The Incubator exists because of ideas that are half-baked. I have a lot of those. Lightning strikes of creativity that hit me when I’m driving, when I’m in the shower, ones that wake me up in the middle of the night. I’m on the end of the teacher spectrum that jumps in headfirst to a project or assignments without worrying about all the little details. When those creative jolts jar loose a basic idea, I take it in its incomplete form and immediately unleash it on my students. But, as I’ve learned over the last decade in the classroom, those little details that I’ve skipped can make a big difference. They can add purpose and clarity, taking something that will be merely novel and fun and turn it into something that can be a significant learning experience for my students that we can build upon. I’ve learned that I need people who have a different skill set than I do to help me finish these ideas. The Incubator is a place to think through the details. Develop the concepts. Collaborate with others who have different ideas and perspectives.
I’ve had an idea for a project rattling around my end-of-summer brain that is half-baked. For now, I’m going to call it Project 41. The plan would be to have four different groups of students in four different places and/or at four different levels (elementary, middle school, high school, college) reading and responding to one poem (that’s where the 4 and 1 come from). I’ve noticed that interpretation of poems is often based on life experience, and so it would be great to have people in different geographic locations and stages in life interpreting the same thing and having some dialogue about it.
Ideally, each of the four groups would read the poem and discuss amongst themselves. Together they could come up with a general interpretation of the poem. The next step would be a forum for the different groups to share their thoughts with the other groups of students.
The lingering questions that need to be answered:
-Is there an actual benefit to this or does it just seem cool to me?
-What would be the best way for the students to share their thoughts on the poem with the students in the other three groups?
-Which poems would work well for this kind of assignment?
-What guidelines or guided questions should the groups be given?
-What questions or logistical issues have I not thought about yet that would affect this assignment/learning experience?
If you have any answers or further questions, please comment.
I’ve had an idea for a project rattling around my end-of-summer brain that is half-baked. For now, I’m going to call it Project 41. The plan would be to have four different groups of students in four different places and/or at four different levels (elementary, middle school, high school, college) reading and responding to one poem (that’s where the 4 and 1 come from). I’ve noticed that interpretation of poems is often based on life experience, and so it would be great to have people in different geographic locations and stages in life interpreting the same thing and having some dialogue about it.
Ideally, each of the four groups would read the poem and discuss amongst themselves. Together they could come up with a general interpretation of the poem. The next step would be a forum for the different groups to share their thoughts with the other groups of students.
The lingering questions that need to be answered:
-Is there an actual benefit to this or does it just seem cool to me?
-What would be the best way for the students to share their thoughts on the poem with the students in the other three groups?
-Which poems would work well for this kind of assignment?
-What guidelines or guided questions should the groups be given?
-What questions or logistical issues have I not thought about yet that would affect this assignment/learning experience?
If you have any answers or further questions, please comment.
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