"Research for my budget was the most rewarding part of my project. I finally had a realization that I am going to be an adult soon, and I am going to have to learn how to be able to financially support myself without my parents. "
"This project really opened up my eyes for what adulting is like, and I feel like now I'm prepared and I have a plan. "
I enjoyed thinking of new ways to solve problems and thinking about how to find a job in a different way. I also have taken away the fact that you can not make one quiz that will help all people, everyone has different methods of finding things out for themselves and there is no way one test can help everyone.
"I enjoyed my Dad’s feedback about the unpredictability of life and how everything isn’t always going to go as planned."
"It helped me think holistically, which is something I struggle with, as I usually just consider factors of my life separately."
"This makes having outlets in the form of adults and teachers even more important. The only negative I have about the project is the timing. It’s slightly difficult to build a path before we know our next destination. "
"This project may help others find their career path but it did not help me. If I was unsure it would have at least helped me find my personality and things I tend to like to do."
"I learned a lot from my project that is going to be really helpful in the following years."
I loved this project so much, and I wish that I was more pleased with the final products. My disappointment is with my own efforts, but in the spirit of Covid crisis, I am trying not to be too hard on myself. I feel like my what my students have submitted would be great rough drafts, and I feel like if I could have given them more effective feedback, they would have gotten more out of the experience.
For example, in one student's reflection, she wrote about how she already knew what career she wanted to have (pediatric nurse) and that the project wasn't really meaningful to her because of this. However, this student and I had several conversations about how to write her resume and cover letter when applying to her first job because she wasn't sure which degree she should get in order to best prepare her for that career. I encouraged her to research that question, to ask knowledgeable individuals what the best path to pediatric nursing would be, as there are different paths she could take, including what type of school to attend immediately after graduation. I was never able to help her see that figuring out the path was the goal of the project, not figuring out the destination, and so after looking at her final product, it is clear that we both failed in creating a meaningful experience for her. This example does help reinforce the value of this project, however.
There were some successes. I was very wary of the freedom built into this project, and I believe that I was able to help them make something concrete about of their abstract concerns and come up with product ideas that helped answer their questions. I also feel like their presentations to their preferred adult were meaningful to some of them and I like the authenticity of that audience.
Insights for next time:
I would like to require a community collaborator, someone who could help the students answer their questions. For example, the student I discussed earlier could have interviewed an actual pediatric nurse or another nursing professional who could have helped her think through the best path for her to take to achieve her goal.
I needed to utilize group contracts, especially considering how much of the work was done outside of the classroom. I know that some of the group work was not evenly distributed.
I need to have a more solid timeline planned out before we start working on the project. A lot of this project came together organically, but the timeline was too fluid. It left me too little time to complete all the elements I had planned, some of which were pretty important.