Embedded Files
WHERE WILL STUDENTS KEEP TRACK OF THEIR OWN LEARNING AND WORK ON THE DOCUMENTARY?
STUDENT JOURNAL // Here, students keep track of their personal thinking and reflections about both the social issue, and about the craft of documentary making. The goal of the journal is to provide a private and safe place for students to express themselves freely (sometimes with poetry or drawing).
Students will be asked to refer to, and sometimes share, their journal entries in class (unless students have written about confidential issues). If Journals in your class are physical notebooks, we encourage students to personalize them by illustrating the cover. Use the journal as a way to develop an empathetic, curious, and collaborative relationship with students.
- Avoid critical feedback on things like spelling, language use, and grammar.
- Avoid grading the content of the journal, focus on effort.
- Note that students who miss class may not need to complete all assignments in order to move forward with their team on the documentary. Use your judgement to identify the essential activities and reflections that students should undertake.
HOW WILL THE WHOLE GROUP KEEP TRACK OF MAJOR DECISIONS, RESEARCH AND IDEAS THAT AFFECT THE PROGRESS OF THE PROJECT?
PROJECT PLAYBOOK // This is where the class will keep track of team decisions, as well as the thinking and research needed for their documentary. The project playbook only includes tasks that students undertake together (all individual tasks are completed in the project journal).
WHY IS THERE A PROJECT JOURNAL AND A TEAM PLAYBOOK? WON’T IT BE EASIER TO ASK STUDENTS TO JUST KEEP ONE?
Initially, you might think it’s easier to have students put everything in their Student Journal. However, this approach creates participation barriers for students who struggle to attend school regularly: if a student has missed 3-4 days one week, their StudentJournal will be empty, making it challenging for them to jump back into the project with their peers. The Project Playbook is a single resource that the full class completes, either digitally or as hard copy, kept in the classroom so it doesn’t get lost! When students are absent, they can quickly review what the class worked on, and begin participating. For example, if 2 team members are absent on the day that the team brainstorms interview questions for an expert interview, the questions will be found in the Project Playbook, and any member of the team can ask the questions during the interview. (If interview questions were written in the Student Journal, absent students would have nothing to refer to once they return to class).
DIGITAL vs HARD COPY
We strongly suggest that the Project Playbook remain a digital google document so that any team member can contribute or refer to it at any time. For example, if students are about to conduct street interviews, they can either print out their Interview Questions from the Playbook, OR, they can open the playbook on their phones (if available) to use as a reference while on the street. In addition, when teams are working on aspects of the documentary, they can simultaneously in-real-time contribute to an activity in the Playbook, or you can jump into the Playbook and offer real-time support and feedback as the team works.
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