Last night we kicked off the MAD about Mattering 2017 project. Last year, we started with five schools. This year, we have fifteen schools. We’ll be in two cohorts– the Mad-junior group (kids under 13) and the MAD-senior group (kids 13 and up.) Right now, it looks like around 1,000 students making apps that matter. Last year was a fantastic time full of learning and we’re excited to kickoff this year.
The picture on this post is from our teacher kickoff meeting. We like to give a high five when we collaborate and work together. I’ve recommended all of the teachers and organizers grab a copy of Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds as I’ve found the principles Julie Lindsay and I outlined in that book to remain tried and true when it comes to global collaboration.
The MAD about Mattering Keynote
Kevin Honeycutt has uploaded a great keynote to spur on student excitement and thinking as we encourage them to create apps that matter.
The Organizers
Hats off to organizers Alefiya Bhatia and her team at MAD-Learn from Crescerance for working so closely with us teachers to create such a great project. I do not work for Crescerance (my assistant Lisa Durff will be working for them some because of the amount of support needed and her expertise with global collaboration) — but am lead teacher for the MAD-senior team.
I have 53 ninth and tenth graders from here at Westwood in the project. It is part of our goal here to be leading/bleeding edge in our use of technology and collaborating with the world. We’re so excited to connect with other classrooms around the US, Canada, Australia, and the Mariana Islands! Fun!
They are working closely with teachers to give us the support we need to collaborate. This is the first time I’ve really had a company who understood the pitfalls and struggles of global collaboration and is working to build something that we can use as teachers. It excites me greatly.
I also appreciate Angela Maiers for helping us kick off the project last year. Her #choose2matter movement is blossoming and I support her work 100%! Her encouragement to help us do work that matters to students is always first in my mind.
I’ll be sharing our work some here, but feel free to take a look at our wiki where we’re kicking off student work: http://madaboutmattering2017.wikispaces.com/
The simple goal is to have students create apps that matter in collaborative teams. Stay tuned.
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