"Who am I" Project Brief

Jenny Incelli

Project Brief for "Who am I"

Intro to Project Management

Summer 2013

Project Management Document

1. Why is this project needed?

Students need an opportunity to practice the vocabulary and grammar concepts in Units 1 and 2 of Spanish I.  Students will communicate in an authentic and collaborative manner to master the performance objectives in these units.

2. What is this project about? (a brief description)

8th and 9th grade students will set up Edmodo accounts that they will use to blog about themselves.  As we go through the units, they will add to their personal descriptions (personalities, appearances, interests, and location) and respond to each others materials.  As a final posting students will describe another person (using third person).

3. What is the goal of this project?

Produce and respond to blog posts that communicate personal descriptions.

4. What will be the end results of the project? (the “deliverables” in business terms)

Students will produce blog postings that feature written and spoken Spanish to communicate a variety of personal information.  They will also comment on classmates' postings in the target language.

5. What will this project not do, even if it could be done easily?

Students will not produce work as a team; rather, they will read and comment on their classmates' posts.

6. What type of project is this? (inquiry, design, debate, expression; prescriptive exploratory; or a combination)

Expression, Prescriptive

7. What is the driving question, problem, issue or personal perspective that motivates the work in this project?

I'm still working on this one; if I can develop a suitable driving question I would really like to use one.  The idea behind the first two units of our curriculum is to be able to introduce yourself and talk about your personal characteristics in Spanish, so would a driving question such as "Who am I?" be too vague?  At any rate, teens are generally motivated to socialize and get to know one-another, and that's exactly what they will be doing (but in Spanish!).

8. When will the project need to be completed?

Units 1 and 2 generally takes about 11-12 weeks, and I plan to have students adding to their blogs periodically throughout the units.  Then as Unit 2 is coming to a close and they've been exposed to all of the vocab and grammar, I will have them spend a few "intensive" days composing and publishing their final blog.  The project should be completed around week 12 or 13 of the school year.

9. Where will the project be done?

Most planning and "pre-writing" will be done in the classroom.  Depending on the approval of a "Bring Your Own Device" policy that I would like to pilot this year, some of the Edmodo work might be done in the classroom as well.  But we will definitely have to spend some time in the computer lab.

10. What resources are needed to successfully compete the project? (equipment, tools, materials, funding, technology, online resources, books, etc.)

All students will need access to the Internet for blogging and commenting in Edmodo.  For the final blog post students will need audio/video recording capabilities and/or access to animation programs like GoAnimate and Voki.  Also, we will need all of the materials to introduce and practice the concepts in Units 1 and 2, which includes the curriculum, the textbook, teacher-generated activities, and general classroom supplies (all of which are already in place).

11. How will the project be evaluated? (quality of the project work and end results, the learning outcomes, the effectiveness of the project methods)

Students will be graded on a rubric for their final blog posting (emphasizing the quality of their communicative skills and attention to required details).  The other blog postings will be graded on a completion basis, and incomplete or poorly done posts will be redone if the students want the completion grade.  They will also complete a self-evaluation on how well they participated and how well they managed their time.

12. What risks are involved in the project? (events or conditions that may delay or impact project work)

Students falling behind on their work, so that there is little for the on-pace students to read/comment on?  Failure to adhere to acceptable use policies when using technology (i.e. bullying/visiting inappropriate sites)?  Technology problems, like crashes?

Team Agreement Document

• Who will be involved in the project, and what is each person’s role or roles?  

All students will be posting on Edmodo.  This is an individual task, although they will be allowed to help each other.  They will also be divided into groups of approximately 4-5 members, but only for the purpose of commenting on blogs.  Postings will be done on an individual basis, then I will require students to comment on their group members' posts as a minimum.  I am using the EDTECH classes I've taken this summer as a model here.

• What are each team member’s strengths, expertise and preferences?

I am not sure yet.  I will be leading this team, but I don't know my students yet.

• How and how often will the project team communicate with each other? 

We meet every day, Monday through Friday, for a 47 minute class session.

• How will outside experts, coaches and advisors be used in the project?  N/A

• How will decisions be made?  

I will be handling the decisions in this first project.

• How will project changes be handled?  

I will handle changes.

• How will disagreements be resolved?  

I don't foresee much of a need for this.  Hopefully I'm right!

WorkPlan Document

• A list of project deadlines for each phase of the project work (when each of the Define, Plan, Do and Review phases should be completed)

Define and Plan phases should be completed before school begins on August 27.

The Do phase and Review will take place throughout Units 1 and 2 of Spanish I, which comprise the first 12-13 weeks of the school year.  The project should be completed around November 22.

• A list of project tasks in the order they need to be performed

Separate from this project, but central to its success is all the instruction and practice that goes into the content learning for Units 1 and 2.  I will not list these tasks here.  For the project itself:

• ~Week 4 students will create their first blog entry, which will include:
• greeting(s)
• name and spelling (for both "real" name and "Spanish" name)
• birthday
• favorite number
• farewell
• ~Week 5 students will respond to their small group members' posts
• ~Week 6 students will create their second blog entry, including:
• greeting(s)
• the date and time
• description of the day's weather 
• description of the typical weather for each season 
• ~Week 7 students will respond to posts
• ~Week 9 or 10 students will create their third blog entry, including:
• the verb "tener" used to describe their age
• where they are from
• what they like to do and when (days of the week/seasons/months)
• what they don't like to do
• adjectives to describe personality and physical appearance
• the verb "tener" used to describe what hair and eyes they have
• ~Week 10 students will respond to posts
• ~Week 11 students will create their fourth blog entry, identical to the requirements of the third blog, but now describing (in third person) a friend or family member
• ~Week 12 students will respond to posts and create their final post to show their learning from Units 1 and 2.  This final post will describe a new person (real or imaginary) in great detail.  This post will be required to have audio/video/animation recorded by the student along with a visual showing the person being described.  The following details will be discussed:
• name and spelling
• birthday
• favorite number
• age
• description of personality and physical appearance, including hair and eyes
• liked/disliked activities and when they do them
• favorite weather
• ~Week 13 students will respond to posts.  We will also watch and discuss some exemplary final postings in class.
• ~Week 13 students will reflect on their learning and performance in Units 1 and 2.  They will provide feedback on their experience, which will be used to structure future units and projects.

• The project owners for each of the tasks. 

 The teacher (myself) will be the project owner for this first project.

• The resources needed for each task (materials, tools, funding, expert advice, etc.)

All students will need access to the Internet for blogging and commenting in Edmodo.  They can use computers or smartphones.  For the final blog post students will need audio/video recording capabilities and/or access to animation programs like GoAnimate and Voki.  Also, we will need all of the materials to introduce and practice the concepts in Units 1 and 2, which includes the curriculum, the textbook, teacher-generated activities, and general classroom supplies (all of which are already in place).

• Time schedules for each of the tasks (start and finish dates)

• Students will begin learning the vocabulary and grammar in Unit 1 on August 27 (the first day of school). 
• The first blog entry will be written/posted around September 18.
• Students will respond to the first blog posting around September 25.
• The second post will be around October 2.
• Students will respond to the second post around October 9.
• The third post will be around October 25/28.
• Students will respond to the third post around October 30.
• The fourth post will be around November 6.
• Students will respond to the fourth post around November 11.
• The fifth and final post will be worked on November 11-15.
• Students will respond to the final posts and complete their reflections by November 22.