Because it was posted late, this blog is due on Friday.
There are a few parts to this week's blog. First, please check out the two websites/online museum exhibits produced by your classmates:
Site #1: www.daytonburnhamletters.weebly.com
Decide which of the two you would like to select as the official website of the Dayton Burnham Project. Please consider clarity, thoroughness, professionalism, and audience appeal. The winner will be set up as a link on the Gunn Museum's website and on Mr. Croft's website.
After you have fully examined both websites, make your choice by copying and pasting the following link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/78GKWBT
Then, write a blog post that addresses the questions below. No connection is necessary, but if you can use one, you'll get extra credit.
a. What do you think went well with the Dayton Burnham Project?
b. What do you think could have been better with the Dayton Burnham Project and what should we do differently in the future?
73 comments:
What I think went well with the Dayton Burnham project is the whole thing was good idea. That we worked in groups with the transcribing helped it move faster.
I think that the copies of the letters could have been copied neater to make them easier to read. This would have helped immensely with the reading part. This could have and should of bean better.
In my mind I think the Dayton Burnham project went very well. We managed to do a lot in the time that we were given. I think the things we did well were the book, the websites, and transcribing. The reason I think this is because there were a lot of people working on transcribing so we were able to transcribe a lot more letters than if we had only a few. Another thing is that we could work independently so it gave us the boost to be able to ask other students for help instead of asking Mr. Croft or another teacher. I think that also being able to grade ourselves made us really think about how we had been working, but the bad thing about that is kids could say that they did a lot of work yet they really didn’t. One thing I would change next year is to reduce the amount of transcribers because I felt like when we were working on the letters there was too many. Another thing I would add next year is ,like Cory said, to have the letters be a little bit clearer. A way to fix that would be to scan all the letters and be able to zoom in so we could identify the letters better.
I agree with Courtney in that we did a great job on the project in the time we were given. It almost felt like a real job, because we had the responsibility of finishing on time, and improving both quality and quantity. I liked this project a lot because I think it was a great experience for us to have. There are people who would never get the chance to do what we did. We can even use the experience from this project later in life. For example, when we apply for a job, we can say that we deciphered Civil War letters, and published a book. The website and the books are proof of all out hard work!
Being a transcriber for this project, I don't really have a lot of reasons to want to change this project. My job was pretty straight forward and consistent the whole time, which I appreciated. However, if I could improve on something it would be to assign letters to people. This would be helpful because I noticed, that since we got to pick the letters we worked on, people went for the easiest ones first. The letters that were easy to read were edited beyond necessary in my opinion, and this left the more challenging letters neglected. Not to say that we didn't do well on any of them, just that if we all worked on the same letters throughout the project, they would be more evenly edited and fixed.
What do you think went well with the Dayton Burnham Project?
I think went well was the transcribing of this project. We had 30 letters to transcribe in a short amount of time to complete it. But we did,eventually finish it. All the letters I saw had at the most 4 blank spots in them. For the first time ever transcribing, that's amazing. Another thing that went well was all the poems and pictures done. Since I was a docent I had the chance to see them all hung up against the wall and it looked very good. I liked how one of Katie's poems was made up of pieces of letters. I think all the poems and pictures went well because at the museum they attracted people to come over and look at them.
One thing that could of gone better was the editing part of this experience. In the final copy of the book there were some errors made with lines under neath titles. There also were little captions under the pictures so people would know what was going on in each of them, but some how they were taken out.
In the future I think we should have more then 2 editors and give the editors more time to do their job. I think this would help because I talked to them about what they had to do and it sounded so rushed to me. I feel like they could of done a better job if they had a little more time. But they did do a great job on it.
A connection I have to this is during field hockey my team and I knew about this team that was really good and was always a challenge for us. So in every practice we had we put our full effort into it. Then when the time came to play against them, it wasn't as much of a challenge and we ended up winning. This is related to this blog assignment because our 8th grade class tried their hardest to complete this project well and did. Just like the field hockey team.
I think that the Dayton Burnham Project went really well because we were able to get all of the work done by the due date. So we really pulled everything together nicely. At the exhibit it was amazing and showed how much work we put into it. Also I feel that separate stations really worked because transcribers could get all the letters done and student curators could get posters done for the exhibit. It all just went really well.
What I think could have been better would be if at the exhibit, docents could actually docent a group around the exhibit and be prepared with all the information about each part of the exhibit. I say that because really all the docents stood in a corner and would maybe be asked once about the book we made. The impersonators toured everyone around and well I felt that should have been our job.
