Project Description
The beginning of this project was pretty much the first day of school. It was almost labor day and that was what sparked our first conversation. We learned what labor day is, how it came to be and where it came from. We jumped off from that point and learned about different jobs that people had and all of the struggles that came with them. We did a presentation about a specific topic that had to do labor issues from a long time ago and then how they play a part in today’s world. My group chose child labor. We then did lots of other things that were related to labor issues, we did essays, debates, etc. the last and most recent thing we did was the podcast. We picked a topic then went to a table where there were people with similar interests. My podcast is about education and how it is preparing students for the future and my group was Clara and Gretta. Finally, we did the exhibition, there was a computer set up for each podcast and also 6 of the class voted best podcasts playing over the loudspeakers in the room. Ours happened to be one of the 6, we were very proud of ourselves. Overall, this project was a bit of a struggle at times, but very rewarding at others and I learned lots of valuable information throughout this semester.
Timed in-class Writing |
Child Labor Presentation |
"Next-Generation Readiness" Podcast
Project Reflection
1. What was the greatest challenge you faced in the project and what did you do to overcome that challenge?
The greatest challenge I faced during this project, was completing the Historical Thinking Skills handout. We had to read a lot of complicated documents and then write multiple things about it. The hardest documents were about strikes and unions, particularly “Statement from the Pullman Strikers (1894)” I think that it was so hard for me to read these documents because I wasn’t very interested in what I was reading and also because I was thinking about how I would answer the questions about each document and so it was hard for me to understand what I was reading.
2. If you could go back and do the project again what would you do differently and why?
If I were to go back and do this project again, I would have spent more time working on things at home. Using the Historical Thinking Skills handout as an example again, I never worked on it at home and in the end, I didn’t finish it all the way. Since then, I have become much more motivated to get things done and work on things at home. I think I also could have dug deeper with my research on our podcast. We did have good information but my mom suggested some things that we could have added to it, that we didn’t even think about until the project was over. I think we were stressing about time a lot so we didn’t get to add all of the facts about history and outside research that we didn’t gain from interviews.
3. What is the greatest insight you gained about the state of labor issues today? Think back through the entire project, historical context, the presentations, globalization, and your podcast production.
I think that the biggest piece of information that I gained throughout this project was about child labor. I did a mini project/presentation about child labor with Kaylee and Ryan and we were shocked at some of the things we learned. Child labor is still happening in the world right now mostly in the chocolate industry, and the worst part is, that it isn’t any better than it was 100 years ago. You hear things about how children were treated a long time ago and how awful it was, and sadly enough, not a lot has changed. There are still sweatshops where children and adults are treated horribly and not given any respect.
4. What are you most proud of in your project? This could be something very small and not visible to me or the audience. Help me understand why you are so proud of this piece.
I am very proud of our podcast. We had lots of good information from people outside of the classroom and also lots of information and research we gained from our own experiences and through what we learn in class. Although it was short it had all of those useful things that are needed in a podcast and like I said before my group was very strong and I am just very proud of what we created. We put our personalities in it which I think was lost in some of the other podcasts.
5. Explain 1 way you grew as a student during this project. It is not when we are comfortable and know how to do a task that we grow, it is often when we are the most challenged or have struggled through something that we grow. So what will you be better at now?
During this project, I think I grew in motivation. In past years and at the beginning of this year, I wasn’t particularly motivated, especially in humanities, to get things done because it was too hard for me, but after the Historical Thinking Skills portion of the project, I think something clicked for me that I needed to get on track if I wanted to learn things and keep my grades up.
The greatest challenge I faced during this project, was completing the Historical Thinking Skills handout. We had to read a lot of complicated documents and then write multiple things about it. The hardest documents were about strikes and unions, particularly “Statement from the Pullman Strikers (1894)” I think that it was so hard for me to read these documents because I wasn’t very interested in what I was reading and also because I was thinking about how I would answer the questions about each document and so it was hard for me to understand what I was reading.
2. If you could go back and do the project again what would you do differently and why?
If I were to go back and do this project again, I would have spent more time working on things at home. Using the Historical Thinking Skills handout as an example again, I never worked on it at home and in the end, I didn’t finish it all the way. Since then, I have become much more motivated to get things done and work on things at home. I think I also could have dug deeper with my research on our podcast. We did have good information but my mom suggested some things that we could have added to it, that we didn’t even think about until the project was over. I think we were stressing about time a lot so we didn’t get to add all of the facts about history and outside research that we didn’t gain from interviews.
3. What is the greatest insight you gained about the state of labor issues today? Think back through the entire project, historical context, the presentations, globalization, and your podcast production.
I think that the biggest piece of information that I gained throughout this project was about child labor. I did a mini project/presentation about child labor with Kaylee and Ryan and we were shocked at some of the things we learned. Child labor is still happening in the world right now mostly in the chocolate industry, and the worst part is, that it isn’t any better than it was 100 years ago. You hear things about how children were treated a long time ago and how awful it was, and sadly enough, not a lot has changed. There are still sweatshops where children and adults are treated horribly and not given any respect.
4. What are you most proud of in your project? This could be something very small and not visible to me or the audience. Help me understand why you are so proud of this piece.
I am very proud of our podcast. We had lots of good information from people outside of the classroom and also lots of information and research we gained from our own experiences and through what we learn in class. Although it was short it had all of those useful things that are needed in a podcast and like I said before my group was very strong and I am just very proud of what we created. We put our personalities in it which I think was lost in some of the other podcasts.
5. Explain 1 way you grew as a student during this project. It is not when we are comfortable and know how to do a task that we grow, it is often when we are the most challenged or have struggled through something that we grow. So what will you be better at now?
During this project, I think I grew in motivation. In past years and at the beginning of this year, I wasn’t particularly motivated, especially in humanities, to get things done because it was too hard for me, but after the Historical Thinking Skills portion of the project, I think something clicked for me that I needed to get on track if I wanted to learn things and keep my grades up.