CHAPTER SIX

And Away We Go: Doing the Projects

No one is born fully-formed: it is through self-experience in the world that we become what we are. Paulo Freire ______________________________________________________________________________

I had a plan.
It went awry. Im okay with that. This became my mantra over the next five weeks. After a long week of deliberation and adjustment to an enormous leap in both responsibility and freedom, I knew that I had to step in. Students were ready to do something, but not interested in the time it takes to truly hammer out a strong plan. I must admit that asking them to do thisdespite all the scaffoldingis difficult. Not only for them, but for me. I had never rolled out a project for my student in live time. I have taken whole courses devoted to how to plan one strong project! At this stage of our codesigned project, I was definitely ready for a weekend alone to dig into the particulars of both emerging projects. At this point, I feel that it is necessary to discuss each project separately. Because the two projects and two classes were so different, each yielded different findings that are best noted one at a time.

The Infinite Youth Project

I am excited about our project because we have had such a large hand in planning. I love what we have and am excited to see the final product come together. I am slightly concerned about whether or not everyone will stay on track with the plan and about how the schedule will work (Student Blog) During my weekend interlude, I took time to think through our next steps on my own. An introvert by nature, I needed time to think and to process by myself. I needed a respite from the barrage of Now, what do we do? so that I could think through that answer in solitude. I was also mindful of the fact that I needed to solidify a plan that remained true to their vision. This is co-design, I reminded myself, not Roll this into a

Figure 6.1. Still Image from Promotional Video

Stephanie Wrap with a side of Student Voice. Though I was feeling overwhelmed, I willed myself not to water down the essence of their project. They had an ideaa beautiful onebut had hit a wall in terms of how to turn it into an action plan. They needed me to guide them through that, and I needed the peace and quiet of my apartment to gain some perspective and mull things over.
I began with the timeline that Tim and Ryan helped me to develop in class on Friday. This served as my foundation. From there, I created a calendar that would keep us on track to completing our project well before our exhibition date. I also create a grade breakdown, something I was hesitant to do. I did not want this project to be about points and grades. However, I also wanted this group of college-application-consumed students to be aware of how this project would be factored into their final grade. Throughout the semester (and throughout most of their high school years), student evaluation had been made clear. If I was going to scaffold a smooth transition into this project, I also needed to scaffold a release away from grades. I would determine the number of points in the grade book, but we would determine the qualities of an exemplary product together.

Figure 6.2 Excerpt from the Project Overview (The Infinite Youth Project)

I Figure also decided that each product group (journal articles, mural, poetry, documentary) would have a group 6.3 Excerpt from the Project Overview (The Infinite Youth Project)-2 leader each week that would be responsible for determining and recording the groups objectives and recapping the progress made. This would help me to manage them. Additionally, each student was informed that s/he would report on the contributions of each group member every Friday, using a handout provided by High Tech High North Countys Tina Chavez [Figure 6.4]. One fear I hadthat was also expressed by the studentswas that some group members would not pull their weight. In this way, students had a way to share with me who did what. Because they were forewarned that they would receive a participation grade, they knew that they would be held accountable for their contributions on a weekly basis. On Monday, I rolled out the plan to the AM class. Students responded enthusiastically and seemed grateful for a clear-cut plan. They were still very enthusiastic about the project itself and believed in its possibilities. Seeing a plan seemed to affirm the likelihood that this could be accomplished. Students reiterated their interests in each piece of the project: the documentary, the mural, the spoken word, and the journalistic pieces. I allowed them to choose, suggesting that we should keep each group capped at six. When eight expressed interest in the mural and the documentary, I wasnt sure whether to put my foot down or not. They were the ones that were supposed to be making a choice. I decided to let them make their own choice (while expressing my concerns that the group Figure 6.4 Weekly Evaluation of Group Contributions 3

was large) and hoped that throughout the week they would note whether or not they had made a choice that would work for themselves and for the group. Each group was invited to review the plan and offer amendments. Surprisingly, there were no objections. Thus, the tuning wasnt much a tuning, but an acceptance. Im not sure whether this was because students were itching to get to work or were genuinely okay with the stated conditions. Next, they selected a leader who would record objectives for the week on a shared Google Doc and set about dividing responsibilities [Figure 6.5]. The documentary group was clearly the most excited. They knew that their piece would serve as the core of our project, and they had already developed many ideas. I pushed them to pursue crowd-sourcing their video submissions in order to gather a wider audience. Some, like Albert who had watched Life in a Day over the weekend embraced this suggestion. He excitedly considered the farranging possibilities. I feel like this is bigger than us, he told his group with a nervous smile. The talkative energy of this group was invigorating as they chattered about who would take each piece. The journalism group set off on a clear mission. They developed a plan for the week and divvied up responsibilities. They seemed to adjust to the level of authority given most readily. There was less nervous Figure 6.5 Daily Objectives and Recaps excitement and more specific planning taking place. The mural group and poetry group had some work to do. While they had researched the music, and literature that had inspired the generations on the internet, we knew that it would be better to hear from those who were lived through this time. Thus, the group set out to canvass the neighborhood (after careful instructions to avoid entering businesses and not-so-subtle questions about their subjects age). They are still abuzz with the freshness of a new mission, but I hoped they would get down to businessand fast.

Reviewing the Writing and the Research

On the second project day, I began with a brief overview of the writing that we would all do for the project. Once we refined our list of the music and literature that inspired each generation, we would each select a piece to study. The objective of this study was to determine what each artist or writers message to this generation was and to hypothesize why it resonated with teens. I spoke with them about the process of induction, or making meaning from texts (House, 2006). This is something I often do when teaching students to analyze literature. Its akin to being a detective, I explain to them. A good detective will look at the evidence first, and then draw his conclusions; a poor 4

detective will accuse someone and then search only for the evidence that backs up his accusation. When I introduced this analogy, students recognize that they often write essays in the same manner as that poor detective: first, making a claim and then searching for evidence to support that claim. I explained that the way to remedy this and evaluate the text fairly is to first look at the evidence. We practiced this together by looking first at a two-minute mystery.[Figure 6-f] (These are easily located online on sites such as Mystery Digest.) What do we know about the crime? I ask them. We listed the known factors orally: The man said he drove for all night long... Well, we know theres a naked baby on the hood of the car... The car is yellow? I dont even know if that matters... As we listed more information, we drew some conclusions based on our evidence, eventually coming to the correct conclusion: The suspect is guilty because he said he was driving for hours. If that were true, then the hood would be hot. If the baby can scamper across the hood without being harmed, the hood is not hot. The suspect is guilty! I explained that when we looked at the texts and music that inspired the teens of previous generations, we would follow a similar process. We would first look at the texts, observing simply what they said before drawing conclusions about the creators intended message. This will be our first step in trying to understand what inspired the previous generations, I explained to them. We need to observe them and collect some evidence. Then, we will draw some conclusions. My intent was to scaffold the process of researching. I recognized that this would be a researchheavy project. Students would need to understand the teens of previous generations. I also recognized that in order to come to a conclusion about their own generation, they would have to be able to observe their peers objectively. The process of induction would lay the foundation for this. I planned to continue the scaffolding of this process of induction as students moved along with their creative pieces (the mural, the articles, the poetry, and the documentary). In my mind, I was embedding the need to know with the process of creating the product. According to John Larmer and John R. Mergendoller of the Buck Institute of Education, this is one the essentials of project-based learning (Larmer & Mergendoller, 2010).

Figure 6.6 A Two-Minute Mystery to Practice Induction (House, 2006)

So, what came next? Well, we would need to do some research! Students were excited to go out and talk to people, to find out what they were like as teens, as well as how they thought their own generation compared. Their answers would provide them not only with texts for their individual writing pieces, but with ideas for how to develop each of the creative pieces. We needed to play detective and start uncovering a) what inspired/challenged the teens of each generation (including their own), b) what each generation thought of this generation of teens. We were on our way!

Playing Detective
Students were itching to moveto get up out of their seats and find some answers. Our mural and poetry groups needed answers before they could do anything. What could they create without content? We decided that they should begin to canvass the neighborhood, approaching people out and about around the neighborhood. Armed with clipboards and paper, they went out in pairs to solicit information from those of different generations. Meanwhile, our documentary group met to determine how they could gather video clips and interviews from teens around San Diego. They wanted to be sure that they presented an accurate picture of the teens of San Diego and plotted to assign groups of students to visit and collect information from teens in different neighborhoods. Because our students live all over San Diego, this was plausible. They determined that they could pair students up: one student who lived in the neighborhood would accompany the other. While the documentary group made plans, the journalism group discussed exactly what they would write about. After some negotiation amongst themselves and with me, they decided to create a three-part feature story on the teens of San Diego. The first installment would be focused on the history of each of the preceding generations. The second would focus on how each of the generations perceived todays teens. The third would profile a few of the teens featured in the documentary.