I think that the Dayton Burnham project went very well. Our entire class took something away from this amazing experience. Not only did we all get to learn to transcribe, we got to partake in a project that is usually only offered to adults. Since we were able use primary source letters, we could relate and become more knowledgeable on the feelings, thoughts, hardships, etc. of the soldiers. I believe that this assignment gave us all a lesson in teamwork and communication. Everyone had different jobs that all came with different tasks. We all had to communicate with each other to make sure these tasks weren’t repeated and so that we could work as efficiently as possible. I agree with Olivia D. that this project felt like a real job because we had deadlines and such. Some aspects of the project that could be improved/what we should do differently in the future is have copies of letters that are easier to read (some of the scans could have been better). I also think that we should transcribe other primary sources like newspapers from that time period that relate to the project. I agree with Molly that the editors did feel a bit hurried in finishing the project and another person or two would have made the work load lighter and easier to handle. In all, I feel that this project was a valuable learning experience!
This project reminds me of the Rachel’s Challenge assembly. I say this because the participants of the assembly were on a schedule/cutoff date since we had to finish preparing for it and couldn’t move the day of it just because we weren’t done. The assembly also wasn’t just useful/made a difference to the contributors, it effected the audience too; and the Dayton Burnham book didn’t just change our thoughts on the Civil War, it helped the readers of the book and the museum-goers to better understand history.
1. What do you think went well with the Dayton Burnham Project?
Although I was not here for the entire project, I think people working together on finishing up the letters and just helping improved the quality of the transcriptions allowed the letters to be finished faster. I also think it was good how we worked in separate stations, or groups worked really well because it was faster and everybody did a part in bringing the completion of the project together.
2. What do you think could have been better with the Dayton Burnham Project and what should we do differently in the future?
For my 7th grade year at Litchfield we did the same exact project but with the Litchfield residents of the Civil War. While I was there we were all assigned letters at the beginning of the project. I feel this worked out really well because we weren't all scrambling on which letter to find, which one was done, and which ones weren't. Being assigned letters (whether it was more than one) probably would have made the project a lot more organized.
1. I thought the project was successful for many reasons. The first reason is that it made us students feel independent. Since we were making this project very much by ourselves it made s feel self empowered and responsible. Also we were given a deadline to meet which was a good exercise to teach us professional responsibility. The project itself taught me much more about American history and the civil war. It also taught me how to be a skilled transcriber and a skilled historian too. The stories of Dayton Burnham reminded me of all the things we learned about the life in the civil war camp conditions. But in the letters we students got to discover the history for ourselves instead of reading the information out of a textbook. This are just a few reasons why I think this project was really great.
I think that the Dayton Burnham project went very well for many reasons. FIrst is that we completed our goals by the due date, presented beautifully, and had work that was flawless. Everyone had an assigned job which helped us all finish the tasks sooner. We all got to learn how to transcribe letters which will surely be useful in our futures. I agree with rachel when saying that reading those letters helped us understand the soldier's way of life.
I think that to make this project better people with smaller jobs could have had the option of taking two jobs instead of one. In the future i suggest that illustrators are able to make multiple pictures and able to do a second job also if they want. This reminds me of when i was in a play and i had to memorize lines by a certain deadline.
1. The thing that I think went well with the Dayton project is that we got to work in small groups. I thought this worked well because each group worked on a different letter and the letters were transcribed faster than if we worked in bigger groups. Another thing that I thought worked well was that we could write the words we couldn’t transcribe on the back board. I think this worked well because if someone didn’t know a word, other students could help them. Finally, I think that asking other people for help worked well. I think this because most of the time the person you asked knew what the word/sentence was. But overall, I believe the project worked well.
2. To make this project a better experience in the future, I think there should be copies of the letters. This would be helpful because many times people couldn’t fine the letters or someone took a letter home by mistake. Another thing that could be helpful is that the writing on the letters should be a little darker. This would be helpful because the letters would be easier to read, transcribe, and understand. But this project felt like a real job, like Olivia D said.
I could make a lot of connections for this project. One connection is homework. This reminded me of homework because sometimes you had to work independently when your partner wasn’t there. It also reminded me of homework because, even though we had plenty of time, the project had a deadline and everything had to be done.
1) What do you think went well with the Dayton Burnham project?
I think the Google Docs organization went well because it kept the letters organized without having to open them to see what point they were at. For example, if I needed to see what letter to work on, I could look at the tags to find a second draft transcription, third, fourth, or editors. It told me what I needed to do to finish the letters so that I could move the project along. Another thing that went well was the job applications so that students were fully focused on their part of the project so that when put together, we had all we needed. This was almost like an assembly line, each of us doing a different part in order to create a finished project. I also think the exhibit and book sales went well, because within the first hour, we had made over 140 dollars. There was also a reporter there who seemed to enjoy it, and anyone else that Olivia, Molly, Dallas or I talked to seemed to think we had done a great job!
2) What do you think could have been better with the Dayton Burnham Project and what should we do differently in the future?
