Partnership Welcomes Guest Blogger Molly Berger!

Last week, we welcomed our first guest blogger, Pamelia Valentine, to the Hall Monitor and this week we are pleased to announce our second, Molly Berger.

Molly teaches Senior English and is a co-coordinator of senior projects at East Valley High School in Yakima. She has also taught middle school and 9th-11th grade English and drama. She earned both her bachelor's and master's degrees from Central Washington University and has her National Board Certification in Adolescent/Young Adult English Language Arts. Molly has additional training in media literacy and technology. She is currently president of the Washington State Council of Teachers of English.

The Value of Projects

I know its coming. I get a knot in my stomach as I think of it. February is the deadline for our culminating projects, and I am one of the coordinators. Just saying it makes my blood pressure go up a notch or two. I'm bracing myself for the questions:

“You mean I have to have it done by February 8?”

“What? There's a paper with it?”

“What do you mean I have to have two practice presentations?”

“What do I do now my mentor left town?”

“May I present another night?”

“Can I still change my project?”

“You mean my photo class project won't count?”

“What portfolio?”

Then there’s working with staff on their roles and organizing panelists to hear the projects. Now my stomach is a rock...but, breath deep, relax...it will all work out. How? I don't know. It's a mystery.

I have heard the many concerns about the projects. College prep seniors are too busy. There is too much bureaucracy. It is unfair to expect that of students who have not passed the WASL or who have no support at home or who have to work to complete such an endeavor. But, having been through this, I have real examples to draw on. If the projects are set up to be meaningful and manageable and if there is strong communication, things really do work out and can be an amazing experience for the students.

Some of the most successful projects I have seen have come from some of our least academically inclined students. Last year in my school, one young woman working hard on credit retrieval and maintaining a part time job, worked with patients in an adult care facility. Although she had been interested in health care careers, she lacked enthusiasm and focus. Because of her project, she enrolled at a community college and planned to pursue a health care career working with the elderly.

At the end of his presentation, a young man who had high absenteeism stated enthusiastically, “I don’t see much value in a lot of what we do in school, but this was awesome. It’s the best thing I’ve done here.”

Another student who worked with a special needs child stated, “I went into this to be a friend to her, but I know that she is a better friend to me. Wherever I go I know that she will be part of my life.” Some students created or built products (a new engine design, a deck, a low rider bike) for which they never thought they’d have the patience, and others found new recreational interests they plan to continue throughout life. Some of the student choices were academic, others artistic, recreational, vocational, or a service, but for those students who truly put themselves into it, the learning was profound regardless of academic level.

Interestingly, this kind of learning results not only from a project; it is from the process as well. Learning to follow a set of instructions, a bureaucracy if you will, is a learning stretch in itself as is following through on a plan, analyzing the process, and telling others about it.

Balancing time and meeting deadlines in the rush of probably the busiest year in their K-12 education, is a huge challenge for many students, but it can also be one of the most significant.

Some students started projects they thought would be easy but were shocked when an unanticipated problem brought them to a complete halt. Working through the dilemma was often as powerful as the project itself. Yes, some students slid by with a minimum, but how is that different from many of the classes they take? Students will get from the project what they put into it. But to take away this opportunity for any group minimizes their education.

And so, again, I breathe deeply, relax the knots in my stomach and prepare for “senior project season” because after years of working with seniors, I can emphatically say that, when well done, these projects are a powerful culmination of learning and a transition into the new stage of life our graduates are entering.