The MISD Board of Trustees met on Monday evening for their regular monthly meeting.  Each month, one campus is invited to share with our Board members a lesson demonstrating the lesson design qualities of our daily work, what we, in MISD, call Working on the Work.  Based on the research and teachings of Dr. Phillip Schlechty, this educational philosophy gives our daily lessons a framework for improving and sustaining student performance.  It’s all about designing engaging work for all learners.  Teachers are designers, leaders, and guiding mentors to instruction; they collaborate on best teaching practices to ensure the following ten design elements can be found in lessons:  content and substance, organization of knowledge, novelty and variety, clear and compelling standards, product focus, choice, affiliation, affirmation, authenticity, and protection from adverse consequences.  You ask, “What does all this mean?”

Meet some extraordinary Miller second graders led by their classroom leaders.  Our friends, Presley, Paris, Abbie, Briley, Haidyn, and Allison shared their powerful journey of finding lost treasure as pirates while discovering the necessities of directions, maps, landforms, the compass rose, and several other student expectations of required second grade social studies TEKS.  This week-long study also integrated the core subject areas of math, reading, language arts, writing, science, social studies while including technology, art, music, and dance . . . WHEW!  What a journey to convey!

I am grateful to these willing learners and their leaders who wanted to share their work with the Board and general public!  Not only did they convey their emotion and passion for their work, it is obvious they made some lasting educational memories along the way; they are WOW in action!  🙂