I think that we should have had one more week to do the project. I know that Rachel and I both spent well over four hours working on this at home, and that was just editing letters. If we had had one more week, I think the transcribers could have further edited the letters, cutting down the time Rachel and I would have had to spend, so we could have worked on the title page, dedication, etc. I was also disappointed to see mistakes in the final book that were not there when Rachel and I transferred the information, such as parts of essays being moved, or the line beneath the summary that continued onto the next line. Also, I spent quite a while creating picture pages that were symmetrical, even, aesthetically pleasing, and had captions. I missed all of Earth Day in order to create these pages, because I would have gotten to participate if they weren’t needed. However, when I looked at the last chapter to see how they turned out, I was upset to see that they were not printed but other pictures were instead used. I felt that it was sort of unnecessary to have me do the work and not use it, so better communication would be in order. In the future, I think that it would be most helpful to have a bit more time, or schedule it farther from vacation so that wouldn’t interfere with the project either. This way, the mistakes wouldn’t have happened, and everybody could have more time to complete and perfect their projects.
Overall, I think that this project went very well. Breaking up into groups worked out good for many of the different parts. Also the job application allowed many people to get the job they wanted, which was a good idea. Another thing that worked out was how we wrote unknown words on the board and to ask people for help, it was a pretty good idea and should be continued. I think one of the problems was the pace. We started off good, but slowed down over time and I think we could have combined some of the drafts to make it go faster. Also we were a little crunched for time on some of the larger projects, so more people or a steady hand might be useful. We should also have had more copies of the letters. There were problems, like letters being lost and destroyed, and people not finding them. Also, some people accidentally left with them. We could also scan them onto a computer, people could enhance, sharpen, and other things to make the letters easier to read. But it still came out very good, and I’m proud of it.
There were a few reasons I thought this project was successful. One reason is that it showed the class how the solders lives were during the war. It was also cool to be able to find out this information by doing our own research. It showed us in a way that was much more meaningful than if we just read it in a book. Another reason this went well was it taught us responsibility. We had a deadline and we had to focus and stay on task in order to reach that deadline. Things that could have made this better would have been clearer copies of letters. This would have helped by making transcribing easier and our information more accurate.
I think that several things went well with the Dayton Burnham project. First off, I think that the fact that we could choose our own jobs helped. I think that because when you have the power to choose what you want to do, you are more likely to try your hardest to achieve the best possible outcome. Another thing that went well was everyone’s willingness towards finishing the project. When we started to come down to the wire we all were working very diligently to finish the project. Finally I think that everyone was helpful to each other when they asked for helped. I think without the help from classmates, the outcome wouldn’t have been as successful.
Something that could have been done better is the websites. I think this because the transcriptions were not on either website, and if they were I couldn’t find them. The transcriptions were what have the class worked on, including me, and not having them easily accessed is disappointing, really disappointing. I don’t think either website should be posted without the transcriptions because it’s impossible to read the scanned letters. I think that another thing that could have been done differently is making sure all the components that everyone worked on are included in ever final product.
My connection to this project is in science class. For the past several weeks we have been studying the human body systems in small groups. In these groups we decided the test dates, homework, and classwork. This is similar to our Dayton Burnham project because we got to decide what job we wanted and got to grade ourselves.
I think the Dayton Burnham Project went very well! Everyone seemed to participate fully, get their work done in record time, work thoroughly, help others out, and just have an all out enjoyable time throughout the past two months. I liked the fact that all aspects of the arts were included in this project. Writers had a chance to express themselves, along with artists and others without a specific talent through transcribing. I think if we had more time to work on the outcome of the project, it would have been better. A longer working period would have given the poets/writers and artists more time to work on their pieces. Other then that, I think the project went very well, all in all!
This was a successful project for multiply reasons. One reason is we were able to finish the project with in the time limit which was good. Plus I think that most but most likely all the students like doing this project. Some cool things about this project was being able to look at and transcribe old letter that no one else look at before. I also think that through this experience we got to learn in a different way than just reading out of a textbook. What I think should have been a little better would be having a longer time period so that the papers and other pieces of the project to look a little neater. What should be really done in the future is that the students should break into groups and work on different letters so that no one is confused on what letters or projects. But out over all this was a great and well planned project.
I think mostly everything went well with the Dayton project. I think splitting the classes up into groups for different specific jobs worked well, it made everyone focused more because they knew exactly what they had to do and it made it more organized so by the end of the project there was no confusion about what needed to be done. One thing I think that could have been better was maybe having more time even though for the time given I think the project came out very well. Also I think maybe in future projects there could have been an opportunity for people who had jobs that were maybe faster to get done even with good quality work like the job of illustrator that I had could have had another job of there choosing instead of helping with just transcribing. This is because by the time I was done with my illustrations I had time but everyone seemed to be working on letters and didn’t need much help and all the letters that still were getting done mostly had things people couldn’t figure out.
I think that the Dayton Burnham project went well because instead of learning history from books, we got to interpret the raw data. It gave us a real taste of the past. It was fun to transcribe the letters because we got to see how people write in the 19th century. One drawback from this project was that it went on for too long. Another problem was all of the letters were written to one person. It would’ve been nice to see letters from other people in that era. In the future, it would be fun to reenact the civil war and Dayton Burnham in a play. Another thing for the future project is incorporate 21st century multimedia and technology. Working at transcribing letters is like solving a difficult puzzle. I agree with Zack we had a deadline and to stay on task.
