LP 5-10 - Lifelab Project - Upper Secondary Level

Project: Design Your Life

Audience & Context

Class/Course	Religion
Teacher Name	Created by Joren (RHIZO 1) & Joos Van Cauwenberghe (RHIZO 1)
Audience	Secondary school, sixth year (students are 17 - 18 old)

Project Title	Design Your Life Remote Workshop Project
Project Description	This project integrates design thinking methodologies to empower students to architect meaningful and purpose-driven lives. It's tailored for distance learning environments, enabling students to reflect on, experiment with, and make informed decisions about their future career paths, enhancing their career development self-efficacy.
Learning Objectives	Utilize design thinking principles to craft a life with purpose. Reflect on personal definitions of a meaningful life. Develop and set up life experiments (prototypes) to inform future career choices.

Online Teaching Experience Storyboard

Lesson	Lesson Topic + Objectives	Activity	Support Tools & Resources
1	Introduction to Designing Your Life Objectives: Get to know the group. Understand the Design Your Life Concept. Identify and challenge assumptions and limiting beliefs about career development.	Preparation Activities: Watch "Design Your Life" TEDx talk by Dave Evans. Complete a pre-lesson reflection via a provided Google Form. Review Zoom, Loom, and Miro onboarding materials. Agenda: Onboarding (10 minutes): Outline online meeting etiquette and introduce the project topic. Introduction Round: Get to know each other (20 minutes): Demonstrate Miro board use with a live demo. Conduct an onboarding exercise on Miro, allowing students to express their thoughts through drawing and sharing. Let them show the drawing in front of their web camera. Career Path Guessing Game (15 minutes): Display teacher team photos and describe three hypothetical career paths. Divide into breakout groups to discuss the most likely, surprising, and humorous career trajectories. Group discussion and reflection in the main room. Closure and Homework Assignment (5 minutes): Assign a "Life Check-in" exercise on a Miro worksheet, evaluating life satisfaction across various aspects (career, play, hobbies, feelings) and identifying key career beliefs.	Onboarding email Google form: expactation mapping Zoom and Miro onboarding videos and slidedeck Miro template
2	Life Balance and Current Life Path Objectives: Identify and challenge limiting beliefs related to career development. Reflect on past experiences and their impact on personal development.	Preparation Activities: Create a collaborative space on Mural or Miro with 10 shared workspaces for pairs of students, including templates for Life Path, Strengths Map, Fun Map, and Care Map. Prepare Mentimeter with reflection questions for the Life Path exercise. Distribute a resource document via the LMS containing all necessary links and resources for Lesson 2. Agenda: Open Activity (15 minutes): Review previous lesson's Miro workspace responses. Discuss the concept of dysfunctional beliefs and the importance of acknowledging current life status as a foundation for improvement. Conduct a reflection on the difficulty of the life quality scoring exercise, using a 1-3 scale. Conclude with John Legend's growth mindset video. Instruction: Life Path Map (5 minutes): Show an example Life Path canvas on Miro. Outline exercise objectives, steps, and the mentorship role in pairs. Explain the individual kanban board use in pair work. Share workspace links for Miro boards in the chat. Exercise Execution (20 minutes): Facilitate pair work in breakout rooms using the Miro canvas. Remain in the main room for questions. Debrief and Reflection (10 minutes): Use Mentimeter's word cloud feature for anonymous reflection responses. Introduce the Community Mastery Board for future session improvements, assigning observation sharing as homework.	Central Resource Document on LMS (containing all links to workspaces, zoom, and docs per lesson) Mural workspaces (1 canvas per 2 students) Mentimeter questionnaire
3	What Gives You Energy? Fun map Objectives: Utilize the Community Mastery Board to establish life and course co-existence rules. Identify activities that energize or drain energy under various circumstances.	Preparation Activities: Organize observations on the Community Mastery Board in Miro. Update the LMS with resources and links for Lesson 3. Agenda: Welcome and Community Mastery Board Warm-Up (10 minutes): Pose two check-in questions for chat responses. Summarize input on the Community Mastery Board. Facilitate a prioritization exercise for action on observed improvements. Solicit and cluster implementation ideas, selecting one for practice with team consent. Introduction to the Fun Map (5 minutes): Present the Fun Map canvas on Miro, explaining objectives and the focus on activities that bring joy under different circumstances, emphasizing verb usage. Exercise Execution (20 minutes): Guide students in breakout rooms to work in pairs on their Fun Map canvas. Stay available in the main room for assistance. Debrief and Reflection (10 minutes): Use Mentimeter for anonymous reflection, facilitating a discussion on energy-giving and energy-draining activities.	Central Resource Document on LMS (containing all links to workspaces, zoom, and docs per lesson) Mural workspaces (1 canvas per 2 students) Mentimeter questionnaire
4	Care Map Objectives: Reflect on activities that provide energy and care about various aspects of life.	Preparation Activities: Update the Learning Management System (LMS) with resources and links pertinent to Lesson 4. Agenda: Warm-Up (10 minutes): Play a YouTube video discussing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and global challenges. Use Mentimeter to let students share which global challenges resonate with them personally. Exercise Execution (20 minutes): In breakout rooms, guide pairs of students to work on their Care Map canvas, addressing care aspects at home, school, neighborhood, country, and the world. Remain accessible in the main room for questions. Debrief and Reflection (10 minutes): Employ Mentimeter for anonymous reflections to prompt a discussion on activities that energize or deplete energy. Introduce the preparation activity for the Strengths Map, requesting students to fill out a Google Doc with reflection questions before the next lesson.	Central Resource Document on LMS (containing all links to workspaces, zoom, and docs per lesson) Mural workspaces (1 canvas per 2 students) Mentimeter questionnaire
5	Strengths Map Objectives: Reflect on current strengths and those they wish to develop, based on prior reflection.	Preparation Activities: Organize observations on the Community Mastery Board in Miro. Refresh the LMS with resources and links for Lesson 5. Agenda: Warm-Up (10 minutes): Share a YouTube video on "backward biking" to introduce concepts of neuroplasticity. Conduct a "fishbowl" reflection moment, inviting students to share their thoughts on neuroplasticity, ensuring engagement by sharing a reflection question in the chat. Introduction to the Strengths Map (5 minutes): Present the Strengths Map canvas on Miro, outlining the exercise's objectives. Clarify which areas of the canvas should contain their current strengths and future development areas. Exercise Execution (20 minutes): In breakout rooms, facilitate pairs of students working on their Strengths Map canvas. Stay available in the main room to assist. Debrief and Reflection (10 minutes): Utilize Mentimeter for anonymous reflections to encourage a discussion on the exercise, focusing on the ease or difficulty of identifying strengths and the belief in the potential to develop mentioned strengths.	Central Resource Document on LMS (containing all links to workspaces, zoom, and docs per lesson) Mural workspaces (1 canvas per 2 students) Mentimeter questionnaire
6	Purpose Compass Objectives: Experiment with the Purpose Compass for the first time. Understand that exploring a variety of experiences is the most effective way to discover new life paths.	Agenda: Warm-Up (5 minutes): Share an image of an object via screen sharing and initiate a creative description activity where the first student describes the object literally. Subsequent students add imaginative uses or identities for the object, saying, "Yes, and..." to build on the previous idea. Reflect on the most inventive ideas proposed by the group. Introduce the Purpose Compass (5 minutes): Overview the session's goal: to use self-knowledge for ideating purposeful projects. Introduce the Purpose Compass as a tool for generating a wide range of project ideas based on personal strengths, passions, and perceived needs in the world. Identifying Strengths, Needs, and Loves (15 minutes): Instruct students to review their previous works (Strengths Map, Fun Map, Care Map) to identify their personal strengths, passions, and the needs they feel drawn to address. Ask students to note these elements on the Purpose Compass canvas in their Miro workspace, using different colored sticky notes for each category (e.g., loves in pink, strengths in blue, needs in green). Brainstorming (25 minutes): Pair students in breakout rooms and instruct them to mix and match their partner’s notes to form unexpected combinations of needs, loves, and strengths. Encourage brainstorming of project ideas that integrate these elements, recording ideas on a new sticky note. Capturing + Discussion (5 minutes): Reconvene in the main room to share project ideas via chat. Highlight a selection of the proposed projects to the whole group. Wrap-Up (5 minutes): Emphasize the importance of applying self-knowledge to undertake purposeful projects. Conclude by reinforcing the idea that experimenting with diverse projects can enhance understanding of one’s purpose and foster personal growth.	Central Resource Document on LMS (containing all links to workspaces, zoom, and docs per lesson) Mural workspaces (1 canvas per 2 students) Mentimeter questionnaire

