How did spending more time on planning improve your final blueprint?

We could get a better idea but I wasn’t at school on Monday (last Monday) so I don’t know what they originally thought of.

How did your group come to one final plan after brainstorming several ideas?

We came up with it because one idea seemed the most realistic and the most safe and possible to do so we picked it.

Why do you think taking more time to plan was important?

We could get a better idea and think it through more so that we don’t have to do it over again because the plan wasn’t relistic enough.

Did brainstorming with multiple people help you come up with more ideas? How?

Yes it helped because instead of just thinking of YOUR ideas, you could get a lot more because other people were thinking of plans they liked.

What would you differently during the planning process next time?

Maybe we could think of more realistic plans so we don’t have to keep changing it to make it better.

Today’s Challenge: Using only an index card and a scissors find a way to cut your index card so you can fit your entire body through it.

Teamwork Rubric Focus (Organization/Planning):

My goal for organization/planning today within my team is…

My goal for organization/planning today within my team is to make sure we have a plan before we start and make sure we throw out all the leftover scraps so there is not a big mess in the room.

My Individual Plan 

Maybe we could;

-Cut the middle so its like a circle

-Have teammates hold the parts that could rip so when the person goes through it doesn’t break

-Cut it in the middle and roll the edges out

Why I think my plan will be successful:

I think the plan where the teammates hold the parts that could rip might work because then maybe someone can fit in it without it ripping.

Our Group’s Plan 

We will cut the paper into thin strips and then cut out slits so the pieces can fit together then bwalker21 will lift me and put me through the hole.

We chose this plan because…

We chose this plan because we thought that this was the most successful plan and because it looked pretty easy to do.

Possible challenges that may come up during construction…

Challenges that may come up during construction are that the paper could rip because of the thin strips or it could not be big enough for me to go through.

Each team member will be responsible for…

bwalker21 will cut the strips, I will cut the slits, and ygaines21 will hold the index card so I can fit through.

After the Build

PHOTO COMING SOON

Our design worked well because…

Our design didn’t work but at least it was easy to make.

This activity was challenging because…

This activity was challenging because the paper kept coming apart when I tried to fit in it.

This activity was comfortable because….

The activity was comfortable because it was easy to fit the slits together

I met my teamwork organization/planning goal by…

I met my goal by making sure we had a plan before we started cutting and stuff.

A strength of my team was….

A strength of my team was we didn’t really fight and we agreed on an idea pretty fast

An area of growth for my team is…

Something we need to work on is not everyone did something and some people sat around and didn’t  do anything

For our next challenge, my new teamwork organization/planning goal for myself is…

My goal for the next challenge is the same, but I would add that I should make sure no one is sitting around doing nothing.

Today’s Challenge: Using only newspaper, 24 inches of tape, and one scissors, you and your partner need to create one shoe that fits either you or your partner’s foot. The shoe must be able to come on and off without falling apart.

Teamwork Rubric Focus (Communication):

My goal for communication today within my team is…

My goal for today within my team is to make sure that everyone is doing something and that no one is left out. Also maybe I want everyone to be able to have a little part of their own idea in the group plan.

My Individual Plan

My plan is to make tube out of some stacked newspaper (to make it stronger) that fits on someone’s foot (in my group), then put some stacked newspaper where the toes would be  and then add a little more stacked newspaper around the ankle and leg and make sure everything is strong so it won’t rip.

Why I think my plan will be successful:

I think my plan will be successful because the newspaper stacks should make the paper a little stronger so it probably won’t break.

Our Group’s Plan 

We are going to make slippers by making a base and then putting a piece of newspaper on the front.

We chose this plan because…

We chose this plan because they seem easy and should be easy to make.

Possible challenges that may come up during construction…

The part in front might rip so we might need to make them thicker.

Each partner will be responsible for…

YGaines21 will tape and I will cut and put the shoe together.

After the Build

Our design worked well because…

Our design worked well because it didn’t fall apart and it only took five minutes so we were able to make two!

This activity was challenging because…

This activity wasn’t really challenging but if I had to say something that was hard, it was cutting out the shape of the foot because I kept almost cutting YGaines21’s sock.

This activity was comfortable because….

This activity was comfortable because the kind of shoe we made was really easy and we got a lot more tape than we get in other challenges.

I met my teamwork communication goal by…

I met my goal because both of our ideas were kind of in the shoe.

