On Homework (Briefly)

In response to Brian Aspinall’s succinct post about homework: If homework is defined as independent work assigned to students to be done on their own and then checked at school or submitted for “points or checks” then homework – at all levels – can seem a bit silly – especially while in elementary school. There […]

Teachers be Teaching and Assessors be Assessing

…Teachers crowded into a few rooms “learning” to assess their assessments, that is, slow-motion what is used to assess students, whether as formative, interim, or summative, and effectively grade the assessment using a rubric of sorts. The end result being a score of 1-20 where anything above 14 is considered a “gold-standard” assessment. (Note: the ACT […]

Day 111: Sharing > Presenting

As part of the “City” seed, students are exploring and researching in order to answer their respective curiosity-born questions. Today students shared their working questions and their research progress and they solicited feedback from the other members of the group. It was clear that their working questions are evolving as they begin to take ownership of their work. Stand, find […]

Mosaic Development, Our Working “Bio”

Snapshot in the development of The Mosaic Collective… As we continue to develop here’s a “bio” that best describes our program right now: Born in 2014 out of experience, frustration, curiosity, and a sense of educational righteousness, The Mosaic Collective is a project-based, problem-based, inquiry-based, and challenge-based learning environment housed in a traditional public high school. […]

Mini- and Micro- Coursework in Mosaic

Well Brenden, I’m happy to say that the teaching and learning you asked about is indeed happening. The Mosaic Collective at Castle View High School offers mini-courses, which are three-week long specialized courses that are co-created and designed by students and teachers. These courses tend to begin with the end in mind, that is, application, […]

The Winton Train and Mosaic

On Monday, Dec 15, Thomas Grauman, visited Mosaic and shared his memories as a Holocaust survivor and passenger on the Winton Train. Thank you, Christina Classen and Margie Schoedel for organizing his visit and talk and for working with our students before, during, and after to make Tom’s visit a deep learning experience for the entire […]

Days 71 – 75: The Turnip!

I’ve been a tad bit neglectful of my Mosaic-180 duties, but with good reason. Not only are other Mosaic teachers blogging now (Michael, Shaun, and Nadelle), but so are the students. I’m thinking that I will use this blog to write about big ideas and issues that we are encountering and learning from – as […]

Days 66 – 70: Chunkin Fruit

Many students spent the days leading up to Thanksgiving working on the “Chunkin Challenge” by constructing and testing their catapults and trebuchets. For most this was the first time they had ever built something like this. Students either purchased a kit to build from or participated in the “open build” category. Here are some construction […]

Day 65: November Sky

In keeping with the original (and simple) purpose of the Mosaic-180 tag, here is a picture of some of the day’s learning. Kaiden and Kevin are interested in flight and rocketry. As part of their Mosaic work they are making 2-liter water bottle rockets and are investigating principles of chemistry and physics (and hopefully some […]

Day 64: Objection, Your Honor!

As always, there was so much going on today. Here’s a picture of the so-called “Trial of the Century.” You can see Mr. Schneider and Mr. Martin on the right and Rick, our trial lawyer mentor in the suit, next to His Honor, Judge Erlenbeck … and of course our stern and procedural bailiffs standing […]