in the key of Eb

Oof. What a month it has been. I am grateful for the opportunity to reflect today with colleagues as part of a podcast for project based learning. As our first project of the year closes, I want to carve out the time to capture the reflections I have.

Goals:

Create a syllabus for each project

Design a project like a college course

Create a library/playlists for those who want to dive deeper. Make this available at the beginning of the project

Start with the end in mind (even curation)

Give a project outline at the launch

Project outline should have the exhibition date included

Connect to the outside world

Make the project focus more about a real-world skill that they might need in a career

Know your discipline enough to map concepts and standards onto the project

Explicitly call out the concepts and standards

Determine what they should know at the end and design assessment and benchmarks to lead up to the final understanding

I am feeling hopeful for the next project

Dolly Parton's hit song "Jolene" (from her 1973 album sharing the same name) sounds unexpectedly good when slowed down to 33 RPM. Parton has said the inspiration for this song came from a redheaded bank teller who she believed charmed her husband.

Listening to stories widens the imagination; telling them lets us leap over cultural walls, embrace different experiences, feel what others feel. Elif Shafak builds on this simple idea to argue that fiction can overcome identity politics.