This collaboration is brought to you by Tract and features my unbiased experience using the platform.
Student engagement in our classrooms can often feel like a three ring circus. Dressing up in costumes, making original songs, tying everything in to a Tik Tok dance… sound familiar? Many of our students are hard to capture and it’s tricky to get them to stay with us through our lessons.
When I started using Project Based Learning in my special education classroom, I really started to see the puzzle pieces finding their place. While I love using this learning strategy, project based learning units are very time consuming. We want students to have some time during the day where they’re passionate about what they’re learning and linking it to our academics. That can be really daunting as a teacher.
Tract is an online community where students can share their own knowledge, learn from other students, and connect with others who are interested in similar topics and activities. Tract offers students the tools and support needed to create unique and engaging learning experiences for themselves and others. So in a sense, it’s a passion project meets project based learning without all of the stress and planning. SIGN ME UPPPPPP!
Students as Teachers
When students are logged into Tract, they can select a topic and create their own learning path on that topic. Additionally, the platform encourages students to use their knowledge and passions to create their own media. How? Don’t worry, there’s even a learning path that teaches you how to create your own! While it’s great for teachers and caregivers to understand the platform a little, it’s so nice that Tract has created a task analysis of sorts to help students navigate each little step that goes into creating their own topic and learning path. They teach users how to:
- Identify your topic
- Research your topic
- Outline your learning path
- Create your challenges to drive deeper thinking
- Write your script
- Record and edit
- Present and publish
What I love about this is the natural practice of executive functioning skills in a super motivating way. Student’s have to use critical and flexible thinking, goal setting, planning, problem solving, and more. Like a true project based learning unit, students are driving the bus AND learning more about their desired topic along the way.
Leveled for Differentiation
Every learning path offers a has a preview of the content, shows the category it falls under (ex: music, video gaming), and the level of difficulty it demands. This can help students determine if this path is interesting to them, if seems too rigorous, and if they want to pursue it further.
I feel that this type of project could be awesome for Friday Fun Days, a Daily Genius Hour, working with an occupational therapist or speech pathologist on planning, following directives, and executing a plan, or during some after school programming. This would also be a great platform to share with families who are looking for meaningful extensions to learning for their students at home.