Figure 6.7 The Map Prepared by the Documentary Group

The Need to Research

Gathering information was a challenge. One of the greatest roadblocks that my students face when tackling any group project is the fact that they can rarely work together outside of school. Many must travel far to and from home and/or are reliant upon carpools, etc. This means that all work must be done during the two hours and fifteen minutes of class. I was faced with a challenge: I wanted to continue rolling out the writing process, digging into the literature and song lyrics that inspired the generations, but needed to gather our data. It felt silly to discuss a writing process when we didnt yet know the content we would be writing about. Thus, I let the focus on our writing slide so that students could use more time to gather information from those around our school. The mural and poetry groups spent the next few days canvassing and collecting data. However, it took them quite a bit of time to walk to a central, heavily populated location within walking distance of the school. They had one hour to do this each day, and each pair was only getting one or two takers each day. Although some of their responses were fruitful, more often than not they would come back frustrated with the small number of respondents. Those that did gather information were receiving an unsavory perspective on their generation. One woman in her thirties shared that she felt teens were more self-absorbed than in the past: I dont recall ever being so... It seems like teenagers are more... I dont know if self -centered is the right word, but just focused more on themselves. Theres trash everywhere... Just not thinking about whats around them. And I have a four-year-old, and it scares me to death that shes going to be just like that... Several comments were directed toward teens overuse of social technologies and how this distracts them from real issues. One interviewee shared, I think that theres a big focus and social media and too much focus on people in the entertainment industry and less focus on important issues, like politics. Id like to see your generation take a little more interest in things that matter rather than just social, entertainment stuff. Though most of her classmates agreed that they were a bit too connected to the portal their iPhones provided, Kelly noted, I found it odd that each generation considers us entitled when they are the ones who gave us luxuries at such a young age. She brought up an interesting point about the luxuries created by preceding generations, but I encouraged her to think consider what her interviewees had said and how she now had the opportunity, through this project, that show them otherwise. 7

The journalism group was spending their time online. Even though these students were naturally more reserved and introverted, digging through online information was not proving to be very titillating. They werent sure where to look for information, and when they did, most of it was very superficial. I warned them against accepting information on their first hit; after all, that would be akin to making the kind of snap judgments that they were working to debunk. Thing were moving slowly. Part of me felt like my students were being a bit lazy and taking advantage of this largely self-directed time. I encouraged them to survey adults outside of school hours to no avail. I pushed the journalism group to look for credible sources from old magazines or newspapers. This was difficult, new territory for all of us. However, I felt that what they had set out to do was within their range of skills. They had plenty of prior experience conducting online research in former classes. They just needed to go after it more. I had sacrificed my commitment to steadily scaffolding the writing in order to allow the time they requested to collect data. Why werent they producing? I decided that they simply needed a bit more of my adult brain to help them to find the kind of credible resources they needed. I looked for a few articles to supplement the search started by the journalism group, handed them over and showed them how I located them using Google Books to search old magazine archives. I also added a few songs and pieces of literature to the data that the mural and poetry groups were trying to collect by doing some of my own research. I felt pressed for time, and in the chaos of the moment, I was worried that I had challenged students to do something they were maybe they were incapable of doing on their own. I feared that I hadnt scaffolded enough and was falling into the trap that my reading of Kirshner, et.al. had warned me of (2006). I should have taken them all downtown again to survey people, I thought to myself. It would have been much more productive and fruitful than simply asking them to walk out of the doors of the school. I should have taught them how to search old magazine archives, I lambasted myself. I should have insisted that we do more research before diving in! Some of our plans were starting to go awry, and I blamed myself for it. My students blamed me, too. They were used to trusting me to lead them along the right path. This was the first time in our class when things were a little bumpy. A little bit messy. Students were frustrated because they couldnt follow a straight path to the projects end. Instead, they were forging that path. Beane (2005) attributes this frustration to unfamiliar feeling of sharing a role that has been solely the teachers for so long. It is the teachers job to lead them, isnt it? They had started this project with me, but nothing was really happening yet. It wasnt as exciting as dreaming up ideas. I felt a little guilty about this. Though I expected messiness and a degree of uncertainty from us all, I was also concerned that if I hadnt done this in live time, I may have had a clearer head that would have anticipated a better approach. If I had allowed this project design to coalesce and congeal over the course of a few weeks, it would have been tighter. Because I blamed myself, perhaps I gave in too much. My head was swimming with the responsibility that I had to lead not only each group, but each class to a successful actualization of their vision. In supplementing their research with resources, I thought I was making up for my mistakes. I thought I was supplanting the time lost in a failed experiment with articles I handed over for the journalism group. Instead, I think I jumped the gun too quickly. I should have lingered there in our mutual discomfort just a little longer, taking the time to show students how to find these resources. Instead, the statements from their initial survey haunted me: They did not want to be part of a project that was inefficient and squandered their time. I wanted to be efficient. I was finding it hard to be efficient, though, in an experience that was brand new to me, as well.

Burning Out on Decision-making

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Though my filling in the gaps of research allowed the mural and poetry group to get down to business, the documentary group was still turning its wheels. This was a group of strong leaders, and because of this, they clashed over their vision for their documentary. They each cared deeply about making a fantastic product, which was admirable. However, they werent moving forward. Deanna had one vision, while Albert had another. Hazel wanted to be supportive of whichever was selected, and she felt frustrated that she didnt have anything to contribute yet. They had just made a lot of huge decisions as a class, and now they were faced with making more within their smaller group. They needed a bit of support in maintaining such a hugely active role in the project. Hazel noted that her group was slowly progressing. We do a lot of talk instead of actual work. When I followed up with her on this, she meant that each member of her group had great ideas, but needed to work to create a compromise that could turn into something they could take action on. Albert agreed with her: I feel that everyone is sort of chaotic, he wrote in his blog, but at least are doing something for the project. We may be slow, but we are productive, or at least have the right idea. What we need from you is if you could please check on us so that we are guided the right way. I was realizing that students were burning out on making decisions. The documentary group had a clear product in mind, but what that product could look like was different in the eyes of each team member. The students were getting hung up on the possibilities while trying to churn out something. They cared so deeply about doing it well, that they seemed uncertain about how to proceed. This set back the delivery date for the video by about a week. They were workingcollecting footage, editing videos, creating a waiver, building a website, contacting other schools but slowly. There were so many what-ifs that cropped up during their discussions, and they needed me to step in. I was also starting to note my own fatigue with this process. As a teacher, I must constantly make decisions on the fly, taking the temperature of the class and acting accordingly. Too much of this can be tiring. When I explained how I was feeling to one of my colleagues, he referred me to a book written by American psychologist Barry Schwartz entitled The Paradox of Choice. In it, Schwartz contends that Autonomy and Freedom of choice are critical to our well being, and choice is critical to freedom and autonomy. Nonetheless, though modern Americans have more choice than any group of people ever has before, and thus, presumably, more freedom and autonomy, we don't seem to be benefiting from it psychologically (Schwartz, 2004, p.99). Here I was, working to allow my students more opportunity to exercise this practice in democracy, and we were all getting a little bit tired. I was asking them to exercise their right to choose, but these muscles were weak, and mine were overworked. They needed me to help make tough calls, and I needed a supporting crew of adult brains to make smart calls. Because I prized the earnestness with which those in the documentary group were pursuing their objective, I wanted to give them several strategies to collect footage. I wasnt sure of the best course of actions, so I proposed a few things for them to try. First, I reminded them of our inspiration: Life in a Day. How did the creators get the word out? I asked them. Social media! If we followed the formula of our model, we might assume a fair amount of success. Yeah Peyton seemed to approve. We could make a trailer and a website and share it around. This seemed to light their fire a bit. Deanna, however, wasnt exactly thrilled. She clung to her guerrilla-style approach and wanted to canvass the citys neighborhoods. She was committed to the idea of showing her audience that not all teens are as they seem. Later on, she described her idea further: You know, like, even though this person looks this way, or this person acts this way, theres a story behind thattheres a story behind every person. And I

felt like that would be interesting to know the story behind. You know, people have different lives. Just because they look a certain way doesnt mean they are necessarily like that. A proponent of the power of story myself, I told her that she should still utilize her approach to do this. You should still do that, I insisted, not wanting to step on her vision. I just think that you could try a couple different approaches just to make sure you get a broad audience. You could even contact other schools and see if you could interview students. This last statement struck her fancy a bit. I recommended contacting local schools to see if they could visit and interview students during the school day. By visiting local schools during the day, I thought I was helping them to cast their net wider. I could permit them to use my class time to do this, thus eliminating the concern that students would be unable to work on this project after school hours. I was also hoping that by connecting with local schools, they would have a starting point. They could connect first with a faculty member who knows the students well and could help them to set up interviews. I was concerned that several students would be unable to participate after school because of work, family, or transportation issues. This is what I would do, I told them. Id look for an adult resource to help me out. I encouraged them to reach out to various princip als, vice principals, and ASB advisors. Yes! They cheered. Awesome! How do we do that? Urgh. The group decided (with my encouragement) to split into pairs to attack different pieces of the promotional materials. Peyton would create a waiver, and Rose and Hazel would work to craft an email to send off to other schools, while I helped them to locate the right people to email. Deanna and Drew would create the promo video for Albert website. Once they settled into their respective roles, they would co nfer with one another and with me to get an okay on a piece. For example, Albert created the website, but polled the class to help him decide on a preferred layout. Peyton created the waiver, but sought my final word on the text. Deanna and Drew created a promotional video, but asked the class to submit footage and help critique along the way. Is this how it should be? Or, should I have built in more time to locate models for the waiver, the website, the video, etc.? When we created narratives together earlier this semester, I always felt that I had supported them adequately by providing models, writing in front of them, establishing clear deadlines. They were successful with these. This process was so much different. I had expected that because students had not only participated in numerous projects, but had spent time in our class discussing examples of exemplary projects, as well as building criteria for their own project, that this whole doing-the-project process would flow smoothlyor at least, smoother. In hindsight, I think that we may have needed to linger in exemplary-project-critique mode a little bit longer, or at least until students had really internalized the language and core components of project Figure 6.8 Home Page of The Infinite Youth Project Site design. I was asking them to deal with much more in their working memory. When they had so many 10

