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How to Create a Successful Project (for School)
Last Updated: September 15, 2022 References
This article was co-authored by Kim Gillingham, MA . Kim Gillingham is a retired library and information specialist with over 30 years of experience. She has a Master's in Library Science from Kutztown University in Pennsylvania, and she managed the audiovisual department of the district library center in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, for 12 years. She continues to do volunteer work for various libraries and lending library projects in her local community. There are 8 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been viewed 505,618 times.
School projects can come in a variety of forms, and the exact process you'll need to create a successful one will vary from project to project, subject to subject, and class to class. However, some general steps and best practices can help you tackle any project on your plate more successfully. You'll need to pick a topic and plan out your project. Next, you'll need to do some research. Finally, you'll need to put everything together in your final project.
Deciding on a Project
- For instance, maybe your assignment is "Create a visual representation of the US Civil War. You can pick one battle, one idea, one speech, a defining moment, or focus on the war as a whole. Make sure to include relevant dates and people in your representation."
- You can break this down into parts: 1) Make something visual about the Civil War. 2) Choose a focus. 3) Include relevant dates. 4) Include relevant people.
- Try freewriting. Take out a sheet of paper. On the top, write down something such as "US Civil War Project." Start writing about the project. Don't stop yourself or censor ideas. Just let them come as they will. For instance, maybe you could start out by writing "For me, one of the defining points of the Civil War was the Gettysburg Address. It really made clear that the fight was about human equality. But now I must make that visual. Four-score and seven years ago... I could take individual lines, maybe? Connect ideas to defining parts of the war..." [3] X Trustworthy Source University of North Carolina Writing Center UNC's on-campus and online instructional service that provides assistance to students, faculty, and others during the writing process Go to source
- Try a map. Start with a circle in the middle of the paper with "US Civil War Project" written in the middle of it. Draw a line from the center circle to another circle, and add a fact or idea. Just keep associating ideas together, not really thinking too deeply about it. As you go, group like ideas near each other. When you're done, look at where the largest groupings are, and let that guide your focus. [4] X Trustworthy Source University of North Carolina Writing Center UNC's on-campus and online instructional service that provides assistance to students, faculty, and others during the writing process Go to source
- The best way to pick a topic is to choose what you focused on in your brainstorming. For instance, maybe you think the Gettysburg Address is a good focal point.
- However, if your topic is still too broad, such as "battles in the Civil War," try picking one aspect within that topic. You could choose one battle you think is defining, or a particular aspect of the battles, such as battle fatigue in soldiers.
- Most public and university libraries have databases providing access to scholarly articles. You can always ask the librarian to help you find what you're looking for
- You can even think about doing something 3-dimensional instead of 2-dimensional. Maybe you could make a 3-D map of the battles, depicting the movement of troops.
- Alternatively, you could try sculpting out of papier-mâché. Maybe you could sculpt Abraham Lincoln and use scripts coming off his body to tell your story.
Planning Out Your Project
- To make an outline, start with the main topic you are covering. Maybe you're doing the Gettysburg Address. Write that at the top.
- Next, break down your project into sub-headings. Maybe your subheadings could be "Speech Background," "Location of Speech," and "Impact of Speech."
- Under your subheadings, jot down the basic ideas of what you'll need. For instance, under "Speech Background," you might need the date, what battle preceded the speech, and the reason Lincoln gave the speech.
- Assign time for each chunk, including deadlines. Work from the final deadline backward. For instance, if you have 4 weeks to complete your project, say you'll spend the last week painting and putting the project together. The week before that, write out the text for your project. The week before that, research your project. In the first week, make your plan, and get your materials together.
- If needed, divide your project further. For instance, "researching the speech" may need to be divided into several days' worth of work.
Researching Your Projects
- When using an article database, narrow the search engine to only relevant databases. For instance, platforms such as EBSCOhost carry a wide range of smaller databases, and you can narrow your search down to one relevant to your topic, such as a database focused on history.
- You can also research the archives of particular newspapers. While some newspapers offer free access to their archives, others might require you to pay.
