We're down to four students. Three of our students dropped the course. My co-teacher and I are disappointed by that, but we also have no control over that. The good thing is that now all four students are one team, working towards making the best research portfolio they can create for Project READ. Do they complain? Sure. Do they ask, "How many sources do we need to include?" Yep, you betcha! In a perfect world, they would keep researching to include as many great sources as they can for Project READ...but in reality, they want to know the minimum number of sources they are required to contribute. We were all in their shoes once...we remember what it was like to worry about what our grade was going to be. It's difficult to create a culture in the classroom where students don't worry about their grade so much. I digress... Week 8: Students continued to cite and annotate the sources they've found. They also printed them and placed them in the binder. Week 9: Students synthesized the information they found thus far by writing recommendations for Project READ. For each source they found, they wrote a recommendation (or two) that summarized a main point (or two) from the article that Project READ could use to make decisions about future fundraising efforts. The students compiled each of their recommendations onto one Word document in class. Their homework for week 8 had been to write at least three recommendations. We gave them feedback about their recommendations during class 8 so they were able to take our suggestions and improve them if necessary during class 9. Next week, we hand the portfolios over to Project READ and we reflect as a group, along with Project READ's Director, Becky Garvin. We asked the students to write a final reflection paper. Here is their Final Reflection assignment. Once they have written responses to these questions, it is easier for them to open up a bit and talk about their experience verbally as a group during the last class. It doesn't hurt that we also feed them bagels and juice. It isn't a perfect course, by any means. As I've written about the class, here and in the article and the book chapter I wrote, I sometimes feel as thought I've made it out to sound so positive. It isn't easy. It's messy. However, I enjoy this format so much more than lecturing. I believe the students learn more by applying their skills to a real-word situations. I don't have the data to back it up for our class, specifically. But surely, they are much more engaged than if Cheryl and I stood in front of them and told them every little thing there is to know about using information and the library.
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