decisions to make while acclimating themselves to the role of project co-designers, their working memory may have been taxed (Kirschner, et.al, 2006), and they might not be not allowed to focus all their efforts on making the best decisions for the product. While wrestling with novelty is a natural part of learning, there comes a point when the teacher has to recognize that her students have hit their mental wall and need a boost to make it over. Because this process was so new to me, I wasnt sure how long to let them linger in discomfort before stepping in. I figured that when they started to ask for help was a pretty good point, though Is there a way to circumvent the tedium and frustration of decision-making? With a better, farranging planning process, I think the odds might improve. Did students still own this process? Yes so long as they dont abandon it in frustration. At this point, I supposed that this was the key: if they have dreamed up a project that they really want to see happen, they might be willing to trudge through the discomfort of mental dissonance, so long as they still believe their vision is possible. I felt like I was biting my tongue a bit during their decision-making processes, and I was deciding when to step in and when to butt out. I feared that they would burn out and be tempted to abandon their vision. Yet, I didnt want to squelch it with too many of my own ideas. It was at this point that I recalled a conversation that I had with a former student of mine. He was a strong proponent of student-designed projects. He believed that when students veer off track of their stated objectives, they need to be reminded of the purpose of what they set out to do. So long as that remains a constant presence, they will continue to work to bring ideas to fruition. I now added this to my co-design mantra: I had a plan. It went awry. Im okay with that Because we are still in pursuit of our purpose. In the following days, I made sure that I opened class with a reminder of our essential question was. I made sure it was written in big letters on our whiteboard. I also suspected that part of our struggle was due to the fact that we still had a surface-level understanding of the teens of the previous generations. The journalism team had dug up some articles, and I layered on a few more, but I thought it would be beneficial to review these as a class. It was also time for us to resume the writing that I had pledged we would all complete start picking up the music and literature that inspired the previous generations. I realized that I had made a mistake in letting them dive into their products without a clear understanding of these generations. Once again, I recognized something that I could have addressed earlier. I worked to rectify this, but students were reluctant to take a step back and dig into the research with me.

Tugging on the Reins

After taking time away from working as a whole class in order to focus on each groups objectives, I tried to reassemble us and refocus us on the research. We still had a long way to go before we provide an adequate answer to our second essential question: What inspired the teens of previous generations? I explained to students that we were creating cool things that needed a little bit more support from experts. I had found some really interesting articles over the fall last weeks from the archives of Time Magazine. Each was written during the time periods in which we were studying and described the teens of each era (The Silent 11

Generation, The Baby Boomers, Generation X, and The Millennials ). We read and discussed an article during the first half hour of class each day that week while Kelly took notes for us. Students werent terribly engaged at firstthey didnt want to just sit and discussbut, the understandings gained were fruitful. We created a list of experiences that the teens of each generation endured on our board, noting items that we might include in the mural or songs that we might include as part of our spoken word piece. It was also interesting to see start to waver in their confidence in their own generation. Rose left our class one day, remarking: I wonder what theyre going to say about our generation, in like, thirty years from now. Its weird to think about that. It was also weird to note that many students agreed with one authors assertion that their own generation is lazy and entitled. It made me wonder, Is this what Im experiencing when they seem reluctant to dig deep into our reading? Our High Tech High students embrace hands-on activities, as they have with the mural, but engaging them in the more solitary task of reading, writing, and thinking has proved challenging. Their teen brains propose action; my adult brain proposes action rooted in context and deep understanding of why we should perform the action. Would I succeed in convincing them of this? How much harder should I push? I suspect that some of this resistance to engage in serious research stemmed from the anxiety that students were feeling about the UC and CSU college applications that were due that Friday. Coupled with the fact that our college counselor was leaving, students were working feverishly to make sure that they were set for the Friday deadline. I made a mental note to myself: Its hard for students to dig into the past when all they are thinking about is their frightful future. Yet, I also knew I had to get us writing in order to meet our exhibition deadline. Buoyed by the recognition of how beneficial it was to explore the TIME Magazine articles, I decided to lean in to my discomfort and to present an overview of the song Figure 6.11 Excerpt from TIME Magazine article (November, 1951) analysis and historical criticism of a novel with examples to my students. I asked half of them to step outside of the room with me and we engaged in a 12-minute tuning protocol. I
Figure 6.9 Cover of TIME Magazine (January, 1965) Figure 6.10. Cover of TIME Magazine (June, 1997)

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knew I would face resistancedespite the fact that we had discussed this piece of the project at the outset because Id held off longer than I meant to implement it. The kids needed much more support to get their creative pieces off the ground and to get their groundings within the different time periods. In addition, I was spent. The second group seemed quietly resigned to their perceived fate. Although Tim wasnt terribly enthusiastic: A song just means what it says, he did agree that they needed to keep their writing skills sharp. Drew offered, Id rather write my own song. His peers agreed, andas a groupwe agreed to make this a second option. Students could compose their own song lyrics that showcased the inspiration of a stated generation. Although this wasnt met by overwhelming enthusiasm, I felt so much better that I had included them in this process. I was pushing them to do the research they hadnt included in their plan, but wanted to do so in a way that invited them to modify the plan. Drews idea was a good one, and I wouldnt have thought of it on my own. Students had the chance to discuss and share their opinions, and I didnt feel like a dictatorwhich is what I feared. Because they didnt seem overly enthusiastic, I gave them a rundown of the songs, novels, and their historical context the next day. This seemed to enhance their interest. Id put a lot of thought into which songs and novels would appeal to them and provide them with a solid understanding of what teens of each era had read and listened to. Students jumped on the novels and seemed a bit excited to claim one. In addition, I pledged to do the writing with them, as I had done for each of our previous writing pieces.

Tuning Protocol (abbreviated)

I. II. Introduction [1 minute]. Facilitator briefly introduces protocol goals, norms, and agenda. Teacher Presentation [3 minutes]. Presenter describes the context for the project (its vision, timing, goals, etc.) and presents concerns and questions they have about the project. Clarifying Questions and Probing Questions [3 minutes maximum]. Clarifying These are questions with a direct and factual answer. Probing questions are questions that push the presenter to think differently and are more open ended. Discussion [6 minutes]. Participants among themselves share responses to the work and its context; teacher-presenter is silent and sits outside of the discussion. Facilitator may lend focus by reminding participants of an area of emphasis supplied by teacher-presenter. Reflection/ Response [2 minutes]. Teacher-presenter reflects on and responds to those comments or questions he or she chooses to. Participants are silent. Debrief [2 minutes]. Beginning with the teacher-presenter (How did the protocol experience compare with what you expected?), the group discusses any frustrations, misunderstandings, or positive reactions participants have experienced. More general discussion of the tuning protocol may develop.

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

Figure 6.12 Project Tuning Protocol (Abbreviated)

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Over the weekend, I selected the song Ball of Confusion by The Temptations from 1970. I went through the process that I hope the students will emulate and shared it with them on Monday. In this way, I was still able to stay a step ahead of them, preparing for the problems that students might face while doing their own writing. Weve looked at models of writing a lot. In the beginning of the year, we started each writing piece by setting internal standards, then looking at a model, then adding to our standards. When we looked at the example essay of The Times They Are A-Changing, I heard crickets. Im not sure if it was because it was Monday morning or if it was because students were disengaged. Regardless, it was frustrating. I felt like I was doing more of the work than they were. Luckily, they started to come around. I shared what I found out about my chosen song: Ball of Confusion, and once they finally started to look into the context of their songs, they found them to be interesting. Tim noted that Let it Be by The Beatles was likely popular because it came out during a very confusing timenot only was the band breaking up, but many teens were very uncertain about whether or not the Vietnam War would end. Randy seemed interested to note that Hound Dog by Elvis Presley generated so much controversy. Despite the simple lyrics, the song was associated with a performance on live television in which Elvis presented his scandalous pelvic twists. Later, Steve Allen invited Elvis on his show to present a comeback in which the young star could perform the same song in a professional manner, tuxedo and all. What Allen didnt tell Elvis, Randy discovered, was that he would also be singing to a basset hound. Elvis later called this one of the most humiliating performances of his career. The students also began embrace the novels they have chosen. Most notably, my girls are experienced the sensation that Figure 6.13 Notes on the Historical Context of Ball of Confusion Judy Blumes book Forever caused when it was the craze in 1975. After I explained the context, I had several interested young ladies. Kelly picked up Forever by Judy Blume on Monday morning and read straight through the daya feat she had never accomplished before. She came into my room at the end of the day and threw the book on my desk saying she hated the ending... but loved the book. Pam was next. I opened my email the next morning with an email titled The Book! and time stamped at 11:30 PM. I finished the book!! I came home from soccer practice and just kept reading til I finished! Never have I ever read a book in one day, so thanks :)

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This was unusual for Pam, and I knew that I had to follow-up with her on it. I quickly printed an article that was published in 1978 that detailed the phenomenon of Forever, and the two of us read the article that morning during our designated reading time. She poured through it, highlighting key points without me asking her to. She told me it was so interesting, and we had a rich discussion of how both adults and teens perceived the book. Forever was dubbed the Sisterhood of the Traveling Book as the list of girls who pledged to read it one night grew lengthier. The girls were passing it from one to the next, and making the other promise to read it in a day. According to our research, they were doing just what teens in the seventies did. Similarly, Tyler had a hard time putting Fight Club down, while Alan seems engaged in Howl. Maybe students need my prodding to get to this point. They might not seek it initially, but they need to be Figure 6.14 Annotation of Ball of Confusion pushed to dig deeper. This was an essential take-away from my experience comanaging The Infinite Youth Project. Students still need to be pushed to take on greater challenges. Likewise, they need someone who knows them, their interests, and their stated purpose. Because I know literature well, I was able to match them to books that I knew they would enjoy. This form of adult oversight helped to steer them back toward their stated purpose.

Mentors Help (Adding to Our Community)

Not only were adult outsiders beneficial for me to run my ideas by while co-designing with students, but they infused my students with life. Students were jolted back to the purpose of their project when outsiders asked about it, particularly when an adult offered to critique their work. When the mural group got down to the business of determining how they wanted to present each generation through paint, I invited a local muralist in to give them feedback on their preliminary sketch. After many of their interviewees from the Baby Boomer generation affirmed their love of the Beatles, Tim thought of using the Abbey Road image as the foundation for the mural. There are four different characters, he explained, and we are looking at four different generations: the Silent Generation, the Baby Boomers, Generation X, and the Millennials. Since they had eight people working on this mural, they could each pair up and create one character. Pairs got to work, looking up ideas online, pulling from the articles I pro vided, and running ideas by me. I saw the most hustle the day before our invited muralist was set to arrive. On the morning of his arrival, I designated Logan to be our note-taker as the students listened intently to his careful, respectful, and constructive evaluation of their work. Students crowded around him as he knelt before the sketches they had splayed out on the floor and asked questions.