The Dayton Burnham project was very succesful. I think that being split up into groups worked well also. I also think this was very succesful for two reasons. One is that we were able to finish within the time we were given. And second is that i think everyone liked doing this project. I just have one thing that could have done better or in the future is have more group work be done because i do think that some people did have some trouble with transcribing but with a little teamwork did a great job.
Personally i think the Dayton Burnham project went fairly well because about 95% of the time people were on task, there was some fooling around but not too much, working i groups with the people that were doing the same thing as what I was doing also helped me a lot too because i got constructive criticism, and with that I knew what I had to change and what to make better which turned out into a good picture for the project. Something’s i thought could've gone better would probably be the set up of what we were supposed to do after we finished what we signed up for, like me I was an illustrator and when i finished with my picture i didn't know what to do, so I ended up transcribing. But overall I think we all did a really great job and we all worked together.
If I had to choose one of the sites I would choose site 1 because I just seems better looking with design and that it looks professional. Something that I think went well with the dayton project was that every day you had something to do. In the future I think that there could have been more of a certain amount of one job so that students would get there 1st choice more often.
...My connection is that there are a lot of situations in life where you have to work with a large group every day costantly to achieve one single goal.
What do you think went well with the Dayton Burnham Project?
b. What do you think could have been better with the Dayton Burnham Project and what should we do differently in the future?
What do I think went well with the Dayton Burnham project? Well, personally, I think many things went well. For example, all of the literary contributions were great. The authors really worked well with those. The same goes for the drawings and other pictures. Those were really nice, and nicely scanned. The book was very nice, too. The design appealed to many of the visitors. Something I thought could improve? I think we should have had more time. Probably a couple more days would have been fine. It was really stressful on those last couple of days when you realized that something was messed up and needed a lot of fixing. Also, I think there should have been more communication between the different periods. For example, Jess and I were working on a letter that had been transcribed wrong. When we came back the next day, much of our stuff had been deleted. One of the other periods thought our stuff was the messed up transcription, and we had to start over again. Over all, however, I thought that the project and museum went really well.
What do you think went well with the dayton project?
The thing I thought that went well with the Dayton Burnham Project was the transcribing. The reason I say this is because we almost all stayed on task and worked in partners together. When I was working on some letter I doubled checked it and made sure it made sense. During the project Dallas and I found a letter that was transcribed all out of order,so we retranscribed it and fixed it. So, I think the project was very successful.
It thought the Dayton Burnham project went really well. I believe that everyone really put forward there all and made the project the best that it could be. One thing I would change about the project was the assigning of letters. Like Olivia O, said I thought that we shouldn’t have been allowed the pick a letter, that they should’ve been assigned because more than on group was working on one letter and It didn’t really make sense, in fact it was a a waste of time.
The one of the two websites I would choose is actually the competitions website. I thought that their website was actually really well organized and it showed pictures from the museum. So I would choose Ryan and Andrews website to represent the work we did.
I think that this project went exceptionally well for the most part. Usually everyone was on task in class and asking their peers and teachers for help when needed. I believe the transcribers worked very hard to analyze what Dayton and other men living in this era meant in thier letters. It took a lot of effort to determine what the men were discussing in thier letters. I think the editors Elise Briody and Rachel Crossley did an amazing job on the book as well.
Nothing comes to mind that could have been changed. People were occasionally off task, but quickly got back to work. However, I found it a little agitating that we were forced to work in partners. I believe this was a very interesting and fun way of learning about the Civil War, and people during the late 1800's. Overall, I think it was a great group effort and I think the public enjoyed the exibit,re-enactment, and being educated about the Civil War.
I think the Dayton Burnham project went well. Because all the time that we had went great for doing our work in class and we had enough time to do this in class and everyone was on task with their work. I would change assigning the letters like what Krissi said.
I would pick the competition website because I think they did great with organizing their work. Also I would go with Ryan’s website because they did a great job with the work they did.
What I thought went well with the Dayton Burnham project was basically everything. We transcribed about thirty letters by the due date and they were all easy to read by the end. Our class also created poems, journal entries, and pictures to help the viewers of the Dayton Burnham museum exhibit to understand a little more of what the Civil War was like and who Dayton Burnham was. Another thing I thought went well was that we got Dr. Powell come to our school to talk about the Civil War. I think that we could have had less transcribers, so we could have more people working on pictures and poems because almost everybody ended up being a transcriber at the end of the project. I also think that we could maybe start the project a little bit earlier in the next year, so we would have more time perfect our book. This is how I think our Dayton Burnham project went this year.
