Reflecting On and Assessing Our Community Project

My colleagues and I wanted to share our Boy Who Harnessed the Wind project with the community (see my previous posts).  I worked with Ingrid Mayyasi and Alice Johnson and Dedham TV to create a video about our experiences:


To wrap up our project I shared this video with my students and had them take a self-assessment.  I wanted students to dig a little deeper and reflect on their work.

I gave what I thought was ample time to complete this but not all groups got to finish

All 1st grade students and many 2nd grade students were assigned a drawing.  Other classes got to choose (time constraints)

Expectations are posted on the SmartBoard for every class so everyone knows what is expected of them even if I am occupied with a student or a group


The final question had students finishing the sentence "Mrs. Garland should know that..."
  • We worked hard
  • We should do this again
  • My team loved it so much
  • It was fun and I'm looking forward to doing it again
  • You get a lot more work done with a friend
  • I am a good team mate
  • We worked together and didn't get off track
  • I loved this project
  • I learned something new
  • He was the best windmill maker
  • This project is fun and should be done all around the US
  • There are a lot of problems here
  • The challenge was kind of fun

My takeaways

The assessment confirmed what I felt and saw - students were engaged and invested in their project and their thinking.  I enjoyed this project that allowed me to ask the same "big questions" to everyone from grades 1-5.  Genuine problems in my students' minds were valued and creative solutions were demonstrated in the project they chose.   Students had voice and choice in this project and I would do it again in a heartbeat.  


Concluding the project

On our final day I read Emmanuel's Dream: The True Story of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah by Laurie Ann Thompson & Sean Qualls to many classes and we made connections between the two stories.



  • They are both about a young boy
  • They are both true
  • They both take place in Africa
  • Both boys were trying to make things better
  • Both boys had challenges
  • Both boys made a difference

After we chose books students could choose an activity - they could look at student work or take a selfie using the app Comic Touch and share what is great about our school and community.












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