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His affirmation of their work and confidence that they could bring this to fruition catalyzed a new beginning. The muralist said they could do, and they believed they could do it. Not only did he give them sound advice, but his discussion of his own work and career boosted their spirits. Elle, and artist herself, remarked that she felt inspired to hear that people can actually make a living doing this. A new creative energy bubbled among these students, and with a list of supplies in hand, we felt ready to make a few amendments and then to PAINT. It was exciting to see this come to life [Figure 6.16]. When I was concerned about the journalism students and their difficult digging beyond a superficial understanding of the teens of the previous generations, I started scouring local writing groups for mentors. Because this group of individuals had previously proven themselves to be self-sufficient, I think I neglected them a bit. Additionally, whatever I was saying was not enough to convince them that their writing needed an upgrade. I needed some outsiders who did this for a living to offer a fresh perspective and direction. Fortunately, I was able to connect them with two writers from a respected, local online magazine. I made sure to attend to them as they prepped for their visit, working to enhance their outline, and their meeting (that I did not attend) appeared to be successful, as accounted for by both the writers and the students

Figure 6.15 The Evolution of the Mural

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They came back from visiting Tonya Lonning with such excitement and enthusiasm, and I dont want that to die. Melissa wrote in her blog, This week I noticed I am really getting excited about our current project. A visit with Tonya Lonning at [a local newspaper] inspired me to look at my writing pieces in a new way. I would like to work on getting more things done early, I still feel the temptation to procrastinate. Anna wrote: I think we had been a bit stagnant, but now that we talked with Tonya at [a local newspaper], I feel like we have a bit more of a clear direction of how to go on. She was extremely helpful and gave us many tips and also told us of some placed we could find some more information and more resources. I think we'll be progressing a whole lot faster now. Melissa, in particular, came back refreshed and ready to work. She forwarded me an email that she received from Ms. Lonning filled with tips and advice. The pleasant exchange was mutual, and Lonning was also impressed. She wrote to me that she and her colleagues had a great time and were impressed by the thought students put into their project. It was a bit of a relief that the meeting went well, and I knew that I needed to continue to work to guide this group to make progress, maintaining the momentum built by their visit. As Adria Steinberg notes in her Six As of Project-Based Learning, adult connections are a key component of quality projects (1997). Though this notion was one I already clung steadfastly to, it became particularly valuable to me to connect with adults during what was now co-managing (versus co-designing) the project. Co-managing a project with students was proving to be much more difficult. Co-management required me to be in tune with four different products within a single class, each of which needed support. It helped me to have experts meet with my students and not only commend their goals, but to affirm and redirect their efforts. Additionally, having other adults weigh in on the decisions we were making simply made me feel reassured and gave me a sense of stability in the midst of the messiness of co-management. Getting a bit of grounding from the outside world slightly supplanted my discomfort. However, I wish we were able to bring these outsiders in for the duration of the project. It takes time to gather willing project consultants, and because we were rolling out the project live, these adults were not involved from the beginning, nor were any of them able to see it through to the end. Though we valued our visitors, I wished that they time to linger within our project a little longer. I think they could have kept us grounded by becoming part of our larger base of co-designers. Working in an apprenticeship model that enables the transition from adolescence to adulthood Figure 6.16 Flyer Advertising the Infinite Youth Project would have been ideal; however, it was 17

not practical under our time constraints (see earlier comment, p.7). In the future, it would be optimal to spend more time considering whom we could consult and work with while doing the project. Some projects may be more manageable for a single adult, but our project necessitated four different groups working on four different products, several of which I proclaimed no expertise in. Students would have been better served with more adults to offer expertise, and I would have better served with more adults to offer support.

Getting Out is Great

The documentary group took time to regain their stride after the creation of the website and trailer. They were getting some footage from their social media feeds, but needed more. After little success with connecting with other schools, and only a small amount of footage acquired from interviews conducted outside of school, I decided to step in again. Restless, I asked their permission to try to connect them with some schools myself. They agreed, and I was able to set them up at three different high schools. We spent the next two days traveling and promoting our video. It was nerve-wrecking, but fun, and instilled them with the sense that they were doing something. They were up and moving, talking to people, handing out flyers, and encouraging others to participate. Though our effort didnt reap huge rewards (we received few submissions from these schools), students enjoyed the process. It refueled them and lifted them out of their frustrated state. I was really proud of them. Though they were nervous beforehand, they simply needed a few probing questions and feedback on their pitch. At this point, I was starting to recognize when and how to step in. These students were all amicable, articulate speakers, but they hadnt thought to prepare a pitch. This seemed like the kind of comanagement I hoped to put into place. I knew, from my own experience, that failing to think through how to ask a group of teenagers to do something for me could very well lead to a dismissal of whatever notion I proposed. Standing in front of a group of students was my job, after all, and I was able to confidently direct them. It was a subtle move, of course, but I was starting to wonder whether my role in the co-design and coFigure 6.17 Rose Speaking to Students about The Infinite Youth Project management of this project was to keep asking questions that gave them the opportunity to pause, think, and respond in the midst of this lofty pursuit. When students are working to achieve an objective, but seem to waver in fear or uncertainty when placed in a novel situation, it might just take a simple question like, So, what are you going to say to them? to get them up and moving again. Their first pitch in front of a class was a little shaky, but each one got better. Deanna, Rose and Albert were really strong and supportive of one another. After they had presented to several groups, Albert noted, We work pretty well together. Like, if one of us forgets something, the other one has our back. Maybe this could become part of our class mantra. Were here to balance each other out, to keep each other on track. We had built our team and established our objectives. Perhaps, as long as we worked to have each others back, we would be just fine. Hearing him say this outside the confines of the classroom we had been cooped up resonated with me. Yes, this is a big project, but it means something 18

outside the classroom. We were offering one another tiny bits of encouragement and support to reach a shared goal. Maybe it was just as simple as falling back on the connections we had made with one another and their shared purpose we had established. Over the course of a few hours, I saw their confidence grow. The flyers that Albert had created were in such demand that we had to ask the schools director if we could make more copies. My students felt comfortable approaching students in the hall and sharing the video with them. Their audiences were interested, and I think that if we had devoted more time and energy to promoting and reminding students to submit footage through social media, we would have seen more success. The greatest success of the day was getting out of the classroom and doing something. We should do this more often, Deanna said as we drove home. Get out in the real world. We all agreed with her and discussed the challenges to making this happen (transportation, permissions needed, etc.). I was recognizing that this group needed my help to organize these opportunities so that what they were doing inside our school felt interrelated to what they intended for those outside of school to understand. They needed me to have their back and push them to thinkand physically movebeyond the classroom. Going to school and doing the project was still their norm, though it wasnt one they particularly liked. This is where they simply Figure 6-18 Rose and Deanna Speaking to Students about The Infinite Youth Project-2 needed me to step in and help.

The Data
Approximately five weeks into our project, I surveyed students a second time. At this point, the initial excitement had waned, and I was interested to see how would reflect in their survey responses.

Can you feel a difference?

After working with students for weeks, I noticed a huge shift in students sense that they had a right to be in control over their learning. In the Infinite Youth Project, it seemed that most students had experienced an increase in control at the outset of their project. As time passed, some still felt that ownership, while others felt that I had taken an increased amount of control as the project went on. I would certainly agree, and I think that this increased amount of control may helped me to feel that I was guiding my students in the right direction, some felt that I was steering them away from their original vision. Despite these feelings, students did note a shared sense of control over what they were learning: At the beginning of the year, 60% of students noted that their teachers had primary control over ones learning. At this point in the semester, students in the Infinite Youth project noted that they felt a higher level of shared ownership with me. Seventy-four percent noted that Teacher and Students (together) had the most control over what students learned in class. I posit that this was largely due to the extensive codesigning process we undertook before beginning our project. However, it must also be clarified that on our initial survey Teacher and Students (together) was not provided as an option. Therefore, it is difficult to draw conclusions from this data. 19

Figure 6.19 Mid-Project Survey (Control)

Students in this project did indicate an increased sense of the right to be asked what they wanted to learn about. I saw a significant shift in the responses to the questions How important is it that your teacher asks you what you want to learn about? and How important is it that you have a voice in the project your class will do together?

How important is it that your teacher asks you what you want to learn about?
Very Important Baseline The Infinite Youth Project 53.3% 68.4% Somewhat Important 44.4% 31.6% Somewhat Unimportant 2.2% 0.0% Not Important

0.0% 0.0%

Figure 6.20 Mid-Project Survey (What You Want to Learn About)

How important is it that you have a voice in the project your class will do together?
Very Important Baseline The Infinite Youth Project 62.2% 73.7% Somewhat Important 35.6% 26.3% Somewhat Unimportant 2.2% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%

Figure 6.21 Mid-Project Survey (Voice)

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Though students had considered this to be important before, the level of importance had increased over the last weeks. In addition, there was a slight increase in those who felt that students should have more input in deciding what to learn about.

In your opinion, who should decide what you learn about?

I think the teachers should decide. I think the teachers should decide based upon what the students think. 51.1% 42.1% I think the students should decide with the guidance of teachers. 35.6% 36.8% I think the students should decide.

Baseline The Infinite Youth Project (November)

13.3% 10.5%

0% 10.5%

Figure 6.23 Mid-Project Survey (Who Should Decide What You Want to Learn About?)

