Week 1: Projects Ahoy!

     In the articles "More Fun Than a Barrel of...Worms?", "March of the Monarchs," and "Geometry Students Angle Into Architecture through Project Learning," the overwhelming idea that came through to me, and I'm sure the rest of the readers, was that the students were learning multiple subjects by doing one project. Each project was either science or math based, but each one required student organization, writing, synthesizing of information, working with technology, and working in groups. Students must practice and utilize skills from across the curriculum in one project.
    Each project also utilizes what is pointed out in one of the titles: real-world problems. Students aren't given hypothetical problems to work out; they are given ideas and situations that are actually happening. Even in the case of creating new schools--that is something that goes on now and will continue to happen as long as we educate children in mass.
    I really think that the best part of these project-based learning experiences is the ability for the teacher to slowly release responsibility to the students. Not every piece was structured. In fact, even in the case of the elementary school in Newport News, an entire project came from the curiosity of the students. It hadn't been planned until the students thought it up. This ownership and autonomy make the kids enthusiastic to learn about something they're interested in, especially when it involves creating something of their own. They are no longer completing a worksheet created by the teacher, but finding the answers to the questions that they themselves posed. They have become explorers trying to solve a problem, instead of students in a box trying to memorize information.
     This kind of exploration is something that I would like to see in my own classroom. The majority of the examples that I've ever heard or read about, however, seem to come from a science or math classroom. How do I create a project that is cross curricular for a group of students who really need to learn the basic grammar of higher-level writing? I struggle with this. I don't know how to let go of the instruction and be assured that my teenagers will learn what they need to in order to succeed. Hopefully my time taking these graduate courses will give me a better idea of how to do this.

References

Armostrong, S. (2002, February 11). Geometry Students Angle into Architecture through Project

       Learning. Retrieved November 1, 2015. 

       http://www.edutopia.org/geometry-real-world-students-architects

 Curtis, D. (2002, June 6). March of the Monarchs: Students Follow the Butterflies' Migration.                     Retrieved November 1, 2015. http://www.edutopia.org/march-monarchs

Curtis, D. (2001, October 1). More Fun Than a Barrel of...Worms?! Retrieved November 1, 2015.

       http://www.edutopia.org/more-fun-barrel-worms