This was easily the most enjoyable project of my entire collegiate career, and it’s little wonder why. Everything was my choice, my design, my interest, my creativity. It was liberating… which is surprising for me as I generally tend to grow in anxiety with fewer directions. Researching my topic was almost… thrilling. Choosing and creating the genre pieces was addicting and borderline debilitating, given the other work I have to do which often found itself skirting the border of neglect. I am excited to present tomorrow because I know that, though my work is not what I consider totally complete, it is still a full representation of both my topic and the fun I had in making it.
If I had to go back and tweek anything, it would be keeping to a timeline. Admittedly, the due date crept up on me a little bit – I think I mentally posted it under “Finals Week,” and never went back to reorganize my files. Other than allowing myself more time to hone and perfect what really felt like my craft (which would have meant more and perhaps more complex genres), I can’t think of much I would have changed.
I am convinced that I want to do this with my students. Why wouldn’t I? With the fun I had, I can only imagine what a 3rd, 4th or 5th grader might do with this! Granted, I recognize that there are often institutional restrictions in some schools and districts, but let’s pretend we can circumnavigate those obstacles for now.
In terms of teaching inquiry and writing through the MGRP, there is no question that this is a deep resource. Everything about it involved writing, reading, re-reading, comprehending what I read and re-reading it again to get the right feel. For a kid like me who wants to get it “right,” this would keep me at my table all day. I love that it is so interesting! If it would be possible to make all of school this engaging, I think we would have a different picture of student achievement.
It does point out areas for concern and improvement as I move forward personally as a teacher. The amount of preparation and organization to keep this project rolling smoothly for a class of some thirty-odd students would be immense – it would be on me to find a way to make sure that I had as many safeguards to divert the chaos which is breeding just beneath the surface of this project. It would also be important to keep on top of the time – making sure that I knew, that my students knew and that my students’ families knew exactly where we were and how much further we had to go in the project.
All in all, this project is a big “Win” for me. I enjoyed it thoroughly and am looking forward to seeing it come to life in whatever classroom life affords.
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