1. Project Planner
What will the students learn? (content/skills) What will the students create? (products)
What is the Essential Question(s) that will drive this project? Draft here.
• Should be open-ended and provocative
• Begin with end in mind
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Common Intellectual Mission
• What content/skills will ALL students learn (regardless of role or other student choices)?
• What individual roles/jobs will students take on in this project?
Adult World Connection
• What is the real world application for this project? Why is this work important?
• Who is the audience for the project? How will work be displayed publicly?
• How will you connect adults and professionals from outside of school to the project?

2. Personalization
• How will you incorporate student choice into the project?
• How will you challenge more advanced students?
• How will you support IEP students?
• How will you support ELL’s?
• How will you assess and evaluate each student’s effort and work?
Tips
• DUE DATES: Beware of extending due dates!
• USE BENCHMARKS: Use project benchmarks/tasks/drafts to keep track of student’s progress
and help them keep up with the project work.
• Avoid group grades!
• Assess LEARNING not just responsibility.
• Allow students a role in developing rubrics(?)
• Allow access to rubrics ahead of time; post on DP
• Keep parents posted on progress during project so there are no surprises with grades at the
end!
Example Essential Questions
• How have maritime discoveries, advancements, and events shaped our world?
• Why do humans need to protect the earth, and how can we as six graders play a role in this?
• How can high school students help to address issues of poverty and hunger, in both our local
and global communities
• How have ancient civilizations influenced each other?
• How can an election candidate effectively persuade voters to elect her/him?
• How can a home be designed to have little impact on the environment?
• How have the simple inventions of the past helped to create the complex life of today?
• Is war ever justified?
• How are things different when you cross the US-Mexico border, and why? (sub-questions below)
o Why is a McDonalds so hard to find in Tijuana?
o Why do the living conditions in Mexico seem poorer than in the U.S.?
o Why can’t I drink the water in Mexico?
o Why do people illegally cross the border into the U.S. from Mexico but not vice versa?