This week students presented their synergy projects to a panel of teachers that didn't know their projects. We had 37 projects greenlighted to continue, 18 that need some more organization before they continue, and 15 that were discontinued.
We have seen some amazing efforts on this, *|FNAME|*, and it is amazing.
I did some audio interviews with the top 8 synergy projects. What they have in common is that they all learned things that are the things that you said in a survey you really want your kids to learn: teamwork, collaboration, perseverance, grit, patience, overcoming challenges. These are presented in no particular order:
Chess Club - This isn't your grandpa's chess club. These students are not only learning chess themselves, but they have partnered with Ladd elementary to teach chess to someone else.
Ed Videos - These students are creating educational videos to teach other students how to do stuff. Their target is 1-3 graders who will listen to something because it is not from an adult!
Tanana Step Crew - These students have expanded from their original start last year and are working on making bigger strides in their performances, and are actually performing in North Pole on Saturday.
Yurt - Students are creating a Yurt. They're following a plan and trying to create something cool. They've got it standing already.
Drama - These students are creating short films about topics they are learning about in other classes.
SOS - Signs of Suicide helps students know how to talk about suicide in a safe and healthy way that gets kids help they need. In the past, this has been an after-school or during lunch group. With synergy, more students have access to participate because it is during the day. This group also has students who are part of TATU, Teens Against Tobacco Use.
Tanana Team Leaders - These students share their love of cheer, volleyball, and soccer with students at Ladd. The students come over on Thursday to learn about these sports.
Minty Business - These students are in the slow process of creating a candy business, starting with their own recipe for making butter mints.
This is just 8 of the great projects that are engaging kids in something they can be passionate about and gives them an opportunity to learn without limitations.
Synergy groups. Green means move forward, Yellow means needs more work, Orange means discontinued.
