Today's class began with a brief talk about where we are headed: the imagination phase! Students will be completing the planning, proposing, research, and budgeting phase of their project in two blocks! They seem pretty eager to get started on their projects, but I wanted to stress the importance of the following things before we move on...
1. Multi-tasking Challenge - budgeting time and activities
In a large circle, I started by throwing a ball to one student who, passed it to another and so on until it came back to me. Once our pattern was established, we tried it again but with 2 balls and 1 highlighter. Many of the passes were missed and items were dropped so it became bottle-necked at times. We tried it again, but with 2 balls, 2 markers, a roll of tape and a whiteboard eraser and it got a little hectic! Items were flying everywhere, but laughter and excitement could be heard.
When done, we sat down and reflected on the importance of time-management and prioritization. With all the things students have to do, from school, extra-curricular clubs and sports, family obligations, chores, review work, jobs, and maintain a social life, the many "things" that they have to juggle can sometimes be overwhelming. The activity was a great way to establish how quickly a loss of control can occur and it stressed the importance of finding time-management strategies that work for each individual student. Once they begin their projects, staying on task and on-time are going to be two crucial elements.
2. Budget Challenge - watching what you spend
To discuss the importance of budgeting, I chose an activity where students were allotted $10 (10 centi-cubes) each. In the center of their group was a bucket to collect the "money" as we went along. I asked the students a series of questions about money, life skills, goal setting, and future endeavors. For each question they answered "No" in their heads, they had to put $1 into the basket. If they answered "Yes," they simply held onto their money. I asked about 12-15 questions... It was amazing to hear the pings of the cubes being thrown into the bucket with each question. Many students answered "No" to questions about having a plan for spending money; knowing what they want to do after high school; and knowing what project they want to complete in this course.
How much money did they have left??
After the questions were asked, we talked about the importance of planning an appropriate budget for their project completion. As a lot of students will be collecting their own materials, either through purchasing or finding for free, they agreed that having a working plan set in place for how they will gather resources/materials, is a great starting point.
Up next... Perfecting performance!
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