Project Citizen--Is it over?

Now that the Project Citizen presentations are over it is time to reflect on our experience. Here are some thoughts that students had:

What did our class do well--
ON THE VALUE OF RESEARCH AND DETAIL
"Our class provided plenty of research and detail on the imortant fact given. From our problem statement to action plan; we always had research backing (our position), which also limited questions from the panel"

"We researched ourproject well and didn't leave any part out. We even researched problems that might occur during our policy"

"We were able to back up all of our information with research and I think that made a huge difference"

ON THE VALUE OF BEING PREPARED
"All of our answers were very specific and did not leave anything left unanswered"

"In the beginning of practicing speeches, we weren't very good. Over time though, I thought we got better each time"

ON THE VALUE OF APPEARANCE
"Everyone was very serious about being on stage in front of important people"

Project Citizen is about the process and not the end result. What that means is the learning is never over. If a water policy would be enacted, then what? Does that mean that your job is done. As a citizen we all need to take the responsibility to make our communities better. It can be done through volunteering, but it can also be done at the local policy level. Project Citizen has hopefully taught the lessons of how to make real change in a community. Through organization, research, and knowledge ordinary citizens can make a huge difference. Another value that needs to be emphasized is persistence, because change usually takes time. How persistent are we? Will we use what was learned in Project Citizen to become more responsible citizens? Is the Project over?

What is success?

As we approach our Project Citizen presentations I think it would benefit us if we think about what it will take to be successful in our presentations? I'm not just talking about the four presenters, but rather, the entire class. Each one of us had a role to play in putting together the presentation, whether it was in designing the poster board, organizing the binder, or creating the wiki. Did you do the best that you absolutely could do to complete the task you were given? If you were unsure of something did you ask a classmate or me to clarify your concern? Were you concerned about putting forth your absolute best effort?

If you answer YES to each of these questions then you should go into the presentation with a calm confidence knowing that you have done everything in your power to prepare. If you answered NO to each of these questions then you are more likely to be less confident and more nervous going into the presentation resulting in a greater likelihood that the presentation will be a disappointment.

What should define success? My favorite definition of success comes from probably the greatest living coach and teacher--former UCLA bacsketball coach John Wooden. He never defined success by the number of national titles he led UCLA to (10 in 12 years), or how long a winning streak he could engineer (88 games in a row, and 38 in a row in national championship tournament play), or how many perfect seasons he could lead UCLA to (4). Coach Wooden's famous definition of success is "the peace of mind derived from making the absolute and complete effort to do the best of which you are capable." [The Essential Wooden, McGraw-Hill, 2007]There is nothing about winning in his definition because winning is not the same as success. You can win a game, but play terribly and not deserve to actually win. Should that be considered success?



My hope for the Project Citizen presentations is that we experience real success, not because we get positive feedback, but because of the effort we put into the project and a recognition that we have learned some valuable lessons about how we can make a positive change in our community.

HMS Team Names Video 2007

Here's the video from the Team name unveiling on Wednesday. We will be creating a team logo and motto in the next few weeks. Stay tuned.....

Field Music - In Context

This is an amazing video by the British band Field Music, that reminds me that if we take too narrow a view on life and fail to take a step back to see the big picture, then things won't make sense and seem disconnected.

For Project Citizen we need to constantly remind ourselves what our mission statement and goals are so that the individual assignments building up to the final group presentation stays on target with the "big picture" of the Project. At the end of the project all of our hard work sifting through research and interviewing people will pay off when we present our policy proposal.

Project Citizen challenges

The last two weeks we have been learning about public policy and local issues to get ready for Project Citizen. There have been great discussions in class about some very worthy issues that we can tackle with this project. Some of the discussions centerd on drugs, suicide, transfats, land use, water bottles in school, resource conservation, hunting near residential areas, and nutrition in the cafeteria (to name just a sampling of our discussion topics). Obviously, there were many opinions expressed. The challenge for us now will be to step back from what we personally think about the chosen issue and to do the hard work needed to produce an intelligent, realistic, and understandable policy. Working collaboratively in class and on Google Groups students will find out that the process of Project Citizen is far more important than whether or not the policy is ever enacted. By learning to effectively work together for a common goal with a diverse group of people students will be learning skills that transcend the PSSA's and SAT's. A student with a high IQ or test scores will be at a competitve disadvantage if they are unable to work with others effectively. To make positive change in our communities and to take part in the democratic process of our country involves not just knowledge, but also an ability to organize, communicate, and take risks. These three attributes are the true learning goals of Project Citizen. So regardless of what issues the classes choose, or how successfully they are ever implemented is really not that important in the big picture. The important measure of success for Project Citizen will be how well did we organize, communicate, and take risks???