Take a moment and think about our action project. We’ll only have six or seven weeks to work on whatever issue we select and there are only eight of us. Before we begin, I’d like you to talk about how we can keep people motivated and on task for the duration of the project. What is your experience with group projects in the past, and what are some lessons you’ve learned from those experiences? Were those experiences successful? If so, why? If not, why not? What types of things contributed to the outcome of the project (Did everyone work? Was each person given a specific task? Were people allowed to choose what they wanted to work on? Were you required to grade each other at the end of the project? Etc…)? Let’s talk about what worked and what didn’t work so that when we begin our project we’ll know how to approach the workload that will be required of us.
Thanks!
lily
Kids usually maintain interest in something if it directly relates to them somehow. I’m not really sure if things that directly relate to teenagers have anything to do with the environment but I suppose we could figure something out.
Jon Endicott
The most important thing is getting a topic that everyone is at least interested in. Letting people tackle an aspect of the project that they are interested in is also important instead of just dictating positions to people. Doing activities that are fun is good too. The t-shirts that are often made and things like that.
Letting people work with the people they feel the most comfortable with creates a more relaxed environment.
Grading each other never really seems to work because classmates never want to give another classmate a bad grade.
Torie Salley-Rains
I think the most important motivating factor in our action project is the topic. the topic should be something that we are all interested in. The advice that i have for the action in our project is to just keep moving and keep accomplishing. we don’t want to get to hung up on the details as hard as it is to get sidetracked. I don’t think that grading people at the end of the weeks is a good idea. But some people may need reminders during the project and we should all be there to help each other out.
Anonymous
I think it’s always good to let people just talk in a group and maybe break off and do a little research on our own, that’s usually good for me at least. I don’t really like it when the teacher pairs us up that can get sort of un-exciting if you have maybe never talked to the other person before. Another thing that I like is when the group just assigns each other different parts and things to work on it usually gets done faster and it’s easier and more enjoyable.
heather
I think it’s always good to let people just talk in a group and maybe break off and do a little research on our own, that’s usually good for me at least. I don’t really like it when the teacher pairs us up that can get sort of un-exciting if you have maybe never talked to the other person before. Another thing that I like is when the group just assigns each other different parts and things to work on it usually gets done faster and it’s easier and more enjoyable.
Hayley
I agree with Heather. Breaking off into groups isnt ideal for me but if we talk as a group and assign eachother specific parts, it helps everyone feel like they are contributing.