Waiting in the Wings

What are the combined roles of support and collaboration in education?

If you are a teacher, I hope you have had the experience of working with other teachers in an effective Professional Learning Community. PLC’s can reduce the workload for teachers while increasing student success. Teachers often feel like they must be responsible to plan every lesson, individually track every student’s progress, and single-handedly create every assessment. Teachers who work together can set aside teacher burdens and see (and meet) more student needs.

Some PLC’s are more effective than others. If you are working in a less effective PLC, what would make it better?

How do your administrators and district personnel support you? Granted, you may also have had administrators and district staff you feel are less effective, but truly their role is support. Have you taken the time to get to know what they do? Have you communicated with them your needs? Do you know how and where they can provide support?

I am working in a new role this year. I will still be teaching half-time, and I’m so happy that I still get to spend a portion of my time with students. I’ll also be working in the district half-time, helping to build and support the Utah Microcredentials program. If you don’t yet know about microcredentials, I hope you will take some time to learn about them.

Microcredentials are personalized, competency-based professional development for teachers. Work at your own pace, not checking off assignments, but submitting evidence of competency in your classroom. Utah State is working to build teacher endorsements through microcredentials. Several endorsement areas are already available with microcredentials, and the goal is that all endorsements will eventually be available with microcredentials.

This will be a huge benefit to teachers like me, who have changed subject matter and age groups over the years and have had to get new endorsements through university programs for every subject I am licensed to teach. As a full-time teacher, working toward endorsements in a university program can be overwhelming! I’m excited to be able to support teachers who want to work on endorsements as a natural by-product of what they are already doing, without having to enroll in yet another university, pay high tuition costs, and figure out how to attend classes and teach at the same time.

As you get to know me, you’ll learn that I find connections to my work everywhere I go, even on vacation.

Mr. Coray and I were happy to be able to attend the Utah Shakespeare Festival at the end of July. For those who haven’t had the chance to attend, the Shakespeare Festival includes high-quality productions of a variety of types of plays, but you can also attend free events and seminars.

We had tickets to see “Clue,” which was more fun than the movie, with stronger female characters, more board-game references, more physical humor, more endings, and even athletics and acrobatics. The actors were wonderful.

My favorite part of the festival, though, was the costume seminar with Sarah McCarroll, Wardrobe Supervisor and Costume Manager. I loved the insider details about the costumes, and Sarah had a delightful sense of humor. I took notes and even asked her afterward if I could quote her.

Much of what Sarah said felt connected to what I do, not only because I love costumes and fashion design, but because it relates to education.

Sarah talked about how acting is a job with a high cognitive load. There’s just so much to remember! Sarah can reduce the cognitive load for the actors by making sure they never have to give a thought to the next costume. She is simply waiting in the wings with the next costume ready to go. She said, “My job is to give the actors the tools to do what they need to do.”

Teaching is another job with a high cognitive load. Trying to remember everything that has to be done is intense! As teachers, we can provide similar support to each other by collaborating on lesson plans and brainstorming solutions to problems together. Administrators, support personnel, and district employees can also ensure that teachers have resources in place so that they don’t have to carry the entire burden of teaching alone.

People who sew tend to fall into two categories—those who create clothing, and those who quilt. Both require a specific skill set, and most people who sew focus on one or the other. Creating clothing requires the ability to get a good fit with quality construction. It’s highly technical and rarely cost-effective in a world of fast fashion. Some people call it a dying art. For that reason, it’s not easy to find quality fabrics for clothing.

Hobbyist quilters, on the other hand, are common. Local fabric stores cater to them with a large variety of colorful prints. When asked about sourcing fabric for costumes, Sarah said, “Here in Cedar City, we have JoAnn’s. JoAnn’s has some lovely quilters’ cottons.” Then, gesturing to a rack of costumes she added, “You don’t see any of those here.”  

Often teachers don’t have something given to them easily ready-made. Effective lesson planning requires technical skill. It’s hard work. And it turns out best when we source quality materials and use effective teaching techniques.  

Sarah showed us the lining and boning on the inside of one of the actress’s dresses. She explained that the costumes have to last the season, show after show every day, which means that the costumes must be just as beautiful on the inside as on the outside.

Lesson plans that look easy and beautiful on the outside require significant planning and quality strategies on the inside. Again, effective collaboration makes this task easier.

