Brain Space

Today is exactly one week until spring break. Even though student (and teacher) brains stop working during the few days before any school holiday, our 20% time brains are fully functioning.

I think students are finally getting their minds wrapped around these projects because I'm getting a lot of questions today like "Can I change my project to specialize in making Lacrosse sticks instead of writing a sports blog?" and "Can I work on my project outside of school too?"

These are exciting questions for me because it shows me that they're reaching a more realistic thinking zone in terms of their projects. They're really visualizing what the end result might be and starting to understand that to live up to their own standards, they'll want to work on their projects during times other than that I will be providing in class.

Project Proposal Day (a little late)...

Okay, so it's actually the week after project proposal day. I've been sick since last Friday and I am literally just now starting to look at the proposals students submitted last week. I can already see the magic happening. The very first student proposal I read today started with this:

"I wanted to do photography, but I also wanted to do something outside of my comfort zone. Usually I take pictures of objects or of nature. For this project I wanted to do pictures of people. I’ve noticed that a lot of girls feel insecure when taking pictures without makeup on. Society seems to tell people that they need it to look okay. I wanted to do photography of people with little to no makeup on so we can see that everyone is beautiful." 

Well, I think it goes without saying, but I have to say it anyway - the type of thought Katie put into her project proposal is already getting me excited! I can't wait to see how this project turns out.

By the way, I decided to buy some 20% Time teacher literature this year to check up on myself and see if I could get some new ideas. I've been reading Donalyn Miller's The Book Whisperer and Penny Kittle's Book Love and what rings true in both of these books is that kids need to find love and passion in learning! I ordered The 20time Project by Keven Brookhouser which was super reaffirming and gave me some great new ideas. One big change that I think helps a lot is that I used his project proposal template for my students this year. It's a lot more user-friendly for 8th graders and I love the timeline layout - I'm predicting that this will help students achieve their goals and understand how to revise goals throughout the project a little more clearly.

Now, on to helping students set up blogs, post proposals using Google Docs, and giving myself time to read through each project proposal and discuss them with each student.

20% Time 2015-2016

Yay! It's 20% time again! I'm so excited and a little bummed that we're getting a later start this year (last year we started in November), but I think it will help keep us focused and possibly give us a little more oomf in motivation to get projects done by May. Today we started out with our traditional (totally non-traditional) "Bad Ideas Brainstorm." Boy, oh boy, did my students this year have some horrible ideas for what to do with our 20% time projects! Here is a sample of what they came up with: staple all our fingers together, shank someone, dig a hole to China with a spoon, stick a fork up your nose, sleep, eat a desk, drive through a wall.... Yep, I sure am glad we recognized those as bad ideas! Of course, some of those bad ideas became good ideas. Some interesting ideas I heard today were write a travel blog, take self defense classes, and learn how to cook BBQ. I can't wait to see what these kiddos come up with next week when we start our project proposals.

Success!

Wow! I am blown away by my students' presentations. We had quite a crowd show up today to hear about our students passions, interests and findings about themselves and the world we live in. I think the best way to show our awesome day off is with some pictures!

The Big Day

Today is presentation day!!

I'm so excited for our guests to see what these 8th graders have done this year and learn more about what fuels their passion in life! After hearing speeches for the last few days, I have been blown away not only by the projects these kiddos took on, but by their wisdom and insights about themselves and their journeys this year.

Hope to see you there today!

You're Invited!

Please join us for our final presentations:

When: Friday, May 8 from 10 a.m. - 3:20 p.m.
Where: Auburn Junior High School Media Center
Details: Students will be conducting TED Talk-style presentations in a gallery/walk-through format in our media center. Please come and find out what the highlights and learnings were for our students this year as they tried to make their passion projects come to life.

Light refreshments will be served. 

**Please sign-in in the front office when you arrive.**

Contact me at dmbrowning@auburnschools.org with any questions!

I'm so excited, I just had to write it!

So, it's 1:30 in the morning and I can't sleep because I am so excited to hear my students' This I Believe essays tomorrow. I know this is off topic but I had to let my excitement out somewhere, and, well, everyone else is sleeping. Not only are my students doing amazing things for their 20% Time projects, they are writing stellar essays about their beliefs and convictions in life by sharing their life experiences and philosophies. Yes, I'm getting more energy just writing this and thinking about it. Looks like sleep is a long way off. #teacherprobs #mystudentsarekeepingmeupatnight #foralltherightreasons

Check out the This I Believe project at www.thisibelieve.org. 

And yes, our 20% Time speeches are coming along nicely. I think I'll have a few "I'm so excited I feel like a kid before Christmas morning" sleepless nights next week too! #can'twait 

#writingatnightmakesmehashtageverything

#gotobed