A good project continues even after the initial project is done. It should open new doors and could build a future project design. It is important for students to have time to reflect at the end of a project not only for the students, but for ways to improve the project. Michael Mcdowell, a high school teacher says he has a big reflection piece at the end of the project. The students tell him what they could have done better or what can be done to improve on the project.
To "bring the project home" you should first critique your work. At the end of the project it is important to get together with your team of colleagues to discuss the outcomes and to share ideas for improvements. This could be meeting with other teachers at your school, or by communicating across distances through the email or blogs.
Another thing that should be done at the end of the project is to share your insight. Designing a project takes a lot of time and effort and when you have good ideas you should share them for other teachers to use. There are a number of different ways to share your idea including sharing on existing networks such as iEarn, creating a project library, turning your project into an archive on the web, or publishing you project. You could also become a resource for your colleagues. A project could be turned into a professional development opportunity for your colleagues, and help them get into project based learning.
There are contests where you can enter your project into to gain more exposure for your project and can help raise the profile for what you are doing. This is also time for a colleagues to give critical feedback. Most importantly you should enjoy the journey. It was a long road to develop and teach your project.
This relates to our topic of food preservation because it is a good way to end the project. After we give the homeless shelter the canned food we processed students will have time to reflect on their experiences with canning, or how they felt helping others.
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