Dear Students and Parents of the WHS Class of 2016,
I hope you all had an adventurous and energizing summer! I want to let you know a little bit about an exciting project we’ll be taking on this year in my senior English classes.
The 20% Project is a major project-based-learning assignment that spans the entire school year and encourages students to pursue a creative interest they would otherwise not experience in our academic program at Westlake High. It is inspired by Google’s policy of giving its employees 20% of their time to work on projects about which they are passionate. If you have ever used Gmail or read Google news, you have experienced a product of this policy.
Traditionally, the teacher has stood in the front of the classroom dispensing knowledge through lectures - the familiar “sage on the stage.” This project takes a different approach to learning, where students play a much more active role in how content and knowledge is acquired. The teacher provides resources, asks questions, and suggests projects for students to explore the content. While I will play the “sage on the stage” role for much of this English class, the 20% Project is one place where I will be the “guide on the side.” Put simply, this is a student-centered project rather than a teacher-centered project.
At the beginning of the year, students will brainstorm ideas for a project proposal. Individuals may work alone, but I will encourage students to work in small teams of no more no than four. The project should be product focused. At the end of the year I want them to have created something that helps someone in some way. It could be a physical product like a graphic novel, or a better mousetrap. It could be an organization such as a tutoring pool, or a digital project like a short film, website, or video game. The important thing is that the final product will have a specific purpose for an authentic audience.
Once the team has an idea of what project they want to pursue, they will begin writing the proposal. This is how the team will “pitch” the project to me and the rest of the class. In this proposal, students will answer the following questions:
●What is your project?
●Who will work with you on this project?
●Who is the audience / user base / client base for this project?
●Why is this project worthwhile?
●What do you expect to learn from this project?
●What product will you have to show at the end of the year?
●What sort of expenses will be involved in your project and how will you cover them?
●What sort of equipment will you need and where will you get it?
●What is your timeline for completing (or launching) your project?
Each week all students will be required to write a blog post discussing their progress: what happened over the past week, what they learned, what challenges they faced, and what they anticipate in the future. Each blog post must be at least 150 words written in Standard American English and contain a related image that is posted without infringing on anyone's copyright. Posts will be hosted on Kidblog, a secure site designed expressly for student writing. Students who do not have ready access to the Internet outside of school will be able to use school computers to complete these assignments. Those who have computers or tablets that can be brought to class are encouraged to do so according to the provisions of my Bring Your Own Device agreement.
I would like to see each team find an adult mentor who can help guide and inspire its members. I hope parents will play a role in finding appropriate mentors for this project. Out of respect for adults’ time, students will only seek advice from the mentor at the beginning, midpoint, and end of the project. Of course, mentors may offer additional advice and provide informal leadership if they wish.
Throughout the school year, we will generally take the entire class period each Friday to work on 20% projects. If students are working on their projects on weekends or afternoons, they will use the scheduled time as a productive meeting or writing period. I will be “guiding from the side” during this time to keep students accountable. Attendance on Fridays will be especially important if students are to stay on track with the project.
At the end of the year, each team will will show off their work in a five- to eight-minute memorized TED-style presentation to their peers, teachers, and community members. This will be carefully written, choreographed, and rehearsed to produce the best presentation they’ve ever given! It will be a celebration of what they’ve accomplished and I hope to make it a very special event.
Many students and parents understandably wonder how I’m going to grade the 20% Project. Extrinsic motivators like grades tend to discourage the innovation and creativity I’m looking for in this project. I want them to be inspired by the project itself, not by the grade they’re going to get on it. (Check the TED.com website for Daniel Pink’s presentation, “The Puzzle of Motivation” for more on the subject.)
That said, I will assess students on the objective elements of the project:
●The Proposal (Is the proposal on-time, and does it address the required questions appropriately?)
●Blog posts (Does each post meet the required length and address the required topic? Was it submitted on time?)
●The Product (Did you successfully move from idea phase to production phase, and do you have something to show at the end of the year?)
●Productivity (Are you spending your 20% time by actively and passionately working on your project? If not, we need to quickly adjust the project so you are working on something that is intrinsically motivating. This is less objective, but if I see students not being productive, I will intervene.)
●Final Presentation (Does your presentation meet all of the required elements?)
The world’s best entrepreneurs embrace failure. The only truly failed project is the one that doesn’t get done. I don’t want the quest for perfection to lead to incomplete projects, so we’ll follow the advice posted on the wall of Facebook’s headquarters: Done is Better than Perfect. And while I want students to strive for success, I don’t want them to be afraid of failure. Students who can cope with and learn from failure become resilient adults.
I am very excited about all of the different things we’re going to be doing this year, including the more traditional English elements like reading great literature and becoming skillful writers...but I can’t wait to be amazed, surprised, and inspired by the innovative projects my students will produce in the 20% Project!
If you have any questions about anything, don’t hesitate to email me at .
Sincerely,
Mrs. Kelsey