First Grade Projects
Posted on | February 22, 2010 | Comments Off
We’ve all had to participate in group projects over the years. Whether it was in school or at work, getting lumped together with a group of folks you barely knew and asked to lead, manage, produce and deliver some kind of output has been a bonding and potentially harrowing experience that can be mutually commiserated. There was a reason however that it was not until higher education or the corporate workplace that these projects were first introduced and assigned. The reason was capability. We were of a ripe enough age to be capable of completing such projects on our own.
As parents we’re often asked to assist our children in their learning and scholastic activities because of the enhanced bond, interaction and learning experience it creates however the projects our kids are asked to complete are typically within their capabilities. The experience becomes one of helping, teaching and bonding. Recently, however, a group project was assigned to a set of first graders. The project involved elements relating to the real and political world, choices to be made about external organizations and financial commitments. This project was outside the capabilities of 4 first graders.
Fantastic and wondrous as they are, there is no way a group of first graders can get organized, pick a topic and execute on a vision. In addition, simply creating some kind of group dynamic – leaders, doers, etc, which would come naturally in the adult world – is completely lost on these children (through no fault of their own – they’re simply too young). So where does this end up? It ends up directly in the parents’ laps. This group project for first graders now becomes a multi-weekend project for the parents of these kids. Again, reiterating how fantastic it is to spend time helping your child with their homework, this went way beyond.
The project, ultimately, was organized, conceived, planned and almost entirely executed by the adults. Why? Because the children simply are too young to have the skills to pull something like this off outside of school time. Placing these kinds of commitments, indirectly, on the parents adds to the thousands of commitments we already make for our children. Also, the benefit for the students gets lost. They’re too young to get group organization dynamics. They’re too young to conceptualize a bigger vision and are simply not capable of pulling off the full endeavor.
We are all committed to the education of our children. We will do what it takes to ensure their success but it’s critical that the work assigned to them meets their capabilities (or is a bit of stretch). Otherwise the work ends up executed by the parents and the children learn nothing.
Have your kids had group projects assigned to them? In what grade? What was your experience?