When asked about the authenticity of the costumes, Sarah told us that they strive for historical accuracy, except in the case of the closures. The festival uses giant parka zippers in the backs of the dresses for quick costume changes. She told us that at the beginning of the season, there are costume changes they think they’ll never get done in time. “After a few weeks,” she joked, “We can do an 18-second costume change with enough time left over for a ham sandwich.”

Teaching is like this too. I remember early on in my teaching career thinking that I would never be able to juggle everything I needed to do at once, including presenting material, managing behaviors, documenting problems, watching for and providing feedback, and fully engaging students. Little by little, things like classroom management come to be second nature, and teaching becomes more comfortable. If you are a new teacher, go easy on yourself as the pieces come together. You’re learning, and you’ll get there!

I was so excited about Sarah’s presentation that I made a collage to help me remember the ideas that came with her words. As a teacher, I hope I continue to collaborate with and provide support for teachers around me. As a district employee, I also want to provide support that makes teachers’ jobs easier.

If you’re a teacher, I hope I can help reduce your cognitive load by sharing ideas that will help you feel like you don’t have to worry about the next costume. It will simply be waiting in the wings, ready to go.

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Building Blocks for Effective, Personalized, Project-Based Learning

Sandwiches might be the most versatile food on the planet—easy to personalize. Start with the bread, for example. Do you want white bread, wheat bread, sourdough, focaccia, flatbread, pita bread, rye bread, or even a nice wrap? Maybe you’ve decided on the no-bread version. There are endless combinations of breads, veggies, meats, cheeses, and condiments. Each sandwich can be exactly tailored to the person eating it.

Projects are like sandwiches—easily customized. What are some other benefits of project-based learning? Besides personalization, projects allow for inclusion. I’ve seen students who normally struggle in school but who can thrive when a project is part of the equation. Projects increase engagement and foster collaboration and teamwork, creativity, critical thinking, and other essential 21st-century workplace skills, all while building student self-efficacy.

I’ve heard of several stumbling blocks or misconceptions connected with projects, and I’d like to address a few. First is that everyone completes the same type of project or creates the same type of product. If everyone ends up with the same or similar results at the end, that’s a recipe, not a project. Second—projects must be done individually. While projects can be done individually, they offer excellent opportunities for teamwork and collaboration. Teachers can grade individually as teams of students complete their work. Some worry that projects are difficult to grade, especially when each completed project or product may be different. Projects are not so hard to grade when there is a strong and clear rubric in place. Let students know exactly what elements you are looking for. You will be able to see those elements in a successful project no matter what form the final product takes. That might mean a mindset shift if you are used to grading with points—2 points for a solid introduction and thesis, 2 points for correct spelling and grammar, 2 points for turning in everything on time, etc. Most likely, the points aren’t really telling you what you want to know. Does the project meet the standards? Set basic criteria and let the students choose how to meet those criteria. Finally, I hear teachers say, “I teach a unit, and then we do a project at the end.” I find that my projects are far more successful and engaging when they are tightly woven into the unit. Projects may occur at the end (although they don’t have to), but the final product can’t really be separated from the whole, and all along, I’m letting students know how their product is connected to what we are doing and what we are learning.

What are the building blocks of effective, personalized, project-based learning? First, start with objectives connected to standards, and think about this carefully. You can get the most bang for your buck if you can incorporate multiple standards and objectives into one project. That should become clear as we look at the other building blocks, and it might be helpful to go back to our sandwich analogy. Think of your standards and objectives as the bun or the bread, and don’t go keto on this one! Knowing what standards you’re including is essential for you and for your students.

The other building blocks have no prescribed order. You can include them as you feel best and in the order that makes the most sense to you. I find it helpful to come up with a driving question or a big problem. Compare your problem to the onions on the sandwich. Does slicing those onions make you cry? That’s a sensation you notice. Be aware when something bothers you in your community or society at large. Usually, the ideas for the problems come to me while I’m away from school, maybe watching news, but more often just talking to friends or family, taking a walk, reading a book, or visiting a museum or local business. Students get more engaged in a project when it is connected to a real-world problem.    

Next, you’ll want to include skill-building activities into the project or unit. This is where you bring in your standards and objectives. Compare skill-building activities to the lettuce. You can have as many lettuce leaves on your sandwich as you want. What skills do students need to have to be able to meet State or district standards and complete their project? Those skills can be incorporated at different times and on different days over the course of an 8-12-day project.

