Learning from a Project “ Post-mortem”

The joy of teaching fifth grade was being able to perfect a lesson by the end of the day. I can recall working on a district mandated project with a group of fifth graders one year. I planned out a great lesson on Egypt. As a team of four, we identified objectives and goals, and created an outline with deadlines. We gathered materials such as resource books, online websites, videos, and Ancient Egyptian artifacts. We planned activities like designing a mummy, creating a power-point with important information, creating diorama of a bird’s eye view of Memphis, Egypt. Students also compared Memphis, Egypt to Memphis, TN. The planning phase was smooth and thought provoking. Each teacher shared insight and ideas about the process of the project and its outcome.

         We never had the opportunity to stick to the project plan step-by-step. With the daily routines and schedule already established teachers didn’t have the opportunity to go in depth with the information. I felt as though we rushed through the projects and the students didn’t have enough opportunity to gain enough knowledge about the topic. The projects were ok only because the teacher had to guide and instruct each group too much. Students were not as independent with their final project.

        

The following is a list provided by Michael Greer (2010):

The Nuts and Bolts: 10 Steps to Project Success

This part of the book will help you perform these essential PM steps:

Step 1: Define the project concept, then get support and approval.

Step 2: Get your team together and start the project.

Step 3: Figure out exactly what the finished work products will be.

Step 4: Figure out what you need to do to complete the work products. (Identify

tasks and phases.)

Step 5: Estimate time, effort, and resources.

Step 6: Build a schedule.

Step 7: Estimate the costs.

Step 8: Keep the project moving.

Step 9: Handle scope changes.

Step 10: Close out phases, close out the project.

         If my team had more time with steps 5, 6, 9 then the success of this project would have been more effective and efficient. The students did enough to pass but not enough to build in-depth knowledge.

Greer, M. 2010. The Project Management Minimalist: Just Enough PM to Rock Your Projects! Laureate Education, Ed. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/bbcswebdav/institution/USW1/201320_04/   MS_INDT/EDUC_6145/Week%202/Resources/Week%202%20Resour      ces/embedded/pm-minimalist-ver-3-laureate.pdf