Uncertain about what conclusion to draw from this data, I referred to the responses to the open-ended question, Does this senior year project feel different from projects in previous years? If so, how? Roughly 75% of students agreed that it differed, but for various reasons. Below are some of the affirmative responses: Yes, we have a lot more control over things. It's more of a project where it is assigned and it's given a due date but you have the liberty of working at your own pace with your own deadlines and steps. Yes I think that this project is more based around the real world and not school. I feel that we will be able to gain new skills that we don't normally gain in school. It is different because this was actually our idea and our jobs to make sure everything is produced right. We want our project to have a meaning and to be heard and I like that part about it. I think it is also different because we all are working together and helping one another, not just having so many different groups focusing on different topics, like we all have the same main focus, but are showing it in different ways. Disconcertingly, others said this project didnt feel all that different. Yes it was very open ended so in the beginning it sounded great, but towards the end (now) people are losing focus and we don't have the things we talked about in the beginning. People are either losing focus, or motivation. It actually does not. It feels the same doing repetitive work like research analysis, but I would like to do something new to shake things up and do something fun. Not really, every class you go into you will get the same guidelines no matter what. So, no not really. I think it could have been very different and interesting but it now feels like any other project. I should take respite in the fact that I do teach at a school in which student voice is routinely sought. Still, I suspected that I had encroached upon the freedom that I had allowed my students. Now, it felt like I had taken something away. When I asked them to do more writing and research, the project became more work than a joyful inquiry. While I wouldnt feel bad about pushing students to engage in a rigorous exploration, I think that some felt I had slightly altered their vision for this project. Instead of a celebration of the good that teens can do, I had made it a history project. I saw value in this, but my students were not understanding it. 21

Without their understanding, it was difficult to still call this a co-designed project. This mid-project check-in made me rethink how many decisions I was making on behalf of the group. Still, I did note a slight shift in how relevant students perceived this project to be to their own lives. Figure 6-21 shows students responses to the question, How often does what you learn in our English class clearly connect to YOUR LIFE right now? Very Often Somewhat Often 42.2% Occasionally Rarely

Baseline Survey

15.6%

37.8%

4.4%

The Infinite Youth Project (November)

15.8%

52.8%

26.2%

5.2%

Figure 6.23. Mid-Project Survey (How often does what you learn in our English class clearly connect to YOUR LIFE right now?

When asked What part of this project (so far) are you most proud of? students noted pride in the work they had done with each other: How we are able to communicate with such a large group and make choices together I'm really proud of how my group is really coming together and working well, we're pretty good at working independently but still communicating and asking for advice and new ideas.

They also noted a level of pride in the work they had done with the broader community, affirming my suspicions that I needed to provide more opportunities to connect with people outside the walls of our school: I love the part in which the documentary team can go and do fieldwork and I am proud that we can get out of our comfort zone to talk to other teenagers. I felt proud when we went to [another school] and people responded positively towards our project.

Thus far, I was learning a lot about how difficult it was to share the learning with my students. I think I pulled them in to my line of thinking more often than I did with the mockumentary project because students were working on four different products. This proved to be extremely challenging for me. I wanted to stay close and connected with each group, and I wanted to keep us rooted in a common foundation of research. Because of this, perhaps I clung too tightly and should have trusted students, like those in the documentary group to bring their own vision to life. It was proving to be a challenge for me more so than my students.

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The Mockumentary Project: Project Based

I feel like I'm part of this big production machine, and I want to do all that I can to make it a successful project, but it's not all on me, so it will be on me as well to keep people on track. (Student Blog Entry) The mockumentary project differed from the Infinite Youth Project in that we had one clear product: an original, three-episode series. Thus, everyone in the class played a role in bringing this single product to life. We were unified as a production company. Our greatest obstacle was the struggle for creative control. Whose vision would be brought to life?

Solidifying Our Design

As I admitted earlier, I had doubts about the Figure 6.24 Image from flyer advertising the exhibition of Project Based mockumentary project. Who will this benefit? Will they take it seriously? Can we really pull this off? I was quickly learning throughout this process of co-design that although I was becoming increasingly comfortable bending and shifting according to students voices, I needed a clear plan to ground me. My students needed me to create that plan. As I read over their blog posts (pp.100-4), I noted three major concerns: (a) The project didnt require the kind of writing that colleges would require in their freshman year; (b) Those who created the project pitch would attempt to dominate the project; (c) The project lacked the indefinable substance a good project must address. i.e., the why does this matter? Students were asking me to help them fill in these gaps within our projects design. I felt that if I could take their ideas, develop them a solid plan and then pitch it to them, we would still be co-designing the project together. Students had come up with a crazy cool idea. Now, they needed my experience with project design to help them shape this into a plan of action. As with The Infinite Youth Project, I spent my weekend hammering out this plan of action to present to the class to tune.

Concern #1: The project lacked the indefinable substance a good project must address
First, I considered the product we had agreed upon: a three-episode mockumentary series that highlighted the unique aspects of our school. I knew next to nothing about creating such a show, but I did know how to examine models of exemplary work. So, I set out on a quest for models to share with the students. The students who had pitched the mockumentary project to the class had named shows like NBCs The Office and Parks and Recreation as the kind of show they wished to produce. Yes, we have a crew of funny students, but The Office is top-tier funny. Was it really within our range? I wondered. I started searching for similar web series that might provide a more appropriate model and came across Under the Dome, a series that a particular 23

colleges students have nurtured since the 1990s. The most recent season featured five 12-minute comedic episodes. This immediately set me at ease. We would embark upon a process of critiquing both professional and amateur models of work just as we had with every other piece of writing that we had created this year. In this way, I hoped that students would feel comfortable using a familiar process to create something new. Still, I needed to address students (and my own) concern that this project was lacking something. How would this project engage students in the kind of active exploration recommended by Adria Steinberg? How would it extend beyond the classroom? When I came across the Under the Dome series, I started to wonder whether or not our project could be the start of something bigger. What if our three-episode project was actually the beginning of a production company? If these students launched the first three episodes as part of the class project, perhaps they could also create the means to sustain the series. Could they build a how to website for a succeeding crew? With this new hope, I prepped some objectives and roles for the upcoming weeks, trying to parallel (as closely as possible) the AM class. Clearly, I was doing a lot of the work to map out a plan of action by myself. I felt justified in doing this because students had noted in their blogs that they felt they needed my guidance. Still, I was still committed to transitioning from co-designing to co-managing the project. After planning a course of action, I also determined how students could explore different roles within our production machine.

Concern #2: Those who created the project pitch would attempt to dominate the project
We had twenty-six students in our class. This would make for quite a large production team. Because students had noted in their blog entries that they were concerned that a select few would try to dominate the project, I needed determine the necessary roles within our production team. A lot needed to be done to bring this sitcom to life. If students could assume what they deemed was an important and necessary role within this team, each would have a chance to take the lead on one aspect of the show. I determined that we would need the following team members: (7) Actors (5/week) Writing Team (2/week) Producers (2/week) Directors (2/week) Set Design/Costumes (3/week) Editors (3/week) Film Crew (3/week) PR Crew/Outreach While our actors would have to remain the same each week, I planned for students to rotate roles each week. This would allow each non-actor to try on three different roles throughout the duration of the project. In this way, I hoped to reduce the risk of a select few maintaining creative control over the project.

Concern #3: Are we writing enough?

Finally, I needed to address students concerns that the project didnt yet include the kind of writing they would need to be familiar with before their freshman year in college. My students had become well-versed in narrative and persuasive writing through the projects they had completed in the last year. They did, however, need practice with expository writing and literary analysis. I determined that our production site could include this kind of writing. Student could either create an 24

expository piece that addressed how to be a successful producer, director, actor, etc., or they could create two analytical pieces: a character and plot analysis of a successful mockumentary. When I pitched these ideas on Monday, the class applauded the idea of bringing a production company to life and eagerly embraced creating a series like Under the Dome. We now had a broader purpose, were employing the kind of writing they wanted to work on, and had determined that we had a lot of entry points for leadership in the various roles our production required. As with the Infinite Youth Project, students offered few suggestions during our tuning process. I had done quite a bit of work to take each of their concerns into account when modifying our project plan, and I believe that students approved. I was still looking for students to take more ownership of this process of co-design by suggestion solutions when they saw fit, and I hoped this would increase with time. Right now, we were in between what I considered to be true co-design and teacher-led design. Students had made suggestions, and I had shaped them into a plan. I hoped to get to the point where students were doing more of the shaping on their own.

Figure 6.25 Website for Project Based

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Figure 6.26 Elements of the Project Based Website

Figure 6.27 Elements of the Project Based Website

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Creating the Show

Before dividing ourselves into production roles, we developed the pilot pitch together. This needed to be our show, and everyone needed to have a voice in the creation of the characters and plot. I prepared a lens for us to examine episodes of The Office and Under the Dome. When writing pieces throughout the semester, we had examined pieces for content and craft. I decided that we would need to examine these episodes with four things in mind: a) plot, b) characters, c) character types, d) actors. We would start by examining our internal standards of an exemplary mockumentary. Then, we would watch the first three episodes of both The Office and Under the Dome, adding to our list of standards. Finally, we would consolidate this into a rubric for the mockumentary that we would create. After developing the criteria for a successful mockumentary, we needed to determine the steps to get there. How did these sitcoms come to life? After digging online, I discovered that sitcom creators first develop a pitch package for potential investors. I pulled an example for us to use that included a logline and character breakdown.

Figure 6.28 Class Notes on the Mockumentary

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At this point, I also sent an email to the creators of Under the Dome. We needed to hear from those who had more experience in putting something like this together.

