Toy design student sample collaboration

I collaborated with my student teacher, Julia Bemis, and our Early Childhood Education teacher Lelani Gordon.
My original collaboration colleague was John MacDonald, but this year due to time constraints and class schedule I implemented the unit in a semester physics class instead of an integrated academic/CTE engineering design class.

I was very thankful of the flexibility and enthusiasm of Lelani Gordon. She was extremely welcoming and supportive of the collaborative effort between my physics students and her early childhood high school and preschool students. Our high school students met twice. The first time the physics students interviewed Lelani's students to generate some criteria and constraints. On the second meeting, the preschoolers actually tested the toy designs and provided feedback to my physics students. Julia Bemis, my student teacher, helped implement the unit and evaluate the projects. This authentic design project would not have been a success without collaborative efforts of Lelani and Julia. Thank you guys!

Stage 3 Collaboration

When John MacDonald and I sat down to discuss our integrated classwork we began by sharing our personal opinions, thoughts and visions. We sketched out different outlines and diagrams as we discussed to visually chart our brainstorming and how our ideas for the unit could dovetail. As previously mentioned in the other collaboration post we are both very open in our communication, transparent in our interaction and mutually respect each others teaching styles and passions. Working from such a foundation allows us to take risks together.

The Stage 3 template was more detailed than my colleague would generally expect when planning out instruction. He is more inclined to use a "lead sheet" approach to unit plans. After identifying the big ideas and interim tasks, he gives the students short bits of direct instruction between divergent exercises, projects and quizzes and then work on a final performance task.

John is an incredible collaborator. He spends many hours coordinating with outside experts and planning authentic experiences for his students in and outside of the laboratory. It is quite amazing to watch how he can inspire and engage students with the environment he creates.

The stage 3 template inherently included some aspects of John's technology standards because of the technological design standards from the Science MLRs. He recognized how many of the WHERETO facet experiences were similar to what he has used in his previous technology classes and that the sequence was reasonable. We did discuss leveraging the expertise of the art teachers who work in close proximity for the sketching portions of the facets. This additional potential collaboration could prove fruitful.

I know John and I will continue to discuss and implement the unit and I anticipate some more collaboration with Julia Bemis, a student teacher, and the art department next year.

Obama recognizes Mass has clear Standards

I was surprised that President Obama recognized the clarity of the Massachusetts standards in his blog on March 10th. I agree with him, - as noted in the previous collaboration post.

President Obama said:

"We will end what has become a race to the bottom in our schools and instead, spur a race to the top by encouraging better standards and assessments. This is an area where we are being outpaced by other nations. It’s not that their kids are any smarter than ours – it’s that they are being smarter about how to educate their kids. They are spending less time teaching things that don’t matter, and more time teaching things that do. They are preparing their students not only for high school or college, but for a career. We are not. Our curriculum for eighth graders is two full years behind top performing countries. That is a prescription for economic decline. I refuse to accept that America’s children cannot rise to this challenge. They can, they must, and they will meet higher standards in our time. 


Let’s challenge our states to adopt world-class standards that will bring our curriculums into the 21st century.

The solution to low test scores is not lower standards – it’s tougher, clearer standards. Standards like those in Massachusetts, where 8th graders are now tying for first – first – in the world in science.

And I am calling on our nation’s Governors and state education chiefs to develop standards and assessments that don’t simply measure whether students can fill in a bubble on a test, but whether they possess 21st century skills like problem-solving and critical thinking, entrepreneurship and creativity."

--March 10, 2009

Stage 1 colleague support and communicaiton

When working with my colleague, John MacDonald, there is a important foundation of mutual respect and openness in our conversations. In order to collaborate, it has been beneficial for us to be flexible with our personal teaching styles and expectations. When describing Stage 1, I considered John's teaching experience and perspective when describing it to him.

Specific standards for vocational programs are in flux. Over the past few years vocational schools have been working on cross-walking what they do with academic standards from the MLR, but more recently they are focusing on national and technical certification standards as guidelines for their programs. We looked at the MLRs for the 9-12th grade Science and Technology B2:Technological Design process standards and compared them to Massachusetts' Science and Technology/Engineering Curriculum Frameworks. The big ideas are essentially the same as the MLRs but the Massachusetts' Frameworks are clearer and more comprehensive with regard to engineering and technology standards.

John recommended we consider having students start with some seed money or materials and upon a the presentation of their conceptual design they could be granted additional resources for building the prototype.