I went into the day with excitement because I had done project based learning with Robin Reich and Cherl Landers last year with the Quilt Project that we had gotten a grant form the Grandview Education Foundation to fund. It was a great experience. The group of teachers we all folks I was excited to work with and learn from. The ideas that flew all afternoon we amazing. However, the longer I was there the greater my anxiety became. I was the only teacher that would be doing this project with a class that will take the EOC at the end of the year. We decided to consider how renewable energies would effect/change the world in the future. I struggled with how I was going to find Geometry in renewable energy. My knowledge of the subject is very limited and with the EOC ever looming over my head I was feeling like I was somewhere between a rock and a hard place. Well, the group of teachers I was working with were fantastic. They were sympathetic to my situation. They were willing to brainstorm with me and see where this was going to go. By the end of the day I came to the place that I really wanted to do the project, but...I had some concerns. Did it really fit my curriculum at the level my students could understand? Would the project move us closer to being ready for the ever present danger of the EOC? Did I already say...does this prep my students for the EOC? And what about the EOC? You get the idea.

Then I got to the real heart of the issue personally. My students need to be informed about renewable energy. They will live with it, and need to make informed decisions to embrace the future. But most important...Is the EOC really the goal in the end. Not so much. I want my kids to be able to do research and analyze data and be able to make decisions with good information. I want them to be able to communicate what they have learned from their research and influence others to make good decisions. 

I am on board and excited. My Advanced Geometry kids are going to work really hard to cover our curriculum and carve out a week, give or take, where we can step aside from strictly geometry and do research and analyze data and do GOOD math (not just limited to geometry) that crosses boundaries of content, curriculum, goals, finances, futures, and all of our lives.

Hang on....its going to be a ride.
Don Sutcliffe