International educator Suzzanne Pautler explores how to turn traditional reading and writing instruction into collaborative problem-solving for today’s digital world.
My co-teacher and I teach sixth grade Language Arts in Guatemala, a country known for its youthful population. Children 10-14 years old, the same age as our students, represent 10% of the overall population. We know that our students will play a vital role in the country’s future, but do they grasp the connection between what they’re learning now and their future impact on society? We decided to create a learning unit for our students to see how their voices and ideas can influence change and shape their communities.
We began by brainstorming all the wonderful features of the country: the Mayan culture, tortillas, tourism, traditional dances, the quetzal, festivals, and volcanoes. We narrowed our focus by identifying how the country will thrive with such a youthful population. Our students stated that while having a young population may be risky, it also translates to innovation, advances in technology, entrepreneurship, strong work force, creativity, more care about the environment, and change. Our students began to make the connection they will be the problem solvers who tackle issues that Guatemala faces.
"We also shared with them real-world examples from Apple, Adidas, and Ford about how they used the design process for product development."
We often hear of the design thinking process in the context of STEM classes and maker spaces, but we decided to use the framework in the Language Arts classroom to help our students develop empathy, solve real-world problems, improve critical thinking, and enhance their linguistic skills. Before we embarked upon our design thinking cycle, we followed an activity from the Design for Change website where students drew a series of dinosaurs. Each time they were given new parameters for the drawing, such as changes in color, size, and features, to create better renditions of their dinosaurs. We used this activity as an informal way to guide our students through the journey of starting with one idea, making changes, utilizing the advice of others, and creating multiple ideations. We also shared with them real-world examples from Apple, Adidas, and Ford about how they used the design process for product development.
We decided to use John Spencer’s (a former middle school teacher) design thinking cycle and took our students on a journey through the L.A.U.N.C.H. cycle. The first phase of Look, Listen, and Learn is where our students become aware of issues in their communities. We used a NEWSELA article, “Middle School Engineering Students in Virginia Solve Problems Using Empathy” to help our students identify small issues experienced in one’s daily life. We did not want the students to become overwhelmed by trying to solve global issues, rather we wanted them to focus on local issues that they witness each day. Their issues included: animals losing their homes due to construction on our campus, long lines at the doctor’s office on campus, soccer balls flying into the street, traffic on the way to school, street dogs, uncomfortable school uniforms, and safety concerns for the blind population. Students built empathy maps for each situation to better understand the issue from the perspective of those being impacted.
We then moved onto the second phase where students had to Ask Tons of Questions. We encouraged them to ask questions to their classmates, teachers, parents, and family members to get a better, deeper understanding of the issue. Following this stage was Understanding the Problem. Students had to research the issue a bit more formally through interviews, research, and videos.
We required each group to create an “Action Question” so that they would have a specific focus for the remaining steps of the process. Some examples follow: How can we encourage people to stop throwing their trash and keep our campus clean? How can girls cool off during PE class if they don't have a hair tie? How can we motivate people to adopt a dog from the street instead of buying one? How can we encourage people to put on a helmet when the emergency alarm sounds? How might we encourage more students to follow the PBIS expectations in the bathroom (clean the bathroom, clean shoes before entering, not spray the water everywhere, and flush the toilets)? How might we reduce the traffic in Guatemala, so students do not arrive late to school? How might we convince students to take turns sharing the tables, so everyone has an opportunity to sit during lunch? We were moving forward collectively and collaboratively in small groups with great success, but then we hit a roadblock.
"A few were quite confident in their ability to solve problems through risk-taking and creative thinking"
The next stage of Navigate Ideas was a huge struggle for most groups. A few were quite confident in their ability to solve problems through risk-taking and creative thinking; however, this challenged most students. They are so accustomed to the answer being provided or confirmed; however, this time, they had to create the answer to their action questions. There was no right or wrong solution; they had to work as a team to create ideas, analyze them, change them as needed, combine them if appropriate, and work towards an unknown solution. With a lot of hand holding and confidence boosting from the teachers, students were finally able to generate concepts and visions for their ideas and solutions.
Students needed to Create a Prototype of their solution. I assumed most would prefer to create digital designs, so we encouraged them to use Google Drawings, Canva, and Tinkercad. A few wanted to use various AI platforms to create digital images, which we allowed. However, I was surprised as most groups wanted to create physical designs using cardboard boxes and posterboards. We spent a few days creating prototypes, and then each group had to create a 60 second elevator pitch of their prototype. The pitch (from the Zapier website) required 5 components: a hook, value proposition, evidence, differentiator, and call to action, which mimicked the PEEL paragraph structure we have been working on. Student groups delivered their pitches, and most importantly, received feedback from their classmates. This led them to the next phase, Highlight and Fix. Using the feedback, students were able to move forward with their revisions. With improved prototypes, it was time for the final phase, LAUNCH to an Audience.
Our K-12 community is a very supportive one and so leaders across our campus welcomed the sixth-grade students into their offices and classrooms to deliver their final presentations. We asked students to begin with storytelling to explain the problem, while building empathy for those impacted by the issue. Then, they had to walk their audience through the process or the steps of their design thinking cycle. Finally, the groups included elements of their elevator pitch, ending in a call to action. After delivering their presentations, students returned to the Language Arts classroom full of empowerment and positivity. They really believe that they, the youth of Guatemala, will make a difference in their communities.
We transformed traditional reading and writing assignments into a student-centered project-based learning experience. Our students’ “future ready” skills such as adaptability, innovation, collaboration, critical thinking, and technology integration were certainly enhanced in the English Language Arts classroom. And most importantly, students started to see how these are tools they genuinely want to continue developing!
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