First Elluminate Session

I also posted this in the PLP Community Hub



Last night, we held our first Elluminate Session as a team.  A big thank you to all of those who showed up and participated.  An even BIGGER thank you to Becky for being our leader and being the moderator and keeping the conversations moving!
For the group members that were not present Becky recorded the session in case you want to hear and see what was discussed. 

As a group we decided that we would create a better project if we focus our energy on one topic underneath the whole teacher/whole child.  The group decided that we would make the most impact under the connections category.
We also created our essential question (EQ) this is what we came up with: How can global connections help our students develop emotionally, physically, academically, and spiritually?
 
We discussed that: Connections that allow us to develop an understanding of the world using Web 2.0 tools. 
That was the majority of our meeting. The material we discussed is not set in stone, so for those of us that were not able to attend feel free to make comments and/or adjustment.  

We have not set a date for our next Elluminate session.  We look forward to your comments. 

What Does It Mean to Be Whole?

Our group started off with a bang by mapping out all of the different things we thought of when we heard the words Whole Teacher or Whole Child. After some rearranging and organizing, we came up with these Big Ideas:

I will admit that when I first signed up for this topic my brain automatically went to the Health / Well-Being group of ideas from the pictures above, and I was thinking that our focus would be more on incorporating active learning opportunities into our classrooms. But my teammates added so many more ideas that it really broadened my thinking about what it means to be whole.

As Maslow stated LONG ago, we have many needs that need to be met in order for humans, adults or children, to get to the point where they can do the kinds of thinking that we are now requiring in schools. While I was focusing on the lowest levels of those needs, The Physiological and Safety Needs, my teammates reminded me that there are other levels to being whole as well. Our group's placement of so many items around the theme of Connections shows how we can only be whole if our Social Needs are met. Esteem Needs are covered in the themes of Health / Well-Being, Creativity and Connections.

It looks like our group is on the right track. The activities and big themes that we are thinking about, when compared to Maslow's Heirarchy of Needs, seem to show how we can address the different pieces humans need in order to be a whole person. I suppose now the question is how do we take this and turn it into a PBL experience for us and our students.

Welcome to Our Space!

We are the Whole Teacher / Whole Child PBL (project based learning) team. Each of us is part of PLP, and we're working together across North America to create and implement a PBL unit in our classrooms. This space will help us be transparent with our learning and share what it's like to be connected and collaborating across the miles.

We're looking forward to sharing our work with you!