Last week, fifth graders spent some time brainstorming ideas for a newly created space in our outdoor classroom. The classroom teacher was able to help students move forward with their ideas by sorting the brainstormed ideas into categories or themes. Small groups and pairs of students then selected a theme that spoke to them and they started some initial research into the benefits of their idea. She also connected this project to the theme of persuasive writing and spent some time introducing the qualities of this writing style.

Originally, my thought was to have students go through a set of steps including: flesh out their idea in maps and diagrams with labels, research the components of their ideas and include a budget, present their idea to myself and our principal, do a class voting on the idea(s) that looked the ‘best’ and bring them to a school-wide audience. While I haven’t done this exact process before, walking students through an open-ended challenge is something I feel comfortable with. I had a mental vision of how this looks and feels as a process.

Just when I thought I had a plan,  I had a virtual training with the team from the Teachers Guild regarding my fellowship project. These conversations continue to expand my knowledge around the topic of design thinking, stretching my creativity, pushing me to expand my view of collaboration, shifting my focus toward empathy  building my courage to take risks and live through ambiguity. On this particular training, we discussed the idea of rapid prototyping. My initial reaction, to be perfectly honest… wait, what? Rapid prototyping? What about the polished product? But the idea that stuck with me was the notion of loving your idea but letting it go… and I feel like that was when I finally connected some dots.

Students had ideas for space, but they were what they wanted. Before students got any further into their idea, feedback was needed. Who better to give feedback than a first grader? So, once again, I am grateful for colleagues who are flexible, friendly and patient. With plans in hand, fifth graders walked into the first grade class ready to share, ask questions and listen to suggestions.

The fifth graders left wide-eyed and full of smiles. Reflections afterwards included: ‘Was I like that in first grade?’ ‘I don’t remember how small everything was.’ ‘They had a lot of ideas!’ and my favorite ‘I don’t know if I can add a wedding to my plan.’ While not every suggestion will be incorporated into their plans, the majority of fifth graders said they are going to revise their plans based on what the first graders told them.

The biggest learning for me was the power of taking time. Calendars and schedules will be a constant tug, and I had to live through the discomfort of feeling like I was flying by the seat of pants. But after watching the interactions between these two grade levels work together, I felt a joyous moment: ‘Ok, I can do this. This was a good thing. ‘

So I’m learning to loosen the knots, take some deep breathes and take one step at a time. As @Ed_by_design recently stated: I’m ‘living in the spaces between knowing and not knowing’ and I’m going to see where it goes.