Project Work Time: Work on Poetry Drafts, Essay Drafts, CritiqueBy the end of this project, you should have critiqued 3 poems and received 3 critiques. By the end of this project, you should have critiqued 3 essays and received 3 critiques. Here is the link for the poetry critique sheet. Here is the link for the essay critique sheet Project Work Time: Book Launch TeamsToday in your book launch teams, you need to finalize your list of goals. Setting the right goals is the first important step in a project, because your goals (that is, what you intend to achieve) determines the shape of your plan (that is, what you intend to do). The SMART framework is a tool for setting high-quality goals, which will lead to a high-quality project plan.
Hang on, what do you mean by “planning a project”? I thought our teachers planned our projects?“Project” is a word that can be used in different senses. When you talk about “project-based learning”, you’re talking about projects that teachers design for students. What we’re talking about here is “project management”. In this sense, a project is something that a company undertakes, usually for a client. Often, a company will undertake a project that fits into a wider project. So, for example, a team of electricians will install the wiring in a new house. For the electricians, their project is “installing wiring”. However, this fits into the wider project of “building a new house”. In this case, your “project” is whatever you’re in charge of (for example, the design team’s project is to produce a book, and the event management team’s job is to plan and run the launch party). The SMART FrameworkThe SMART Framework is a tool for assessing the quality of your goals. The SMART Framework includes the following criteria: ●Specific ●Measurable ●Attainable ●Relevant ●Timely Here’s what all of these mean: Specific A “specific” goal leaves no room for doubt about whether or not it has been accomplished, or what you need to do in order to accomplish it. Here’s an example,: “Get in shape” is a general goal. “Go to the gym 10 times during the next month” is a specific goal. For this project, “Find a great venue” is a general goal. “Find a venue that fits 100 people, serves non-alcoholic beverages, and will provide a sound system” is a specific goal. Measurable It seems obvious to say, but it’s important to be able to tell whether or not you’ve achieved a goal! This is why it’s important that the goal be measurable. Here’s an example: “Get some local libraries excited about our book” is not measurable. “Get at least five libraries to stock at least five copies each of our book” is measurable. Attainable It’s good to be ambitious, but pointless to set goals that you can’t achieve. In fact, if other people are depending on you, and you set unrealistic goals, you can cause them serious problems. Here’s an example: “Copy-edit 65 poems and explanatory pieces in one day” is an unrealistic goal. If the copy-editing team were to set this goal, and a schedule was set which relied on them hitting it, then we would end up missing every subsequent deadline, and we would run a high risk of having a launch party with no published book! Relevant A relevant goal is one that connects with the overall goals of the project. Here’s an example: “Convince 20 celebrities to retweet us” is not a relevant goal, because it doesn’t further the overall aims of the project. However, “Convince 20 English teachers to retweet us” and “Convince 20 poets to retweet us” are both relevant goals. Timely You need to make sure your goals have deadlines. This is not quite as simple as it seems, because you will be depending on other teams, and different teams will be depending on you. Thus, you need to synchronise your deadlines with other teams. Your challenge for today’s class:Go through the goals you set on Monday. Check them against the SMART Framework. Here’s the protocol you should follow. 1. Read out your goal (from the list you made on Monday). 2. Ask “What does this goal need to be specific?” Do this with every aspect of the SMART framework. 3. Once you’ve checked every aspect of the SMART framework, rewrite your goal so that it satisfies all aspects.
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