Playground Project Reflection
What I would really like to tell everyone is that I developed this project last
summer and have been rigorously working on this day in and day out for months
to make it perfect. However, there is nothing farther from the truth then
that statement.
This thought actually trickled into my mind when I was on a Saturday morning
date with my daughter mindlessly digging in the sand. I was trying to
conjure up some ways to make learning the mundane math material (dare I say it)
fun! I thought 'here I am, a grown man, having fun digging in the sand
and the school I teach at does not have any recess equipment for the kids.'
Then I put my two thoughts together: fun and a playground. 'That's it -
I'll have the students create their own playground!'
With that one thought I was quickly off and running with ideas overflowing my
brain, like an unwatched pot of boiling water. First, the essential
question came to mind. Then, the learning goals - then lets have the students
create businesses. All these thoughts keep coming to mind. The students will have to create a budget. The budget will include buying equipment, making purchases, including tax
on products. They will to use a variety of math skills addition, multiplication, percentages,
and so on. We can use Google Earth to purchase the land next to the school so the kids have to figure out the perimeter and
area. I was firing off these ideas left and right ready to finish this
entire project in one day. Then...I heard this little tiny voice,
'Da-Da' oh how I was quickly brought back to reality. Then I realized
family first - I'll have plenty of time to work on this during naptime.
What started out as a tiny little thought turned out to be one of the most
interesting, educational, not sure where the road is going to take us journeys
that I have ever been on. I believed that I already had a motivated, overachieving
math class to begin with. Once I explained to the students what we were
going to do - students were already talking to their neighbors on what they
wanted their playground to look like. On a daily basis the students were
diligently working, asking intriguing questions to one another, performing at a
level I had never see them reach. I realized that the students were
driving and I am just along for the ride. You know what? I enjoyed
each and every minute of the trip! From the minute we started until the minute
we stopped students were collaborating, creating, and taking control of their
learning. It was one of those moments when you really realize why you
became an educator.