Passion Projects are projects in which students pick something that they are passionate about or curious about and study. As they study... they create. This may be about a book or a STEM project or a STEAM project. It is student selected, student elected, student driven, and student created. (As this is a support website, none of these projects is for a grade... just for the sake of learning.) Enjoy!
Technology: (must present activities to the class)
Create a timeline on a computer generated site, then complete a reflection journal of your processes
Create a Prezi (use links and/or sound and video) and keep a journal of obstacles faced and ways in which you overcame those as well as decisions you had to make
Create a Power Point of at least 10 slides (use links and/or sound and video) and keep a reflection journal of issues such as how you decided what information to include and to exclude
Create an infographic that demonstrates materials you are covering now as well as conclusions you have drawn based upon previous information and a hypothesis you have for the future
Create a multimedia research project and document your thought and decision making processes using thinking maps
Create a mock website and document your thought and decision making processes using thinking maps
Core: (must turn in to teacher)
Create a Travel Journal/student textbook and complete a self-created rubric based upon the researching of other related rubrics
Create a lesson plan and teach a skill, a strategy, or content materials – create a rubric to assess your work and have a minimum of three other students assess your work via the rubric
Core Projects from On-line and In-class texts (select one and complete) -- then, design a project for other students based upon your thoughts and experiences with the project that you created
Design a unit of study based upon the materials that you are covering (include the following: notes, activity/worksheets and quiz/text with answer keys) – Live Binder is an excellent tool for this activity – What were the most difficult and least difficult phases of the project? How do you think that your planning and time compared to that of a teacher (write a paragraph explaining)?
Build/construct a three dimensional product of a component of the materials covered in class; write the directions for another student to build it – reflect upon the building versus the composition of the directions
Create a vocabulary lesson (text/project/game) in which to teach the academic vocabulary relating to the classroom materials being covered -- prior to beginning, enumerate all of the strategies that would make learning vocabulary easier for you
Literacy: (turn in to the teacher)
Read a self-selected novel/text that has a parallel theme and create a project to demonstrate the juxtaposition of the novel/text in relation to a strategy/skill/chapter/time period, and be sure to explain why you felt this work was relevant to your class and the materials
Create a children’s book on-line or on paper in which you teach smaller children the concepts through the story in the book and apply a teacher-selected rubric to your work
Create a game (with written instructions) or classroom/text scavenger hunt (with written instructions) that may be used to teach the materials which you are currently covering in class and as an extension, write a lesson plan which explains the purpose and meaning behind the creation and utilization of the game
Create a picture book (illustrations) to demonstrate the materials which you are currently covering and write a book talk about how/why you elected to draw those representations
Locate and research ten articles pertaining to the materials that you are covering in your class – read and highlight (or make notes on) the articles -- create an infographic with your complied information and write one to three paragraphs explaining what led you to these articles and whether or not they helped you to assimilate the information on a deeper level
Create a comic (on paper or on-line) which demonstrates the concepts learned in your class – explain the demographics and psychographics behind your audience and enumerate the ways in which you would market your comic based on the information
Humanities: (must present activities to the class)
Create a sculpture or work of art which relates to the materials currently being covered in your class and prepare a speech in which you explain the relevance of your piece to the class lesson
Create a photographic gallery or virtual gallery or issues relating to the materials which are being learned in class and write a guide which explains why each photo was taken or included (be sure to give proper attribution) – minimum of ten works
Create a virtual field trip of the place/materials about which you are learning and create a thinking map of your brainstorming processes
Burn a CD of a minimum of ten songs and write a paragraph about how (ten paragraphs in total) each song relates to the time period/characters/mathematicians/scientists/theories, etc. being studied and create an illustrated CD case of the overall idea being presented
Design a TV show or create a PowToon that teaches your subject matter -- discuss the intended audience and your processes of thinking/planning and create a study guide that may be used with your video demonstration – reflect on your experience after observing a class using your materials
Write letters to/interview five people in the field in which you are studying about the materials you are currently learning – consolidate your findings and create a report for your teacher including your thoughts and suggestions for another student who might complete this activity
21st Century Skills: (turn in to the teacher or present to the class)
Create an informational survey for the class/school about the materials that you are covering and chart your results/findings, then write a paragraph about the implications
Create a blog about the materials that you are covering in class and keep a journal of how you researched the topics to include additional information (not included in your text/class)
Hold a discussion (tape or demonstrate in class) about the materials which you are covering in class and then write a synopsis about your findings and any implications that you unearthed
Create a theme park (stores, rides, plans, scale model, etc.) that demonstrates the concepts and themes from the materials which you are covering – keep a reflection journal documenting your choices and selections, what worked and what didn’t, and suggestions for next time)
Create a newspaper that communicates the information you are covering in a concise and easily understandable manner to the masses – create a planning structure and notes – make a T-Chart to compare your newspaper with another newspaper and write a synopsis of your findings
Organize and film a debate with a group of other students that touches upon the materials you are covering in class – write guiding questions and research real debate form (you may interview a teacher if you wish) -- reflect upon what went well, what didn’t, and what you could have done differently
Writing: (turn in to the teacher)
Create a dictionary of the academic vocabulary covered in your class replete with etymology, synonyms and antonyms (if applicable), pronunciation, definitions, use of word in a sentence, and illustration -- dictionary should have all standard parts of dictionary (index, page numbers, etc.) – reflect upon this dictionary and describe how having one prior to beginning a course would impact student learning
Select one topic from your classroom study and write an expository essay in which you research and magnify that topic – use at least two outside quotations, descriptive language whenever possible, proper mechanics, and so forth – prior to beginning your work, create a thinking map (brainstorm) or create an outline touching upon all aspects of what you’ve learned from your research – once you’ve finished, reflect: Were you able to include all of the items that you wanted to discuss or did you decide to omit any? What was your reasoning behind each decision?
Create a learning brochure which outlines all of the materials which will be covered in the unit for a “new” student – research and include new links to videos and articles which will help the “new” student learn – reflect: In what ways would having a brochure like this have changed your learning experience?
Create a travel brochure and itinerary or an itinerary for a work conference with synopses for activities and workshops which explain, in detail, the concepts of the materials that you have covered in the unit of study which you are currently working through in class – keep a record/journal in which you describe how you decided to place one activity or workshop before another (how you decided to scaffold the activities) so that one builds upon another and demonstrate the links between the sessions and activities
Create a marketing campaign for the unit which you are covering – How would you market the information to students vs. teachers? –(make sure to include the main point of the content) – reflect upon why you would market the materials differently for each group and what ideas/thoughts influenced your choices
Write/create a MadLibs book for the materials you are covering in class – remember to make some of the pages easy, some medium, and some challenging – create an answer key for the book – make a cover and table of contents – reflection: Could students learn as effectively using tools such as this one (why/why not)?