Humanities: Empathy & DEEP Design

We continue our design thinking work by looking at Casey Neistat's filmmaking & his studio.

Make It Count from Casey Neistat on Vimeo.

GIZMODO - The Wildly Functional Studio of Video Wizard Casey Neistat, Part 1 from Gizmodo on Vimeo.

Then we will take a moment to get a working definition of "design thinking" going here in the room. We will be using Mary Cantwell's DEEP Design Thinking process.

• Discover
• Empathize
• Experiment
• Produce

Yesterday's See, Think, Wonder work was part of the Discover process.

Today we move into Empathize.

By considering the purpose and function of a space, we can better add design elements to help the user.  Thinking about the user and understanding what that user needs and all the ways that user might work within a space relies upon our EMPATHY skills.

We will use The Compass Points protocol to help us in this.

From http://jillianhinesley.weebly.com/design-thinking.html

We will interview one another, asking these four questions in order to better understand what we each want from this space.  This data we can use to make better decisions about the design we create next week.

We will then get into groups to discuss each of the points and what we have learned about each of us.

Humanities: Room Design Day One of ?

We kick off our room design process today.

Before we get to that, however, we want to wrap up our mini-work with Langston Hughes' "Harlem."  We will be discussing cause, effect, dreams, goals, wins and fails and completing a short analysis activity of the poem called a "Chalk Talk."

And then . . .

Note: Everything below is copied from the AP Lit blog entry from today.  Why? Because Humanities & AP Lit are following the SAME PROCESS!  9th graders & 12th graders doing the same work?!! What is this madness?!?

From here we will do a few community building activities -- two quick ones and start a much more involved process: designing our space.

Each of the above will provide us an opportunity to dive into DESIGN THINKING, a human-centered way of approaching problem solving and creating.

Over the next couple of weeks we'll be exploring the ideas presented by David Kelley's IDEO, Stanford d.School & Mary Cantwell's DEEP Design Thinking.

For today though, we will be taking a page from Jillian Hinesley's work and shaping our learning space.  We will follow the "See, Think, Wonder" learning routine.

John Stuart Mill: Huge Fantasy Football Nerd.

Each of my classes will be doing this and we will follow a process to choose the best of the best ideas to create a John Stuart Mill room, achieving the greatest good for the greatest number of students.  We'll be collecting observations of our space's use, assessing its form and function, and revisiting the designs later in the year.

I don't want to give every little nook & cranny away, but that's what will drive our first day.

And since you all worked so hard this summer -- or at least these past few days -- you have a three-day weekend to unwind and reset for our AP Lit Design Thinking/Literary Analysis & Composition Boot Camp arriving next Tuesday & Wednesday.

Don't forget: Designer Starter Kits!  Get them in ASAP!

AP Lit: Welcome Back to the Start

We return from summer break with a renewed energy & fervour for learning! (I'm so excited I turned British over it!)

Thursday & Friday, August 29 & 30, we dive headlong into our summer projects.  Three to four folks at a time will take up positions in the corners of the room.  The rest of the class will divide & rotate through each "station," following the Critical Circles Protocol I've shared with folks here:  Critical Circles Protocol.

Preview of Critical Circles Protocol

From here we will do a few community building activities -- two quick ones and start a much more involved process: designing our space.

Each of the above will provide us an opportunity to dive into DESIGN THINKING, a human-centered way of approaching problem solving and creating.

Over the next couple of weeks we'll be exploring the ideas presented by David Kelley's IDEO, Stanford d.School & Mary Cantwell's DEEP Design Thinking.

For today though, we will be taking a page from Jillian Hinesley's work and shaping our learning space.  We will follow the "See, Think, Wonder" learning routine.

John Stuart Mill: Huge Fantasy Football Nerd.

Each of my classes will be doing this and we will follow a process to choose the best of the best ideas to create a John Stuart Mill room, achieving the greatest good for the greatest number of students.  We'll be collecting observations of our space's use, assessing its form and function, and revisiting the designs later in the year.

I don't want to give every little nook & cranny away, but that's what will drive our first day.

And since you all worked so hard this summer -- or at least these past few days -- you have a three-day weekend to unwind and reset for our AP Lit Design Thinking/Literary Analysis & Composition Boot Camp arriving next Tuesday & Wednesday.

Don't forget: Designer Starter Kits!  Get them in ASAP!

All Classes: "Harlem" by Langston Hughes

Something to consider on August 28, 2013, 50 years after MLK's "I Have a Dream Speech" & the March on Washington

You can read more of Hughes' poetry & writing here: Langston Hughes' "Harlem" @ Poetry Foundation

What Room F-215 Looks Like . . .

Without students in it. 

This year's classes will be deciding how this place should look and function as a hyper-rad learning, exploring, designing, understanding, making space.  

Welcome to the New Look of Flight307

Same great home for content and all great things that happen in Mr. Ryder's room.

But now he'll be using the same tool his students use to compose blogs & that should make everyone a little friendlier & happier.

Here's what Steve Jobs (the late visionary of Apple) has to say about change.