INTERLINK Curriculum Guide
6. Understanding Core Projects
It is clear from the curriculum tenets that INTERLINK classes do not focus on presenting information to students or consist of “teaching” in the conventional sense. Assuming the tenets are completely understood and accepted, the question still remains, “What does take place in the classroom?” Without some basic structure to hold things together, devising effective ways to use class time each day would be a formidable challenge. Even if the endless creativity of teachers successfully managed that difficulty, another problem remains. If teachers were to do anything they wanted in each class, there would be no consistency from class to class and nothing to distinguish one level from another.
A scheme of Core Projects, the developmental building blocks of classes, has been developed to fill this void. Core Projects are large frameworks capable of including many individual activities, to be done in and out of class throughout the course of the term, that utilize and integrate discrete skills, and that build a cohesive, coherent structure as the basis of each class. Core Projects are like templates that can be used to create many different kinds of classes that share a similar form and structure. It might be useful to think of Core Projects as big empty boxes designed to hold the contents of the class. Each Core Project is composed of individual elements that may be thought of as smaller boxes inside of the larger one. The content of the classes comes from the teacher, and is in turn based on specific needs and interests of the students in the class. The Core Projects serve as uniform packaging for the varying content of the classes.
Because of their important role in the curriculum, Core Projects require further definition and discussion. They are called "core" Projects not only because they are essential, but because they represent the core or center around which various activities are created in the way that a pearl is created around a grain of sand. Some key points to keep in mind about Core Projects are:
1)
Core Projects are vehicles, not objectives
2)
Core Projects integrate skill use and contain activities that are done over the
course of the entire term
3)
process is more important than any final product produced and learning is the
ultimate goal of all projects
4)
students are active participants in project activities and should be given as
much control as possible
5)
Core Projects are different every time they are done
6)
not all activities done in class need be part of a Core Project
Core Projects are flexible and occupy most of the classroom time. A particular Core Project can be expanded or compressed depending on class needs and teacher preferences. Some projects may use more out-of-class time than others. Keep in mind that Core Projects were established to assure that class time is spent on communicative, needs-based, whole language work, so they should not be relegated to a small block to make room for other work such as discrete skill exercises, grammar lessons, or textbook use.
An important aspect of Core Projects is that they lend themselves to the assignment of interesting out-of-class activities. Increasing students' use of English outside of class is an important curricular goal and key element in promoting linguistic proficiency and facility. After all, if students actively use English for only the 4-6 hours of the day they are in class, they are not taking advantage of living in an English-speaking environment to immerse themselves in the target language.
Students typically view conventional homework as onerous and uninteresting and are more likely to use English outside of class, which, after all, is the real goal, if assignments are fun and interesting. Core Projects lend themselves to creative English-use opportunities. Watching movies and TV, listening to the radio, reading newspapers and magazines, surfing the Internet (using English for all of these, of course) all represent activities that are enjoyable and linguistically productive that can be connected to Core Projects. The Team Project, in particular, by requiring students to engage in activities with teammates, creates out-of-class social situations and contexts for communication in English. The thematic cohesiveness of Core Projects is particularly suitable for assignments that blur the lines between homework and routine use of out-of-class time. A student who has to get together with classmates for an hour or two after class to work on a project or is required to watch a TV program, should view these activities not as onerous burdens but rather as welcome social and recreational uses of time. A student truly engaged in an activity will not perceive that activity as work, so the challenge is to discover ways of engaging the students' interest with creative and fulfilling activities.
Core projects are about process rather than product. It is easy to get caught up in trying to produce an excellent research paper or dramatic mock trial or stunning debate, but the essence of all of these projects is the learning that takes place in all the activities that take place in the course of the term. In a very real sense, the projects are not about a race to a desired end, but enjoyment of the journey and enrichment through the learning and experiences that take place enroute. It is a mistake to overemphasize the product when it is actually each station or step along the way, where learning is taking place, that is most important.