did you create? Why did you choose this type of creation?
• What decisions did you have to make before you began this process?
• What decisions did you have to make during the creation phase?
• How does your creation represent your topic? What you learned during the creation phase?
• What is the strongest part of your creation? Why?
• What is the weakest part of your creation? Why? How could you change this portion of the creation? 
• What would you do differently if you could redo the creation phase? Explain.
• How did you collaborate with others in this stage of the project journey? What did you learn by working with other individuals?

→ Intent: Thinking of future learning.

• What would you keep, repeat, change in your project?
• How did you prepare for your exhibition? How could you better prepare for exhibition in the future?
• Was your exhibition successful? Why or why not.
• If you could change one aspect of your exhibition, what would it be and why?
• How did you collaborate with others in this stage of the project journey? What did you learn by working with other individuals?
• What were your successes this semester? Why were these successes? 
• What were your obstacles? How did you overcome these obstacles?
• What new skills did you obtain this semester? How did you obtain those skills?
• What skills can you use next semester, in other classes, in the future?

.....

NEXT WEEK

- Advisors will communicate their expectations for individual reflections on this semester. 

- Students who did not complete their Exhibition of Learning and would like an opportunity to do so, will need to schedule that with their Project Advisor and make sure that it takes place before Thursday.

- The final week of the semester. All evidence is due on Friday, January 19th. No evidence will be accepted after that.

WEEK of JANUARY 22nd

- Students will experience some creative play and a micro-project within a discipline of their choice

- Students who already have project ideas and students with year-long projects, will have an opportunity to pitch that project idea -- >  What? How? Why?

- Juniors will learn more about the ACT during project block time

Wednesday, January 10th

Hi all! Thank you for an inspiring first day of Exhibitions of Learning. We are reminded of the caring and critical community that makes up our school, the level of engagement, feedback, and support that you all share is something that simply doesn't exist at other schools. Neither do projects like yours. There are always ways to improve on our professionalism and self-discipline, but I hope we are moving into Wednesday with continued enthusiasm.

7:55 - 10:00am - Project Block

All students will attend Project Block in the morning.

• In an extended gathering of your choice, share highlights of Tuesday's Exhibitions. Be specific about what you appreciated, learned, and/or how you might build on that for today. (Perhaps a Perceive, Know, Care about for your favorite project)
• GWT! Set up in your Project Block space for some Academic GWT. It should be a quiet work environment, with specific and meaningful goals to carry out. This is a great time to think about those academic classes that you haven't had since last Friday and make sure you are read for this Friday (Even Classes). If you haven't had your EoL yet, you may want to go over it one more time, tweak some details, revise to make it even more engaging. 
• 9:30am - Everyone check to see where you should be today and when. Do you know which roundtables you signed up for? Who are you going to write feedback for?
• 9:45am - All morning Gallery Walk presenters are dismissed to JMKAC. They open at 10:00, which is when you need to be there with your project and set up. 
• 10:00am - Go together to your assigned location for this morning.

At the end of the day, GWT locations include Humanities East, High School Science Room, Ray Bradbury Room.

Submit Digital Files for Exhibitions of Learning

Please use the following form to submit your presentation files and any other digital files that you may need during your Exhibition of Learning: Click here.

EoL Expectations