It was nice to have the freedom to be creative.
Each group made a poster, but there were very different expressions of the goal from group to group. Who was right? Everyone.
There wasn't a right or a wrong way because the point of the project was to assess our own strengths and weaknesses so that we could grow from it. It was good for all of us teachers that did it, so why don't we give students the same flexibility. Many of us had the same thought.
It's easy to feel like kids can't do anything without rules or rubrics. It's simple to say that kids won't work if there isn't a grade attached to it. it's also true that many of our kids are far more creative than we give them credibility for and don't get the opportunity to express it because of the way we run our classrooms.
I'll go ahead and add this to the list of things to try next year. Maybe it will blow up in all our faces, but that's fine. Nothing gets better if we never try. I've got a lot of room to grow.
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