- You'll need the author's full name, the title of the book, the publisher, the edition, the date it was published, the city it was published in, the title and author of individual articles in the book if it has them, and the page number where you found the information.
- For articles, you'll need the author's full name, the title of the article and the journal, the volume and issue (if it has them), the page numbers of the article, the page number you found it, and the digital online identifier number (doi), which is usually on the description page in the catalog. [10] X Trustworthy Source Purdue Online Writing Lab Trusted resource for writing and citation guidelines Go to source
Creating Your Project
- Your teacher should tell you how should cite your sources or what guidelines you should be using.
- If you don't know how to write according to those guidelines, try an online resource such as Purdue's Online Writing Lab. It covers the basics of the major citation styles. [12] X Research source
- Before you turn it in, make sure you covered everything your teacher asked you to.
- If you skipped something, see if you can add it in, even if it's last minute.
Community Q&A
- Ensure you build in extra time for each step. You may run into problems or parts may take longer than you think. ⧼thumbs_response⧽ Helpful 1 Not Helpful 0
You Might Also Like
- ↑ https://www.ed.ac.uk/education/professional-learning/resources/educational-resources
- ↑ http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/brainstorming/
- ↑ https://libguides.umflint.edu/science/topics
- ↑ https://theartofeducation.edu/2016/06/21/12-key-steps-leading-amazing-mural-projects/
- ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/resources.html
- ↑ https://www.library.cornell.edu/research/introduction
- ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/reference_list_electronic_sources.html
- ↑ https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/
About This Article
To create a successful project for school, start by reading the assignment to make sure you understand the requirements. Then, break up the assignment into manageable chunks, like research, writing, and proofreading, so you can schedule yourself enough time to get everything done. Choose a good topic by brainstorming a lot of broad ideas, like gender or fashion, and then narrow it down to something more specific, like women's fashion during the Victorian period, so you can start your research and design your project. To learn how to research your project, keep reading! Did this summary help you? Yes No
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How to start a project for school: The only project management strategy you’ll ever need
Katie Azevedo January 16, 2019 good habits , homework , organization , productivity , time management
By Katie Azevedo, M.Ed.
The following project management strategy will help you plan, start and complete basically any project – no matter the subject or your grade level. Not a student? It can even help you organize and get through work or home projects.
The hardest part about doing a school project can be figuring out how to start. We can often feel so overwhelmed by the size, scope or complexity of what we have to do that we don’t even know where to begin. For many students, not knowing how to start a project for school can lead to complete paralysis — in other words, not starting the project at all.
(Do you get overwhelmed a lot? These practical tips might help. Or if you dread starting essays, these 3 tips might get you moving.)
Before I go any further: You can download and print my SchoolHabits project manager template here (free) to help you get started using the strategy I’m about to teach you.
How to start a project for school
No matter how big your project or assignment, it can be reduced into a series of 15 minute tasks.
Let me repeat that: You can break down every single long-term or large-scale assignment into a bunch of tasks that each take 15 minutes or less.
That’s the trick.
That’s how productive people actually get things done. That’s the golden nugget. You could seriously build an empire (or get your history project done in time) by doing one 15-minute task after another.
When we are able to break down huge and complicated projects into nothing more than a series of 15-minute tasks, we begin to see them as doable . We are no longer paralyzed by the idea of one giant thing we must do. We think, Only 15 minutes? Yeah, I got that.
Here are the steps for how to start a project for school by breaking it down:
1. Use my free SchoolHabits project manager to plan your project.
2. Begin by breaking down your project into no more than 4 main parts. These steps should be general and sequential.
3. Break each of the 4 parts into a series of 15-minute tasks. If you think a task is going to take more than 15 minutes, then break it down more.
4. Start your project by completing just the first 15-minute task you’ve written down. (Oh heck yes – you better believe you’re writing these steps down!)
5. Once you’ve completed the first task, do the next one, and the next one, and the next one … until you’re done.
If you get stuck anywhere — for example, if you have a question or some part of the project/assignment is unclear — try to get an answer right away: email the teacher, ask a friend, Google it, whatever. And in the meantime, see if you can move on to the next 15-minute task so you don’t lose momentum.
