I knew it would be either awesome or awful, and probably nothing in between. I was right. The kids, as a whole, really pulled out all of the stops and produced exciting, quality work.
As many of you know, FedEx Day was coined by an Australian company that allowed its engineers one day a quarter to research anything that interested them, unless it had to do with their current assignment. Some schools have adopted them as an opportunity to restore choice and wonder to the curriculum. One day - product a project on anything (that won't get you suspended). Project is due the next day. (Thus, the 'FedEx' - you have to deliver overnight.)
For the four days before, I reserved some space in the library to introduce the kids to some tools they might use to present what they learned. For this go-round, I chose Meograph, Padlet, ThingLink, and Big Huge Labs. No one was required to use them; they were suggestions. In fact, they were allowed to deliver their content in any school-legal way. My children are, obviously, under 13, and that creates some limitations with 2.0 tools.. None of these sites forbid under-13s, and I skirted the privacy issue by using a group account set up through my email. We keep a common user name and password for these sites so the kids have access and I can see what they're doing. Big Huge Labs has a teacher account, which is nice. Most kids worked with Padlet and Thinglink.
I knew that 'anything' would be overwhelming to some and not believed by others. To help them organize their ideas, we started a couple of days before with an organizer: From the organizer, a concept map was created. You can see the variety:
This child's final project had absolutely nothing to do with either of these. He had spent a lot of time at home working with the different 2.0 tools and created several projects. He decided on this one. This is a young man with a lot of ideas - creative, a fabulous poet - but little follow-through on run-of-the-mill things. He was proud to have something substantial to share
This one was, probably, the most impressive. Lots of links and details. The boys in the class were excited because they learned some new things, and since it's a thinklink, they can use it as a resource when they're playing. Creating content that's useful in the real world? Win!
This one was frustrating. He couldn't get past 'math' and got a little flipped out (as in, tears) when I told him there's no way to do a project on the whole of math in one year, much less one day. He'd have to narrow it down. He tried and got down to 'algebra', but just couldn't deal.
While we were talking about math, he mentioned the operations involved in figuring out Pokemon matches. I asked him, since he's very into it, why he hadn't considered Pokemon as his topic. He looked at me and asked, "We can do that?" to which I answered, "I said, 'anything'!" Things quickly fell into place. His presentation the next day was delivered with confidence and even a bit of theatrics. It was brilliant.
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| Here's his final product |
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| ... and not every project was web-based. |
When the product was finished, the kids used notecards to put together a presentation, which was in the classroom the next morning. Web-based products went on my Promethean Board, and I served as the holder of posters, etc.
I had students grade their own projects. They're somewhat used to assigning themselves grades, so that wasn't novel, and I know that, if anything, they're harder on themselves than I am. Nearly all gave themselves As, and a few gave themselves Bs. To keep them engaged, though, as they were audience members, and to give students some feedback on their presentations, each student filled out a scoresheet for each presenter.
There's also a really good upper-elementary presentation rubric online here. I had intended to use it, but spent too much time handling tech and holding posters. :S
What did the kids think of it? They were encouraged, but not required, to respond to these prompts:
The one negative response is from a child who is on the Spectrum but is high-functioning. He worked hard and turned out a product about how one becomes a train engineer. As a whole, he struggles with finishing projects, and, like many Spectrum kids, didn't appreciate the change in routine, so I wasn't surprised that he didn't find it fun. When we do it again in June, I may give him the option of hiding out in another room. We'll see.
So, what have we learned?
Doing this again? On a scale of 1 to 10, FedEx day rated a 'Hell, yeah!"
These kids have had nearly a year with me, and, so, were more independent. It might take a bit more structuring to start earlier next year.
One advantage of starting earlier next year (I'll think I'll plan for 4 next year - one each nine weeks.) is that I can see what some of my kids can really do. Even those who struggle the most with attention and engagement did bang-up jobs. Frankly, I think a couple of them were surprised with what they could produce!
