Presents and P3s

 This is my last blog post of 2020! What would be worth reflecting on when ending this unprecedented (an adjective I'll be glad to be rid of) year?

Now that Christmas is over (or at least the gift-giving part; technically for Catholics and Christians, this is the end of Advent season and the beginning of the actual Christmas season, ending at Epiphany), I can finally share photos of what I gave my students and staff.

I was pretty pleased with the presents I gave, because they were personalized and partly home-made. For my students, I went through the hundreds of photos that I take during the school day and selected individual photos of each student to populate student-specific photo albums highlighting our 3-4 months together as a class. We couldn't take any group photos, so I created a collage of all their Face Your Manga avatars that they created for a Health assignment and used that as our "class photo". I was worried that the mini-photo albums wouldn't come in time, so I also made personalized book marks with metal owl charms attached. Thankfully the albums arrived early enough for me to build them and wrap them. I realized it made an impact when I received several emails from students and parents thanking me for the gift. Some of the students coordinated their unwrapping together with a digital conference call and they reported that they were surprised and delighted with the big reveal. 

I struggled with deciding on my staff gifts. Usually, I give a donation to a worthwhile charity in their honour, but since we are such as small group this year (just 10, excluding me and counting office, teaching and support staff), I decided to do something different. In addition to the cards and Christmas tree ornaments I gave all my in-building colleagues (including caretaking and lunchroom supervision staff), I sewed these little beds and pillows. Inside the beds were Bitmojis of the staff (thanks Farah for sharing the file!) along with two gift cards and a note urging them to rest, read and rehydrate.

It is better to give than receive, but both happened. My colleagues and students were extremely generous. It's been decades since I was a classroom teacher, so I didn't expect all the presents. My favourite parts were the words and items crafted by the students themselves. One student wrote and illustrated an 11-page comic for me called "The Best Christmas". (It's a holiday-themed LGBTQ romance!) Another student hand-made an Animal Crossing New Horizons gift card holder.

None of these gifts were necessary, because the students have given so much of themselves, especially when they presented their P3 (Personal Playlist Project). This past summer, I had the pleasure of creating my own P3 and sharing it on Noa Daniel's podcast. I decided to do this project with my own Grade 5-6 students and it was a HUGE success. I don't mean that everyone earned A+ on the assignment; it was so much more meaningful and impactful than that. I plan on getting together virtually with Noa to share the specifics of some of the meaningful moments, but let me briefly explain why the P3 was such a gift to me and to my students.

• Everyone participated. Two of my students spend half the day with another teacher and she agreed to incorporate the P3 into her program so that all 25 students could be involved. She had to provide a huge amount of support but it really built our class community. No one "forgot" to finish, even though for some, presenting in front of the whole class made them very nervous.
• Students cared about their P3s. Many times, during our individual two-minute-chats, the students would initiate the discussion by stating, "I want to talk about my P3". Choosing the right song was very important to them. They worked on it at home, with great attention to detail. One student who tends to be laissez-faire about assignments and due dates actually negotiated with another student to present earlier than his designated time, because he was so excited to share. Another student created a music video with personal photos accompanying the music. Many students talked with their family members to help them decide on their songs; I would have loved to have listened in on those conversations.
• Students cared about each other's P3s. In November, we used a random name-selector to determine which two students would present each school day in December. These due dates were serious business. If one of their classmates was away, other students would ask if it was his/her P3 day; they were very worried that someone might miss their opportunity. I also liked how attentive they were to each other. Some students credited other students with inspiring them to select a more appropriate song - they spent a lot of time revising their choices.
• Students shared so much of themselves. I was blown away by how vulnerable the students were, sharing their doubts, darkest moments and insecurities as well as their private memories of family and friends. These songs, some in Tamil, some in Mandarin, some in Korean, revealed so much about the students' interests, values and self-concept.

Noa, thanks for a wonderful project design. I almost hate having to assign a letter grade for this work, because this project was so much more than the marks they'll receive. It was a wonderful thing to do in December. I'm playing January by ear right now, as we will start with one week of virtual learning, followed by who-knows-what. Whatever it brings, at least I know that the Grade 5-6s of Room 206 had a rich and meaningful in-class experience in the last third of 2020.