(Organized) Chaos in my classroom

Right now, my students are in the midst of a ‘Choose your own adventure’ assignment. We’re wrapping up our unit on Angles and I wanted them to have a chance to show me what they’ve learned in a way that is meaningful to them. Earlier in the unit, we walked around the school and took pictures on the iPads, posting them to a Linoit board.  At the end of the unit, we came back to them to give us some context for thinking about our curriculum expectations. 

I wrote out the expectation for them. I talked to them about context, connections and using  ‘what they are good at.’ And then I said, “Go. Show me what you’ve learned.” I confess, for a few days they sort of looked puzzled. They brainstormed some ideas, but weren’t really sure what to do. I could tell that they were waiting for direction from me about what to do next. 

I said, “I don’t think it’s my job to stand at the front, while you sit and listen and write stuff down.” #mindblown.  I talked to them about being present and accountable for their learning. I talked about them working collaboratively to investigate what they know and what they have learned. I told them, “Do whatever you want to show me what you have learned.”

And so, if you visit my class during math right now, you’ll see a group researching construction practices and buliding nets. You’ll see groups writing songs about angles. Kids will be outside filming clips for a short film.  Kids are in the hall with a ukelele and a board game design. It’s chaos. Kids are all over the place. Everyone is doing different things. I’ll probably have to write like, 6 rubrics. That’s okay. The kids are engaged. They are focused. They are discussing their learning. They are doing it in a way that makes sense to them.