In my fourth week at The Principal, I had a chance to work with business analysts who work on technology projects in the specialty benefits division. In many ways, the role of a business analyst is like the role of project manager that I had a chance to observe the previous week. Individuals in this role start a task with the resposibility of receiving a request, sometimes specific and other times not, and forming a plan for the task based on requirements that they are resposible for developing. To see these projects from start to completion, the participants need to be strong critical thinkers to be able to effectively adjust to the changes that may occur during a project's life cycle. This is a continual process that is required for the group that is accountable for delivering a useful product.
In my classroom, projects are scripted and I feel like I need to put my students in situations that are less defined. On several occasions, individuals at The Principal have expressed the effectiveness of individuals who are not frozen by ambiguity and can gather information effectively to determine direction for a project. I feel like I need to provide more opportunities for students to work on these skills, especially in a group setting. Maybe this means I have students be more involved in the requirements of a project and the creating of a project's rubric. It might mean that I have scripted events in the timeline of the project that I don't share with the students and they have to adjust to them. Or probably even better, ask my students to accomplish challenging tasks that have their own inheret difficulties and let them problem solve with little interference from teachers and parents. It's pretty easy for us to "lend a hand", especially when trying to fit projects in with other time demands, but if we do this too often, it's hard for students to develop their own problem solving mechanisms and they will rely on us to solve their problems for them.
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