Frisch LEADs Continues to Inspire

The student-designed learning taking place for the Frisch LEADs project this year continues to inspire me. To become familiar with what Mrs. Ruth Wang-Birnbaum, Rabbi Dan Rosen and I are asking our AP English Literature seniors at The Frisch School to do, click on the following links:

Welcome to Frisch LEADs

Introduction to Format of Frisch LEADs

A Set of Blog Prompts and Blog Requirements

I've blogged before about stellar examples of the student projects, and I continue to be impressed with the students' work. Here are some highlights from Frisch LEADs:

1) Of Fathers and the Godfathers
R. Freilich is writing about mafia families, combining her and her family's, particularly her and her father's, love of watching mafia movies. It's so appropriate that R. Freilich has chosen to do a project on the mafia because of a bond she shares with her father. All irony aside, I love the fact that R. Freilich's project is based on good times she has shared with her own family, so that school can be a place not only to deepen learning about a topic the family has introduced into a student's life, but also a space to validate and grow an emotional bond a student feels with her parents and siblings.

R. Freilich's Blog

For the latest blog post assignments, I had students use their new knowledge of poetic techniques, learned while we studied Hamlet, to write a poem on their Frisch LEADs topic. R. Freilich distinguished herself as a poet by using imagery and allusion to great effect in her poem, Creation. Check out her blog post, Mafia Poetry, a genre I don't think is explored enough in the canon. All that may soon change; check this out:

Mafia Poetry

2) Interdisciplinary Project on Charity
E. Levine is another student doing a great job on her Frisch LEADs assignment, particularly because of her interdisciplinary analysis of charity. I especially liked how E. Levine was able to use a work she had read in her sophomore year, The Canterbury Tales, in order to create a literary tie to charity. I didn't suggest the connection to Chaucer; all I asked the student to do was include a work of literature in the project. It was E. Levine who drew on her own knowledge, came up with The Canterbury Tales, and then applied it in a sophisticated way to her project. Check out E. Levine's layered look at doing good:

A Multi-Disciplinary Look at Charity

3) From Beauty to Anti-Bullying

Reading about how A. Rubin's project evolved from the beginning of the year until now is fascinating, as you can find out how her idea develops from being about myth in different cultures to perspectives on beauty. A. Rubin's project is also notable for the way she wants to make what she has learned relevant and meaningful for The Frisch School community by planning an event for the freshmen that the seniors run. Creating purpose to deepen the learning experience is one of the goals of Frisch LEADs. Check out A. Rubin's thoughtful blog here:

A. Rubin's Blog on Beauty

4) Jaws Year

I wanted to share C. Zucker's blog in order to show you the range of the Frisch LEADs' projects. So far, you've seen projects on mafia families, charity and differing ideals of beauty. Let's now add sharks to that list, and let me share C. Zucker's engaging and visually exciting blog, which makes great use of the medium and its ability to hold text, images and film easily. What I love about this blog is that this topic is so obviously an interest of the student's, and I don't know when else in high school she would have had the chance to explore it.

C. Zucker's Shark Blog

5) Myth Unplugged

E. Rosen continues to impress her classmates by the depth and breadth of her research. She's also happy to share her work with the world and allow anyone to gain from the information she has accumulated. See also on E. Rosen's blog her thoughts on student use of her work and whether she's encouraging laziness in peers studying myth by gathering so many stories for them to use in their work. Another thought-provoking blog post by this student blog shows her meta-cognition, as she muses about the demographics of the people reading her posts.

E. Rosen's Blog on Comparative Myth

I hope you enjoyed this latest sampling of student blogs. Feel free to post your responses to them on this one!

Student-Designed Learning: The Frisch LEADs Project

One of my goals this year was to introduce more student-designed learning into my curriculum. I discussed the possibility of doing so with my principal and fellow English teachers at The Frisch School, and we decided the best place for a student-designed learning project was in AP English Literature. That's because the course doesn't demand that a particular body of knowledge be taught, but rather it requires students to learn skills that can be applied to all works of poetry and prose.

I sat down with my fellow AP English Literature teachers, Rabbi Daniel Rosen and Mrs. Ruth Wang-Birnbaum, over the course of the summer and at the beginning of the school year, and we hammered out the requirements of the assignment. We also decided on a name for the project: Frisch LEADs -- Learning. Exploring. Analyzing. Designing:

Frisch LEADs Project Requirements

Rabbi Rosen, Mrs. Wang-Birnbaum and I decided that in order to chart the progress and increase the digital literacy of each student, we would have the students blog about their Frisch LEADs project. We therefore put together a set of blog requirements and deadlines for the students:

Blog Requirements and Deadlines

Because students weren't familiar with blogging, we created an Introduction to Blogging post:

What Makes a Good Blog Post

Most students had severe allergic reactions ;) to the assignment when we gave it to them, but they have since calmed down and are progressing well with their projects. Here are some really good blogs students have created for the project:

Sample Student Blog #1:

R. Freilich has a fun and meaningful Frisch LEADs project. She's going to take her family's passion for gangster movies and research society’s perception of the mafia/organized crime. The investigation will include an in depth analysis of the psychology of crime and family. What I like about R.'s project is that she took her own family's interest in mob films and made it into an investigation of a dysfunctional and violent family system. Check out R.'s blog and see her thoughtful posts:

R. Freilich's Blog

Sample Student Blog #2:

Eddie is not only doing a great job blogging about his actual project; he is also making use of the blog medium to express his funny, whimsical and sophisticated views of the world. Find Eddie's very amusing blog here:

Eddie Maza's Blog

Sample Student Blog #3:

Finally, Penina's blog: I have to warn you that Penina is the type of student who does %200 of the work, so be prepared when you read her blog to be dumbfounded by the amount of information in it.

Another fact you should be aware of is that Penina is working with Eddie on the Frisch LEADs project, and in deference to the policy of full disclosure, I must reveal that I've been working with these two students since last year on their topic of education reform, as they founded RealSchool with me. RealSchool is an academic program that advocates and models education reform by having students engage in self-directed, whole-person learning.

Penina's Blog

In subsequent blog posts, I'll address some of the issues the Frisch LEADs assignment has raised, but I want to end by stating that when I was figuring out my grades for the quarter, I found that I had a much fuller picture of what each senior in my AP English Literature was like than I had of students in other classes. The Frisch LEADs project has given me a window into the personality, interests and passions of the students, enabling me to see them not as English students but as whole people. It's also fascinating and enlightening to gain a sense of the unique voices that are emerging in the students' blog posts. I'm excited about what the Frisch LEADs project is eliciting in my seniors and look forward to what my students and I will continue to learn!