Hello, I am a 12th-grade English teacher at a project-based-learning school in San Diego. I work with a group of senior students who are working to develop a mockumentary series and production team. They are witty, lively, and extraordinarily creative. They can make this happen, but need some support. We have watched and discussed your series, Under the Dome, as a model of what we are hoping to create. We were wondering if you would be willing to offer any advice to us. We are just beginning to create characters and develop a pilot. Would you be willing to share any advice, or script examples, or meeting agendas, etc. to our crew? We would be so grateful and would share with you (if you're interested) our final creation! Thanks!

Figure 6.29 Letter to Creators of Under the Dome

Students and I were thrilled to hear back from them, and were grateful for their advice. The creators wrote that Our biggest piece of advice is to take both the process of casting and character writing very seriously. They advised us to consider the types of characters we wanted to have before developing the plot. Plot always follows from character, rather than the other way around, they wrote. We heeded their advice and decided to create our characters first. I also noted that this would also allow for us to make connections to the study of literature. Many stock sitcom character types can be traced to the Italian commedia dellarte. Commedia dellarte was a form of theater popular in Italy during the sixteen century. The stock characters reappeared in each show, but the plot would change. In essence, it was much like a contemporary television sitcom. TVTropes.org offers a list of sitcom character archetypes, along with several examples of each from contemporary sitcoms. I decided that this would supplement our analysis of The Office and Under the Dome and give us an idea of the character types we would need in our own show. We broke into groups and developed our own stock characters. In groups of four, students came up with characters (replete with names, ages, etc.) that would fit both the archetype necessary for a sitcom and be representative of an exaggerated version of a HTHI student. On the following page, you will see one groups ideas [Figure 6.31]. Students then shared out their ideas and we noted overlap. I asked for a student from each group to hammer this out further, reading over everyones ideas and coming up with a list and descripti on of each character to be approved by the class. They used the examples from the Character Breakdown section of our Pilot Pitch Overview as a model of how to craft these descriptions. In following a similar format to our initial project-idea-designing process, I felt that we avoided taxing their brains (as Kirschner, Sweller and Clark advised) and we could focus on our objective. Our representatives were able to solicit the ideas of all

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the students and present a list of characters to be approved. I have included some of these descriptions in Figure 6-31. Once our characters were established, we continued to work as a whole group to brainstorm

Square

Dork

Goofball

Ingenue

SITCOM CHARACTER ARCHETYPES

Wisecracker

Bully

Sage

Figure 6.30 Sitcom Character Archetypes

dilemmas that are characters could encounter. After students reviewed the character description that our designated writers had come up with, they gathered in small groups of four to brainstorm dilemmas common to the HTHI student. This was our last step as a large group. From here on out, the writers would be in charge of developing our pilot script. It was time for students to select the roles that they would fill during the first week of production. Because each step was familiar, students were free to get excited about these ideas in a manner that didnt feel chaotic and counterproductive. They had a clear vision, which I had provided, and they were free to get excited about the important things: Who will our characters be? What will our first episode look like? What costumes will we need? We had shifted from wideopen project to an actionable plan. Not only did we all feel like we had a clear direction, but we were Figure 6.31 Students Ideas for Mockumentary Characters now free to have fun and play. And play, we did, but with our noses to the grindstones. Over the course of the next five weeks, students worked as a team to bring this production to life. Next, I will detail some of the peaks and valleys we encountered during the making of our mockumentary.

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Figure 6.32 Our Project Based Characters

Peaks
Seeing a New Level of Engagement
Taking the time to refine our project goals as a team paid off richly. At the end of the first week, students who had voiced concerns now seemed to be on board. Laura noted she was proud that she had spoken up during the week and no longer felt that those who pitched the idea were dominating. Charlotte wrote that it was fun to come up with a plot as a group, noting I like this project now. By the end of the week, it seemed that several students were in their element. This made sense. After all, we had designed a project that took into account the interests and skills of our team. Our filmmakers and comedians were excited to leap in. Nolan wrote, Boy, what a week. I am in my zone. My class has elected to do a film project, making a TV show about HTHI. Being a film guy, I'm in my zone. It has been fun yet tough. We have a great plot for our first episode; I can't wait to start filming next week. Derrick, another film aficionado wrote, WE GET TO MAKE A TV SHOW!!!!!!!! My script writing might be able to come in handy so I'm excited for all of that!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Our actors were pumped after working to develop their characters through improvisation exercises led by next weeks director. Elizabeth wrote, I think that I'm noticing that I like doing improv exercises and getting in the mindset of another person/character. Students were clearly excited for what the first week of filming would hold. Jennifer wrote, I can't wait for a script to see what I can do with it. I plan to act! Our first group of writers knew that they had a lot of pressure on them. However the five of them spent time during and after school hours developing a beat sheet (upon the advice of the producers of Under the Dome). At the end of our first Friday, they had a story for us. This enabled the set designers and film crew to start plotting their moves for the next week. In addition, our writing team requested that they come into school over the weekend to work on the pilot script. They insisted that they needed to write it in the place they would be filming. I had students requesting to come in on the weekend, a classroom buzzing with noise, planning, and decision-making. Needless to say, their excitement was palpable.

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Our five screenwriters were not students whom I would suspect would volunteer themselves for this position. Quiet Paula and literature-loving Charlotte volunteered to join Lance and Emilie, two students who had been part of our original project pitch. Clearly the latter two felt some ownership over the project and wanted to continue to see it through. However, I had never seen these students volunteer to do extra work. In fact, Emilie was failing her other classes. Throughout the Sunday before the big table read, Lance and Paula worked at the school while conferencing over the phone with Charlotte and Emilie (who were unable to find a ride to the school). They first developed a character and plot map before diving into the creation of the first scene. The five of them powered through the script throughout the morning of the table read (while in another class), and the whole class was almost literally jumping up and down in excitement. The table read was electrifying, and the kids were so excited. At this point, I was doing far less prodding in this class. I dont need to tell anyone to do something; rather, I got to be a part of the decision process, critiquing the project as a member of the group. I had Figure 6.33 Character Map and Scenes for our Pilot Episode fulfilled Carl Rogers request that I makes resources available (Rogers, 1969, p. 164) and was starting to feel like I was reaching the point in which I could join the group. I recalled Rogers assertion that, As the acceptant classro om climate becomes established, the facilitator is able increasingly to become a participant learner, a member of the group, expressing his views as those of one individual only (Rogers, 1969, p. 164). Although I was not abandoning my role as visionary, I was able to feel more like a participant learner as the class did the work of bringing their ideas to life through the process I had carefully scaffolded. I found it ironic. The project I thought would be feathery and empty of meaning seemed to be the more rewarding of the two. Do they own it? Yes. Was it changing their perception of the senior year? My mid-project survey seemed to indicate a shift in ownership.

Freedom to Play
A playful mind is inquisitive, and learning is fun. If you indulge your natural curiosity and retain a sense of fun in new experience, I think youll find it functions as a sort of shock absorber for the bumpy road ahead. Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson The creation of Project Based was fun. Plain and simple. Though seniors are not always perceived to be the most driven of creatures, they were, in fact, enduring a tremendous amount of stress while completing this project. We had worked on college 31

Figure 6.34 Stills from the Table Read of the Pilot Episode

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applications and essays in our class, but the stress of impending acceptances, the worry about financial aid, maintaining grades, etc. does not really leave them until the end of the year. Our class became a space to dive into production, and production often necessitated play. Before designing our project, several students had noted in their baseline surveys that they hoped that senior year projects would be fun. They had certainly designed something that would fulfill that need. Our classroom became a production play space that students were eager to step into. Our class started after lunch, and many would come in early to set up or change into their costumes. Even after returning from a morning field trip for their science class, students headed straight for our room, ready to prepare for a day of filming. Normally, its hard to recoup and refocus a group after going off campus, but these guys insisted they spend the rest of the day in my class, filming. Silly is something. It is important to laugh together. I noticed between the two classes is that the sitcom group gets to laugh every day. They get to play. Although they were doing a lot of work, the tone was lighter, and I think that this proved a greater fuel for their fire than the serious topics that the Infinite Youth Project was exploring. Our table reads were just as engaging as the read-arounds we had earlier in the year. But, we were laughing. We were taking risks; we were exploring. It felt good to be in our room. Even those who were not fans of writing were playing. Kerimw ho openly hates the English language and would prefer to program a computer all day longcommented during a rehearsal: Our class is amazing. Every now and again, we get it right. On most days, there was a lot of noise, a lot of excitement, some tension, but it was all in service of the product. And it was fun.Although I was an eager player in all this, the fun ultimately came from the students. Paula, who until this project had been rather reserved and kept to herself began to take behind the scenes footage on her own volition. She put together a montage of bloopers from the first week of filming and sent it out to the class. They watched this over and over again, laughing at themselves. The following week, she volunteered to be our director. She carefully set up shots and even edited the footage over the weekend. By the second week, students were realizing that filming a show was not always quick and fun. Some shots took several takes and careful coordination. Paulas work to edit footage quickly and to accompany our rough cut with a blooper reel kept us from taking ourselves too seriously. We were all learning, after all. It was rejuvenating to be able to watch her edited footage. The class laughed at the comical moments, laughed at themselves for the silly, not-so-Emmy-worthy acting, and then critiqued the footage, beginning with warm feedback. When I asked Paula why she chose to do so much work on the weekend (when I know she is already busy with the school yearbook and her classes), she replied, I dont know. I just wanted to get it done, I guess. Maybe I get it from my dad? He likes to edit video. I suspect she found her niche in this project, a way to put her skills to use. She was also applauded by her classmates who looked forward to her next set of bloopers. Another student, Eddie, came up with his own contribution. Though he had not been terribly enthused by the project initially, he opted to help maintain our website as part of our PR team. He also decided to create a commercial for the show on his own. For several days in a row, I saw him giggling in the corner with his headphones on and his face buried in his laptop while he worked to create the commercial. A serious young man by nature, he had started to allow himself to play throughout the duration of our project. His peers noticed the difference in him. On one occasion a student asked, Has he always been like this? Another replied, I think its just in this class. I believe it was the work we did during the first part of the

