I was unable to update the website yesterday, so I'm including yesterday's and today's pictures. We're just about done with the teaching/presentation project. We have two more groups in each class. These groups will present on Tuesday and Thursday of next week. We're having to shift the schedule around a bit because of winter MAP testing, which will be Monday and Wednesday. There's no guarantee that all students in a presenting group will be done with testing by the time they're to come to my class. I thought it was better space things out a bit to make sure we don't run into that problem.)

Several of the kids who are perfectionists are a little down on themselves when they finish the whole process.

"That was terrible," some say when we have our post-presentation debriefing.

"How many times have you ever lead an entire class period?" I ask.

"None," they meekly respond.

"Can you expect to be perfect then?" I press further.

"No," they admit.

"Then stop comparing yourself to some perfect standard you've created in your head," I conclude with a smile.

In short, the kids are doing great. Their presentations are going well, and more importantly, they're learning a lot in the process. They discovering much about what makes a good presentation to a group, and they're learning a lot about themselves: many students who had so much hesitation and worry are realizing they can indeed lead -- in this case, they're leading entire classes of twenty other students. How many sixth- and seventh-grade students can say that?

Below is a slideshow of the kiddos in action.