That's what a good project does - it impacts you so heavily that it becomes a part of your life, a bookmark that you can always go back to and think about.
I know personally I had very few of these 'bookmark' moments in high school and when I decided to become a teacher, it drove me to make sure my students didn't suffer the same fate.
The 2014 Q&A project involved students studying two topics in History - the Freedom Rides of the 60's and the Civil Rights Movement. Students had to prepare a debate and film the event live in front of an audience and online via Youtube Live Stream.
I'm in the process of finishing cutting up the rest of the reflection videos but I would really encourage you to check out Max's thoughts.
If you listen all the way through you'll hear Max talk about thinking he thought the event was 'not as important as other things we could have done'. When I heard this I froze! Letting him continue, Max wanted to use the live stream as a springboard for bigger! He mentioned publishing a book or a documentary - awesome ideas that reinforced why I love PBL so much. It drives innovation from both the teacher and what the student thinks is possible in a school.
Open the door to your students and they'll impress. Projects such as this require time & meticulous planning, the sacrifice of 'some content' (face it you won't be able to cover every single piece of 'curriculum content' mandated when your running a 12 week project) and courage, lots of courage.
The website: https://sites.google.com/a/moc.sa.edu.au/q-a-year-10/ will host all the finished videos (also available on Youtube).
Talk soon,
Emil
