Reflection Week of 3/6/17

This Monday, I began my implementation of a project that I designed to help my students strengthen their biology knowledge. I am having them work in groups to create a Biology-themed board game based on the unit that they need the most practice on. I used the data from their practice standardized test to assign groups, so I wasn't sure how they would react to these assigned groups. The beginning of this project went surprisingly well. The students didn't put up too much of a fight about grouping, especially when I explained how groups were assigned, and I was pleasantly surprised by the level of engagement and creativity put into this assignment. However, students were very stressed about the fact that I wouldn't be giving them all of the class time they would need to work on this project at once. They will be receiving short amounts of time to convene with their groups before each portion of the project to keep from taking too much time out of their lessons at once. I learned from my mentor teacher that these students almost never receive projects that they need to complete outside of class, so the reason they are stressed is that they are worried they'll have to meet and work with their groups outside of school. Next week, I plan to discuss my plans for this project with them more in detail and reassure them that they will have the time they need in class to work with their groups.