Offer students an opportunity for a “dry run.” I think of this one as the cheese on the sandwich. You could probably get by without it, but just as cheese adds unique flavor, a dry run is helpful in showing you whether the students have the skills they need to complete their project. For example, if their project is related to using the foods lab, it’s helpful to have them do a simple foods lab before completing their larger project so that I know that they know how to find their equipment, follow procedures, etc. If their project is more academic, or traditionally academic, an activity like a storyboard makes an excellent dry run. Be specific about using the same elements in the storyboard that they will use in their final project. Tell them exactly what you are looking for. You could even use a similar rubric to the project. Have them draw pictures and write text on a storyboard matching the content they will include in their project. You can see very quickly whether they have the elements you are looking for, and you can give feedback that will allow them to adjust for their final project before they spend too much time on it.

Projects are the meat of the sandwich, the heart of the unit. For full-strength project-based learning, every student or team will choose their own way to show proficiency with the standards and objectives. You might offer suggestions such as creating a video/commercial, marketing campaign, podcast, song, Power Point, children’s picture book or board game, Minecraft world, or formal letters to business leaders or legislators, etc. Then let students choose their product. Set parameters so that the product will meet the standards and be accessible to you. For example, I tell my students that if they build a Minecraft world, they must also walk me through their Minecraft world and show me all their signposts along the way. I don’t live in that world and won’t find the information on my own. Often when I offer suggestions, students will come to me with their own idea. If their idea meets the parameters, I know it will work, and that’s when things get exciting, because I know the students are taking ownership of their learning.

Presentation to an authentic audience: This is your tomatoes, and there are no rotten tomatoes here! Sometimes presenting to peers is enough. Sometimes you can bring in other classes, school leaders, or community members who could make decisions based on the project. Students are more engaged when they know that an authentic audience will view their work. They should also know that it’s ok if the project doesn’t turn out exactly as planned. I think it’s helpful to talk to students about engineering design, so that they recognize that having to readjust, revise, and sometimes start over is a part of the process.

Student self-reflection builds growth. If you’ve ever had a sandwich without any condiments, you know how bland that can be. You’ll eat the sandwich, but you don’t enjoy it. Giving students a chance to self-reflect adds flavor and improves the texture. Students benefit from meaningful opportunities to reflect on their growth and discuss what they would improve in the future.

How do I use these building blocks in a real classroom setting? I’ll give two examples from my CTE classes and then I want to share an example from Mr. Coray’s classroom (yes, my husband is also a teacher). CTE classes are made for project-based learning, but projects may seem less intuitive in traditionally academic settings, which is why I will include the third example.

“The Big Event” is a 7-day unit or project I do with my college and career awareness classes in 7th grade. If you teach CCA, you can find this unit on the Canvas commons, because I shared it as part of our FCS State Conference a few years back. Day 1 of the project is called “medical mysteries.” I give each of 8 teams a list of symptoms for a fictional family member. Teams research the symptoms (one of our standards is using relevant and credible sources) to try to find a diagnosis. We talk about using relevant and credible websites for research, and the students start searching. I give them feedback, letting them know if they are off track, and they can ask me questions to get back on track. By the end of the class period, teams have found 8 different diagnoses and learned about the various medical professionals who would diagnose and treat those diagnoses. As they compare what they have learned, they are able to identify what each of these 8 diagnoses have in common—they are all connected to diet.

That sets us up for the next class period when students learn about the role of a dietician, MyPlate standards, and research what their fictional family member could eat and what that family member should avoid. Over the next several days, students learn about food safety, foods lab procedures and expectations, and they make a healthy snack (the “dry run” for this project). Then I give them the “problem,” which is that 4 of our fictional family members will be attending a big family event. Each team needs to plan a menu that would accommodate for each of those 4 family members’ dietary needs. The menus must fit within budget constraints, and the time constraints for 1 class period. Teams present their menus to the class. The class votes on a menu for our “Big Event.” The winning team(s) send me their recipes. I go shopping, and the students get to make the menu they voted on. I never know for sure what they are going to come up with, and it’s exciting to see how many different ways my classes have been able to solve this problem. Often, students who are slow to complete traditional work are able to shine and even take leadership for their teams with this type of collaborative project.

