Public Product

Module Overview

Please take a moment to review our module description, outcomes, and purpose. Consider: What are you hoping to learn, and what do you want to implement into your teaching?

Description

This module — Public Product — will orient you to methods that yield high-quality work. You’ll begin with a general overview of the HQPBL criteria and then move into how to prepare and engage stakeholders in providing students feedback. At the end, you will reflect on learning and commit to a next step for your practice.

Driving Question

What makes a product high-quality?

Outcomes

  1. Familiarize oneself with the processes used to create high-quality public products

Purposes

  1. To consider ways to reach out to individuals beyond the classroom to strengthen and improve public products
  2. To make connections to your own practice

Your Task

Now, on a sheet of paper or in your journal, write a question you hope to have answered by the end of the course based on our outcomes. Consider what would shift for you if you've answered this question.

Make sure you can find this question later and actively reflect on it throughout the module.

Your Inquiry Question

  1. What is the question you hope to have answered by the end of this course?
  2. What would shift for you if you’ve answered this question?

Your Next Stop...

Get to know HQPBL’s criteria, Public Product!

HQPBL criteria, Public Product

Vignette of Projects

In the video, you learned about the ways to prepare stakeholders for feedback sessions. The vignette below tells how one teacher prepared and engaged stakeholders and students.

Your Task

Read the example and then:

  1. Take note of the teacher’s approach at various stages. As you look at both her process and the content of her communications, what adaptations might you make to fit your context?
  2. Scroll down to the bottom to answer the formative assessment questions to check your understanding.
High School Example
Example Details

High School Example

Background Information

Project Idea:
How do we tell stories through art? What has shaped the telling of those stories? In this project, students explore the art and history of their local community to create contemporary photo essays.
Driving Question:
How do we tell a historically accurate story of a community?

End Products:

  • Group Product: Collaborative presentation that outlines best practices in historically accurate storytelling
  • Individual Product: Photo essay

Authenticity in Action — Teacher Reflection

The campus tours project is a new one for me and my students! The types of authenticity we focused the most on were Impact on the World and Others and Connects with Students Personally. We could argue that we also attended to the last type of authenticity, but, in reality, it was not explicit in our design.

Identify and Secure Stakeholders

Before the project began, Ms. Garcia drafted a letter to families and caregivers asking for volunteers to support the project. Here is her letter.

Dear Families,

Next week we will begin our project, Community in Photos. During this project, students will explore how we tell stories through art and do so in a historically accurate way. I am asking for a few volunteers to provide expertise and feedback to students. Volunteers can expect to spend 1-3 hours throughout the 5-week project.

Here are the needs:

  • Elders or historians who can help students learn more about our community history.
  • Photographers or artists who can give their expertise and feedback on students’ photos and the overall composition of the photo essay.

Along with the general community, those same individuals are invited to our final exhibition on June 1st.

If you, or someone you know, fits either of these descriptions, please message me. As always, I appreciate your support!

Your partner in learning,
Ms. Garcia

From this letter, Ms. Garcia was able to secure two elders. She connected with the media arts teacher who knew a photographer for a local paper. All three were willing to give feedback, offer expertise, and attend the final exhibition.

Preparing Stakeholders

Ms. Garcia decided to use the three outside stakeholders at different moments in the project. She brought in the elders in the first week of the project and asked them to tell a story about the community. Students took notes and asked questions about their experiences.

After the session, student teams worked together to write a rough draft of the story as accurately as possible. In week two, Ms. Garcia then asked the elders to return. Two student teams volunteered to share their story with the elder(s) for feedback. Before the feedback session, Ms. Garcia shared this guidance document.

Community in Photos Draft Story Feedback

Come prepared to offer feedback to the teams on the following:

  • Story accuracy
  • Tone

We want to ensure that students accurately capture the spirit and details of your stories. From this experience, we will discuss active listening and how to ask questions to understand an interviewee best.

Feedback should adhere to our critique guidelines: Be kind. Be helpful. Be specific. We often use these stems to give feedback. Use what makes sense for you and the feedback you wish to share.

  • I like… because…
  • I wonder… because…
  • I’d like to offer a suggestion. Are you open to that feedback? (If yes, proceed!)

You can expect the feedback protocol to last 30 minutes. If you are able, please stay for a debrief!

Engaging with Stakeholders

The day before the fishbowl feedback with the elders, Ms. Garcia engaged students in discussing the event. Here are the topics discussed.

  • What are some feelings that may come up in receiving feedback? What are some strategies to manage any difficult emotions that may come up?
  • What are some effective follow-up questions to better understand something someone said?
  • As observers, how can we show respect and support to the group receiving feedback in the fishbowl?
  • How can we make the elders feel comfortable sitting inside the fishbowl with the class watching?

Together, the teacher and student made a plan for the feedback session and created a list of follow-up questions for all students to use.

Formative Assessment

Question 1 / 3
True or False: The teacher needs to prepare the stakeholders and students for the feedback session.
Correct. Knowing what is happening prepares both stakeholders and students from a technical and social and emotional perspective. When you can, involve them in the process!
Incorrect. Students and stakeholders need support to get ready, and students can be a part of that process, too!
True or False: Stakeholders need separate protocols and guidelines than students.
Incorrect. Stakeholders are working with students at their level. Using familiar protocols and guidelines will give them a frame of reference and set everyone up for success.
Correct. Use the classroom protocols and guidelines with stakeholders. They will be familiar to students and set up stakeholders to succeed.
What is true about preparing stakeholders?
Incorrect. Yes, AND there are other ways, too.
Incorrect. This is only one way. There are more!
Incorrect. There are still more ways to get stakeholders ready for feedback, though this is impactful.
Correct. All of these things would happen in the preparation.
Choose the answer to proceed to next question.
Check Answer

Next Steps and Resources to Get Started

We are coming quickly to a close here. As reflection is an integral part of learning, we close each module with two reflections. First, we offer a prompt. Second, we ask you to return to your original inquiry question. Both are intended to help you crystalize learning and ensure your most pressing needs are addressed.

Take out your journal and reflect on the following prompt below.

Reflect

Think of a product or performance your students have created in the past. Knowing what you know now, identify an approach or strategy you would apply from this module. Why? How might this changed outcome?

Resources to Get Started

Why stop here? Continue your journey into Public Products with these additional resources.

Feedback

Exhibiting Work

Audiences

Authentic Products

Returning to Our Initial Inquiry Question

At the beginning of this module, we introduced the module description, outcomes, and purpose and asked you to write a question that you hoped would be answered. While reviewing our outcomes and purpose, refer back to that question to answer the following prompt below:

Driving Question

What makes a product high-quality?

Outcomes

  1. Familiarize oneself with the processes used to create high-quality public products.

Purpose

  1. To consider ways to reach out to individuals beyond the classroom to strengthen and improve public products.
  2. To make connections to your own practice.

Inquiry Question Revisited

  1. How would you answer your initial inquiry question now?
  2. What are your next steps in deepening your answer?
What's next...

Celebrate completing the module, first. Then, your next step is to put one of these strategies into action.

Next Module:
Collaboration
Building relationships
between our community, industry, and teachers
to meet the needs of OUR students