Director of Teaching & Learning Miles Azzeh's Academic Spotlight: Julie Hinckley
Our Lansing USD 469 teachers are incredible at engaging our students in fantastic learning opportunities to reach their full potential every day in our district. To highlight and bring recognition to this great work, Director of Teaching and Learning Miles Azzeh will be regularly shining a spotlight on a stand-out teacher through "academic spotlights."
This week's academic spotlight shines on Lansing High School Advanced Studies teacher Julie Hinckley and paraprofessional Dorothy Platt. Julie was kind enough to invite me to observe an activity she was doing with her CCR Class, which required multiple cognitive (reading, reasoning, focusing, etc.) and noncognitive skills (communication, motivation, collaboration, etc.).
"One of the purposes of CCR is to build skills needed for college and career. Some of the ones addressed in this activity were the "Four Cs of 21st-century learning" - critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and creativity," said Mrs. Hinckley.
The activity tasked groups of students to work together to solve and eventually open their "Breakout Kits," using a combination of the "Four C's" above.
"The Breakout kits and the online platform, breakoutedu.com, came from a LEF grant," said Mrs. Hinckley. "The concept is similar to an escape room. Students need to solve clues to unlock multiple locks to open a box. The clues are themed, usually by subject - English, math, science, etc. Some are for team building and/or seasonal. There are lots of options with the online platform. This was our last one for the year, titled "Breakout to Summer!" and it was a team-building exercise."
It was fun and rewarding watching the students collaborate to try and open their boxes, which had multiple locks on them that corresponded to puzzles they had to solve. In addition to the collaboration, it was also great to see students highly engaged and having fun.
"This activity is fun! It's a fun and engaging way to test your creative problem-solving skills and how well you can get along with others," said junior Anne Vodarick.
“Puzzles aren’t my strong suit, but I enjoyed collaborating with my classmates to problem solve,” said junior Marek Burns.
In addition to enjoying the activity, students were especially complimentary of Mrs. Hinckley and Mrs. Platt and the relationships they've built with both, as you can see from their numerous quotes:
"This class is super fun, and I love Mrs. Hinckley and Mrs. Platt!" said sophomore Grace Seward.
"Mrs. Hinckley is a genuinely caring teacher and always provides opportunities like this for us to succeed. She's always one of the best classes in the school," said junior Anya Anderson.
"Mrs. Hinckley is pretty cool and cares," said junior Matthias Erickson.
Mrs. Hinckley utilized two often overlooked strategies when it comes to learning: allowing kids to reflect on their experiences and planning as a teacher for future scaffolding opportunities.
"After the groups "broke out," there were two reflection questions for them to answer and discuss," said Mrs. Hinckley. "Now that the students have experienced a couple of activities, my plan next year is for them to design a breakout for others to solve. I am excited to see and experience what they create!"
I could go on and on about how great of a classroom environment Julie and Dorothy have created, but instead, I will leave you with a quote from junior Trinity Young that sums it up best:
The "class is an engaging, healthy environment with great teachers. Mrs. Hinckley and Mrs. Platt ensure every student is cared for and enriched!"
Great job, Mrs. Hinckley and Mrs. Platt!