LAUNCH Wrap Up and Resources

This post is the last post in the #D100BloggerPD book study of LAUNCH. Thank you for joining us on the journey of this book study! If you missed the earlier posts, check out the links on the thinglink. I want to thank all the bloggers that took time to read the book and write posts. Another big thanks to all of our followers! It has been amazing to watch our voice spread through these posts. Continue to share the impact design thinking and LAUNCH is making in your classroom!





Hopefully at this point, you feel ready and inspired to try this cycle of design thinking in your classroom. If you still aren't sure where to start, the authors of LAUNCH offer a plethora of resources to help you!

1. Buy the LAUNCH book
The end of the Launch book provides over 50 pages of support material that answer frequently asked questions, layout lessons, and give a LAUNCH notebook of reproducible. The authors give suggestions on how to align a project to your curriculum, getting stakeholders on board, and assessing the students. Everything you need is in this text!

2. Get the ToolKit
On the Launch website or John Spencer's blog, you can sign up to get the free Design Thinking Tool Kit.  It provides a getting started guide, free challenges with videos and lesson plans, assessment tools, and additional resources.

3. Follow the Authors
John Spencer blog can be found at http://www.spencerauthor.com/. He creates wonderful sketchy videos and thoughtful posts that are inspiration and motivating. He also has a Creative Classrooms Podcast.  

AJ Juliani's blog can be found at http://ajjuliani.com/blog/. On his site, you can find a course for design thinking to dive even further into it. He also has a beginners guide to design thinking. AJ also provides a webinar and resources on Genius Hour, which is another way to create a student-centered classroom.      

4. Other Design Thinking Resources

• Stanford School of Design provides many resources and research 
• IDEO toolkit for educators   

A student-centered classroom comes from giving the students choice to follow their passion, while still aligning to the skills in the curriculum that need to be taught. Personalizing instruction for students isn't an expensive out-of-box computer program, it is implementing structures like design thinking, genius hour, challenge-based learning, problem/project based learning and inquiry studies that provide students a structure to follow their passions though authentic learning experiences. If we allow our students the time and space for student-centered activities, it will allow the students to apply the common core skills authentically and create students that can thrive in today's global world.


Thank you for reading and join the conversation in the comments! Continue to follow #D100BloggerPD on twitter to follow the next book study.

-Jenny