CHS.williams.reflections

=J.Williams / teacher / CHS / USA=

04/20/2009 update: We've completed everything we set out to except for making the final podcast. The students seemed to enjoy the process, but have lost momentum. They are all preparing for AP and IB exams as well as final papers etc before graduation. This was fun, but doesn't seem terribly important to them right now. I wonder if that is the real "flaw" in our educational system? Students place importance on what we've told them is important - not their own learning? I hope that we'll find a day to reflect on the project as a whole and have a video camera handy to capture it - that may be the sum total of the podcast...

I've kept a few notes and thoughts as we've worked on the project so far. I doubt these will help anybody else, but maybe shared frustration is of some value!

Day one: Improbable ideas, but some excitement. Frustration with lack of guidance

Two: Felt compelled to push them in a direction – not very focused, but accomplished some stuff

Three: Kind of frustrated with their ideas that are very impractical. Also, this is supposed to be about what “they want to learn” but I’m not sure they really care about the topic –even the part of they’ve chosen – seems like just one more project…

After break:

I’m interested to see what progress they may have made during break. Some I hope!

Ok – some good stuff accomplished today – they set exact assessment goals and deadlines and posted everything they have so far on the global wiki. Now we won’t spend more than a few minutes in class from now on until it is time to film for their podcast. They looked at the intro videos that the Chinese school posted – they felt a little intimidated by how good they were! That’s probably a good thing to motivate!!

April 2nd: I’ve asked them to take some pictures this weekend – maybe we’ll try the video intro too?

April 14th: So far I think the students have taken responsibility for the project pretty well. The "where do you get your food" survey was interesting. quite a few of the students surveyed actually do hunt/fish/garden for at least a portion of their food. That surprised my kids, even thought they live in a rural area! most of what they intended to accomplish has been completed and we lack only a final pod cast. Cayla made her own video to practice (about Cookeville). I feel better about where we are than I thought I would :-)