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semester to create a community that allowed some of these rather reserved students allow themselves to play and create ways to contribute to our project. Though my students did face the stress of self-imposed deadlines to complete scripts, shoot scenes, and polish edits, there was so much room to play and explore within this project. According to research professor Peter Gray, author of Free to Learn, this kind of play is essential for learning. Gray likens the state of play to the kind of flow that Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi describes in his 1975 book Beyond Boredom and Anxiety. The mental state of play is what some researchers call flow, Gray contends (2008). Indeed, these students who were creating projects on their own were performing in what Csikszentmihalyi would call an autotelic nature (1975). In other words, it appears to need no goals or rewards external to itself (Csikszentmihalyi, p.47, 1975) Perhaps this is why Paula was unable to explain the hours she spent invested in editing. She hadnt been asked to do it; she was simply diving into something she enjoyed doing. Gray further contends that play is an expression of freedom: Play is, first and foremost, an expression of freedom. It is what one wants to do as opposed to what one is obliged to do. The joy of play is the ecstatic feeling of liberty. Play is not always accompanied by smiles and laughter, nor are smiles and laughter always signs of play; but play is always accompanied by a feeling of Yes, this is what I want to do right now. Players are free agents, not pawns in someone elses game. (Gray, 2008) Play was a critical piece of our co-designed project. It allowed students to feel the difference between a teacher-designed and a co-designed project. There was a freedom to play that generated laughter and silliness, but this freedom also allowed students to play in the form of creating new things of their own volition. This environment that we had created which allowed for play also allowed students to find their own ways to contribute to our project, ultimately lending to increased levels of ownership.

Valleys
Struggle for Creative Control
I think we all have full control because we can all be very open in discussing what we want and its easy for us to suggest different ideas. After the project first got underway, several students noted that the class seems to be divided into those who were in the original pitch for the sitcom and those who werent. This dichotomy led to a struggle for creative control. Despite the fact that this was no long my (teacher-designed) project, and that all students now shared control, some students were itching to exercise their authority within our project. Though we had done quite a bit of work to develop our team, some students were now seeing their opportunity to develop their own vision of Project Based. During the first week of filming, many were excited to feel the ideas percolating, but also nervous about whose ideas would triumph. It was fairly clear that Emilie wanted to maintain creative control over the 34

project because she felt that she owned the idea. Nolan also felt a different stake in the project because he had the most experience as a director and filmmaker. I kept a careful eye on these two as we began working. Nolan was more aware of his tendency to take over than Emilie is willing to admit. In fact, he asked me to step in should he get too controlling. Derrick, who would be co-directing with Nolan during the first week, had also expressed this concern to me. In his Friday blog, he wrote: I am concerned that people (that I have named) might try to overpower or take control of everything since we have so much freedom. I feel like I have a lot of control, like I said I hope others don't abuse it. This idea of control and the fight for it was interesting to me. I had hoped that once I abdicated the throne and joined the others in the concurrent role of responsibility, we would not fight to acquire the crown, but figure out how to work together. Luckily, after speaking with both Nolan and Derrick individually, the two co-directors wisely split up who would work with whom. Nolan made good on his word that week, and he and Derrick shared the air quite well. They were noticeably on the same team throughout the week, discussing shots, referring to the other when one wasnt sure how to make a call. I think that once the product (the pilot) jumped to the forefront this week, the squabble for control somewhat dissipated. Emilie was another student who sought creative control. Immediately after the project was chosen, she asked me if she could be our casting director. I had to make it clear to her that it might be best to have more than one, if a casting director is needed. I gently reminded her that it was time for her project to become our project in order to become truly successful. While she agreed, she told me that she has it all planned out and was eager to see her vision come to life. This moment with Emilie was conflicting to me. On the one hand, this was the kind of enthusiasm and ownership I had hoped for. On the other hand, I wanted to make sure that this was a shared experience. As with any project (in any setting), some will wish to steamroll their ideas over others, thus squelching the others enthusiasm for the project. I was realizing I had many students with ideas, and it would be my job to act as mediator and manager. I needed to remind them to consider the product itself, not their own selfinterests. I kept Soep & Chavezs advice on hand: Together, these individuals must project a life for their work beyond themselves and their own personal self-interest, as they are also accountable to the immediate and longer-term impact of their joint productions... (Chavez and Soep, 2005, p. 430). This became my role as the project rolled along. I was discovering that although I was not the single, trailblazing project leader, I did have a responsibility to keep us focused on our shared goal. Which decisions will help us to create the best product? I reminded myself and my student colleagues throughout the duration of our project. Throughout the project, Emilie stayed curious about every decision made about our show. She was part of our writing team and played one our main characters. She worked on our scripts inside and outside of school, emailing me for advice and feedback. For some students, this was a bit overbearing. Having one student assert her opinion so strongly kept it from feeling like our project. But, students did push back because they also cared about the show. Dave, who shared the role of writer with her during our final episode, was one of these people. He felt confident presenting Emilie with reminders of what they rest of the class wished to see happen. The following is a written exchange between the two while working on the script (digitally): Dave: Emilie: Dave: Emilie: It seems good to me.. it is but is that how we wanna end the show forever?? the whole class wants the pol . i think we needa give it to them they said no more drama we could do flashbacks of different memories at HTHI so we could show a late start, a time at Panera, etc 35

Dave:

Emilie:

Dave: Emilie: Dave: Emilie:

I AGREE, but you have to listen to rest of the class, they dont want drama -___If we have the POL, we shouldn't have any drama involved with it,that would just be a recap of last episode, basically. exactly no drama just flashbacks theyre just chilling in the waiting room And I don't know how we can make it HILARIOUS... Because this needs to be epic. okay calm down its just an episode I'm actually just trying to make it look good, so... well, get cracking then

Clearly, both students cared about the outcome. By this point in the project, Emilie had grown more open to listening to others ideas, and her classmates had learned that her tendency to take control was an outgrowth of her enthusiasm. In our post-project reflection, I asked the class to name someone who they felt contributed a rich amount to our project. Invariably, Emilies name was mentioned several times. One student noted that Emilie seemed to learn to find her way in the project, becoming increasingly comfortable working with others: Considering that she did see the big picture of the sitcom before it even started, she remained calm throughout the project, was open to ideas, and assisting others outside of the acting group. Another student noted that she had never seen Emilie so wrapped up in anything school-related before: I saw Emilie get really invested in this project, which I've never seen her do before. She mentioned to me a couple times that the only reason she came to school some days was because of the English project. I thought that it was awesome how she really dedicated herself to this project and put a lot of work and effort into it. This level of engagement was extremely unusual for Emilie. At the end of the semester, she was close to failing all of her other classes. She rarely attended her morning class and showed little interest in school. This project gave her a chance to explore her interests. In her final reflection, she wrote: Being one of the first creators of the project I feel like I had my hands in everything. It was nice seeing, from the beginning (the PowerPoint), the actual product become something real and physical. She also noted that she could have worked to create more of a team throughout the duration of the project: To make sure that everything worked out, I would have to help make things work and come together on the social side of everything. That is how we were all able to come together to create this final product that we are all proud of. Ultimately, she did learn a bit about sharing creative control and acquired a better understanding of a possible career interest: I want to go into the movie making industry, she wrote. At first I was focused on just casting. With this project I was able to see the different elements that go into creating a show/movie. This opened my eyes to what I might be interested in doing as well as casting. I was able to write and act. This showed me that I could get into that industry through other ways. By observing Emilie, I was reminded that some students are aching to immerse themselves in a project they have a passion for. In a class-wide project such as ours, this can prove to be challenging. When you have several students wishing to hold creative control, production can slow as students learn to negotiate with one another in this new space. Yet, its a familiar scene in the work world. Learning to work with strong minded and passionate individuals is a challenge that many will face beyond our class project. My role was to encourage and applaud the passion I saw, while reminding students to make decisions with the product in mind. 36

Still, other students were learning to take a supporting role in this project while they were used to being leaders. These students did not consider themselves to be comedians or directors and had to find a supporting role that suited them. For some, this was a challenge. Some students seem to be uncomfortable not having as much leadership as they are used to. Malia, who is known for taking charge and getting things done, wisely took a role that she felt she could excel in (set/costumes), but begrudgingly wrote: My strengths this week are going along with what the group has been doing. I am not a leader of this project which is stepping outside of my boundaries a bit, but I think it should be a good try. Throughout the week, she did indeed hold her tongue, but opted to take on the role of director for the next episode. While this didnt seem to be the best fit for her, she did finally find her niche during the third week when she led the PR team. She was able to utilize her organizational skills to pull together our website and take charge of our exhibition planning. Though it took her awhile to find a way to take a secondary leadership role in our project, she did find a way to make important contributions, which was what she was craving. She wanted to make sure that she was doing something that mattered, and that she did. Another natural leader, Sam, has had a hard time feeling like her voice is heard: I'd still like to work on having my voice heard. This is very important during the mockumentary project because completing a project as an entire class can leave some people behind, she wrote. Shes right: not everyone has been able to shine as an actor or director. They did act as extras and there was plenty of laughter throughout the week, but its hard to allow each to shine equally. As for me, I struggled with determining how much to let students work out on their own. This is tough to hold fast to when the product itself is novel for both the students and teacher. Unlike Elisabeth Soep and Vivian Chavez at Youth Radio, we werent producing another newscast; we were creating something new. And we were learning to work as a production machine, as one student noted in his blog. With so much novelty, we were working double-time to process it all. I would advise students and teachers to do as much as possible to keep their vision and aims for the product clear. In short, with so much novelty, anything that grounds students can provide valuable peace of mind, as well as an aid for peaceful negotiations.

