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| WHAT DID WE DO? WHAT'S NEW and CHANGED? |
EVIDENCE OF LEARNING |
| Today marked our group's first day in Boston. I think I can speak for everyone when I say this: we were very pleased to finally be able to present all the work we had been putting together for so many days. Some of us I sensed were nervous to present for Harvard, as I heard some of the same voices repeating the same lines about their respective topics repetitively as we crossed intersections with our heavy suitcases, ate our street sandwiches, and walked into the Project Zero quarters. Personally, I lightly appreciated the travel to Cambridge itself, as it gave me adequate time to mentally refresh myself before I had to remind myself of PlayFair in any way. I often find that a change of scenery with an added level of risk and excitement sparks my ability to recognize and develop the creative aspects innate within myself and others. I didn't quite realize it until I got here--being able to explore the creative underground of Boston both does two main things: it distinguishes this intensive from others, and it gives our group members an ability to make more tangible our various innovative processes. I think that in our presentation today, we hit most or all of the points that we wanted to, communicating exactly what PlayFair was as well as the journey we took to discover it. It was interesting to me how quickly time went by when students were so engaged in asking a generous amount of questions to each presenter. Though student feedback is of course something to be valued, it makes me wonder where we would be if we heard a bit more from our Harvard mentors in the room. They, for the most part, seemed engaged in what we had to deliver, asking questions that signified interest and a willingness to help. I only wish they had talked more. Preparing for Friday may just be slightly more difficult given the pressure to present something completely or even partially renovated. I don't doubt that our Boston experience will be educational and inspiring--I'm only worried that a lot of the learning and inspiration involved would be an intrapersonal factor, not an interpersonal one. More time to spend with our group would undoubtedly fix this issue. Mr. Greenfield asked a good question that I think we might be able to begin with as we move forward: How can we draw a connection between the toys, games, and activities we include in our play-space to a real-world benefit? What real-life skills does building a Lego set or playing a game against a friend help to develop? Let's discuss. |
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I agree with everything Ashley stated. I’m glad our group was able to receive feedback from experts who are willing to help us finish our projects. I especially appreciate how Mr Clapp summed up our project by saying we wanted to bring more mindfulness into Hawken. I like how he could find a term that incompasses all of our efforts and simplified them. I’m looking forward to continuing our work and developing our project.
ReplyDeleteI like this very detailed explanation of our first day in Boston and adding on a bit more to the day leading up to the presentations. I personally repeated my part all the time as a joke and a way to lighten the mood and remind people not to be nervous.
ReplyDeleteI agree that being able to spend more time working in project groups would be useful. This group work would allow us to take all the information we're learning--which is very valuable--and apply it to our projects. At the same time, the experiences of the individual offer unique insights into the group's creative process. All of us are going to take away different messages from the people we meet with, and each of these viewpoints will be valuable when we continue to refine our idea as a group.
ReplyDeleteI think that this is a very good description of our time in Boston so far and our experiences with Project Zero. I also agree with Tim when he says that we are all going to have different takeaways from this trip, and that's okay.
ReplyDeleteI very much agree with this description of our first day in Boston, thought I do want add a few things. I really felt like trying to navigate the city, and almost getting lost was a learning experience for all of us, being borderline in the panic zone. I think that as a group, the experience of presenting our ideas helped us to bring all our ideas together and take a step back to look at the entire process.
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