Well...let's just say that working on our Capstone Project is the ultimate in terms of the 4 C's. We're having to use creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and communication in order to get this project rolling. Probably the biggest struggle is the size of our group. We have a large class and so the natural tendency is to break into smaller groups where we can actually discuss our ideas and put a plan together. This is similar to the class size that we're used to teaching and it also reminded me of when our grade-level teams get together for collaboration. Anything bigger than about 6 people is difficult when the end-result is the production of something. This will also prove to be a challenge when we're looking to coordinate a time to get together in the future to finish planning and roll it out to our District. The help of a teacher to facilitate us was very beneficial in the first stages. We will need a person to step into this role if we meet again as a large group.
Another difficulty in this project is the collaboration piece of it. My group is in charge of the promotion, yet we were unable to effectively design anything because the details of the challenge had not yet been fleshed out. We are relying on them to figure out the challenges first, so that we have accurate information to advertise. We also came across a dilemma of a which digital tool to use. We wanted one that we all knew, had the bells and whistles we were looking for, and yet was collaborative so we could all work on it at the same time. We started we Piktochart and then discovered it wasn't collaborative - or at least we could figure it out.
Going forward, in order for this Capstone Project to be successful, we will definitely need to coordinate some time to work together. We will need to effectively figure out the best time, date, and place to meet so that we can have the majority of people present. We will have to share out our ideas and action steps with each of the sub-groups so that we can be effective in the way that we roll out our challenge and manage the results. There is a huge risk in doing anything district-wide. Will we be able to hit our target audience, get them to be as passionate about this as we are, and follow through on communicating the results and celebrating the accomplishments of the participators? If it is done well, it could be a huge step in growing our capacity as a staff. It can boost comrade and help our cohort to be seen as teacher leaders within our district. If it is rolled our poorly it will certainly be a negative reflection on our group and seen as many other new initiatives are seen - the flavor of the day.
I feel my strengths are that of organization and communication so I know that I will do my part to organize us and communicate our tasks, goals, and follow-up plans. I will also work hard to communicate to the other groups and will follow through any task that I'm given. I think that one way to do this is to come up with a schedule by working backwards from our end goal. If we create a list of goals with deadlines and then assign who is responsible, it will help us to stay on track. I think this was started already, so we just have to tweak it and hold each other accountable to it. Oh and snacks are always a plus!
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