AJUSD Elementary

3. Stu­dents “Divide and Con­quer” the Work­load

Divi­sion of labor should be explicit

Crit­i­cal ques­tions are: What needs to be writ­ten? Can that be divided into chunks? What needs to be pur­chased? Who wants to go where? When? What needs to be researched/read? Can that be divided? Can the project be divided into sec­tions so that each stu­dent is respon­si­ble for one of those sec­tions? Posters can be divided into sec­tions — Who will be respon­si­ble for which sec­tions? Pre­sen­ta­tions are divided into slides — Who will be respon­si­ble for which slides? iMovie sec­tions can be pro­duced on sep­a­rate com­put­ers and assem­bled in the end — Who will be respon­si­ble for which sec­tion? Prezis work like Pre­sen­ta­tions - Who will be respon­si­ble for each part?

4. Stu­dents Plan a Time­line Time man­age­ment is one of those crit­i­cal skills that is miss­ing from the writ­ten cur­ricu­lum. The key is back­ward planning.

5. Group mem­bers work as Indi­vid­u­als After stu­dents have decided on con­tent, defended a for­mat for pre­sen­ta­tion, and “divided-to-conquer” the work, they can be mean­ing­fully engaged in their own mini-projects. Each work ses­sions should have a work goal. M

6. Indi­vid­u­als Com­ment on Part­ners’ Pieces Dur­ing the revi­sion and assem­bly stages, some trouble-shooting may be necessary.

7. Groups Reflect on Their Work Finally, the group needs to come together and com­ment on the “fit” of all the parts.

8. Allow Groups to see other Groups’ Work Some stu­dents are risk-averse. They want to work on project for­mats they know. But when they see oth­ers’ work, they have a frame­work they can use when con­sid­er­ing for­mats for other projects.

9. Use Projects to Inform Report Card Com­ments Those who chose to make Prezis don’t know this, but I jot­ted down a quick report card com­ment about self-motivated learn­ing.

10. Cel­e­brate! Stu­dents should cel­e­brate work well done.

Other creative ideas and examples of using the iPads in classrooms

Idea for professional development