Last week Friday was our last ETC class of first quarter. As you know, we spent the entire quarter completing mini challenges to develop multiple skills around teamwork. We explained to the class that even though we thought that the overall experience of the quarter was incredible, there are definitely some changes we will make before we repeat this cycle. In addition, what really mattered was how they felt about the experience. With that being said, we asked your kids for some feedback. We want to share a few of their responses:
What did you enjoy about ETC this quarter?
Doing challenges with people I usually wouldn’t pick first.
Do you feel like ETC has helped you in other classes? Explain.
Yes I think it has helped all of us in PE because we are passing to each other more and cooperating nicely.
Do you feel like ETC has helped you in other classes? Explain.
Yes because now I am a better group worker and am having more group fun.
What did you enjoy about ETC this quarter? Be specific.
I enjoyed the energy of everyone around me because it was so positive and I made me feel happy.
Do you feel like ETC has helped you in other classes? Explain.
I feel that when I work in groups now it helps me because I know what good teamwork is.
What did you enjoy about ETC this quarter? Be specific.
I think something that I enjoyed was making new friends and having fun because now we talk much better than we used to.
If you could change ONE Thing about ETC, what would it be? Why?
Nothing because I love expanding my brain and working together.
What did you enjoy about ETC this quarter? Be specific.
I enjoyed the challenges and the groups. Like in the golf ball challenge, my group was very supportive of our ideas and we ended up completing it.
Which challenge was your favorite? Why?
Washer/Tennis ball challenge, I felt like I was a very big leader in that one and that one I also thought I participated a lot more than usual.
Which challenge was your favorite? Why?
I actually really loved all of the challenges because they all had to do with Me to We and that is one of my goals that I want to accomplish.
There was also some super constructive feedback, mostly about specific challenges that they didn’t love. It was the same challenges that we as teachers decided to toss for our next cycle! The survey was a really great transition piece to talk about what our next quarter will bring!
We will be moving our focus from teamwork to documentation. Students will be working in small groups to build Rube Goldberg Machines to perform tasks associated with Chanukah — spinning a dreidel, flipping a latke, lighting the chanukiah, etc.. Although students will continue to work on their teamwork skills, our “I Can” statements will focus on the importance of documenting while going through the engineering process. We will share our quarter two rubric with you soon!
We are so proud of the growth we saw in first quarter and look forward to more fun in the next few weeks!
