Two nice surprises arrived this week, once again validating the impact 20Time can have on our students.
First, one of my freshmen let me know that the website she built this spring as part of her 20Time project helped her win a summer internship with our city’s Department of Community Development. How cool is that?
In the second case, a former student revived her 20Time project, a localized version of the Humans of New York website. Grace’s web project, Humans of Amador Valley, was recreated this year as a Facebook page and she’s added Instagram and Twitter versions of her photography/interview posts. A volunteer crew of her friends help build her feed and promote her work. Now a sophomore, Grace has found a concrete way to share her passion for photography, giving us both reason to rejoice. Not all of my students deeply connect with their projects (some 20Timers are rock stars, others milquetoast), but many are inspired by their work – and that inspires me. When Grace told me that her project is still alive in this morphed form, she asked if I’d be willing to participate. What could I say?
Her latest post (click to visit the Humans of AV page):
Teach on, everyone!
My students are sharing their 20Time presentations today! It’s been such a fun process. Thanks for sharing your tools and best practices! I look forward to giving 20Time a more significant place in my class next year!
So glad to hear this, Jess! Funny, my freshmen just finished their final speeches today. Great minds, eh? 🙂 Happy to know 20Time has earned a spot in your spring curriculum. Success!
Mine have started presenting their projects today and I was almost moved to tears at their comments about their learning journey and what this activity has meant to them. The standard of achievement has been amazing so far.Thank you so much for all of your advice and inspiration, Laura. What is even more exciting is that my Head teacher has had some very positive comments from parents about 20Time so I get to repeat it again next year – we are thinking of you in our little corner of France and sending you a big thank you!
20Time’s gone global!?! Your note just made my day, Alligator78. Prendre plaisir! (Enjoy!)
Wanted to share a fun 20Time story! I teach drama and freshmen English, and I have some crossover between kids in my drama and English class. Back in January, we did a “Hamilton” the musical inspired performance project, where kids researched a historical incident and created a performance based on the history. (Thank you, Lin Manuel Miranda! Also, if you haven’t listened to “Hamilton” yet, do so immediately. Laura, you will find so much poetry and hip hop inspiration for teaching, and if your students are anywhere as lit up about it as mine are, you will love it!! Your poetry unit inspired me to find more pop culture references around me, and then this musical came out, and it’s exactly that, and it’s amazing…. Okay. I digress.) So, this girl wrote a performance piece about Walt Disney for that first project. She essentially ran out of time during our drama class, performed the first section of it, and, when we began 20Time two weeks later, she immediately picked back up on finishing her play. Well, she has been POURING over Disney books, searching for “the man behind the castle” and it has been so inspiring to watch. She wants to finish it over the summer, and then stage and perform it during drama next year. Whoa! So, thank you, for helping me to inspire her!
Isn’t inspiration funny? I read about 20Time last year, wanted to do it, but didn’t, ended up creating that Hamilton project based on much of your work I had read, and it ended in 20Time and next, who knows?!
Glad you included the caveat about not all kids soaring like this. Some of my kids reallllly did not do well with this, and I learned a lot my first year of implementing, but that girl makes it worth it, I think! Would love to hear more about the non-starters and your thoughts on getting them engaged!
Enjoy your end of the year!
Oh yeah, Kat, Hamilton is HUGE on my campus right now. One of my freshmen did a Hamilton-inspired costuming 20Time project and our history department has already laid claim to Lin Manuel Miranda. Oh, how I wish I team-taught an American history/American lit. humanities class right now! LOVE that your girl is on fire for her Disney project. Walt Disney’s history is definitely one that embodies the 20Time spirit – LOTS of failure and pivoting as he found his eventual way to success. Love that!
For the under-performers, I have some thoughts, but I’m still letting that roll around in my head a bit before sharing on the blog. That’ll be coming soon. This year (my second time taking students through the project) I thought using Accountability Teams would be the kick in the butt those “non-starters” needed, but it just didn’t work out that way. Slackers gonna slack, it seems. More thoughts on this in the next week or so…
For now, I just have three days to go til summer. Keeping my eyes on that prize; I know you know how it is. 🙂 Laura