Leland & Gray showcases growth in project-based learning

BY CHRIS MAYS Vermont News & Media

TOWNSHEND — Students presented the fruits of their project-based learning labor, exploring everything from sewing to women’s rights to fantasy football drafting to aerial rocket launching.

Jessa Harger, Journey Away director at Leland & Gray Union Middle and High School, noted the growth that occurred over the semester.

“The kids have sensibilities,” she said at Wednesday’s showcase. “The teachers know what they’re doing.”

All students in grades 6 to 12 presented their projects in groups. They were stationed at tables, answering questions and sharing their experience

Half the student body would be explaining their projects while the other half visited tables, then vice versa. The showcase began with an assembly including a rock band and puppet show.

Principal Bob Thibault called project-based learning or PBL “incredible,” as it engages students in ways classroom instruction cannot and produces “transferrable skills.” Those skills include collaboration and creativity.

Thibault said a similar program launched around the time he started as principal, with the recognition that students needed to be more active, then it morphed over time. He was hired as principal for the 2016/2017 school year and will become superintendent for the Windham Central Supervisory Union in July.

After the COVID-19 pandemic, school staff sought ways to re-engage students. This marks the second year Leland & Gray put a large focus on PBL.

“Every year, it gets bigger and better,” Thibault said.

Each week, students spend 100 minutes on their projects. Feedback from the previous semesters informs the development of the next units.

Students pick the top three projects they’d like to be involved with, then they are assigned to work in groups or individually. Alexander Sicko, a seventh grader, said it’s fun to meet students he doesn’t normally interact with in other classes.

Theo Kelloway, a junior, described Journey Away as “really fun.” Students recorded interviews and put together oral histories soon to be displayed at Brattleboro Museum & Art Center.

A bus went from Vermont to New Haven, Conn., where the group took a train to New York City. In Brooklyn’s Red Hook and Hoboken, N.J., they learned about the impacts of Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Then a 36-hour train ride brought them to New Orleans, La., where they learned about the effects of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and stayed in a cabin on the water where they encountered alligators.

“It was a great project,” Kelloway said. “I loved it.”

Soob Soobitsky, a junior planning to go to a school for photography after high school, recounted writing films for a project then planning them out shot by shot. Students filmed trailers then showed them to other students.

Kyla Thomas, a freshman, said different foods were made every week for a cooking project. Students then rated their creations.

“It’s kind of like a cooking show,” Thomas said, as students stopped by and tried the group’s treats.

Conner Zargo, a seventh grader, participated in a nature immersion project in which guests with knowledge of Abenaki and Boy Scout practices discussed the outdoors. Danielle Witham, a paraeducator, said students went from spending three minutes of “quiet time” outdoors to 15 minutes, learning to look at nature and “able to be in their own bodies.”

“I love nature,” said Witham, who also is a Boy Scout leader.

The group also cleaned trash out of a river.