Defending your work

Bit of a teacher jackpot this week: it’s the week before spring break and the first week of fourth quarter. The energy is all over the place. There’s some funny things being said: “I’m going glamping during spring break… that’s glamourous camping.” There’s some residual restlessness as the year draws to an end and seniors start coming to terms with their imminent departure.

So I’m trying to frame this week as defend your work week:

One, you have to defend, with evidence, your choice for next year. Are you going to continue to take college classes, pursue an internship, or work in the shop?

Two, you have to defend, with evidence, your goals for your fourth quarter self-designed project. What shows that this project is viable for a fourth quarter completion?

Three, we’re doing a combined investigative journalism and playwriting unit for fourth quarter. You will have to be able to defend your chosen story, be it the Phillies victory or a spate of overdoses, as worthy of exploration and of a play.

I like the idea of defending your work as the kids get it quickly. In a project-based school you have to be able to explain why you’re doing what you’re doing. The kids understand challenging each other on the relevance of their projects and most of the time they’re able to challenge in a respectful way.

The problem with the idea of defending your work is that it relies on students actually engaging in the defense; you can’t defend something you don’t care about. Similarly, if you don’t care about the process (or the outcome) then defending your work will be a hard road. I also have to tread carefully with making sure that kids understand that you’re not defending this to the death; that the goal is to go through a rigorous process that allows your work to improve.

Anyway, it’s the best way I could think of to frame a crazy week from the school calendar.