I still remember back in 2011, when Nicholas Provenzano (@thenerdyteacher) wrote this open letter to Taylor, trying to get her permission to use some of her songs in a student production of Romeo and Juliet. Educators from around the world were tweeting Taylor attempting to help out Nicholas and his students. In the end, I think that the students had to choose other songs, but as Nicholas shares in an updated blog post, his PLN really bonded together and tried to help him out. He even became a trending topic in Canada.

Now, almost four years later, I’m asking for some tweeting help. Peter Cameron, a teacher in Thunder Bay, Sharon Moskovitz, a teacher in Toronto, and I are working together on a “tower challenge” as part of various grade approaches to structures: our next Science unit.

We’re still finalizing the details of the challenge, but especially for our younger students, Sharon and I want to ensure that we provide a meaningful context for the learning. This is where we need your help! We thought that instead of just designing any tower, students could look at creating a tower design for a specific purpose: maybe looking at a possible updated design of the CN Tower, maybe creating the next Trump Tower (either for a location in Canada or in the US), or maybe designing a structure for the revitalized Battery Park in New York City. 

If one of these people or organizations would tweet back to our students (and others that join) with some feedback on their design plans, then this starts to transform the learning. As a Board, we’re committed to Transforming Learning Everywhere, and this project has the potential to do just that. Sitting in one of our classes could be the next big designer, the next apprentice, or the next award winning architect. With the use of social media, experts in various fields could help inspire young learners, and our students could see this building opportunity as more than just a fun time with marshmallows and pasta.

And so, if you could tweet any of these people – @TourCNTower @TheBatteryNYC @RealDonaldTrump @DonaldJTrumpJr @IvankaTrump – with this message, I would be very thankful:

Make learning meaningful for Gr.1-8’s by giving feedback on our structures that align with your company focus. Can you help?

I’m very excited about the possibility of connecting with professionals and making Science learning meaningful. How have you connected your students with various professionals? What impact, if any, has this had on student learning? I’d love to hear about your experiences!

Aviva