Too Many People with Not Enough to Do

As with the Infinite Youth Project, managing the production of Project Based was an enormous challenge. We were working together in a new and unpredictable way. We had made clear plans, but had to have leeway. We were experimenting together, and it was sometimes very uncomfortable when we realized we had made mistakes. Educator Steven Wolk assures that this is a natural, healthy state for a class sharing the responsibilities of a project. It will get messy at times, especially at first. The comLaurynl structure will crumble at times; mine certain does. But this is a natural part of the learning process (Wolk, 1998, p.80). One of the greatest strengths of this project was also its greatest weakness: we were all working to create one product. It became a challenge to task everyone at every moment of the project. Sometimes the editors simply had to wait for the camera crew to hand over their footage. Other times, the set and costume crew was waiting on the writers. We were interdependent, and sometimes this meant that students simply did not know what to do to fill a void. As with the Infinite Youth Project, the writing we had planned to for our website got pushed to the wayside as the big product took precedence. With the benefit of hindsight, I would have planned for the writing to commence before we began filming. In this way, students could move back and for between their individual writing and research and stepping up when needed for production. As they noted in our initial survey, my students do not like to feel like they are wasting time. They crave speed and efficiency, and this is difficult in a co-designed project. Though they had become familiar with the process of examining models and developing criteria for our writing pieces, the 37

problem was that I had no models. I had to create them while I was working to co-manage the production team. I was stretched thin, but I didnt realize this until we were in the thick of the project. According to Wolk, the open-ended nature of such a project means that one could not possibly determine everything that we will do or everything that will be learned, because most of the learning happens spontaneously as a natural part of the social interaction. The learning takes place involves not just the content or topic being studied, but the process itself, the totality of the experience. This is where the true value lies (Wolk,1998, p.97). We were learning, together, that our plans were imperfect. Perhaps we had a bigger crew than we needed. Perhaps we had not planned to maximize the efficiency in our classroom. Perhaps this meant that we had learned a little bit more about co-designing a project. Its difficult to engage twenty-six students in the process of creating a sitcom. Im not sure that this many are needed. Two of my top writing students wanted to do something, but werent quite sure wha t. Quite honestly, I wasnt sure either. Some of the reservations I initially had about this project reasserted themselves during those moments when I was uncertain that all had meaningful activities to engage in. Gradually, those who lacked things to do found ways to be resourceful. Phoebe took it upon herself to begin planning our exhibition earlier than we had intended. Maria organized our costumes. Some, however, did not. Minecraft appeared on computer screens in between takes, and some students went missing, only to return later with the excuse that they did not know what to do. Another top student still held off from joining the writing team, claiming she wasnt funny enough. Frequently, I wished I had had the forethought to imagine better, richer roles for all of us that were equally active. However, I take comfort in Wolks assurance that perhaps it would take time for student to learn to manage themselves within a project with greater freedom for self-direction. As the project grew closer to its conclusion, the initial excitement had waned. It was a fun project, but not every moment was fun and exciting. It took grit to see it through to its completion. For some students, this meant that they started to disengage and look forward to the projects end. These students seemed to be those who never found their niche within our project. Others, however, wanted to experience a greater connection to the show as the project started to wind down, and started to take an increased level of initiative during the final episode and exhibition planning. Our plan was imperfect and left students to decide what to do with their time when they werent directly engaged in a task we had established in our project design. However, we were united in our quest. Malia, who had learned to become a supporting player, rather than a star, during this project, noted during the end of the project, We have all have to work together in order for this project to move forward. We have all collectively been working together.

The Data
Approximately five weeks into our project, I surveyed students a second time. At this point, the initial excitement had waned, and I was interested to see how would reflect in their survey responses.

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Figure 6.35 Mid-project Survey (Control)Mockumentary

Who Has Control?

At this point in the year, one question changed dramatically: Who do you feel has the MOST control over what you learn in the classroom? At the beginning of the year, 60% of students noted that the teacher had primary contr ol over ones learning. At this point in the semester, students in the Mockumentary Project noted that they felt a higher level of shared ownership with me. Seventy-eight percent noted that Teacher and Students (together) had the most control over what students learned in class. I posit that this is due to my clear vision of a process for students to follow complemented by students freedom to determine the makeup of the characters, plot, etc. However, it must also be clarified that on our initial survey Teacher and Students (together) was not provided as an option. Therefore, it is difficult to draw conclusions from this data. Students response to open-ended questions revealed how they felt about this new kind of control. One student added a comment in the Other section noting, Its pretty much balanced, I like it. For others, it was rewarding and lent to new levels of ownership in this shared effort: I am really proud of the fact that we have designed and implemented our own project. It comes from us. Students write, act, and produce every bit of it. It is different because of how much responsibility and freedom we have to create. It feels like we're having fun, not just working, and yet we are still learning a lot.

Yet, for others, this freedom was starting to become uncomfortable. The freedom to create a project did not ensure its success, and students were facing challenges: It's different because it came from us. We designed it and are now going through it. I think it's a great way to do a project every once in a while, but certainly not for every project. It is starting to feel a little disorganized like previous years. And the final product is not going to be exactly like a sitcom or well produced show, though a lot of class members thought it would. That shows are more complex than we expect. And writing a script is very different than writing a book or anything else. I hadn't seen it that way before. 39

In the thick of this project, as the honeymoon period was starting to die down, many students still felt they had control over the project, yet I was also observing that they were tiring of this control. They also discovered that although we were creating a fun, comedic piece of work, it was hard. It required a sustained effort, and it often required them to decide for themselves how to proceed next. As I mentioned earlier, some students had difficulty with this level of self-direction, and I was spread too thin to adequately coach all of them toward a purposeful way to spend their time. In addition, this class seemed more inclined to lean toward the notion that the best combination of ownership left the teacher more in charge of helping students to shape their vision [Figure 6.36].

I think the teachers should decide.

I think the teachers should decide based upon what the students think. 51.1% 65.2%

I think the students should decide with the guidance of teachers. 35.6% 13.0%

I think the students should decide.

Baseline Survey Mockumentary Project (November)

13.3% 17.4%

0% 4.3%

Figure 6.36 Mid-Project Survey (Who Should Decide?)Mockumentary

While most students continued to select I think the teachers should decide based upon what the students think, as they did in the baseline survey, the percentages noticeably shifted. In the Mockumentary Project, students noted an increased preference for teacher guidance. I suspect that this was connected to the struggle for creative control that this class encountered.

What are we learning?

Though students did feel that we were working hard, many expressed concerns that we had not addressed much content knowledge. When I asked them what they had learned through this project (so far), responses were a bit lackluster. Several did note that they had gained scriptwriting experience and a better understanding of character development. Still more claimed that they had learned to work as part of a large group. However, when I asked them What should you consider when co-designing a project? several revealed that they may not have thought through the content knowledge they would gain while doing this project: I think that it is important to evaluate what you will be learning and how you are going to get to your desired result. I think it's very important to consider the actual purpose of the project and what exactly we'd get out of it, intellectually speaking. Whether or not you will really learn something, or if it just sounds fun to do.

Granted, we hadnt spent time on the writing pieces for our website. The start date for that had been pushed back, and I suspect that some students were starting to fear their school writing muscles would get flabby

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after the amount of writing we did before the project. Still, it dampened my own spirits a bit and confirmed my suspicion that we should have began this aspect of the project earlier.

How relevant is this to our lives?

Students in this project also noted an increased level of relevance to their lives and the outside world. Frankly, this surprised me. It seemed to conflict with the open-ended responses that indicated a need for more content knowledge. Interestingly, though students were unclear about what they were learning, they saw n increased relevance their own lives. In the initial survey, in response to the question: How often does what you learn at HTHI clearly connect to YOUR LIFE right now? students responded as noted in Figure 6.37. Baseline Survey Very Often Somewhat Often 42.2% Occasionally Rarely

15.6%

37.8%

4.4%

Figure 6.37 Baseline Survey (How often does what you learn connect to your life?)

In the mid-project survey, students responded in the following manner: Very Often Mockumentary Project (November) 30.4% Somewhat Often 52.2% Occasionally 13.0% Rarely 4.3%

Figure 6.38 Mid-Project Survey (How often does what you learn connect to your life?)Mockumentary

I posit that the increased ownership, paired with careful scaffolding provided a careful combination of freedom within a controlled design. Surprisingly, students also indicated an increased relevance to the outside world. Yes, I had made efforts to connect them with the creators of Under the Dome, but I still saw this project as a personal, creative endeavor than something that reached beyond the classroom. In fact, if I were to do this again, I would have worked to connect us with more field experts. Still, the results are as follows. In the initial survey, in response to the question: How often does what you learn at HTHI clearly connect to THE WORLD outside of school? students responded in the following manner: Baseline Survey Very Often Somewhat Often 62.2% Occasionally Rarely

20.0%

11.1%

6.7%

Figure 6.39 Baseline Survey (How often does what you learn connect to the world outside of school?)

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In the mid-year survey, students responded in the following manner: Very Often Mockumentary Project (November) 52.2.% Somewhat Often 40.5% Occasionally 0% Rarely 4.3%

Figure 6.40 Mid-project Survey (How often does what you learn connect to the world outside of school?) Mockumentary

Clearly, students were seeing more immediate connections to their own lives and the world in the Mockumentary Project. I posit that the increased ownership, paired with careful scaffolding provided a careful combination of freedom within a controlled design.

Maintaining the Community

In addition, when students were asked to note What part(s) of the project they felt most proud of so far? many noted that they felt that the group was working together.

I'm proud that we are actually working all together as a classroom I think it is bringing all us together. I'm most proud of our class coming together and making it a group effort. I realize this when we look back on the
videos and all have a laugh. The whole class coming together and working on something to show to people. Thankfully, the community that we had worked so hard to build was remaining intact.

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