Thoughts about doing projects: choosing topics and how the project will be presented.
I like the freedom of doing what you want to do. I like seeing how everybody’s mind works, seeing what everybody’s project will be, and everybody’s doing something different. You can’t predict what you’re going to see. You’re always surprised. Cambell
I like the creative part of doing my way. I have more fun thinking about how I should do it, and how I’m going to put it all together. Susanna
It’s nice to have a choice, to choose what you think will work best for that project, and also you can try something new. Danielle
I think it’s important (that we can choose our own topic and choose how we present our project). Take the Artist and the Artifact project. If Giuli wasn’t able to present her project the way she did (as a presentation with clay artifacts), then there’d be nothing special about it, because they’d all be the same. It allowed her to stand out, and if Giuli enjoys it, she’ll probably learn more. Sabria
A lot of times we have these creative ideas, like I want to make a movie, or I want to make some artifacts . . . Ira
We’re able to pick our topics, so you can actually have fun while you’re doing it. Cynthia
They get ideas in their heads, like Da-Lan, she probably immediately thinks of a huge display. When you do something that you have to do, your heart may not really be in it, you don’t try as hard. But when you do something you’re interested in, you try more, you learn more, and it’s easier. Lexie
We’ve learned new ways to do projects by watching what other kids do. Cyrus
We’ve done a lot of projects this year. We’ve already done four or five. I’ve gotten better in organizing them. Elaina
We’re doing big projects, and people don’t know about your topic. In the Artist and Artifact project, no one really knew about your topic. It’s more fun that you get to choose it, and do it in your own way. Danielle
It’s sort of like we’re teaching, you’re teaching everyone about your topic. Sabria
At the beginning of the year, no one knew Prezi. I made a PowerPoint, but I didn’t know what a PowerPoint was, I didn’t make one before. A lot of times before presenting my project, I use the feedback from other projects to make last minute changes. Ira
We are expected to dive into the water (respond in depth), instead of skimming the surface (doing what is easy and superficial). We have the freedom to dive into our topic. We can’t slack-off, no one else is doing our topic. Cambell
I think that for everything you cannot be just on the surface. You might be kind of used to writing one sentence in a journal, and that’s it. One of our projects was 60 points just for detail. Danielle
I love picking my topics. If we had to do something about a book, and let’s say I don’t like this book, and we’re made to do it, I would be unhappy, and I would do it badly. But if it was a book that I liked, for example Harry Potter, my project would be much better. It’s the same thing with piano. If it’s a song I don’t like, then I don’t like practicing it, and even if I do practice, I play it badly. But if it’s a song that I love, I can practice it for hours. JacobM
You try harder if you enjoy what you’re doing. Margo
I like to choose what kind of display we do, because you can make your creativity go BOOM! So I can do anything, like a Prezi. Now that I know what a Prezi is, so I want to do Prezis more. When I first look at something, I explore what the features. I like to play around and figure it out. Da-Lan
If you enjoy it, it’s more likely you’ll put more time into it. And it’s custom made to Nora. Even how you do the project is about Nora. No one else used a music stand with notes on the back. That was totally you. Mr. Spedding to Nora
Whatever I do is based off of me, like the puzzle I did, because I like puzzles. All this stuff we do, we do because we like to do it. Caroline
From the teacher’s view, that you do a puzzle, and you love puzzles, that makes everything better: you remember it better, it’s a better quality product, and you invest more of yourself. Mr. Spedding to Caroline
I think projects are important for your grade, and what you do in your life, and the things you do normally are reflected in your projects. Like Caroline mentioned, the puzzle reflects who she is. In the Artist and Artifact, your project reflects who you are. Sometimes we see very creative projects, and more of a Plain Jane kind of project, you know, black and white. So there’s a difference between a detail and creativeness. If you have maybe a person who didn’t do a lot of creative stuff, but has a lot of information, and then have a person who did a lot of creative things, but didn’t have exactly all of the factual things. I think if we all did something simple and basic, we’d be a little more on the same level of creativity. But if you do something different, it shows who you are. Ellie
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Advice for doing project work.
