The County Press

North Branch ninth-grade students utilize project-based learning to ‘Compose Our World’




Ninth-grade students in Joe Mitchell (far right)’s English Language Arts class were honored for their efforts during Monday’s NBAS Board of Education meeting.

Ninth-grade students in Joe Mitchell (far right)’s English Language Arts class were honored for their efforts during Monday’s NBAS Board of Education meeting.

NORTH BRANCH — North Branch High School freshmen in Joe Mitchell’s class are composing their world.

Students showed off the fruits of their hard work to family and NBAS Board of Education members Monday as part of the “Compose Our World” Project, a collaborative curriculum project designed to utilize project-based learning in ninth-grade English Language Arts to integrate social and emotional learning.

Students were required to craft a wide range of stories, described by Mitchell as “anywhere from tear-jerking and heartfelt, to one titled ‘why am I doing this project?’” The project is the culmination of weeks of work from the students, and Mitchell said that by recognizing a need to engage students in deep learning, reflection, empathy and fun, the full-year program is an example of curriculum being shaped for what’s best for students. “It’s spreading throughout the country for the benefit of the kids,” he said.

Ninth-grader Madalyn Caudill shows off her project to her mother Laurie during a “mingling” session before Monday’s NBAS Board of Education meeting.

Ninth-grader Madalyn Caudill shows off her project to her mother Laurie during a “mingling” session before Monday’s NBAS Board of Education meeting.

The “Compose Our World” project was created by a collaborative team from University of Colorado Boulder, Colorado State University, Clearview, Colorado Library District, CAST, Inc., and educators from a range of Colorado school districts and Mitchell said the first district outside of Colorado to make use of the curriculum was the Genesee County Intermediate School District. North Branch Area Schools, he said, is the first Lapeer County district to utilize the curriculum and is the largest sample group to date. The project is funded by the Lucas Education Research, a sister organization to Edutopia at the George Lucas Education Foundation.

Mitchell said his students started with paper and pencil, brainstorming ideas for their project, “but it grew into a digital story,” he said. Students were tasked to create a story, write a reflective essay, then record themselves reading it. They then combined that recording with an image slideshow or video and accompanied it with music. “This process is not what you’d see on YouTube, just recording themselves and throwing it on a screen,” he said. “We’re a little over halfway through and I’m really excited to see what they come up with next.”