Below is a real-life example of how to start a project for school using the steps outlined above:
Project: History paper on the causes of World War I
MAIN STEPS:
- Write thesis
- Gather materials
- Write outline
- Write and edit paper
15-MINUTE TASKS:
1. Write thesis
a. Review notes about the causes of the war b. Do a quick Google search about the causes of the the war c. Write out a few different drafts of a possible thesis d. Run the thesis by the teacher
2. Gather materials
a. Collect all relevant class notes and put them in a folder b. Go to the library to search for books on the topic (this task will take more than 15 minutes, so you could further break it down into small tasks such as “Find one book on the topic,” “Find a second book on the topic,” etc.) c. Search online academic resources for information (again, this task will take more than 15 minutes, so you could further break it down into “Find and print one online journal article about the topic,” “Find and print one primary source from President Wilson,” etc.) d. Organize all materials into one place
3. Write outline
a. Pinpoint 3-4 main causes of the war b. Read through notes to find evidence/quotes of each cause of the war (Yup, this step will take more than 15 minutes, so break it down further – perhaps spending 15 minutes on each article you find) c. Open and name a Google Doc (or whatever you use) d. Write a basic outline of the essay using notes/quotes
4. Write and edit paper
a. Open and name a Google Doc, and set up the proper heading and formatting b. Write introduction c. Write first body paragraph d. Write second body paragraph e. Write third body paragraph f. Write conclusion g. Edit essay
Ready to try this strategy for how to start a project for school? If you’re on the fence, I challenge you to actually give it a shot the next time you need to do any assignment that might take you more than two hours to complete. I have taught this time-management strategy to thousands of students and the payoff is incredible.
Don’t forget – here’s my project management template – SchoolHabits project manager – to get you started.
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How to Do School Projects
How to make a school project report.
Schools projects will be required throughout your education. Teachers and instructors of all grade levels assign projects to stimulate learning in their students. Projects can help boost creativity, knowledge on a subject and future learning. By doing school projects you use what you already know about a subject or what you research about it to create a unique product that reflects what you have learned.
Prepare for the project before beginning it. Your instructor will give a description of what she wants you to do to complete the project. Review all the instructions. Make sure you are familiar with the materials associated with the project. Also be sure you are able to conduct any research necessary to supplement or finish the task. If you are working in a group, get everyone's contact information, schedule meeting times if necessary and assign specific tasks to every group member.
Ask for help. If your instructor is unclear in some of the instructions, have him clarify for you. This lessens the risk of receiving a lower grade because of a misunderstanding. Also ask your instructor for tips on how to complete the project if you are struggling. He can direct you to the right resources for success.
Conduct all necessary research. Use the library and credible websites to conduct your research. There are many potential references that offer false information on the Internet, so be discerning when doing your research. Record and cite your sources as you go so you do not inadvertently plagiarize someone else's work. If your project requires incorporating images or other graphics, make sure you find or create high-quality pictures that effectively illustrate the information you are presenting.
Stay organized and prioritize tasks related to the project. Approach your school project in steps, completing one before moving to the next. This will keep you from becoming overwhelmed. It will also keep your project organized so no information or other components become lost in the process of creating your final product.
Turn in your project on time. Turning it in late may result in a lower grade than your work deserves. Submitting your project by its due date also shows your dedication to the class, which your instructor will appreciate. If you know you will be turning in your project late, talk with your instructor as far in advance as possible. He may grant you some leniency if you show you are working hard to create a quality project.
Arrive to class on time if you are presenting your project. Be fully prepared with all notes and visual aids. Dressing in nice clothes to speak in front of the group gives you a more professional image and your project will be better received. Speak loudly when giving your presentation and make eye contact with your audience.
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Ideas for 4h posters.
Sarah Clark has been writing since 1997, with work appearing in Northern Arizona University's "Student Life Organization Newsletter." She holds a B.A. in anthropology with a minor in art history from Northern Arizona University.
