Learning Clubs: Collaboration and Camaraderie

After assisting with our class Passion Projects, I received an email from my supervisor saying "This is one of the most exciting learning activities I've ever seen."  I couldn't agree more. I see my students totally engaged and excited in the work we have been doing this semester.

My students are all members of learning clubs, an idea that I gleaned from Angela Maiers and Amy Sandvold's book The Passion Driven Classroom.  Through dialogue with students, I identified four major themes in regard to their interests: technology/engineering, healthcare, education and small business ownership.  Because my students are adult ESL students, the focus of our classroom time is heavily work related.  After placing my students in their respective clubs, I noticed an immediate sense of ownership and camaraderie, even after the first meeting.  I heard students remarking after class, "I'm in the technology club!" with a sense of pride and joking around with classmates about whose club was the best.  Much of our work has been done in Google Drive and I noticed students working on tasks outside of class time. I have never, in 6 years of teaching adult ESL, seen students so excited about their learning.

For the next few weeks, students completed a variety of tasks in their learning clubs which I aligned with our ESL class curriculum.  After each activity, they completed a learning log that is kept in their club folders.  One particularly popular activity was "Current Events in the World of _____".  I found recent news articles that pertained to each clubs' focus and re-wrote them in simple English.  Then, in their learning clubs, students read the article together and identified new vocabulary and main ideas.  Clubs then reconvened as a whole class and shared what they learned.  Usually when sharing out as a whole class, I notice most students texting, doodling, or staring off into space instead of giving attention to the presenting group.  This was absolutely not the case when sharing our current events.  All students were active listeners with many questions for each presenting group.  After the activity, one student remarked "Can we do this every day!?"

So now, with 6 weeks left in the semester, we find ourselves transitioning to the next and final phase of the Passion Projects...The actual Project.  As a precursor to choosing our projects, I invited artist and musician (and my brother) Glenn Shiring to speak to the class about pursuing your passion.  As he talked about his life story going from starving artist to successful entrepreneur through a Q&A style format, students began to consider what it would take to follow their dreams.  Glenn then led the class through an exercise in creating abstract art from old records and recycled materials.  As struggling immigrants with families and jobs, the majority of my students have never taken the time or been given the opportunity to be creative in this way.  I believe it was an extremely positive and inspiring activity for everyone.

Last night, after discussing Glenn's visit and his passions, I then told my students they were going to pursue their passions.  I put students in their learning clubs with a giant sheet of white paper and said go.  With some individual dialogue and questioning from me, each student/group (students were given a choice to work together or independently) identified ideas for their Passion Project.

Our next steps include planning and outlining our projects and getting started with the actual project work. One thing that is currently weighing on my mind is the question of assessing and evaluating the projects.  From reading about what other teachers do, I gather that a rubric is the way to go.  I am still trying to think through the best way for my students to self-evaluate their work.  Because my students have a limited level of English (high beginning) this presents a challenge.  Any suggestions from others would be welcome!