In a previous post, I made the following statement: First up: I'm totally changing what my fourth graders will be doing this year in the library. This led to the introduction of Passion Projects. I meet with this group of students once a week, so I knew it was going to take awhile to unfold.
We started with a list of ideas that the students had brainstormed at the end of last year of what they wanted to be able to do in the library. Then, as a group, we discussed those ideas and added anything else we could think of at the time. Here's our list.
The next step was to set an individual goal. I didn't want kids writing a goal just so they could work with another student. I wanted them to choose something that was important to them. So each student filled out the sheet with what they wanted to accomplish. I must confess, I was a little disappointed that most of the students seem to pick the same thing. I was hoping for a wider variety of interests ... but that might come at a future date.
After I read through all the goals, the students were able to talk to others in their class and discuss whether they wanted to team up with someone else. And together, they filled out what they felt their "Action Steps" would be (see link here)
Every week, when they come into the library they have the choice of working on their project or just checking out and heading back to class. This has made for fewer discipline issues for students who would rather just "mess around" and not work. Students also fill out a project reflection at the end of each 40-minute work session, indicating what they accomplished and any questions or problems they have encountered.
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