“The Sustainability Project” is another CCA project or unit. Students learn about fast fashion and about how the way we create and consume fashion is not sustainable. They learn a little about textile science and why we don’t/can’t simply recycle used clothing. They learn about textile waste and how the ultimate end for any piece of textile is the landfill. Students participate in skill-building activities to learn to properly use the sewing equipment and follow safety standards. Then they bring in used clothing that would otherwise go to thrift stores and ultimately find its way to the landfill. Students take their used clothing items apart and turn those items into something else. I don’t give them any patterns. They figure it out. Many of my students make basic square pillows, but some of my students blow me away with the complexity of their designs. I often find this true for students who are typically not engaged in the classroom, but they wake up when they are allowed the creativity of a project.  

One example of a great 7th-grade design that required some challenging engineering.

Mr. Coray took on a challenging project this year. After many years of having taught other classes, he went back to teaching junior English, and he wanted to include Huck Finn, in spite of political conditions that struck fear into many teachers when it came to teaching this particular novel. Rather than narrowing the focus of the novel to one specific issue, Mr. Coray’s class looked at Twain’s theme of social conditioning vs. natural morality. In other words, what does society expect, vs. what do you believe? The project included a variety of skill-building activities, all required for junior English students, but when it came time to choose a project, they had already shown their skill with writing and mechanics in a variety of ways. Each student chose their own way in which social conditioning was at odds with their natural morality. And each student completed a 2-step project, meaning that they had to both research facts about their topic and then either collect data on a survey, through interviews, etc., or write letters or start some type of awareness campaign. Students could choose how to complete their two steps and how to show they had completed their two steps, whether with a poster, pamphlet, flyers, letters, annotated art portfolio, charts showing survey data, etc. The finished products he got were as varied as his students. Students researched numerous problems—many Mr. Coray would never have thought of. One of his favorite examples was from a student who spent most of the semester just trying to pass the class. When it came to this project, the student took charge. He researched the need of high schoolers to fit in with their clothing and then interviewed his mom about whether she still feels that she needs to fit in with clothing. She told him honestly how difficult and uncomfortable it is for her always to feel like she has to fit in, even in middle age. Her son, who rarely turned in assignments, was able to complete a successful project and improve his grade at the same time.

My husband and I presented our steps of personalized, project-based learning last week at our district summer conference. I was asked how we can make project-based learning not seem like “just one more thing” for teachers. With not a lot of time to think, I answered what I honestly feel, and that is this:

I must be joyful at work. Project-based learning helps my students be engaged and happy with learning, but it also gives me a lot of room for creativity, and it helps me be joyful. Because it helps me be joyful as a teacher, project-based learning is what I naturally want to do.

I recognize that my answer does not meet the needs of all teachers. So next time I post, I’ll try to share some other ways that we can make project-based learning not seem like “just one more thing.”

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USU Clothing and Textile Training and the Mental Health Benefits of Sewing

A week ago, I had the opportunity to attend one of the best professional development conferences I have ever attended. Teachers attend a variety of required trainings every year to maintain licensure. Some of the trainings are mandated, and many are redundant. I’ve been at full-day trainings that go from 7:30-3:30, and teachers are counting the minutes after lunch until the training is over. This training was totally different. It ended at 5 p.m. both days, but few people left that early. The first day we stayed 45 minutes late; then arrived an hour early the next morning with a large group of others all excited to continue work on their projects. What kind of training would make us want to put in so much of our own time? It was the annual USU Clothing and Textile Training.

I had been looking forward to this training for over a month. I knew I was going to get a couple of mental health days at the conference, even though I would be working at the same time. I was so excited to attend the conference, that my substitute joked that she was going to tell my classes that I was going to a sewing spa day.

I have long understood the mental health benefits of sewing in my own life. There was an emphasis on those benefits for students at the USU Clothing and Textile training. The subject came up during multiple workshops. One presenter talked about research showing that there are specific mental health benefits that go along with hand-eye projects, and that we have lost a lot of those benefits in our society as young people rarely participate in such projects anymore.

In her young-adult novel, Sparrow Road, (Puffin Books, 2012) Sheila O-Connor describes a teenage girl named Raine, who is trying to find the solutions to some difficult problems in her life. An adult mentor begins to teach Raine to sew. After several days of sewing, Raine says, “I still didn’t have an answer, but the steady act of sewing gave my heart some peace” (page 154). I love that line! I truly believe that creative activities have a healing property.

