Wishing

I think I’ve already addressed a lot of this stuff, especially in my long “Weaving” post. How does one know when a project like this is over? I certainly see where this could go, if I had more time to take it there. I would love to learn more about the social context of the Singing Cowboy. I would love to know more about real cowhand life. The only thing I see myself doing just now is looking up some of the cool collections of music I came across. I wish I had more time. How do we give students enough time to do the kind of inquiry we’d like them to do? Is it possible to make design a project that does assess the process, allows enough time for inquiry, keeps students on track, and isn’t totally overwhelming to them? I think it is, but I think I’ll need more experience and time with real students to figure it out.
I am looking forward to learning more about the needs of learners at various ages and stages in their development. I think I have a better handle on young adults than I do on littler kids. I know that I have experiences that help and hinder me that children won’t have and that young adults may have to some degree. For instance, I have the maturity to see my way through frustration and to ask for help, where younger folks might not. I think that media specialists who are supporting kids though a process like this would need to be pretty good people-readers and have regular conferences to stay in touch with how kids are feeling about their projects. Kuhlthau talks about her Zone of Intervention and I definitely think that, if a teacher can step in then, when confusion and doubt are overwhelming kids, the child can be helped through to satisfaction.

This project required that I use almost all of the skills that fall under each standard. There was even a collaboration component, to a degree, as we were all required to follow one another’s processes and comment. In order to cover the range of options as far as sources of information and methods of presentation, students would need to have a lot of practice with multiple projects over the years. Really, looking at the standards, there are several that seem like components of information fluency, as defined by Callison. For instance, 2.2.1 talks about the student adapting techniques based on the resource at hand. 1.1.6 mentions using information form a variety of formats. These abilities reflect a true form of fluency and. It is exciting to think of being involved in and supporting students to gain such useful, fulfilling skills. I Wish I were starting right now!