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One of the things that made school life fun was our school projects. There can be a hundred creative ideas and topics that can be given for a school project. But, choosing the topic wisely is all that matters. When a lot of time is given to finish the project, kids become lazy and push the work further. The end product can just show the hard work of the previous day or night but not the passion. So, it’s always best to start as soon as the project is assigned.
When we talk about what topic to choose, your project should have the ability to tell people its information the moment they see it. It’s always better to choose something that can create public awareness as there are chances of it being recognized by the public. Along with selecting the topic, planning, and organizing the project is equally important. Below are a few tips on how you can create an almost perfect school project.
The 7 Creative ideas and tips to create a good School project are:
1. understanding the topic.
You might get either a topic assigned to you or have an option to choose a topic. What’s important is understanding the topic. If an assignment is given and you are told to do a project on that, then it’s better to narrow-down and focus on a single topic. If a topic is solely assigned to the project, then all that there is to do a study about the topic. The more you try to learn about the topic, the better you can proceed with your project.
2. Research the topic
To study the topic, you need to research on the topic by surfing through the internet and read books related to the topic in the library. School libraries will usually cover books on almost all topics. Whenever you read, note that in points on your notebook. The topic you’re working on might be related to the current affairs. In that case, try checking out the newspapers, or your topic might be something about History or geography that’s already there in your textbook. Don’t restrict yourself to the content given in your books. After collecting the materials, keep the ones that are relevant to your project and leave the others. Also, try to discuss the topic with your parents, teachers and anyone in your family who is more aware of that particular subject. Only when you clearly understand the project, its component, and its background, you will be able to demonstrate it to others confidently.
3. Brainstorming your Ideas
Once you have collected the information about your project, list down all the points and gather the whole idea. Brainstorming your research is essential. Presenting your project and explaining it also should be taken care of. You can’t literally be telling a story to the viewers. If you have pointers, it will be easier for you to understand and explain it to others. When you describe, the notes do not copy what’s there in the material. Try to rephrase it in your own words. You can even write the reference of authors or books.
4. Sketch the outline of your project
Drawing the picture of your project will be the first part. Drawing it with colour paint can keep your interest in the work. Mark where your notes on the information go. If you are citing the reference search online on how to cite. If your project is to be shown on paper, start drawing it. If its a sculpture start building it and if you’re planning on working the sketch by using software like CAD, you better revise.
5. PowerPoint presentation
For a better outcome of your project, you can also do a PowerPoint presentation of your work. The reason why this helps is when you are told to present the project, you can show it on the big screen along with the relevant pictures and make your audience understand the concept of your project. This is both convenient and using the technology can never fail you as you will always have a backup if you don’t remember exactly what to say when you are presenting, or you had no time preparing for the presentation you can just explain that’s there in the PowerPoint presentation.
6. Keeping it clean
When you stick the paper, the glue might pop out, and it may look dirty. Keeping the project clean is also one way for your project to turn out beautifully. Neatly organize the points. Don’t scribble. Write in good handwriting. Your handwriting should be readable. Don’t make it look messy by putting everything in one place. Use glitters to highlight the points.
7. Managing your Project
Completing your project is one thing and keeping it safe another. Sometimes kids finish the project soon and try to play with it every day, and by the time they submit the model will have broken. The amount of time and hard work should not go waste, and for that, one should keep their project in a safe place where it cannot be broken.
The project should be clean, informative and accurate. And, for this hard work and keeping aside time from your daily schedule is essential. Take help from others, but not to the extent of them completing the whole thing. If your topic is exciting, it can be an advantage to you. Schools usually keep inter-school level project competition, try taking part in that and get recognized for your work. If your project represents a good cause, then you will remember it for a lifetime.
This article has been authored by Sahitya Umesh .
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Starting a School Design Project
How to build contemporary learning spaces that spark curiosity, playful collaboration, and engagement.
