A “Success Story” Interview Hosted by Ellen Erlanger and Kathy Meyer

Middle school students getting excited about their research projects? How did that happen??

In this interview, middle school teachers Sara Miller and Anna Schoen from Trinity Catholic School* (Grandview OH) describe how a magical transformation unfolded for their students—and for them.

Sara teaches Language Arts, and Anna teaches Social Studies and Religion. They enjoy collaborating whenever possible, and this project provided a wonderful new opportunity.

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Q: Before we talk about your project, what “back story” would you like people to know?

A: Our school has been working on a shift to more authentic learning strategies over the past several years. We’ve been exploring ways to make learning more engaging for our students, and we realized that putting a new spin on our required research paper was a great opportunity for change.

Q: What was your “new spin”?

A: Mainly, we created lots of choices for students’ final projects. The “mission” everyone shared was to create engaging “authentic products” to share at a History Fair for students in grades 5-8.  As part of this shared endeavor, each student could choose from a variety of topics under three general categories – Biography (6th grade), Historical World Event (7th grade), and Westward Expansion in the United States (8th grade). In addition, they could choose the type of product they wanted to create to help our “authentic audience” learn about their topic.

You could say we were letting students “choose their own adventure.” We wanted them to pursue something meaningful, beyond a grade – and they really did.

Q: What kinds of “authentic products” did you suggest?

A: The choices included children’s books, art figurines or other pieces, podcasts, social media profiles, board games, historical fiction stories, newspapers, and Pinterest boards. We also gave students the opportunity to “pitch” another idea.

Q: Those are great avenues for creativity. But what about the research skills you needed to teach?

A: We still addressed those – but this time, students were researching for a purpose that was important to them. We still gave them standards-based guidelines and expectations, but they had a more personal reason to take their research seriously. They knew they would be using the information to create their products and ultimately teach others. It made a huge difference!

Q: We can tell this was a big success, but were there some challenges for you and your students?

A: For us, this shift required a leap of faith, because we didn’t know exactly what would happen. We had to “let go” more than usual and trust the students’ initiative and creativity – but we’re so glad we did.

Admittedly, we saw some struggles with time management, and some students needed support in coming up with ideas that excited them. But we were able to work through these issues – and now that we have some great examples, it will be easier to get rolling next year.

Q: What benefits did you see from your new approach?

A: It gave the students so many different ways to learn and express their learning. Something that used to be bland and boring—even scary and dreaded for some—became engaging, fun, and creative. We saw so much evidence of deep learning, and the students were extremely proud of what they accomplished, individually and together. 

Their projects were incredible—a coded video game, a board game created with a 3D printer, lots of amazing art and writing—and we saw “beautiful work” from several students who often struggle. Also, we loved how this approach was truly interdisciplinary and accomplished important curricular goals for both of us.

Q: Is there anything you’d like to improve or do differently next year?

A: We want to do more with reflection throughout the process, and we want to develop a better check-in system to help students with time management. We’re also considering starting the project earlier in the year. This new process created so much positive energy and momentum—so why not start sooner?

Q: Any other advice for colleagues?

A: Don’t be afraid to try a different approach! We were hesitant at first, but we kept on going and asked for help when we needed it. Sure, authentic learning can be a little messy at times, but the benefits are amazing. As teachers, we feel like we’re on a continuous journey, moving in the right direction for our students and ourselves. This experience was a big step for us, and we’re eager to see what’s next.

*NOTE: Beginning this fall, Trinity will be known as St. Christopher School.