Launch Cycle example...and a small rant.

   There are several instructional models to help guide teachers in the lesson design process.  No matter the model, each lesson needs to have a clearly articulated learning objective or standard.  The model that I am going to use for this blog post is the LAUNCH Cycle that was developed by John Spencer and AJ Juliani.  This model is best used when there is a tangible finished project.  The steps in the LAUNCH Cycle are as follows:

                 L-  Look, Listen, Learn

  A-      Ask tons of questions

  U-  Understand the process or problem

  N-  Navigate Ideas

                 C-  Create a prototype

                 H- Highlight and fix

   The project that I am looking at creating is for US History I during our study of the Gilded Age.  I am going to look at the works of Horatio Alger.  He is best known for his novels about young men working from nothing to middle or upper class.  His novels emphasize hard work and honesty.  Using this as a backdrop, as a class we are going to look at the traits of successful people.  This is going to be the first step of the process.  The second step is questioning.  We will brainstorm traits of successful people and look at different mindsets like victim mindset verses and empowered mindset.  This will be done in groups with each group sharing their findings.  The next step will be each group looking at successful people and their character traits.  This will be through the internet.  The groups will also need to find someone in the community that has been successful in their profession.  The groups will need to develop questions and organize their findings.  This is the understanding part of the process.   The navigation part of the process will have the groups organize their information and look for trends and similarities of what successful people have done to get to where they are.  The next step is creating a web page with their findings.  They will need to create profiles of the people they talked to and researched.  These will be placed on a class website.  The students will evaluate each group’s work as part of the last step before the pages go live.  There will be a final step that I want the students to accomplish before we wrap up this project.  I want the students to individually reflect on several things.  These include what they see for themselves after high school, how will they get there, and what habits will either help or hinder them in achieving their goals.  The students will be evaluated using a rubric that they receive beforehand so that they have an idea on what my expectations are.  Students will use shared documents within their groups.  They will also use audio and or video for their interviews.  They will create the web pages to present their information as well as presenting it to the class.

   I will also evaluate myself using Scott McLeod’s 4 Shifts Protocol.  The first being deeper thinking and learning.  After some background information, I believe that the students will be using critical thinking skills, practicing effective communication skills, collaboration, and creativity.  The second involves authentic work.  In using members of the community, the students will be moving their learning outside of the classroom and start the process of learning how to interact with adults outside of a classroom setting.  The third protocol involves student agency and personalization.  The groups will have the freedom to choose different people to focus their project on along with different ways for the final project to look.  The last protocol looks at technology use.  The technology that the students will be using allows for better organization and communication.  The technology use is not just an add on, but an integral part of the project.

   This may not seem like a typical history project, but a big part of history is looking at the lessons from the past and applying them to current  and future decisions.  We need to get beyond answers that can be answered by a simple Google search and explore the lessons, struggles, and triumphs or those that came before us.  History can be a great avenue to teach critical thinking skills and discover the paths to our own personal success at whatever level we are able to achieve.