Schools and teachers often use summer as a time to rethink classrooms and learning spaces. The challenge — whether it’s rearranging the furniture or planning a complete school renovation — is to make these changes in a way that goes beyond aesthetics and actually results in an environment that sparks curiosity .
Learning goals should guide the design process, not follow, says Daniel Wilson , director and principal investigator at Project Zero. “Oftentimes, exemplary school designs, model plans, or trendy images can lead schools and teachers to make premature decisions about what classrooms should look like. We want to pause that momentum and turn discussions towards the learning goals that will matter most in the community — and really get concrete about what that learning looks like in everyday interactions.”
Wilson co-leads a summer institute called Learning Environments for Tomorrow (LEFT) at the Harvard Graduate School of Education — bringing together researchers, architects, designers, and educators to explore how learning spaces can support various goals, such as playfulness, collaboration, and civic engagement. The program’s leaders — who also include David Stephen , co-founder of New Vista Design , and Ela Ben-Ur , adjunct assistant professor of design at Olin College — have devised models for guiding learning design and, along with collaborators at LEFT, have created frameworks that can help teams of school leaders, administrators, and designers from think about aspects of design.
Embarking on a school design project? Here’s what to know
Usable Knowledge sat down with Wilson to explore practical considerations of designing playful and collaborative learning spaces.
Start with questions that engage the community
Interviews and focus groups can engage students, teachers, parents, and others in reflective conversations about their values and experiences of rich and collaborative learning. Try asking:
- Who will be using the space we’re creating?
- What does playful learning look like for students and teachers?
- Does it involve collaboration? Access to materials or people? Other elements?
- What are we learning from their voices that suggest how we might support teachers and students?
Let goals and pedagogy lead the design
Once you’ve gathered insights from the community, develop a goal or pedagogy of practice that can guide your spatial design.
If you’re trying to design a space to support playful learning, think about practices that support learners’ sense of choice, wonder, and delight. (Depending on the values of the community and definitions of words like these, playful learning spaces may look and feel quite different from one another.)
Start small and develop a flexible prototype
Design projects don’t have be large overhauls that cost millions of dollars. Wilson recommends starting with “micro-interventions” — small ways to change furniture arrangements or introduce windows and objects into a space. (Check out this Usable Knowledge Piece for more ideas.)
Solicit feedback
Just because a design has been implemented doesn’t mean it’s working well. Continually check in with stakeholders to generate and incorporate feedback. Having a flexible prototype means that interventions should be flexible and easy to shift to accommodate new knowledge.
Question assumptions and inherited features
“Many of the systematic features of schooling were set in motion prior to our knowing much about learning ,” Wilson says. “The idea of classes, sequential curriculum, that we’re going to have students from a particular age to another age — these were all done for a variety of anachronistic reasons. What we now know in learning science is that learning is complex, often unpredictable, and a socially developed phenomenon.”
If we want schools to support human development and learning, Wilson says, we need to begin to question some of what we’ve inherited.
“ Oftentimes, exemplary school designs, model plans, or trendy images can lead schools and teachers to make premature decisions about what classrooms should look like. We want to pause that momentum and turn discussions towards the learning goals that will matter most in the community. ” – Daniel Wilson
And keep in mind . . .
- Avoid trends. One of the most common pitfalls Wilson sees is that designers can often focus on what’s trendy or aesthetically pleasing, rather than the way in which a space functions in a particular community, with its particular goals and pedagogy.
- Evaluation is a process. Ways of measuring the success of a design are not well developed, because it can be very subjective. But Wilson notes that LEFT can incubate the answers to questions of how to evaluate success as teams of participants go through the modules. When it comes to playfulness, Wilson cites emerging research on the pedagogy of play at Project Zero that looks at playful learning in different cultural contexts and finds commonalities of choice, wonder, and delight that are observable and sensed.
- Adults use these spaces too! The educational experiences of teachers in school environments is often a neglected aspect of this process. Research suggests that when adults are engaged in rich learning experiences, it will impact the experiences of students.
- Prioritize equity. Think about whose voices are being heard in the design process. Discussions tend to focus on economics, efficiency, and security, and while these are all aspects that need to be considered, there are ways of working within constraints while inviting all stakeholders into the conversation.
