Sunday, June 08, 2014

TEAM Research #19: Rehearsal

Students will use this checklist as they prep for the project's presentation.

"Great works are performed not by strength
 but by perseverance."
- Samuel Johnson, English Writer

It's difficult to time a project exactly particularly on its first run, hence as we reach the homestretch of the revised endangered species project, we are cramming in the last few elements.

The addition of Common Core speaking standards, and the inclusion of more reading fluency tasks, has added a few weeks to the project as students write scripts collaboratively using shared Google docs and tables, rehearse the scripts, and match the scripts to specific slides from their Google presentations.

On Monday and Tuesday, students will use the checklist above to guide their final presentation practice. Teachers, and possibly other students, dependent on time, will critique each group's presentation and provide feedback to help them ready for Wednesday's first family presentation. 

The challenge will first come during tomorrow's project meeting when I introduce the checklist, and challenge students to put aside summer thoughts in order to focus on the project's final chapter: the presentation. I will remind the students that with any big project or endeavor, there's a temptation to give up at the end, and that's just the time that experts say we have to give a project or goal the most energy and focus. It is also the time when a team starts to tire of each other since you have been working together for so many weeks, and you have accomplished so much, but not without a considerable amount of debate, decision making, and share. Hence, in a sense, you might be tired of each other, but this is not the time to give up, instead it's the time to rally towards a presentation you're proud of.

I will also remind the children to keep the audience in mind, and the with that focus to remember that the goal is to both entertain and inform--to whet the audience's appetite to learn more about the reservations and endangered species studied, and also to later act in ways that will better protect those species and contribute to their continued preservation. 

When students are given the rationale and the structure for their hard work and effort, they typically push forward and reach high levels of performance and satisfaction to the delight of their audience, teachers, and most importantly, themselves.

At step #19, this project has undergone many stages. What remains is the final edit, family presentation one, follow-up student/family presentations two and three, service learning letters and contributions, and final reflections. Like the students, it will probably take me several weeks into the summer to truly sit back and reflect on this interdisciplinary, multistep project, but in the meantime, we'll continue along the project path.  

Past Posts
Service Learning Sale #17
Rehearsal #19
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