Cover art to DJ Signify’s Sleep No More. The track featuring Sage Francis is here. It’s one of the two songs I’d give you as a precursor to these projects, and the one that underscores, in a dark and surreal and imagistic way, the idea of being anaesthetized; the other one is just about creating things and feeling pretty good about doing that.
Something Completely Different
Your predecessors spent the last six months of last year working on what we called Pareto Projects. It ended up showcasing the strengths of the classroom itself — the ability to iterate, refine, and evolve an idea; the sense to reboot when necessary; the openness to student feedback — but it also took a long time to find itself, pedagogically speaking. Search the site for “Pareto Project,” and you can see the long arc of it.
You get to start now, in September, with everything in one place. Here we go:
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That’s the only guide you need to launch your own project. We are going to try to keep it digital, since so much of it requires you to click links and take notes separately. Here is the always-updated Google Docs version:
That guide has also been placed in the resources section of Google Classroom, and you’ll have another copy of it with the first week’s assignment. That assignment is to hammer out your initial project idea using the resources in the guide, your peers, and your teachers — and not just me, by the way.
The formal assignments for this project will, like all formal assignments, be posted to Google Classroom. That will include sketching out your schedule, filling out a Google Form, making a copy of a blueprint and completing it, and a few more things. You have to read the guide to figure it out, and that will require you to work together and work diligently.
This is probably the best example you’ll find all year of how to unlock the real course. Let’s see what we can do.
Although I admit that I haven’t delved into ALL of the instruction for the project, I have to say I am daunted by the vast opportunities here in terms of where we can take this. How do we find a project that has real meaning, that will take 20% of our time for the whole year, that we can analyze in writing and discuss with peers? I’m rendered lost by the complete lack of limitations because it means I have to generate something original and significant with no restrictions telling to stay within certain bounds.
(On a more positive note,) when I was watching the video about all of the past projects, it seemed like the students really did take the project anywhere they wanted. It was encouraging that they all looked really motivated by their project because it was something they were truly interested in. I’m most excited about the fact that the project can shift as we see where it’s going and we can alter the course of our project based on how it’s going at any one time.
That last idea is the one that will keep you from being overwhelmed. You can shift focus and even change projects, if necessary. It’s why I like that Piet Hein’s quotation that appears at the end of the guide: You will figure this out as you go.
The last point you made is really comforting as I brainstorm ideas for my project. I think a huge part of the stress and the dreading of projects is having to work on the same topic for a very long and extended period of time. To really be invested in a project about a topic that has no shifting room, you really have to be passionate about the topic and really want to dive into the different aspects of it.
I think it is also important to point out the amount of freedom we have in this project. It is both intimidating but also exciting. To have this much freedom also comes with a lot of responsibility meaning we are completely in control of our fate in this project. This also means there are so many different directions we can take this project with little to no guidelines in where we take it. This is intimidating because the responsibility is primarily on our shoulders, so we have to use that to collaborate with others and obtain others ideas in order to help us with our responsibility. It is exciting because we have complete control over our project and the experience we encounter during it.
I like this idea of an open ended project, where we can do anything we feel like essentially. However, I feel like a lot of kids will struggle with this — procrastination and time management becoming a big issue — due to fact that most of our school lives have been driven upon direct instruction. We are so used to being given a project, due in a certain amount of time, and then finding short cuts and outings to go above and beyond to get 100s. With this project, it’s our decision on what we want to do and how to do it, which in turn can be good for many outside the box thinkers, but bad for those who haven’t reached that certain level of thinking and management. With that, this project will take lots of collaboration and peer influence to achieve our end goal(s).
This project is driven by inspiration, a factor that cannot be forced. As Jane was saying, the vastness and lack of limitations for this assignment are quite intimidating. In every other class, we are taught to follow rubrics and deadlines religiously or else we risk a drop in our grade. Transforming our minds to a space where creativity is encouraged is difficult, as we tend to fear the unknown. I am glad that the Pareto Project will be taking place over a longer period, because I feel it will give my well-trained brain a chance to stretch out a bit. Accessing our full potentials for this project will take time, as our heads need a chance to undo the inculcating of the structure that comes along with assignments that have extensive rules and rubrics.
I hope I used that word correctly, I learned it in “What Do I Do Next”. 🙂
From what I recall regarding last years work, the Pareto Project is either a “make or break” for lack of a better term on your GAP score. I found it challenging to stay focused last year, seeing as how as we grow teachers are basing their work more on our independance. The project, if went about the right way, is a great opportunity to devote 20% of this years class time to something you care about and want others to care about .
The project is 20% of our work for the rest of the year, so it probably seems proportionally more important than other work. Try to think of it as rooted still in those profiles and the attached skills and traits. This project is just another opportunity to learn, which is an opportunity to generate evidence for GAP work. In that sense, everything is “make or break,” from how you read the instructional posts this weekend to the way you pitch your project tomorrow.
At first, I was very confused and not sure what to choose for my project. The lack of limitations was almost intimidating and there weren’t too many examples to go off of. But after collaborating with my peers and bouncing ideas off of each other, we all got a better idea. We also talked to Mr. Eure and he made us realize that as long as you can write about it and have either a goal or show progress, the sky is the limit. So, this really opened up our options and we all came up with great ideas. Now I am very excited for this project and the amount of freedom given. I am anxious to learn something new throughout the year and broaden my horizons.