- Provide different materials and classroom locations for kids to explore . Variety can heighten wonder and surprise.
- Rethink the focal point of the classroom. Traditional classrooms often use a white board as the center of student attention. The potential implication: learning is directed only by the teacher. What would it look like to change this?
- Make sure materials and storage units are accessible, so children can actually make learning choices for themselves.
- Use flexible furniture arrangements that teachers and children can change.
- Mix colors, textures, and shapes in the classroom . The environment itself should provide a starting point for inquiry.
- Partner with students . Ask them to design a corner of the classroom, develop exhibits, and choose artwork to display.
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How to Plan and Carry Out a Project or Assignment
Introduction: How to Plan and Carry Out a Project or Assignment
This Instructable is aimed mainly at Middle and High School students who have been sent away to work independently on a project, but it could be adapted for use by other people. However, if your project is more complex, especially if it involves more than two or three people, you are probably going to get better use out of Gantt charts . If you are a teacher, I have also added some notes (step 6) so that you can use this with your own classes.
Step 1: Starting
Every project starts somewhere. Maybe you are all working to a theme, maybe you've been set a specific task, or maybe you've just had an idea pop out of the blue. Whatever the origins of the project, you need to bounce some ideas around - write them all down, no matter how odd, and then pick your favourite one or two. If you are working on the project alone, find a couple of friends or family members to brainstorm with, or maybe even your teacher!
Step 2: Negotiation.
Once you've got your ideas, you need to make sure they are acceptable to your intended audience (usually your teacher). Remember that every project should be a learning process - you should come out of it in some way a "better" person, maybe with greater knowledge, maybe with greater skills, or maybe in some way less easy to define. You need to make sure you know what relevant skills you already have and what skills you need to acquire. If the project is in school, you need to consider what parts of the curriculum will be covered in the execution or presentation of the project. Be open to cross-curricular opportunities (maybe it's a History project, but you will be working on your literacy skills). When your negotiations with your teacher (or boss, supervisor etc) have turned into a working idea, you need to know in advance how your success (or failure) will be measured. Maybe it will be a checklist of facts covered, a score from some judges, hits on a website, or even box-office returns.
Step 3: Time and Resources
By this point, you (and your group) will probably be working with only the lightest supervision, so you really need to pay attention to what you actually need to do , and when you need to do it by . What material resources do you need to gather together or gain access to? This might be as simple as time at a computer, specialist tools, sculpting materials or space to rehearse. What information do you need to accumulate? You may already know the facts you are going to present, but how do you know you are correct? Depending on the information you need, there are many ways of collecting it, from a couple of minutes on Wikipedia, to spending cold and miserable days counting dog faecal matter in the streets around your town. Don't forget that human beings are a valuable resource as well. You also need to work out when you need these things. You will have a good idea of your final deadline, so work backwards from that. You need so many days to rehearse your speech, so you need the speech written before that. You need to have the main facts arranged before that, you need to survey public opinion before that, and you need to create the actual survey before that... Write your deadlines down! You should at least have a calendar or diary to write down deadlines, but if your project is complex, or involves a lot of people, this is the point you wish you'd listened to me in the introduction and done some research into Gantt charts. Now, get on with it. Do what you need to do, stay focused, and keep one eye on your mini deadlines.
Step 4: Outcome
After all your work, you will, eventually, finish your project, hopefully to the pleased surprise of your teacher. Whether you have been drawing a poster, making a movie, creating a website, performing a piece of interpretive dance or building a garden wall, just do your thing, relax and go with it. Things are out of your hands now. Take a moment to be proud of yourself and your colleagues.
Step 5: Judgement!
As the philosopher says, failure is always an option . But, so is success. Once you have presented your final piece of work, it will be judged against the criteria you agreed to all the way back in step 2. Hopefully, you will have succeeded, maybe you will fail miserably, more probably you will end up somewhere in between. Whatever the result, be constructive about it. Pay attention to where you went wrong, and figure out how to make it right next time. Highlight what went right, and remember to do the same next time. Whatever the result of this project, there will always be more in future, and if you learn your lessons now, future projects will only be better.
