Every year it seems that a student who I am lucky enough to teach reminds me why I am a Digital Learning Coordinator. This year, Matthew A. showed me what happens when students are given a challenge, some limited instruction, the gift of time, and the opportunity to learn and instruct with their Whole Mind by Daniel Pink. I worked with our faculty last June to delve into this book and ideas for classroom. Mrs. Birgel was there and has applied the ideas of design, story, symphony, empathy, play and meaning into her teaching. I believe that Matthew’s project demonstrates most of the themes. Can you see them with your mind?

Background: Matthew is new to our school this year and I had not really had the chance to work with him. He is a good student but quiet in how he goes about his day. In many schools, students like this become invisible. I wondered about Matthew as I did not know his story. While I do not yet know his whole story, I do know that his mind is capable of the themes Daniel Pink discusses. He worked hard on this project with very little (I mean little) help from me other then showing him a tool or a trick (Alpha channel in Keynote). The rest he did with dedication and the sticktoitness of a digital engaged learner.

The tools he used were: Keynote, Skitch, Garageband, Paper (Romeo and Juliet were drawn by hand an scanned using a Scan Snap 300), and of course our Moodle Blended Learning Environment where he shared his project as a QuickTime movie for his classmates.

Watch this project and learn about Romeo and Juliet Act 2 – Scene 2 as well as how our students are using their whole mind to learn

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