“Shared purpose” was the topic of this week’s Connected Learning lessons, and here are seven stories that I believe help bring the concept more clearly into focus.
There is a story on the Digital Is website that discusses Boss Level at the Quest2Learn school in New York City. Boss Level is a two week period during which normal classes are suspended and students work together on “challenges”, which are projects that require collaboration and utilization of cross-subject expertise. It sounds to me like a mini-engineering camp.
In a video we watched where Danielle Filipiak discussed “learning with a shared purpose”, I found it interesting at about 38:50 when she mentioned thinking about individuals, their community, and the world they live in. She said that she used these three “think-abouts” to guide her teaching for the semester that followed as a way to connect with her students.
On the Student Voice website I was impressed with the ability for visitors to vote on the issues that they found most important. I tried to do this myself until I realized that in order to vote you needed to be a high school student and be willing to put forth your personal information and school affiliation. I was glad to see this, because it made me realize that I shouldn’t be voting. This site is not intended to voice my opinion as an educator, so it makes sense that I should not be able to vote. The issue of employability makes great sense to me in the increasingly specialized world we live and work in.
The Harvard Business Review had an intriguing article by Vineet Nayar discussing the benefits of collaboration. He focuses on how constraints can lead to innovation and how an inspired group can succeed where individuals might stumble. Sometimes breaking the rules becomes necessary for the common good.
D.C. Vito wrote an article about critical thinking and being able to uncover bias in media that preceded the Educator Innovator webinar we watched for class this week. In it he mentions helping students become informed citizens so that they can make educated choices once they are old enough to vote. This to me is the epitome of shard purpose.
The Hunger is Not a Game campaign mentioned in the story about the Harry Potter Alliance indirectly led me to the Oxfam America site, specifically the section of it where actions that work toward a shared purpose are promoted. You can host event, donate money, volunteer, or sign petitions that forward Oxfam’s goals of ending poverty and injustice.
“No Water, No Life” reminded me that even some of the youngest students can still do good and take civic action. I am embarrassed to say that I was unaware of the water shut-offs that were happening in Detroit in 2014. I wonder if any of the adults who were lampooned felt any shame after seeing themselves through the eyes of a child affected by the situation. After viewing the video, my immediate thought was, “Message received!”
Thanks for reading,
Eric L