Step 6: For Teachers.
Whenever you get the chance, you should give students the chance to become independent learners. Unfortunately, because they get so few chances, students are often not very good at it. I was first involved in fully-independent learning in the last year before my school closed (they were already closing us, so there was nothing else they could do to us for missing out a few formal tests). We gave over-arching themes* to classes of 11 to 13 year olds, and then gave them a significant amount of time (nearly half the weekly timetable for a month) to produce something, anything, to prove they had learned something by themselves. In the first attempt, there was one factor upon which most students failed, and that was in planning - they'd have a good idea, then wander off into unimportant details without achieving much. So, for the second project they attempted, I put together the lesson you have just read through, and presented it to every class involved. Although it's aimed at making students independent, the lesson was very chalk-and-talk, with every student had a copy of the flowchart which they annotated as we went along. They kept the flowchart in the front of their folder for reference, along with a copy of their agreed success criteria and deadlines. During the period of the project, on noticeboards around the school, I posted large versions of the flowchart, with highlights showing where they should be, and count-downs of how long they had left before the presentation deadline. This second time through, the projects were much more successful - in the same year-group, working to the same theme, small groups produced books, posters, magazines, paintings, scale models, short plays, video documentaries and even one business proposal. If you're a bit stuck in your ways, teaching like this can be stressful, since your entire class will be whizzing off in different directions, often outside your own area of speciality. At the same time, you'll feel surplus to requirements, because you will not be the centre of attention. Do it properly, though, and it is a lot of fun. You can almost join in as if you were a student yourself, and every group should be able to teach you at least one thing by the end of the topic. Be brave. Prove Calvin wrong. * Such as "the history of our town", "Fair Trade" and "the Olympic legacy".
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12 Comments
5 years ago
Great simply example of project work it will help me loads thanks a million of posting this it used to give me trouble in college, and I suppose the teacher got a headache from me hope it helps me in the future think I got a tip to two thanks loads great work thanks
Reply 5 years ago
You're very welcome.
11 years ago on Introduction
Although I left school a few years ago, I've been looking for ways to improve my home projects. Thanks for posting a great instructable!
Reply 11 years ago on Introduction
Me to, I just reworked this into a planning template in freeming with some additions of various tools and information. This is exactly the kind of framework I've been looking for for my political work. Thanks :)
You're welcome!
Thank you for your kind words.
I had a hard time following this at first but now that I understand it a little i like it. my only comment is that, for me a couple steps come first. First I have to read the assignment, re-read it and then read it a few more times. i don't know how many projects I've screwed up because i misread or didn't understand the assignment. Once I understand the assignment then I do the research and information gathering. Then I brainstorm, plan, etc. Even if I don't know what the project is going to be, I have to do research before brainstorming.
i never plan things out much more than a few cursory schematics. I suppose it shows occasionally. :/
For me it is check lists. I get an idea then scribble endlessly more detailed check lists that I go through until completion. Unless I have a list written out in front of me I don't make any real progress on a project. Once that list is there though look out!
Great info thanks!
We used to call them PERT charts. I used to make DO UNTIL LOOPS in them much to the group leaders displeasure. And I never met a chart that completed on schedule, but I have to admit it gave a useful target. A
How to Write a School Project
Writing a school paper can be intimidating, especially because so much research and work usually goes into a project. It is important to follow the individual guidelines for your report from your teacher. However, most projects require a paper that sums up the findings and research that you have done.
Outline what you want to write about before you begin. You should break your research into at least three different sections. For example, in a science project you may want to write why you chose the topic, the research you did using articles and books, and then the actual scientific experiment.
Prepare a thesis statement that explains what the topic of your paper will be about. A good thesis statement acts as a guideline for the rest of the paper. Briefly list and explain what each part of your paper will address.