Creativity, and the peace that comes with it, is a gift we can offer our students. Sewing, when projects are personalized, is automatically engaging. There are adults who tell me that sewing stresses them out, and I know there’s a story behind that. Actually, I’ve heard the story over and over. I know it’s a true story because I saw it happen during my junior high years. There were some sewing teachers who were so strict, they scared their students half to death. I’ve had grown women who have faced difficult life challenges tell me that they are terrified to try to put in a zipper because of the way their sewing teacher made them feel when they were just 14.

We can alleviate stress in our sewing labs first of all by helping young students understand that there will be mistakes. I make mistakes every time I sew. Secondly, we must assure our students that when those mistakes occur, we will be willing, available, and patient as we help them understand how to fix those mistakes. We can also reduce stress by teaching problem-solving skills and allowing students to take short breaks as needed if their stress level begins to rise. Sewing should be joyful. When it is joyful, teachers will naturally build their programs.

During the USU training we heard stories of schools that have eliminated their sewing programs. Principals or districts may feel that sewing is no longer practical or necessary, but when we take into consideration the enormous need our current students have for mental health support, and when we understand that sewing provides that mental health support, we recognize that eliminating our programs is simply not acceptable. The critical-thinking and problem-solving skills learned in a sewing lab are important academic reasons to include sewing classes in our schools. I encourage both students and administrators to see sewing classes as the perfect place to incorporate the engineering design process. I also love to point out how sewing and clothing design are all math; textiles are all science; fashion is communication, history, and social studies; and fiber arts are art.

The USU Clothing and Textile training combined everything I love about sewing and design. We had two fantastic keynote speakers. Carina Gardner, who currently designs fabrics for Riley Blake, talked about fabric and paper design and marketing, and how designers who understand the marketing aspect can achieve financial success in the design field.

Melissa Clark, professor in the USU Outdoor Product Design Department, described the USU program for Outdoor Product Design. I’ve been watching this program since its inception. I love what they are doing, and I encourage young, aspiring designers to consider that program in their future.

Melissa was generous enough to let us try out her own outdoor product design by sewing a lightweight rucksack. This project was probably our most challenging project of the 2-day conference, and I was especially excited about this project, because my son has been telling me how much he needs something like this.

The patch on the backpack was not part of the original design. My daughter brought it home from a work-based learning experience at her own school, where someone from Hill Air Force Base had presented to her class about Homeland Security. My daughter didn’t feel strongly about keeping the patch, and my son loves everything about military planes of any kind. He hopes to become an aerospace engineer. I knew he would be excited about the patch, and it was a perfect match for this bag, so I couldn’t resist adding it on.

Besides the rucksack, we had opportunities for service sewing. This is just the beginning of the pile of mastectomy pillows we made for donation. You should have seen the way we worked together to get these done.

We made this lovely, lined travel jewelry clutch with pockets, zippers, snap-on attachments, and places for earrings, rings, and necklaces.

I was skeptical about learning to make macrame keychains, but this turned out to be a fun workshop.

We made swimsuit cover ups, and we did some hand sewing with this cute “circles to hexagons” quilt block. I don’t do much quilting. I’m much more focused on clothing. But I enjoyed the hexagon project, partly because it was a great opportunity to feel the mental health benefits of hand sewing. Does it have mistakes in it? Sure enough. Same as all my projects. But it turned out nice anyway.

One of the best parts of the conference was the opportunity to visit and collaborate with a teacher from my own school and with teachers from across the state. I loved to hear their stories and find out about the projects they are doing and how they are finding success!

If you teach, I hope I see you at the USU Clothing and Textile Training next year.  

3D Community Building

The title of this activity is a play on words, because students will be building community with their team, but they are also building a 3D community out of paper at the same time.

