I am a leader! “Leadership is communicating people’s worth and potential so clearly that they are inspired to see it in themselves.”- Dr. Stephen R. Covey. We are a Leader In Me school following the 7 Habits of Happy Kids. Famous American Leaders of the past and student leaders of the future are critical to the 21st century. Our class studied the contributions and characteristics of famous Americans of the past. We researched and created models of famous Americans using Children’s Engineering and a variety of digital technology. Our class incorporated the 7 Habits as they worked in self-selected groups and decided on a famous American to research. Students collaborated with their peers and shared informative presentations about their famous American on a class blog and during Leadership Day at school. “If the famous American you researched was not influential or well-known, how would life be different today?” This was the authentic task students needed to address during this project. Students had a choice from the following programs for their final creation: Big Huge Lab’s Trading Card Creator website, Pixie Movie, or Chatterkid Movie.
The Children's Engineering models of the famous American they researched turned out ADORABLE!
After the class completed this portion of the project they invited me in to help out with the digital creation piece. They had to include a photo of their famous American model as well as address the authentic task that was mentioned above. The groups could choose to make a Pixie movie, Chatterkid movie or a trading card from Big Huge Lab's Trading Card Creator. Check out their projects:Jackie Robinson
Jackie Robinson Pixie Movie from Julie on Vimeo.
Jackie Robinson Chatterkid from Julie on Vimeo.
Jackie Robinson Chatterkid from Julie on Vimeo.
Jackie Robinson Pixie Movie from Julie on Vimeo.
Helen Keller
George Washington
George Washington from Julie on Vimeo.
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln: Pixie Movie from Julie on Vimeo.
Susan B. Anthony
Susan B Anthony Chatterkid from Julie on Vimeo.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
MLK 1 from Julie on Vimeo.
The teacher posted their projects to her blog and allowed for the community to comment. Also, these projects were shared with special visitors during the school's Leadership Day. Community members from all around were welcomed to their classroom and the projects were presented.
At the end of this project the students reflected on their leadership skills and set goals for future growth by video taping themselves answering a few reflection questions. Here are just a few:
