Today as I quickly introduced students to the idea of creating a comic to remember scientific information, we ran out of time for the good work and conversation the project will take. Work that's typically enjoyable, deep, and meaningful takes time, and too often in schools we're trying to fit ten pounds in a five pound bag. Some might say lengthen the day, but the truth is that there's a saturation point for deep, meaningful work, so I don't think a longer day is the answer.
I think the answer is taking the time to work together to choose the best projects carefully, and also being willing to flexibly change those projects if it means that the learning will be more relevant, timely, and of interest to the children in front of you.
There is limitless information at our finger tips, and many, many, many ways to learn, hence it's a time, as I've noted countless times before, where prioritizing is of utmost importance, and generally that prioritizing profits from student-teacher-family collaboration.
