A Farewell to 2021-Let's go, 2022!
What a Year!
Over the last 12 months—in what may be the hardest year on record for schools and for educational non-profit organizations like Construct–we refined our tools to the highest standards; tested them with thoughtful school partners and committed industry leaders; focused on their efficacy; and readied to pivot into a brighter tomorrow. In other words – we Unleashed the Joy of Learning!
Here’s some of what we did together…
We jumped over the high hurdle of COVID twice and (virtually) hosted a Spring and a Fall cohort of schools for the Equitable Schools Design Challenge, with the support of multiple community leaders, and engaged industry mentors-- This Challenge will grow in 2022 to as many as 75 schools, including many in rural Oregon. For more information on joining this Challenge, please reach out here: info@constructlearns.org.
“The Equitable Schools Challenge was very fun and I enjoyed learning more about the world of- well, about changing the world. It was quite insightful.”
We finally had the opportunity to get back into the classroom for a Teacher Workshop this December! If you’re interested in learning more about participating in 2022: info@constructlearns.org
We published our first, copyrighted, comprehensive curriculum Toolkit, The Future of Electric Transportation Design Challenge which was tested and proven in six Oregon Middle Schools:
“Anyone in education can use this toolkit. More experienced teachers might just apply the framework to their course standards, while others new to this kind of work could follow the detailed lesson plans word-for-word.”
”Daily classroom instructional details being available digitally–this was great–so whether students were attending in-person or virtually, they could review and participate with the same degree of detail. Teachers could copy and paste the lesson into their LMS – This literally brought down our teacher workload!”
We expanded our corporate partners/donors to include NIKE and GOOGLE - who came to us not only as Challenge sponsors, but also as Challenge mentors! Interested in sponsoring a Challenge? info@constructlearns.org
KATU joined PGE as partners in support of large-scale, statewide Design Challenge competitions. Our Spring 2021 Challenge engaged 165 students from 25 schools. For our 2022 Challenge we anticipate 250+ students will participate! KATU (the Portland-area ABC affiliate) also gave us tremendous visibility, featuring our President, our Teacher Delight Specialist, students -- Construct program alums–a teacher in our network, and NE STEAM Board Member, Jackie Murphy. Coverage was across multiple televised programs and included our first professionally-produced advertisement for Spring 2022!
We directly supported 40 teachers and 600 students as they worked through our Equitable Schools and Healthy Earth Design Challenges, KATU Innovation Challenge, and Teacher PD.
We began work on Construct’s first on-line course to be offered to teachers for CE credit. Look for this opportunity to be available by the end of Spring, 2022. We anticipate completing a second online course by Summer 2022. Together, these online courses will cover our 5 step Design Challenge process and complement the learn-by-doing approach used in our cohort + competition model. .
Finally, we’ve been developing key partnerships that will allow us to grow teacher (and student) capacity while our collaborator focuses on school leader capacity and setting system anchors that make space for Design Challenge learning to spread across schools.
Next Steps
We’re ready to support teams of teachers, able to reach an entire grade level so every student can engage in multiple Design Challenge learning experiences through middle and high school. Design Challenges support soft skill development that aligns with school districts Graduate Profiles.
We’re ready to support you and your school community by forming key partnerships with local industry leaders as mentors and Challenge sponsors.
As we approach our 10th anniversary (!) We’re ready to share our Design Challenge expertise through online and in-person opportunities and for-credit PD courses.
TOGETHER, WE UNLEASH THE JOY OF LEARNING
As we close out 2021, your financial support will support Construct’s rebound from the hurdles of the last 18 months, and prime us for growing our work in 2022/23. By removing barriers to engagement with our tools, schools move another step closer to transformation.
Thank you for supporting Construct! Working together, providing the support teachers need to change their practice and transform their schools, you make a difference.
With love and light, to you and yours,
Gina, Kate, Danya, Erin, Michelle, Danny, and Sam