I think that the Dayton Burnham project went fairly well with the team transcribers and website designers. These partnerships turned out to be effective and worked well with the goals that we had set. We even made poems and pictures for the viewing audience to get a glimpse of what they would be, or are, reading. If I could change anything about this process it would have been to have the different classes “mingle” more with each other about what was going on with their letters and what should be done next, or not to do this or that. Not only would this have taken a lot of confusion out of this process, but production of transcriptions and the websites would have been doubled.
I honestly think that the Dayton Burnham project went really well. It was really cool that every single student of the eighth grade class participated in order to pull this project together. I really feel that it was a success. I feel that being a part of the job choice was really helpful. I was able to choose a job that I felt was the best job choice for me. Artists and writers were able to choose jobs that were enjoyable to them. When I read Michaela's blog post about how at her old school the letters were assigned to groups I felt that would make everything more organized. Other than that more time would be helpful. It was kinda a surprise when I found out the historical researchers only had a week left to finish their projects but it was easy to pull threw.
What do you think went well with the Dayton Burnham project?
I think a lot of things went well with this project. I liked how we could be independent and work on our own, and really focus on the project, but if we needed the help teachers were there. It felt like we had a job, because we got to work right when we got to class, and we also learned to work to a deadline, which is very important. I thought that it was good that when people, such as literary contributers and illustators worked as transcribers when they were done with their contributions. I liked this because no one ever had nothing to do and helped get the letters done, which helped with the illustations and essays or poems. Reading the letters made me feel like a real historian, and made me realize how hard it must be to write history books and such.
What do you think could have been better with the Dayton Burnham Project and what should we do differently in the future?
I think that we could have had more copies of the letters. This would be helpful because some of the letters were hard to read and if we had two copies we could trace over the letters and still have more copies if we messed up. Another thing that could have been helpful was if we have people work on all different letters, so no one is redoing them while letters are being unread. Overall, I think this was a really good project and I enjoyed it.
A connection I have to this project is that I have a math test tommorow and I am trying my hardest to study, and practice so I'll do a good job, just like everyone tried hard on this project and wanted to do a good job.
I think in this project there were no flawes. The only problems that we ran into were that on some letters were un-legible. For the rest of the project there were no problems at all. I like how we had to apply for our jobs and how we got to work as partners. When working with partners we could rely on eachother to give us our honest opinions. I was basically partners with Ray and he gave me his honest opinion on if my illustration was lacking in anyway he would help me out by giving me constructive critisism. The other part of the project that I really liked was how we had "check ups" when Mr.Croft got you and took you aside and explained what was going good in the project and what was not going so good. It really helped me improve how well I did on my project. I belive the project was very succesful and I believe the 8th grade should do it for years to come. This is what I liked about the Dayton project.
I think overall the Dayton project went very well. It was good because we worked well as a class and so many really good things came out of it. For example the museum, drawings, and of course becoming real historians. Everyone learned how to transcribe letters to become better researchers and historians. Also working with Google Docs made it so simple and very clear when transcribing a letter. Most of our class did that I think those are things that went really well. I think what could have been better was the publishing of the book. There are multiple errors. A major one that I saw was cutting off boxes on family trees. Another thing that could have been better was having Dayton Burnham on the cover. This project was about him and Calvin. B Hatch is on the cover that doesn't really make sense to me. That is what I think could have been improved in this project.
A connection I have to this is reading letters I get in the mail from my grandparents. The letters are written in cursive,just like in the letters our class transcribed. Since not many people use cursive it makes it very difficult to use. Also, since my grandparents are old they tend to use old phrases and words I don't understand well. The Dayton Burnham letters also had old phrases and words. That is my connection to this project.
Overall I think that the Dayton Burnham Project went very well. Even though my fellow classmates and I had the pressure of time and donations on our shoulders we were able to produce four final products focusing on letters during the Civil War: a book, two websites, and the museum exhibit. Specifically teamwork was an overwhelming positive during the project. From my experience during the project there was always someone to offer his or her help to you or someone willing to help you when asked. For example I was a literary contributor and when I was working to achieve a final draft of my poem, my peers would never hesitate to help when I asked them to look over my poem and give me feedback. In return I would also offer my help to other classmates; for example I gave my feedback and advice to an illustrator’s sketches and a historical researcher’s family tree. I think that everyone was willing to help one another because we were all so motivated to produce an exemplary final product. Another aspect of the project that I thought went really well was our responsibility as individuals. Since our whole eighth grade class was working toward one final project, we needed to trust everyone to do their job and I thought that individually we each held up our end of the project. For example during class we were very focused for nearly a 100% of the class time in order to get our individual jobs done that were crucial to the overall project. Another example of our responsibility was that we almost never lost or misplaced the letters to and from Dayton Burnham. We needed to be responsible when dealing with the letters because if they were lost it would only set us behind with the project. Once again I think our great responsibility to this project was because of our eagerness to see a nice final product of our hard work. One thing that I thought could have been done better in the future was our dedication to the project after school. There were at least a few opportunities in which we could have volunteered our time to the project after school hours (painting the museum, curator field trip, and museum opening/volunteer docent) and in my opinion our class as a whole didn’t do our best to try and participate in them. I admit that I didn’t go to the museum opening or the curator field trip, but I did paint the museum for one afternoon, and that experience made me feel even more involved in the project. I can connect to giving more then a 100% effort toward an activity or project. For example in sports you can either have the choice to show up to practice and participate or give the extra effort and practice at home. By practicing at home you will be able to improve your abilities and feel more involved in the sport like I did when I volunteered my time to paint at the museum. I disagree with Courtney when she says that we should have fewer transcribers in the future. If we had fewer transcribers then I think we would not have made the deadline in time. Those are my thoughts, criticisms, and observations of the Dayton Burnham Project! Good job!
