1. Explore
Explore! This is the where your journey begins – with a spark. What are you curious to know? What do you love doing? Where does your passion lie? This first stage of the project process will help you transform your initial ideas into Driving Questions, questions that will become the heart your project.
Our student, Tim, has a passion for Podcasting and wants to incorporate that into his project work. He checks in with his advisor and together they look at Tim's Graduation Plan.
Together, they look through the remaining state standards and determine that the Economics: Personal Finance standard might be a great one to go work on.They work with the Social Studies teacher to brainstorm some Essential Questions the project will cover:
-What is a budget? How do I make one? What are some things that should be included?
-What is insurance? Investment?-
What role do banks play?
Try our Project Generator to trying on some ideas! First, let's start with a subject!
2. Design
Here, you will turn your initial ideas and Driving Questions into a project. Working with your advisor, you will determine the specific aspects of your project, including the best resources, a timeline, the deliverable, and the rubric. Finally, once it the project is in place, you will officially propose the project!
Now that our student has brainstormed a topic and some Essential Questions, they work with their advisor to set some parameters for the project:
-When is the project due? (Three weeks)
-How will the student be graded? (They edit the rubric accordingly)
-How will they demonstrate their learning? (Student will make a podcast called 'Personal Finance for Teens in under 10 minutes')
As those details come together, the student and advisor coordinate a time with the licensed Social Studies teacher to officially propose the project. One of the most important aspects of the project proposal is the creation of tasks and milestones that will help guide the student from start to finish.
What questions do you want to answer. What don't you know yet?
3. Do
This is the stage in the project process where work to answer your Driving Questions.
Using your tasks and milestones as a guide, you must work hard to make sure your project is on track for completion. As you make progress, check in often with your advisor and be open to feedback: projects will often evolve throughout the process!
Finally, all projects include a deliverable - some way for you to demonstrate what you've learned.
Now that the student is officially proposed, the student begins working through their tasks. They use our LibraryGo access to gather resources, both online and in print, and begin taking notes.
One week into the project, the student schedules some time with the Social Studies teacher to go over what they've learned so far. They also check-in regularly with their own advisor to demonstrate progress and communicate any issues or setbacks.
Two weeks into the project, they begin to design their podcast, starting with a rough outline of topics to be covered, getting feedback from their project team.
With that draft in place, the student begins to write the initial script for his podcast and finds some time to start recording.
Every project has a deliverable - How do you want to show what you've learned? The possibilities are endless! Try a few ideas out below.
Every project has a deliverable - How do you want to show what you've learned? The possibilities are endless! Try a few ideas out below.
4. Present
This is the point to which all your work has been building: the presentation!
Gather your project committee together and share your work!
As the project nears its end, the student makes final edits to their podcast, finishes their project's bibliography, and writes a Project Reflection.
Once all those pieces are in place, they schedule a time with their project team to present their work.
Together, they look through the remaining state standards and determine that the Economics: Personal Finance standard might be a great one to go work on.They work with the Social Studies teacher to brainstorm some Essential Questions the project will cover:
-What is a budget? How do I make one? What are some things that should be included?
-What is insurance? Investment?-
What role do banks play?
One great way to brainstorm is to get inspiration from other students! To do so, check out our Project Showcase page.
5. Reflect
Once you have presented your work, the final step is to reflect on the project.
What did you do? How did it go? What did you learn - both about the subject and yourself? What would you do differently next time? And, lastly - what's next?
This typed and edited narrative is the final step in the project. Once you've written your reflection, share it with your advisor and project team and schedule a time to finalize the project.
Use the guidelines here to make sure it is a success!
Now that our student has presented their podcast, they join their project team in a reflective conversation.
Together, they evaluate the student's work, ask questions about the content learned, and also talk about the project process.
Finally, they assess the project together and finalize it.Time to start again!
Visit our Project Materials page to grab a copy of the reflection.