A strength of my partnership was….

A strength of my partnership was that we didn’t fight and were able to make a pair of shoes.

An area of growth for my partnership is…

An area of growth would be that maybe we take a little more time on the design because a lot of people did the same thing we did.

For our next challenge, my new teamwork communication goal for myself is….

My teamwork goal is to have everyone do a job because we didn’t really stick to our jobs and we kind of did anything.

How have you changed as a group member this year in ETC?

I think I have changed as a group member this year by not arguing with my group and having everyone do a job, instead of just sitting there doing nothing.

How has working in ETC made you a better student in other classes? (Social Studies, ELA, Jewish Studies, Hebrew, Math, Science)

ETC has made me a better student in other classes because I can work with different people well.

Thinking about my blog posts, I have improved by….

I think that I have improved my blog posts by making my answers in more complete sentences.

In the future, I plan to improve my blog posts by….

I want to improve my blog posts by maybe writing a more complete/longer answer for the questions.

Today’s Challenge: Using only provided materials ( 6 straws, 1 piece of paper, a piece of tinfoil, 12 inches of masking tape, 2 paperclips, 2 pieces of string, 1 envelope, and 2 pipe cleaners)  create a structure that holds two cups as high as possible and as far apart as possible.

Teamwork Rubric Focus:

My goal for participation today while working in my group is…

My goal is to have everyone be able to do something and participate.

My Individual Plan 

My plan will be to cover the straws in tinfoil to make them stronger, then rip or cut the envelope in half and put one half on each little side of the piece of paper, then use the tape to attach the straws to the paper, and use the paper clips, and string, to make it so it can stand up better and stronger, last I will put the pipe cleaners on the paper around the envelopes.

 Why I think my plan will be successful:

I think it will be successful because the structure will be strong.

My Groups Plan 

Our plan is we will put the straws in tinfoil to make the piece of tinfoil stronger, then roll up the paper, cut it in half and attach it to the tinfoil.

We chose this plan because…

We chose this plan because it had all of our ideas in it.

Possible challenges that may come up during construction…

Possible challenges could be if it didn’t stand up

Each group member will be responsible for…

sgray21 is documenting/taking pictures, sedelstein21 is going to make the paper rolls, and I am going to put the straws in tinfoil.

After the Build

PICTURE COMING SOON

Our design worked well because…

Our design didn’t really work at all because it couldn’t stand up.

This activity was challenging because…

This activity was challenging because we couldn’t get our cup holder to stand up.

This activity was comfortable because….

This activity was comfortable because we had a lot of materials.

I met my participation goal by…

I met my participation goal by not fighting having everyone do something.

A strength of my team was….

A strength of my team was we all liked the jobs that we got and didn’t have to fight over who got to do what.

An area of growth for my team is…

An area of growth for my team is we didn’t fight. (I was a little confused on what this meant so I might have done this wrong.)

For our next challenge, my new participation goal for myself is….

For our next challenge, my new participation goal for myself is to make sure that everyone understands the plan because during this challenge I thought we were doing something else and so it took time for me to understand so we had less time to actually work on the challenge.

Today’s Challenge: Using only provided materials (two pieces of construction paper, 1 pair of scissors, 1 ruler and one 12-inch strip of masking tape) create the longest paper chain possible.

Teamwork Rubric Focus:

My goal for teamwork today is…

My goal for teamwork today is to not fight and let everyone have a part in making and planning it.

My Individual Plan  My plan is to make the strips really thin so I can have more strips and the chain can be longer. If we’re allowed to, I might also put the ruler in the middle to support it.

Why I think my plan will be successful: I think my plan will be successful because the chain shouldn’t fall apart if we measure it on the ground, and it will be a long chain. 

My Groups Plan 

We chose this plan because…

We chose this plan because it made the most sense. (I didn’t say that because it was my plan so I wrote what they said)

Possible challenges that may come up during construction…

The paper could rip because it’s so thin.

Each group member will be responsible for…

MMesserman will cut, Akaswan will tape, Ygaines will monitor the group and Smishelow will help Akaswan tape.

After the Build

Our design worked well because…

The chain was 130 inches.

This activity was challenging because…

It was challenging because we had only ONE FOOT of tape.

This activity was comfortable because….

Even though we could only use a tiny bit of tape at a time, it only fell apart a couple times.

I met my teamwork goal by…

A strength of my team was….