I believe the Dayton Burnham went very well. We had everything completed by the date it was due, but towards the end of the project we did seem a little bit rushed. Anyways, I thought the products produced turned out pretty good, and everyone worked together. When we couldn’t figure out a word when transcribing, or had other problems, or wanted input from someone else, we all asked each other questions and just worked together incredibly well. I thought this project required creative thinking and problem solving, and was a good experience. I heard the exhibit looks very good, as does the website, so overall I do think the project went well.
There aren’t many things that I think really could use a big improvement. If anything, I think some more checkpoints along the way might’ve been helpful. I believe we could have worked faster, and that the project was lengthened about a bit far. Overall, good job.
I think the Dayton Burnham defiantly had some ups and some downs, but overall I enjoyed the project. The ups would include the fairly easiness of the jobs, or atleast the ones I experienced. I was an illustrator at first, and it had its difficulties, but it defiantly wasn’t an impossible job. Depsite the fact that my job was to draw, I had to work to find a line form a letter that could give me a good picture. Then, I had to show my creativity and spend time working on draft after draft on making the best, most creative picture I can. This job posed a challenging, yet not impossible task, which I found nice. Then, I had transcriber, which would’ve been a lot harder, if it wasn’t for the fact that so many people were doing that job. I find it very wise that Mr. Croft did that, for this job was fairly difficult, and it would’ve taken much longer without the quantity of the people on that job. This also leads to me of the thought that the number of people on each job seemed to be wisely thought out, for we seemed to have the right amount of people for each, for we didn’t lack in any area, nor did we have too many contributions by people in another. Then on the other hand, there were some things with this project that I would like to job. One would be to have a longer amount of time to have this project get done, for it seemed as though we were rushed a little, trying desperately to get it done by the due date. This ended up leaving the editors with little time to publish the book/websites. This led to products that didn’t reflect their best work, for they we making the things with for the sake of time, not quality. Also, we could do with another editor or so, to help relieve the pressure of the other ones, and help the product move along faster, yet still have the upmost quality, because more people will obviously help speed it along. Other than that, I found this project worth all the effort, and the book that was made is defiantly a pay off, for everyone can see our hard work.
I think the Dayton Burnham Project went very well. As my job, a transcriber, I think google docs went very smoothly. I felt it was very organized. It was easy to keep track of what had been done and what needed to be done. I think overall we worked well as a class and pulled a lot faster than I had imagined. I was working with a partner also, and I think that really helped. If one of us didn't understand a part of the letter we could reference to each other and figure it out a lot quicker. The only thing I would change in the future is; I think each group of partners should be assigned a certain letter and not bounce back and forth between letters. I say this because of my own personal experience, towards the end of the transcribing process my partner and I found a letter that was barely half way done. We had very limited time to finish the letter, and we were the only ones updating the letter, for no other classes had worked on it. It pressured us a tad bit to try and get it done as soon as possible. But overall I think the project went extremely well and that would be the only thing I would change in the future.
What do you think went well in the Dayton Burnham project? I thought that the piece of the project that went the best was the students curators contribution. The task of being in the Student Curator position is most definitely worthy of awe. The commitment of the job is simply massive. Also, on a larger note, the commitment also went very well. It seemed in period E class at least that almost all students were involved in work more then 90% of the time if not 95%. The commitment for this project was demanding, but the demand was met. It was a fun and challenging project which I hope to see done in years to come.
I think that the Dayton Burnham Project was successful and it went very well. This is because we learned a lot about what was going on in the letter writers lives' and how they lived a bit in the war. Like when Dr. Powell came to school and showed us some Civil War artifacts and facts.I also thought that this project was very special because we got to transcribe these letters that have barely been looked at. Another reason I thought that this project went well was we got to learn all about transcribing. As we went on, all the transcribers got better at their jobs and we eventually we able to read the letters and not stumble over any words that could have been hard to read when we first started. Finally, I thought this went very well because, after looking through the exhibit opening pictures in class, we were able to complete everything by the deadlines. The websites are mainly working, the letters have been looked over 3 or 4 times each, and the curators did a good job of completing their tasks.