Write the rough draft of your school project following the guidelines that your teacher has provided for you, including length and topic. The rough draft may have grammatical errors, since the focus should be on addressing all of the ideas that you need to. A good paper will have an introduction, main body of your report and then a conclusion. The introduction should include your thesis statement.
Proofread the rough draft, correcting any grammar mistakes. You can also check to make sure that the thoughts flow well together and that the paper is easy to read and understand. Reading the paper out loud will help you catch any mistakes that a spell check and grammar check program may miss.
Add any other necessary documentation to your school project. This may include graphs, charts, pictures, a bibliography and other information that your teacher requires. Generally, these pages do no count toward the number of pages required when writing a paper. It's important to be sure that you follow all of the style guidelines that your teacher has given you.
- It helps to have someone else read the paper to check for errors. This person can also check to make sure all parts of the paper are easy to understand.
- Presentation is another important part of a school project. Using word-processing software instead of writing it longhand, will help you to impress the teacher and get a good score on presentation.
- If you have an oral presentation that must along with the report, it is a good idea to make sure that the presentation and the paper cover the same aspects of research, although the paper will go into more detail.
About the Author
Miriam C has been writing since 2007. She earned her bachelor's degree in English from Brigham Young University. Among her many jobs, Miriam C has taught middle-school students. She's written for Families.com and other clients on finances, family and education.
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Five Steps to School Project Success
by April Perry on Sep 4, 2012 1 Comment Posted in: Deliberate Mothering Videos , Organizing
Step 1: Identify the purpose of the project.
Step 2: Create a vision for what you’d like your project to look like.
Step 3: Brainstorm! What are all of the little steps that need to be accomplished?
Step 4: Organize each task into three categories: Things that can be done independently, things that can be done with a parent, and errands.
Step 5: Identify the Next Action. What is the very next (specific) step that needs to be done to move this project forward?
And here’s a little story to go with this video:
One afternoon, my older sister Laura dropped by our parent’s house, and Dad asked if she could run by the library to pick up some books for our brother Ryan’s high school assignment. Happy to help our youngest brother–the final one at home–with his project, Laura immediately started looking for my mom’s library card and coordinating the trip to get the books.
Mom was in the kitchen making salsa–extra credit for Ryan’s Spanish class. Dad was at the dining room table, getting a little bit frustrated as he tried to make a double helix out of marshmallows and toothpicks for Ryan’s science project.
At this point, Ryan finished up the bowl of cereal he’d been eating and said, “Dad, can I go to Joey’s?”
“Ryan!” Dad reprimanded, “You’ve got Laura going to get your books, Mom making salsa, and me making a model for your science class. Do you really think now is the best time to go to Joey’s?”
Ryan got a little scowl on his face and complained, “Well, I’m bored !”
My whole family laughs at this story now. Ryan has since graduated from college, married, and secured a full-time job. And we all admire our parents for putting so much time and energy into helping us with our projects as we were growing up.
But I don’t think there’s a parent in the world who wouldn’t like their children learn to become more independent with their school projects.
These five steps have worked wonders in our home, and I wish you the best as you apply them in your own home.
QUESTION: Do you have any tips for helping children independently accomplish their projects?
CHALLENGE: Next time your child receives a project assignment, sit down and walk through these five steps together.
**For more great ideas on organizing school papers and projects, check out our
School Paper and Homework Mastery Kit :
***Getting Things Done® is a registered trademark of the David Allen Company. This is my personal interpretation of David Allen’s work and is not affiliated with the David Allen Company.
About April Perry
April Perry is the wife to her best friend, Eric, and mother to Alia, Grace, Ethan, and Spencer. In addition to the work she does within her family, she hopes to strengthen others through her projects at Power of Moms and LearnDoBecome .April's "Why" is this: To architect a life of excellence--centered on family and moving upward towards God--with a beautiful balance of spiritual, mental, and physical development that enables others to do the same.
September 4, 2012 at 11:56 am
I love this! I love the system and I especially love that your girls are more in charge of their project than you are. That’s how it should be! As parents we are there to assist our children with their homework and projects, not just do it for them. Love the independence it is fostering.
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