Project Au-Some: Building Emphathy and Collaboration 

This story is just another example of how an idea aimed at bringing people together can have incredible results, especially with the help of young minds.

Project Au-Some is a small, yet extraordinary, story that sheds light on the real power behind having kids mentor and work among other kids. Too often schools resort to the traditional methods, practices, and schedules as emphasized in James Paul Gee's video. The practice of separating students into specific grade levels and teaching them as if they all learn at the same pace goes against all theory and is clearly a result of the industrial age. This story shows how by bringing groups of students together they are much stronger.

The original intention of Project Au-Some was to encourage more empathy and interactions between a fifth grade class and preschool students with special needs in Harbison West Elementary School. Teachers were suddenly witnessing incredible changes before their eyes and took advantage of a learning opportunity. What started out as volunteering to spend their recess time working and volunteering as groups in the classroom evolved into a more comprehensive project led by the fifth graders. The author, Brenna Lamprey, who is a fifth grade teacher started collaborating more with the special education teacher, Beth Reilly, on how to utilize student voice more in the project.

"Mrs. Reilly put together a list of developmental skills, and students chose from it to create their lesson objective. Then they collaborated in their small groups to develop an introduction, lesson materials, procedures, and closure. The students assessed the success of their lesson during the reflection process with Mrs. Reilly and their classmates. Through their discussions, they became more cognizant of disabilities, which spurred their curiosity about other kinds of disabilities" (http://www.edutopia.org/blog/project-au-some-building-empathy-collaboration-brenna-lamprey-beth-reilly). 

What originated as a small gathering of two 'separate' groups became a larger initiative that altered the experiences and perspectives of multiple children. The fifth grade students in this new leadership role took on a more meaningful project together. This is collective intelligence, when people can come together with multiple gifts, perspectives, and ideas and use those assets towards reaching a common goal. Collective intelligence is essential in the learning process. Think of how many moments you've had in your own life where you've learned by the example of others or from a situation where you had to work closely with another individual. Just as Gee discussed in his experience playing video games, when you bring in more individuals with different skillsets who understand how to respect each other and use those skills accordingly, incredible changes occur. 

A short video slideshow is attached below, I recommend watching it as a reminder of the immense power that youth have on making positive change, we underestimate them too often.