Session 3

"Experiences often lead us to unanticipated learning and moves us into deeper understanding of the world around us."  This quote guided me in the facilitation of our last study group which I am embarrased to admit was at the end of July and I am only now posting (photos are still to come).  As a group we engaged in some individual reflection, group reflection and presented the ongoing projects.  We also read and discussed a wonderful article on thinking routines in the classroom, an article to which I would like to return for further discussion.  The idea of getting children to think about their thinking and be aware of this process is not only fascinating, but also I believe crucial in supporting the deeper level of investigation necessary for the Project Approach.  And as teachers, it is critical that we are not only aware of this phenomenon, but actively engage students within the classroom in thinking routines.  As we continue on in our journey, it is my hope that we can truly move into deeper conversations on this topic in relation to the process of projects.
With this said, although I have much more I could say, I will hold off given that we will meet in two days.  What I am posting are the two questions from the last meeting:
1)  How do we keep the level of engagement necessary for Phase 2 in students in order to actually have a project, and
2) How do we keep teachers engaged in the project enough to support the deep level of investigation necessary for Phase 2 of project work.
While these obviously are incredibly intertwined, both questions are very important on their own.  We only began to discuss the need to have frequent, sustained conversations with children, but I think this could lead us towards one answer, or possibly another question, can we really move to Phase 2 with out a deep level of conversation and discussion?