Additional Notes

General Preparation:

• Familiarize Yourself with the Tools: Before starting the course, ensure you're comfortable using the digital platforms (Miro, Mentimeter, Zoom, etc.). Conduct trial runs to anticipate any technical issues.

• Resource Accessibility: Confirm all students can access the necessary technology and platforms. Provide tutorials or onboarding sessions for any tools they're unfamiliar with.

• Cultivate an Inclusive Environment: Establish ground rules for respectful and supportive student interaction. Encourage openness and validate all contributions to foster a safe learning environment.

Lesson-Specific Tips:

1. Lesson 1 - Introduction to Design Thinking:

   • Encourage creativity and openness during the onboarding exercise. The more comfortable students feel with the technology and each other, the more engaged they'll be.

2. Lesson 2 - Life Balance and Current Life Path:

   • Highlight the importance of self-reflection. Encourage students to be honest with themselves during the exercises to gain the most from the lesson.

3. Lesson 3 - What Gives You Energy?:

   • Ensure every student's voice is heard during the Community Mastery Board activity. This may involve actively inviting quieter students to share their thoughts.

4. Lesson 4 - Care Map:

   • Emphasize the global perspective during discussions on the SDGs. Encourage students to think about how their personal interests and cares can align with broader world issues.

5. Lesson 5 - Strengths Map:

   • Address the challenge some students may have in recognizing their strengths. Offer encouragement and provide examples to help them identify and articulate their abilities.

6. Lesson 6 - Purpose Compass:

   • Stress the value of experimentation. Remind students that failure is a learning opportunity essential to finding one's purpose.

Cross-Lesson Strategies:

• Reflection and Adaptation: After each lesson, reflect on what worked well and what could be improved. Be prepared to adapt your teaching strategies based on student feedback and engagement levels.

• Engage in Active Listening: During discussions and debriefs, practice active listening. This not only models good communication skills but also helps understand student perspectives and adapt the course content accordingly.

• Foster Peer Learning: Encourage students to learn from each other through group discussions, peer feedback, and collaborative exercises. Peer learning can enhance understanding and retention of the material.

• Incorporate Mindfulness and Well-being: Acknowledge the emotional aspects of self-reflection and personal growth. Incorporate brief mindfulness exercises or well-being check-ins at the beginning or end of sessions to support students' emotional health.

After the Project:

• Provide a Closure Session: Offer a session to wrap up the project, allowing students to reflect on their journey, share their projects, and discuss their learnings.

• Solicit Feedback: Gather feedback on the course's content, delivery, and impact. This can inform future iterations of the project and help refine the curriculum.

• Encourage Continued Exploration: Recommend resources for students interested in further exploring design thinking, career development, and personal growth. Encourage them to continue experimenting and learning beyond the classroom.