I’d say to picture this school and your projects as a beach. Before you might have just been playing around on the shore, you’re not in the water. Maybe you’re used to being by the water on the shore, but you’re not really diving into a project. Now you’re diving deep, you’re SCUBA diving. Sabria
Sometimes you’re doing research, you have a bunch of stuff, and later when you find something else that you hadn’t seen before, I think you should add it in, because the more detail you have, the more points you get. Always use bullet points, and along with bullet points have a picture, so you don’t have to do a lot of writing. Ira
I think you should work really hard on your projects, and not be on the surface. It’s like swimming. When you go deep you’re actually getting a better understanding of your topic. Abdalla
I’d say if you’re doing the Explorer Project, for example, and you want to choose an explorer, do more research about that person to be sure how much information there is, see if you like her, and if you don’t, then I’d choose a different person. And never plagiarize! Lexie
Just because you don’t do well on one project doesn’t mean that you’ll fail on the next one. You should try harder on the next project. Ariel
Maybe you’re not happy with your project. Let that be your motivation, so you can compare projects. You can say, in this project I didn’t like this part, but on this next project I’m going to be sure to make it better. Sabria
The suggestions I would have for the incoming 5th graders in terms of projects would be for them to know that the expectations are much higher. This year you have to go into huge depth and detail. I would tell them that they should expect for themselves way more than they did before. Everything has got to have a lot of meaning, and it has to be very detailed, and well-organized. A big tip I would give them from my own learning, like I learned that we are not to use dense text. We should use bullet points. I’d give them this advice from the start so that they don’t make that mistake. JacobM
My advice would be to pick something that you enjoy, and stay away from your friends who you know you’re going to talk to. Like you said, we should do it from interest and not friendship. Sometimes it happens to be your friend likes to do the same thing. They need to stay away from purposefully doing the same thing with their friends.
Caroline
Don’t get too creative, like I did, because you’ll get an A-. When you’re doing your projects, don’t follow someone, like, oh, the Caribe people, I’m going to do it with her. Da-Lan
One of the biggest tips would be for them to not plagiarize. I would show them how easy it is to copy it, paste it into an internet web-searcher thing, and it would take me right to it. JacobM
You need to choose your project really carefully, your ideas, and you need to choose the right partners and the right way to do things, like a PowerPoint or a Prezi, how you will display your knowledge. Ellie
Along with no dense text, you don’t just put the dense text into bullets. It’s basically just notes for you, and you really need to know what you’re talking about. Anna
You have to organize it well. Organize it in bullet points with a label. Mae
Don’t let your parents take over the whole entire project, and don’t go to the store and buy so much stuff. (I will continue to do that though!) Da-Lan
The expectations are way higher. Sloppiness and no detail isn’t really accepted. Nora
When you write a paper, make sure to edit it with a grown-up, because you may not catch your own mistakes when you read it over yourself. Gabby
A tip: when you’re doing a project, talk to your parents about it, too, but still do it yourself. Plagiarizing is not a cool thing to do, because the teacher will easily be able to tell. Kyle
When you’re choosing a topic, don’t always go with your first instinct, like, oh, I want to do Jane Goodall, the moment the teacher says that we’re doing this project. After a week, you may find someone you really want to do. Ellie
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Have my projects improved this year? Explain.
My projects have improved, but only a little bit. My oral history project was really strong. I enjoyed doing the movie, and the board, too. For my culture project, I didn’t like doing a display board, I don’t really like doing boards that much, but I also think that was really good, just like my oral history project. For that one I got a little more creative, because I made that head, and painted it. For my last project, I should have put bullet points instead of text. JacobM
But that’s the learning process. You don’t get things perfect the first time. Plus you have lots of models to look at. Mr. Spedding to Jacob
I don’t think my projects have improved, but I understand what you’re supposed to do in a project, like the basic items, you need to do bullet points, etc. It also has to do with what the teacher says, if the teacher likes it or not, because if they want it done a certain way, it can really affect the way you think of future projects. Ellie
I think my projects haven’t improved this year, but I think they will next year because I more had a learning process this year. The first project, the oral history project, I thought that one was really good, and I liked it, and I had fun doing it. I also had fun doing the other two projects, but I don’t think as much. With my culture project, it was who I am, and I know who I am, so it wasn’t that fun for me, and I hand wrote a part, and now I know you’re supported to type it. For the native tribe project, I learned that you’re supposed to use bullet points instead of dense text. It’s been a really big learning experience. Anna
I think that not only have my projects improved, but I have improved. Last year I was more shy, like talking in front of the whole class. I can talk a lot when I’m with one friend -- you guys know that already -- but if I’m up in front of the class presenting something, I get nervous, it’s harder to be myself in front of a whole lot of people. I’m okay with five or six people, but 25 or 50 puts butterflies in my stomach. Caroline
You don’t exactly know if your projects improved because the ones this year are bigger and you have to have more detail. So, technically, from 1st grade it’s like sea level, then in 3rd grade I probably went up a couple feet. And when you go into 5th grade it just goes skyrocketing high. It has to be done in depth. Da-Lan
I do think my projects have improved because this year you are expecting more of us, and I think we’ve done five projects (including science), so I think the quality really has improved. Margo
I think it is better when we work in groups, because then the pressure isn’t on one person, it’s spread out between people. Now this we’re better at organizing, we say you do this, this, and this, and I’ll do this, this, and this. Caroline
In my opinion, I think there are two definitions to the word project. There’s the surface project, and then there’s the in-depth project, which you have to do. I used to do surface projects, then I started going into more detail. Nora
