Empowering Students through Project Day
When our students returned to school in 2021, after a year and a half of Covid-sparked remote learning, many of them were not willing to comply with the traditional structures of education. This led to a generalized feeling of apathy and lack of motivation in class. In response, we asked a group of students to form a student-led think tank to look into the changes we could make to improve learning in our school. One of the innovative initiatives they came up with is our recently implemented “Project Day.”
The idea for Project Day stemmed from the very real problems our student-led think tank faced as they struggled to schedule meetings over the course of three months. Since they were all from different classes, each time they planned to meet, they had to ask 6 teachers for permission to miss class. They also found that working for an hour at a time wasn’t enough. They’d just get started, when it would be time to pack up and go to their next class. They said, “Carla, we know you believe strongly in cross-curricular project-based learning and you want kids from different grade levels to work together. But, if you want this to be successful, you need to provide us with time and space.” The students suggested a school-wide solution: a dedicated day every two weeks that would allow for more cross-curricular projects across various grade levels.
The concept of Project Day is simple: every two weeks, students have a day free from regular classes, where they can choose what they want to work on. But… carving this time into our schedule was not simple since teachers felt uncomfortable losing class time with their students. However, over time, they’ve discovered that having office hours allows them to meet with students who need support or gives them extra time for conferencing with students. For teachers who teach through PBL, Project Day gives them the freedom to work with students for several hours at a time, allowing students to be more productive and creative.
Project day options:
Catching up on pending work.
Meeting with teachers for extra help.
Work on personal projects, such as learning a language with Duolingo, creating an art portfolio, or working on robotics or a photography project. The options are as wide open as their imagination.
Forming clubs like their Animal Rescue Club, their Rubik’s Cube Club, or their Podcasting Club.
Going off-campus for job shadowing.
Working as mentors to elementary students in our mentorship program.
Participating in various cross-curricular and/or multi-age projects.
Every Project Day, students meet in advisories first thing in the morning, where they create the agenda that they will follow throughout the day. Teachers then sign off on their agenda as students move from one activity to another. This ensures accountability and encourages students to be productive. If, on the other hand, they’re not productive, we consider it a learning opportunity. At the end of the day, they reflect on how they used their time and, if necessary, make plans for improvement.
Positive impact of Project Day:
reduces stress and anxiety as students can catch up on pending work and meet with teachers for extra help.
encourages creativity by providing students with the opportunity to explore new areas of interest.
fosters a more vibrant and engaged school community by allowing students to form clubs and collaborate on projects, in which they get to know students from different grade levels.
provides opportunities for teachers to collaborate across departments, leading to a more integrated and comprehensive curriculum.
encourages student ownership of learning, as they create their agenda and follow it throughout the day.
promotes self-advocacy by allowing students to reach out to teachers or peers for the extra help they need.
provides accountability, as teachers sign off on students' agendas as they move from one activity to another.
encourages reflection, as students reflect on their work, productivity, what went well, and what they still need to work on at the end of the day.
empowers students, by giving them true voice and choice in their learning.
develops leadership skills, as students create clubs, mentor students in elementary school, offer help to peers who may be struggling in subject areas.
supports cross-curricular and multi-age projects by giving students time to meet and work with students outside of their classes.
develops 21st century skills such as collaboration, communication, and critical thinking through student-centered learning.
Teacher concerns
Since there’s no grade for Project Day, what if students don’t see the importance and just stay at home that day? This actually didn’t become much of a problem. In fact, students feel empowered by the freedom we’ve given them and love having this time when they can work on personal projects or interests without worrying about grades. There are a few kids who regularly don’t come to school, but we work with those students one-on-one to help them become more engaged. However, these are so few that we wouldn’t consider canceling Project Day because of this issue.
What if students just hang out and don't make use of their time? Initially, teachers were skeptical about the concept, as they were concerned that students might waste time. However, most students surprised everyone by showing creativity and engagement. Some students do struggle with time management. We support them in advisories, but this is a great way for them to learn through experience. Time management is one of the important life skills our students need to learn and through ongoing reflection many of our students are improving in this area.
What if students don’t take advantage of their time to work on projects or explore personal interests? This has turned out to be a problem for many of our students. They often focus on finishing pending assignments rather than creatively using their time. And to be fair, at the beginning, sometimes teachers were part of this problem. Some teachers would insist that students finish pending work before doing anything else. We had to explain over and over again that this is “Project Day” not “catch-up day.” Slowly but surely, our learning community is taking better advantage of the gift of time.
How will students know which opportunities are available to them? We created an agenda that students can look at. On it they can find teacher office hours and scheduled times for projects or clubs. They can use this information as they plan their day.
How will we keep track of students? What if they just wander all over the place? How will we keep them safe? On their personal agenda, students must write down where they plan to work. For instance, if they plan to catch up on homework, they may decide to be in the 10th grade math classroom. Once they go there to work, as they leave, they ask the teacher to sign off on their agenda. At the end of the day, they return to their advisory where their advisor checks to make sure their time is accounted for. If we see a student with issues in this area, we work with them. In our school we say that “ all of our students belong to all of us” therefore, our students are every teacher’s responsibility. If a teacher notices that a student seems to be somewhere they shouldn’t be, they’ll report them so that administration can check up on them.
What if a student lacks self-advocacy skills and doesn’t reach out for help? This is another important life skill that we explicitly teach. As students reflect on their progress in subject areas and find that, for example, they’re weak in writing essays, an advisor may suggest that they reach out to their Language Arts teacher for extra help. We support them in doing so and see comments like this in their reflections: “I finally had the courage to ask for help on my essay and it was so good! I practiced finding stronger evidence and I have some strategies now. It was hard for me to ask for help, but it really was worth taking the risk.”—10th grade student
Student Comments
“I have met new people I can connect with and actually have a good friendship with, this is something I struggled with in past years. With the help of my advisory and Project Days, my social skills have also had a positive boost.”
“I also like solving Rubik's Cubes, like 2x2, 3x3, and 4x4, since I like to do this so much I inspired and motivated people to do it with me and I recently started a Rubik's Cube club on Project Days, showing leadership skills that I didn’t know I had.”
“I used to only focus on academics and activities that would make my transcript look good for my university application. I never did anything for me and I felt stressed all the time. By taking Project Days to focus on some of my own interests and passions, I’ve discovered that I'm not only much happier, but I’m more productive. I’ve discovered that your productivity is better when you take time to do things you enjoy.”
Future Plans
Project Day has revolutionized our school by providing students with the freedom to explore and create, free from the pressure of grades. It has lowered stress levels, encouraged creativity, and provided opportunities for cross-curricular learning. It’s a testament to the power of student-led initiatives and a reminder of the importance of allowing students to take ownership of their learning.
Project Day has been so successful that we see it as a springboard to change. We’re focused on finding more ways to get away from siloed classes as we create a more integrated curriculum and student-led learning environment.
Carla Meyrink is the co-founder and secondary director at The Community for Learning, a progressive school in the Dominican Republic. She reflects on what she has learned from her school’s successes and challenges at The Teaching Experiment. You can follow her on Twitter @carlameyrink.
