The Tikkun Project
Lesson
6
Collaborative Design
Concept
A visionary project only becomes a viable real-world campaign when subjected to structured peer critique. By expanding their initial ideas into full blueprints for action and testing their assumptions through a disciplined peer feedback protocol, students refine their projects from simple ideas into resilient, actionable plans.
Focus Question
How does sharing our ideas with peers help us transform a good idea into a resilient action plan?
Knowledge & Understanding Goals
Language, Oral Communication Strand B, Grade 3: Present project proposals clearly using oral communication strategies and apply a structured feedback protocol (SAIL) to critique and integrate peer suggestions.
Language, Writing Strand D, Grade 3: Expand a brief plan into a structured written blueprint, incorporating specific criteria (impact, feasibility, measurability) and revising based on peer feedback.
Thinking & Learning Skills
Communication Skills: Presenting a plan clearly and concisely within a fixed time limit.
Social Skills (Non-Defensive Listening): Receiving peer critique as material to consider, not as an attack to counter.
Context
Students apply the criteria and role-model strategies learned in Lesson 5 directly to their own proposals, expanding their initial journal entries into comprehensive project blueprints and running their ideas through the SAIL peer-review routine.
Lesson Outline
EXPANDING OUR BLUEPRINT
Students review their initial project entries from Lessons 1-5, including their "I will know I have made a difference if ___" statement from Lesson 2, and expand them by answering: What challenge do you want to address, and why is it important? What is the single most effective action you can realistically carry out? What are 1-2 other actions that could also help? How will you measure your impact? What materials, permissions, or tools will you need? What problems might come up? What's one major question you still have?
CHOOSING AN IMPACT TRACKER
Introduce three Impact Tracker Templates for the measurement question: the 5-Day Tally Log (best for counting behaviours, litter, recycled items); the Visual Before & After Frame (best for physical space improvements); the Simple 3-Question Survey (best for awareness campaigns).
PEER FEEDBACK USING SAIL
In feedback circles of 3-4, introduce the SAIL protocol: Speak (2 min) - the presenter shares their plan without interruption; Ask (2 min) - the group asks clarifying and probing questions; Ideas (3 min) - the group offers suggestions, which the presenter records without accepting, rejecting, or arguing in the moment; Learned (1 min) - the presenter states what they learned and what they'll change.
REFLECTING
Students complete a brief reflection: one peer idea they're considering; one question they'll ask the guest expert in the next lesson.
Notes for Teaching and Evaluation
SAIL protocol: separating "Ideas" from immediate acceptance or rejection is what keeps peer feedback genuinely useful rather than defensive - the same protocol used in the Sustainability unit's collaborative design lesson.
Offering three named Impact Tracker Templates gives Grade 3 students a concrete menu matched to different project types, rather than requiring them to invent a measurement method from scratch.
Bringing the Lesson 2 "I will know..." statement back explicitly here - rather than letting it sit untouched since Lesson 2 - keeps that criterion live through the plan's actual development, so peer feedback in this lesson can test whether the statement still holds up now that the plan has more detail.