Learning from a Project “Post-mortem”

 

There was a time when I was supposed to design an instructional lesson for students in Grade 1. There wasn’t any specific instructions or guidelines to follow. I saw this as a challenge because having a broad scheme on things can complicate it at times. There were several training sessions that were held for teachers on how to use the Promethean board and design lessons using it. Unfortunately, I couldn’t attend any of the sessions that were held due to reasons beyond my control. Not being able to attend any of the sessions made me vulnerable to being unsuccessful and I also thought it automatically exempted me from the presentation. However, I wasn’t, the Project Manager was aware of all persons who were listed as teaching staff and what was expected of them. Having a Work breakdown structure allows the Project Manager to create a time-line, budget and RASCI, which is an organizational chart identifying persons responsible for each task (Laureate Education, n.d.).

The instructional lesson was to be used by any Grade 1 student with the guidance of the teacher. Since I wasn’t limited I did a lesson on the -at word family. It was very interactive because the students were able to use the pen from the Promethean board to select different things and receive immediate feedback.

Being a time-oriented person, I was very worried about the amount of time given to complete the project as well as the amount of lessons or practice sessions that were given to have me better informed. Due to my high interest in the use of technology and designing, I was able to successfully create the interactive lesson I had envisioned and made the Project Manager, Principal and myself proud. While working on the project I felt as if I wanted to do too much and the lesson was getting complicated. Immediately I sat down and drew out what I wanted to see happen and worked with only what was drawn out. Thank goodness I am a visual person. Reflecting and drawing out the plan as I wanted to see it worked out well because it allowed the whole organization and outcome to be a success; without any sort of training. I am of the belief that if I had attended all of the training sessions I would have done way more because I would have known what I was doing, but my success came all out of trial and error, which made it a unforgettable experience.

 

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (n.d.). Defining the scope of an ID project [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu