The First Lesson

After talking with Lissa and Tiffany the previous day, we create a presentation that focuses on peer critique. As Erica puts it, peer critique is "using our classmates as resources to better our work." We do this by asking students to set their work down on their desks, place a piece of paper to the side of their work, and walk over to another desk. Once at a desk, they look over that student's work and write down their comments and critiques onto the piece of paper. At the end, students use their peers' critiques to revise their work. For this lesson, Erica is given control of the classroom for an entire class period, and leads a peer critique for Lissa's 7th grade students.

High School Projects

We check out Ryan's class project, the Pinewood Derby. He told us about the project yesterday, and we watch his students race their cars down a track. Afterwards, we discuss his following project, "Angry Birds." We test the project with Ryan and his math teaching partner, Garret. In it, students will build a projectile launcher that they will eventually use to shoot a block into a trash can on their first try. To do this they must study the way the block moves in the air, based on how far back the elastic launcher is pulled. A few hours or so of math and video analysis later, students use the distance of the trash can to calculate how far back they'll need to pull their elastic launcher to make it in on their first try. Later on, an obstacle will be placed in front of the trash can, meaning they will have to figure out (based solely on their calculations) what angle they must set their launcher to in order to clear the obstacle and still make it in on their first try.      

Project Planning

After school, we attend a high school math/science teacher meeting, focused on finalizing the preparation for the next two days. The coming days are important because they will be entirely dedicated to five projects, one of which is Ryan's "Angry Birds" project. Sophomores will be able to choose one of these projects to work on for two days. It's the first time the high school has done anything like this, and consequently, it is leaving the teachers in distress. They struggle as they discuss the importance of every single aspect of the projects. Some believe the students should make a blog and use it to present, while others don't believe there will be enough time for that. As all matters are discussed, we listen and offer advice in the form of questions, all while appreciating the fact that although for us at High Tech High projects are commonplace, that isn't the case everywhere else, and it's interesting to hear different priorities being considered.