Ogden Middle School in Oregon City is facing the same challenges adapting to COVID-19 distance learning as any other school, yet their educators were uniquely prepared.
Construct recently caught up with Christina Magaña, a School Retool Fellow and AVID instructional coach at Ogden MS.
“I’m thankful we had come to Construct earlier in the year and that our teachers and team leaders had experienced Breakaway,” said Christina Magaña, Instructional Coach, Ogden Middle School. “Breakaway helped instill a shared framework and foundation for us to collaborate on deeper learning approaches.”
Ogden educators had already spent fall and winter months implementing interdisciplinary problem-based learning (PBL), universal design for learning (UDL), principles of design thinking, design sprints, and more.
Now, despite the interruption of COVID-19, they decided to continue engaging students in these deeper learning approaches from a distance. Teachers paired up to offer three week interdisciplinary projects - for example 6th grade social studies and language arts teachers ran a unit on Christopher Columbus and the Columbian Exchange. Week one focuses on background materials, week two focuses on content development, and week three on product creation. In the 6th grade team, students spent the first week learning about the impacts of the Columbian Exchange, week 2 they worked on cause and effect writing skills with the content of the Columbian Exchange, and by week 3 students had chosen two worlds (ie. Spongebob and Harry Potter) to “collide” and explained the cause and effect relationship of the two worlds meeting.
As Christina explained, Ogden educators’ approach to deeper distance learning included some key considerations, such as:
Equity – Ogden MS is committed to equity and uses an asynchronous approach to teaching from a distance. Teachers video record their lesson or instructions and post them for students to view at their convenience.
Collaboration – Collaboration between colleagues remains imperative, especially at a distance. Teachers pair up – for example social studies and language arts – to provide a coordinated, interdisciplinary approach to teaching.
Problem-based Learning (PBL) – Students surface challenges within the material, identify the problem they want to tackle, then they devise ways to solve the challenge using a design sprint, resulting in an end product of their own choosing.
Magaña shared that these approaches are gaining steam and helping increase engagement of students in their own learning and discovery.
“Now we’re constantly asking ourselves as educators ‘What are all the ways students can show us they are meeting the standards,’” shared Magaña.
Construct is the official provider of Breakaway, School Retool, Hacktivation Station, and Curriculum Design Camp for STEAM Educators in Oregon.
Find out more about upcoming workshops and opportunities HERE.