20 Tips on Getting Started
from eSchool News
1. Dedicate One Day A Week
Dedicate every Friday to the project, instead of 20 percent of each class day
2. It’s Not Just for High School
Twenty percent projects can be used in any subject, and with any grade or skill level.
3. Set Your Own Parameters
For other subjects, they suggest setting parameters on a subject-by-subject basis.
4. Start With Interests
“Whether high school or middle school or elementary students, they don’t have passions, but they have interests.”
5. Inspire Students With Great Projects
Develop an eco-friendly dream home, started YouTube communities around teen fiction books, began an Instagram account, encouraging students to cook and have healthy relationships with food, created their own games using Java, and more.
6. Use 20 Time to Improve the Community
Use his 20 percent time to foster student engagement within their school and community.
7. Find Projects That Pay
For students that struggled even to find an interest, challenge students to turn a profit.
8. Get Students Thinking Like Entrepreneurs
“Increasingly, no matter what position anyone takes, students who enter in the real world need to think of themselves as entrepreneurs, even if they end up working at an organization or a big corporation.”
9. Group Projects Work Well
10. …Solo Ones Do, Too
11. Let Students Pitch the Class
“They got four slides: what they were learning about, why they chose it, what they were going to do, and how they were going to measure success,” he says.
12. And Let Students Give Feedback
13. Think Practically About Projects
“As a teacher you’re going to have to become much more active to do two things: challenging the students to push themselves a little bit and then also reeling some students back in who are maybe going above and beyond,” says Juliani
14. Be Flexible
At some point, students will likely have to tweak their projects.
15. Connect With Professionals
Local businesses and experts—like doctors and architects—via mentorships, where the professionals lend their expertise and their time to students.
16. Create Something Tangible
It could be a report or a presentation, or something more creative.
17. Keep Track of Student Progress
Tell every student to blog about their projects as a means of keeping him in the loop.
18. Some Sacrifice Is Necessary
Give up some of the traditional literature, the trade off is well worth it.
19. Tech Helps, But Isn’t Required
20. Share Your Success
For his final presentations, invite parents, younger students, community leaders, and media to attend.
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