Our project began smoothly, and our team seemed to be far past where many other groups are in development. We already have a rough draft of a few different lesson plans and our website and Teamwork site have been set up.
On Thursday, disaster struck. We found out that our lesson plans are inadequate, because we need the lesson plans to be put into an additional context (to fit a school subject, such as math or art or English) and we also need to match our lessons to a set of national standards. Matching our lessons to standards was easy because we had strong ideas, but we are struggling to figure out which context to match our lesson plans to. In addition, once we choose, it is unclear how much of the work that we have already completed will need to be redone to fit into the new requirements.
Our first week as a group has been 2 steps forward and 1 step back. However, it brings to mind a quote by Robert Brault; “Optimist: Someone who figures that taking a step backward after taking a step forward is not a disaster, it’s a cha-cha.” Our first week as a team has been a cha-cha.
Edit: We have found school standards, selected a school subject, and have modified our lesson plans. We are once again on the right track, and are making massive progress on our project.