I wouldn't change much but I would have liked to have some deadlines or checkpoints for some transcribing. But overall, this project was very successful.
I think that overall we did a good job on the Dayton Burnham Project. I think this because we had to decipher letters and become historians unraveling the past. Also the people who did other jobs like a historical researcher, and then they learned how to read census records and learned how to use a website like ancestry.com. This will enable us in the future to do something like this again or something similar to this. Another reason why I think that we did a good job on this project is because we developed a book, two websites, and a museum exhibit which is pretty good for a 8th grade class. In my experience in our project there was never someone that was not willing to help whenever I wanted to ask a question about the letters or even a question about how my family tree looks someone would always be willing to answer. Also the project fit in perfectly with what we were learning in class, the Civil War. As we were learning in class we were also learning through our projects because we got a personal look at what people thought of the war and what was going through their minds when they sent letters back home. The text book made a general understanding of how things worked in the Civil War, but when we did this project we learned at more of a personal level of the soldiers at war. I agree with Katie K when she says, “Another aspect of the project that I thought went really well was our responsibility as individuals. Since our whole eighth grade class was working toward one final project, we needed to trust everyone to do their job and I thought that individually we each held up our end of the project. For example during class we were very focused for nearly a 100% of the class time in order to get our individual jobs done that were crucial to the overall project.” I agree with her because everyone contributed to the project and helped make it happen without one person’s extra effort the book, exhibit, and website would not be the same today. This is why I think that we did a good job on the Dayton Burnham Project.
If you were to change something next year to make this better you should have more time for the editors to edit and have another editor so that the work can be done faster. Other than that I think that we did a good job and that the project went well and that you should keep the rest the same. A connection to this project was science class. In science we were working in individual groups teaching ourselves. This is like social studies because we were teaching ourselves how to read words in cursive and how to read family trees. In both classes we were teaching ourselves things that we didn’t know before and it really paid off. Overall 8th grade did a really good job on this project! Great job!
I think this project was a real success. One thing that went well was that we got an overall good project. Another thing was that everyone in the grade came together to make a good product. The last example of things that went well is that everyone tried really hard to work effectively, and that is really cool. The one thing that could have been changed was the time. For me, I could have used a little more time. I only contributed one poem, and I feel bad, with more time, I would have been able to contribute more to the product. But, I think this project was a major success.
I think this project went very well. Some things that I thought went very well was that we got all of those letters, draws and poems done in kind of a small amount of time. There were many letters that had to be done, and we all were working on them, and I think that helped a lot too. Working in with other people. If we have done it one person, I think it would take a longer time and have been harder. This is because you would have to be looking back and forth and you might lose your place. Some things that I think we could have done better would be that having the same people work on the same letter till that one gets done. I think that would have saved some time. You could be working on a letter one day, and then the next day someone else would get that letter. It might have worked better if the same people worked on the same letter. Also that if on the copy of the letter we would have left a little note saying that you ended here. Because once you got a letter, someone probably worked on that letter already, so they got farther. You would have to go through the letter to find where they left off. But overall I think that we did a great job!
A: What I think went well in the Dayton Burnham project is that most of the people were always on task. I liked how the transcribers worked together and I think that got the transcribing done fast. What I also think went well is that everyone was asking getting help from their classmates and not just going straight to the teacher. We helped each other out and we got suggestions from many people. I liked how the illustrators had made a lot of drafts to ensure that the picture was as good as it can be.
B: What I think can go better for next time is doing more stuff at home therefore we would get done faster. I also think that there should be a few more transcribers because at the end, everything was done but the transcribing. It just barely got done and we got everyone else helping the transcribers. The way that we were helping each other out connects to reconstruction after the civil war. Since the south was in more ruins than the north, the north helped the south out. Like everyone helping the transcribers complete the book.
What I think went well with the Dayton Burnahm Project was that our class was able to work our hardest and be able to get the job done in the limited amount of class time that we had. I liked how our class adapted to things changing, for example when we kept having to make new transcription drafts. Using the Gmail worked well because it would save automatically and it was very easy to share the letters to other people. Also is was interesting to learn about people who lived in Washington, CT about 150 years ago. Giving people different jobs was a good idea because people got to choose the one that was most appealing to them and learn about the events happening during the Civil War.
What could have gone better with the project would be having more time to have less to even no missing words and the web designers would be able to have a better websites. Also it would have been better if all the letters had been made easier to see because it would have cut down on the missing words. And that would have made everyone’s job easier.
A connection I have to this is when I have a limited amount of time to finish a project and I do a little of it every day and it ends up to me finishing it in the right amount of time.
I think that all the letters we transcribed were done very accurately. It was good that we could pick what job we wanted to do and if you wanted to transcribe, you could pick which letter we wanted to do and who we wanted to be partners with.
To make this project better we should have more time like maybe a few more classes because it seemed rushed at the end.