An area of growth for my team is…

For our next challenge, my new teamwork goal for myself is….

Picture of puzzle piece:

In August, I thought the following about myself as a learner:

In August, I thought that I could listen to a YouTube video while doing my homework and not look over at the video or get distracted by it.

Today, I would add the following to my puzzle piece….because…

I would add that I like doing homework in my bed because I do that on the weekends sometimes when we have homework.

Today, I would tweak or modify my puzzle piece by….because…

I would take off the part about being able to listen to a YouTube video and instead put that I can listen to music because I get distracted by my video sometimes.

I think I’ve already grown this year as a learner by….

I think I have grown as a learner already because at the beginning of the year, 40 minutes of math homework was a LOT but now it’s not so bad anymore.

Thinking about working in teams in ETC, my classmates can best support my learning needs by….

My classmates can support my learning needs by not talking and not being distracting.

Essential Question: Can my group successfully plan, design and build a paper plate pinball/marble run using only the provided materials?

Goal: Move the marble from one end of the plate to the other, having the marble travel through at least three obstacles.

My teamwork/communication goal for this challenge:  Our goal is to not fight and not yell at each other and not fight.

Step 1: Brainstorm Look at the supplies table. You may NOT take anything from the table yet.  

You may only take ONE plate and ONE marble. There are no other requirements. You will have 15 minutes to build.

What ideas do you have?

• We can do a thing to push the ball for one of the things it goes through.
• We can make the marble go through the toilet paper roll.

Your group has shared all of your ideas. Before you can start building, what is your actual plan?

• What will your marble run look like? (draw a sketch & insert photo here)

• How will you make sure all members of the group are included in the building process? We can think of jobs so everyone can do something.

Build and test

• Insert a few photos of the building process here

Share

• Insert a photo of your final product here

Reflect

What was comfortable about the challenge/teamwork?

Skrivitsky had already sketched out  the ideas so we didn’t need to sketch them later.

What was difficult about the challenge/teamwork?

It was kind of loud in the room so we couldn’t all hear each other.

How did the teamwork rubric help your group today?

We didn’t really look at the rubric while doing the challenge.

Is there anything you would change about the teamwork rubric after going through this challenge?

Maybe that we have to stay at a level 2 because during this challenge it was hard to hear my teammates.

How did you support your team today?

I helped work and helped make the marble run.

What might you do differently during our next team challenge?

Make sure everyone can hear us because during this challenge we couldn’t really hear that well.

Today’s essential question: What makes a team work?

Why is it important to develop the capacity to work as a member of a team?

It’s important so you can get the task done and not fight.

What areas of teamwork do you find easiest and why?

I find that challenges are easiest because we don’t need to prepare for them or research anything about them

What areas of teamwork do you find most challenging and why?

I find projects that involve research are the hardest because we need to get all the sources down and make sure everyone is researching something different. Also sometimes when researching other people in a group go off task and don’t get their research done in time.

What difference does it make if you are able to play a role in the development of assessment tools?

It would be different than a teacher handing out a rubric because we would be able to put down what we know we can do and feel comfortable to agree to and think we can stick to it.

In what way(s) do you connect this work to our Core Values: Wonder, Empathy & Tikkun Olam

We should be empathetic to others and we might ask questions while doing teamwork. For Tikkun Olam, we can’t really connect to it unless we are inventing something or doing a challenge to help the world.

Today I worked through two different challenges in a small group. The first challenge required me to work with my partners to build a duck out of legos in 4 minutes. The second challenge was a brain teaser where we had to solve a bunch of questions within 7 minutes.

After The duck Challenge:

What went well for my team regarding teamwork… 

I think that our duck ended up looking good.

What went well for my team while completing the actual task…

We finished the duck pretty fast.

What was challenging for my team in terms of teamwork…

Some people weren’t really doing anything and others kind of did the whole thing.

What I would do differently…

Split into jobs so we can all do something.

After the Brain Teaser:

What went well for my team regarding teamwork…

Some people didn’t understand and then someone else helped them.

What went well for my team while completing the actual task…

We figured out one part of the brain teaser.(but it was hard)

What was challenging for my team in terms of teamwork…

Some people weren’t working because they didn’t understand and someone tried to explain but they still didn’t understand.

What I would do differently…

I would make sure EVERYONE understood before we started figuring it out.

When working in groups this year, I hope that…

We can all get along and that everyone can do a part and no one is left out.