Achieving the Impossible
I learned that the most worthwhile projects are the ones that seem impossible to execute.
Example #1 - As a culminating review of our Electricity and Magnetism unit, my Grade 4/5 class was given a very short time period to create magnetism experiments for the Grade 2’s in our school to explore. Despite the time constraints and the high expectations, they quickly became engrossed in creating fun, meaningful experiments. Not only did the Grade 2’s enjoy them but also my class was so excited to facilitate their own experiments and become “the teacher” for a class!
I learned that the most worthwhile projects are the ones that seem impossible to execute.
Example #1 - As a culminating review of our Electricity and Magnetism unit, my Grade 4/5 class was given a very short time period to create magnetism experiments for the Grade 2’s in our school to explore. Despite the time constraints and the high expectations, they quickly became engrossed in creating fun, meaningful experiments. Not only did the Grade 2’s enjoy them but also my class was so excited to facilitate their own experiments and become “the teacher” for a class!
Example #2 - My class was inspired by our novel study of The Lemonade War by Jacqueline Davies. In this novel, students compete in a Lemonade Stand war. My class immediately became engaged in the possibility of planning their own style of a lemonade war, which we called The Hot Chocolate War. Each group designed their own name, logo, and budget and decided on which strategies from the book they wanted to use to make their business successful. At one point the project was becoming monstrous in size, but the class was convinced they could handle it and we went ahead with it. The result was priceless. Two hours of several classes streaming through our room, buzzing with excitement to choose a vendor based on a specific success criteria. Their conversations were proof all of the hard work was worth it. I still smile thinking about all the things we learned that day!
Hannah Niemi (@luv_history) is a Grade 4/5 teacher at Marlborough School. She is passionate about travelling, finding new adventures and lifelong learning.
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