Got Projects?

Happy Fall!

Even though the weather still feels like summer, we've reached that time of year when school has been in session for several weeks and students are beginning to bring home assignments for projects. The goal of these projects is usually to showcase what has been learned on a particular topic or to allow students an opportunity to share their thinking in a creative way. When the projects arrive back at school, however, teachers can sometimes only see what the parents know about the topic!

As a mom of two college students, I can tell you that there were many times when I did more than my fair share of my kids' projects out of sheer exhaustion on my part and out of a nagging desire to make sure they did well. There was even one time when my daughter woke me at 1:00 in the morning in tears to tell me that she just remembered she had a big research project due the next day. Instead of telling her to go back to bed, we stayed up until 3:30 in the morning researching King Henry VIII! While I would say my daughter and I bonded on that long night as I soothed her type A fears, I'm not sure she learned much of anything about King Henry or responsibility.

There is a big difference, though, in letting your kids do their own thinking and leaving them to do things by themselves. You can still make sure projects get done and even bond with your kids without doing the work for them. Be present. Ask questions. Be a sounding board as your kids tell you what they know and come up with ideas to show it. Be prepared for some resistance at first. I remember my son telling me he didn't know anything about the subject of his project. He was trying to push my buttons and get me to do his thinking for him and he was persistent in his denial of any knowledge whatsoever!  If you keep asking questions, though, and coming at the topic from different angles they will start to think and you'll start to hear what they know. That's the synthesis the teachers are hoping for when they plan the assignments!

Try to avoid expensive trips to the craft store to complete projects. Some of the best thinking is done by coming up with creative ways to show what they know with what you have on hand. It's ok if your child's project doesn't look perfect. 

At Cannon, we have several optional projects coming up that will be perfect opportunities to practice the art of stretching your child's thinking! Hopefully your Cannon scholar will be excited to participate in the Global Cardboard Challenge and the Storybook Character Pumpkin Decorating coming in October.

I know that there will be times when just getting the assignment done is the most important thing for the sanity of everyone involved but hopefully those times will be the exception rather than the rule. If you find yourself side by side with your child at 3:00 in the morning creating a life sized Henry VIII, chalk it up to bonding and laugh about it the next day! There will be plenty of other opportunities to help your child be the skilled problem solver and creative thinker that they are destined to be.

Until next time, happy reading!

Mrs. Wagner