Outside of the Box

When you look around a flex library, what should you see? Today, you could see students coming in and out to get books as needed. In one corner, a group of teachers meeting and planning. In another area- a parent with a group of students talking about states of matter. Somewhere else? The Tier 2 teacher working with multiple small groups throughout the day. Little pockets of learning- lots of piles of books to be shelved, and big dreams of what to do next.

The biggest dreamer? Me. I met with a team of teachers today to talk about a collaborative project. They wanted to do biography research. So we talked about "what does that mean?" I asked, "Why biographies?" and listened. We talked about biography projects of the past~ and how could we make it different. How could we create deep thinking vs. factual response? So we dreamed: what if we could ask the kids how would life be different if X person hadn't done Y. How do we get second graders to think that deeply?  What would our product look like? How many sources? 

One teacher volunteered: I'll be your test case! So, we'll create together- and see where it comes up. She'll start with modeling biographies from our digital collection and having the conversations in her room. We'll break the kids into small groups where they can research together and talk. To listen and share. Our product? Padlet timelines with details and "what ifs"- and a presentation for the class! 

It will be fun to watch this evolve. To grow and change as the needs change. To flex.