Many courses have strands and standards that involve teamwork and collaboration. For Family and Consumer Sciences Exploration in Utah, this activity works well with the following strands and standards:

  • I can explore the importance of employability skills (Strand 4 Standard 1) including the following:
    • Effective communication
    • Problem solving
    • Teamwork
    • Critical Thinking
    • Dependability
    • Accountability
    • Legal Requirements/Expectations

For Utah College and Career Awareness classes, this activity gets even more bang for the buck, meeting the following standards:

  • I can discuss the benefits of strong workplace skills and the negative consequences of underdeveloped workplace skills. (Strand 2 Standard 1)
  • I can complete tasks on time. (Strand 2 Standard 2)
  • I can exhibit self-motivation and self-discipline. (Strand 2 Standard 2)
  • I can show respect for others. (Strand 2 Standard 2)
  • I can be responsible for my own actions. (Strand 2 Standard 2)
  • I can demonstrate strong work ethic. (Strand 2 Standard 2)
  • I can explore various methods of communication and can use effective and appropriate communication for the given situation. (Strand 2 Standard 3)
  • I can identify and demonstrate effective collaboration and teamwork skills. (Strand 2 Standard 5)

3d Community Building takes minimal preparation and supplies but provides a lot of engagement. Students love this activity!

Here’s what you need to have ready in advance for each team or table.

  • 4 pieces of cardstock
  • 1 tape dispenser
  • Colored pencils
  • Scissors

And here are the rules for the activity which you can also find posted on the Canvas Commons as “3D Community Building.”

Your teacher will give each team 4 pieces of paper or cardstock and will allow you to use tape, glue, colored pencils, and scissors. Each team will have the same amount of time to create the following 3-dimensional items:

  • At least 1 building
  • At least 1 vehicle
  • At least 1 tree, shrub, or other plant
  • At least 1 person
  • Any other elements of a city you would like to build

All items you build should match each other in scale and should be similar in style. That means that as a team, you should choose a theme for your community so that the items look like they belong together. When we finish building, each team will share their work and their process with the class. 

As I am explaining this activity to students, there are a few things I make sure they are clear on. The first is that they will only get 4 pieces of cardstock! If they have 5 people on their team—4 pieces of cardstock. If they have 3 people on their team—4 pieces of cardstock. They can’t ask for more cardstock. Using their supplies effectively is part of the requirement. If they come to me in 15 minutes and tell me that they made a mistake and need more paper to start over, I tell them that they need to figure out how to problem solve with the mistakes they made and the supplies they had.

We talk about what it means to make their items 3-dimensional. I do allow for paper people to be flat, as long as they can stand.

We talk about scale, and how a car should not be smaller than a person or taller than a house.

And we talk about choosing a theme. I have seen all kinds of creative themes chosen for this activity—old Western towns, alien towns, New York City street scenes, vacations on the beach, campsites, “under the sea” scenes, scenes from shows and movies, and the list goes on. I look forward to 3D community building because the kids often surprise me. Just last week, I had students create a pop-up beach scene. It was delightful! And yes, I do allow boats to count as vehicles.

Once students start working with their team, they need approximately 40 minutes to build their scene and feel ready to share with the class. Some teams go a little faster or a little slower. When a majority of teams have mostly cleaned up their scraps and mess and are ready to share with the class, I have a spokesperson from each team share what they made. After every team has shared, we have a class discussion using both pair/share with students at tables as well as whole-group sharing. The discussion is how I make sure we have met the day’s objectives. I tell students that as long as they have participated effectively and respectfully in both the building activity and the discussion, I can see that they have met the standards for the day, and I can give them points for this activity and its objectives based on their participation. That makes this activity quick to grade, even for a large class!

These are some of the questions I typically ask during the class discussion, and I believe these questions connect well to the standards, but you can use your own questions, depending on the objectives for the activity in your classroom:

  1. How did your group split up the various responsibilities, meaning, did you share in various responsibilities or did specific people do specific things, such as leader, architect, artist, object designer, builder? Were formal assignments given or did the responsibilities just happen?
  2. What made communication most effective for your team? 
  3. What are some real-life workplace skills you used as part of this activity?
  4. What are some of the things that your group did that helped the group cooperate and be successful?
  5. What did you learn about decision-making in a work or teamwork environment?
  6. What were the positives and negatives of working with a group?
  7. What are some things you could have done to work together better as a team?

I hope you love this activity! If you use it with your classes, I’d love to get some feedback on how it went. Also, what would you change to improve the activity? I can always make improvements to my own lessons!

Below is one of my favorite ever 3D communities. The 4-person team that made this creation was incredibly in sync! The figure standing on top is Willy Wonka on a green hill of candy trees over the top of a chocolate river. The vehicle is a violet, Viking-style boat floating on chocolate inside the chocolate factory.