As important as the ‘what’ we do, the ‘how’ is equally, if not more important in my view.
At the present time our year 7 and 8 students are working on a very interesting project. They have been challenged to come up with an invention/design/idea that will enhance performance. This could be the designing of a brand new type of football boot, an exercise machine, a grip for a cricket bat or golf club, a special practice ball for a specific sport, a new and improved tennis racquet, swim goggles, a rugby tee, the possibilities go on and on. We are running this particular project along the lines of Dragon’s Den, where a successful invention/idea would attract and receive the funding to create, manufacture and market the design. This is in theory of course, as we don’t intend to actually fund an invention, however, as I’ve told students, this is the way new ideas come into being and who knows, perhaps one or more of their ideas may eventually make it onto the market. What do you think about it Paul? Many of our students have entered fully into this task and there are several very good ideas coming forward.
Sally’s blog this week referred to the importance of deadlines and the resulting consequences when deadlines are not met. For this project our Stage 4 students have deadlines to meet, in fact, the first one is this Friday. By the end of Friday, students must have completed tasks one through to six. I am pleased to say that already a number have done this and moved onto the next part of the project. I am concerned, however, with the presentation quality, or lack of, that I am seeing. We want to encourage excellence in our students in their every undertaking. For many it seems that ‘near enough’ is ‘good enough’ and requesting/instructing a student to redo work is met with groans and moans. In our modern world where everything is sped up, things needing to be sorted as quickly and efficiently as possible, is care and attention to detail disappearing?
As a footnote: Stage 4 students who have not completed their work satisfactorily to task 6 by Friday afternoon will miss training on Monday morning in order to catch up.
Regards,
Rodney
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