Monday, 26 May 2014

Students Reflect

As part of our project wrap-up, we asked kids to write a reflection of their 20% Time work this year. We believe they were completely honest because they noted the things they liked about the project in general and their projects in particular. They also noted things that could go better next year and where teachers could have helped more this year. Like we've said all along, this has been a learning experience for all of us, students and teachers alike. Here are some of the students' comments:

I really liked this 20% Time project because we were able to choose something that we were interested in and I hope we can do something like this next year.

When I was trying to use cheap molds and plastic sometimes it would have been easier to just quit rather than continuing and figuring out how to fix it.  Once I did get past these hurdles I finally got some final product that I am happy with.

The TED Talks were not something I was looking forward to.  Even though I didn’t want to do the TED Talk I thought it was good for me to get up and talk in front of people about something I am passionate about.

I liked 20% time.  The fact that we could choose anything we wanted was awesome but was also complicated.  There were so many possibilities that I was overwhelmed.  That was also a good thing though.  The fact that there were no limitations was good because we got to come up with things that we were really passionate about, and were really motivated to work on.

I learned how to make a website, how to blog well, how to manage my time, and how to get a project that needed to do a lot at home done.  This was a great learning experience and it should be used more in schools.

I did not like the fact that we had to use a blog.  I was not very good at keeping up with it and I often got behind on it.  It  was a good way to keep people updated but it was not something I was good at constantly doing.

I think that this whole 20% project idea is a good idea for learning, it helps kids think more about the things they love to learn about.

If I had worked by myself, I would have come up with something in which I was more passionate and would not have had to rely on others  to do their part.  It was a good lesson learned.  I realized that I am more comfortable relying on myself than others and that not everyone has the same level of determination as me.

I thought it was very interesting and fun because I got to learn about whatever I wanted to. Of course in the end my idea didn’t really work but it was nice to have my imagination run rather than make a project off of something you guys taught us or take a test over a subject.

My 20% time was a pretty good project I think. What caused its downfall was me. I was too confident and arrogant and I think I’ve learned to not do that.

Starting in December was difficult for most projects, especially clubs, because you are starting the middle of the semester. I felt that for some of our projects, we needed more time to get the project started.

There were a lot of things we did great in. For example we learned a lot about music. There was one song where we had to conduct 12/8 time which means there are twelve eighth notes per measure. We had never done this in class before so we had to learn it.

So I guess you could call that susailing, which isn’t a real word but it means failing and succeeding at the same time, but it’s something us Modern Music kids like to say.

We went on youtube and found how to make a DYS (do it yourself) hovercraft. When we followed the instructions exactly the hovercraft didn’t fly. And at that is when me, Alex, Spike, and parents decided that it was time for improvements.


I felt good about my own learning experience with this. I felt like I learned alot.  It was new and something I’d never had the chance to try before.  I liked it. I liked the freedom to choose what I did during that time and I’m proud of what I did.

For me, I have found that I want to continue helping others and work in social sevices when I’m older. Using 20% time for our project Pictures For Africa was also an amazing learning experience. I have learned that when you put your energy into something you are passionate about, you will achieve the goals you set for yourself.

Overall this has been an amazing learning experience. I have realized that if you put your mind to something and make time to do it you can achieve great things.  

I thought that the 20% Time Project was a good opportunity to challenge myself and to try to fulfill a dream I’ve had for a long long time. I think I may have contributed a little more to the project than my partner. Although he is a good person and fun to be around I do wish he had helped me more. I think my project succeeded and failed at the same time.

When you and Mrs. Hellwig first started telling us about Twenty Percent Time Projects, honestly, I was super excited. Never in any grade had I been allowed to work on any project I desired.

I think we could've been more productive with our time in school than we were throughout the year. When the project was done and over with we had accomplished a full functional Go-Kart with an mp3 sound system.

I didn’t like this project is because I don’t know how to work independently on my own without having some type of schedule or something to me keep on track. The next reason I didn’t like this project is because I feel that it holds nothing that's worthy of learning. It takes time out of a regular school week to learn the important things in life that we will never use.

It’s no secret, this project didn’t really work for me. With my inconsistency to stay with a project, I never actually got that much done. It put me through a lot of stress to have to constantly change projects, and I feel now that I will have more self discipline and motivation to get things done. I learned a lot from this project, even though I really didn’t like it.

The TED Talk was stressful to say the least. First we were way ahead of schedule and my mom was freaking out and then the mike broke. That’s not even including the stage fright and tech problems. But according to my mom I was, “Calm and collected.” Maybe I’ll go into poker if that’s what I looked like.

I’m still debating whether I liked 20% time or not, it was……….. interesting.

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