The Extraordinaires

The Extraordinaires Design Set is a collection of character and "think" cards. The activity we did in class was a lesson in both GRASPS and differentiation. The underlying message of the activity is to look deeper. At first, we were required to look only at the front of the card. The front of each card presented an archetype of sorts; a character rather than a person. There are observations to be made, but they are primarily surface-level. The potential product we designed for that person is different than that we might design once we knew more about their life, as we were required to do, per the "think" cards. As the back is also only images, there is still only so much to be learned, but four images provide much more information than a single image. Thus, our understanding of the character's needs is expanded. Once there are four students, the planning becomes even more difficult.

This is an important lesson to keep in mind as we go into the field and, later, our own classrooms. The activities we design cannot only work for a single student; we must make them accessible to all students. This also means changing the lesson to keep it tailored to the students as we learn more about them. As we've discussed in Kate's class, a great way to personalize things is to allow student choice. This way, the student is doing what they are most interested in and the educator is learning about the student.