To do something different in the future, we could talk about our experiences to the next class that is going to be working on it in case they have any questions we could tell them about our experiences.
A connection I have to this is whenever I see my grandfather he is always talking about the war that he was in which was WWII and always telling personal stories of it.
I think that overall the project went well. Everyone was on task, at least for the most part. We got the job done in the time we had, and the end results were fantastic! Also, having been a docent, I know that we aren’t the only ones who thought we produced great results! Many people were impressed at how much we had done in such a short amount of time, and how well things had been done. I think this proves the project went well and was a complete success. However as Olivia D said I think it may have helped to assign letters, at least to start out. However I thought it was more interesting to pick our own letters, assigning letters may have helped because I realized while working on letters that some letters were being worked on more than others, so assigning students one letter to do a first draft on my have helped that problem at least somewhat. But as I have said, overall the project went well and produced great results! We all did a great job on getting the job done, and the book, the exhibit and the website(s) all turned out fantastic! Great job everyone!
Another reason I think this project was successful is the fact that not only was it fun, but it helped us learn more. I think reading letters taught us more of what it was like to be in a war. I also realized that they sort of stayed away from the exact topic of war, and instead mentioned things like the weather, what they had seen, where they had been etc. So it was a different and more fun way of learning.
And one final reason I think that this was successful was that not only were we able to teach ourselves with this project, but we were able to teach others too. People will be able to go online and read the letters online, or go to the museum and look at the exhibit. Or, even read the book.
For these reasons I believe that this project was a success and there is not much I would change.
1: What do you think went well with the Dayton Burnham Project?
I think that most things, if not everything, went well. Yes, it was annoying when you tried to find the letter you were transcribing near the end of the project because finished letters were mixed it with unfinished, but eventually you were able to find the one you were looking for. In addition, everyone was on-task most, if not all of the time, which sped things up a lot. That, and nobody had a problem with the job that they were assigned. All of these factors greatly reduced the amount of time that was needed to complete this assignment.
2: What do you think could have been better with the Dayton Burnham Project and what should we do differently in the future?
Something that could have been better with the Dayton project would be moving letters from one folder to another once they have been finished. This would have saved a lot of time. I remember one class when I spent about twenty minutes just trying to find a letter that hadn't been finished yet. If we did that, I'm sure it would have boosted everyone's rate of productivity. Also, maybe we could have written on the letter what stage of transcription it was on. It would have saved a lot of time that was otherwise spent running back and forth to the computer.
During the past month the Dayton Burnham project was very successful way. One reason is that we all were on task most of the part of the project. The illustrators worked very hard on their final projects while being educated in what it was like in picture form. The transcribers worked hard to decode the 30 letters. We knew it was going to be a challenge, but we did it and we were educated. We were educated by learning what daily life in the Civil War. We also learned what it was like back home where the families would always be thinking off the guys in the war. There were not many negative things about this project except for one thing. It was confusing what to do in the different types of drafts like first, second, third, and final draft. These are the positive and negative affects on the Dayton Burnham project.
I think that the Dayton Burnham project went very well. I think this because the process flowed very well. We all helped each other if they needed it, and this made the project go by more efficiently and quickly. Like Olivia D. said, this project felt like a real job. We had to finish deadlines on time and we had the task of” improving both quality and quantity” on the project. Overall, I think that the project came out very well. One thing that could have been different was the clarity of the letters, like Cory said. We could have copied them neater to make them easier for the transcribers to transcribe. This project reminds me of how we can work in groups for our science project. Everyone has to contribute their role to the project, as well as have their part in on time. I would also like to congratulate everybody on a job well done. Everything looks great, and looks very professional. Nice work, everyone!
I think that the Dayton Burnham project went very well. Our entire class took something away from this amazing experience. Not only did we all get to learn to transcribe, we got to partake in a project that is usually only offered to adults. Since we were able use primary source letters, we could relate and become more knowledgeable on the feelings, thoughts, hardships, etc. of the soldiers. I believe that this assignment gave us all a lesson in teamwork and communication. Everyone had different jobs that all came with different tasks. We all had to communicate with each other to make sure these tasks weren’t repeated and so that we could work as efficiently as possible. I learned to read cursive very well and to work with people we don't exactly like the best. I agree with Molly that the editors did feel a bit hurried in finishing the project and another person or two would have made the work load lighter and easier to handle. In all, I feel that this project was a valuable learning experience.
To do this project better i think that we could have worked with no partners. I am aware that we need to use teamwork but there was a lot of goofing around in my class. Also to make this project better i would have made the transcribing easier. I think that the sharing system was a little to complicating and took to much time in class. I would recommend that you have all the letters in a file so that we didn't have to look for them and people could work on the same letter at the same time.
The things that i thought went well was that everyone was working together. For example, the transcribers would get help from others, to see if they could help figure out what the word was. Also the illustrators would build off of the ideas that the transcribers found in the letters. People from other classes would leave notes on where they would leave off, which was a good and clever way of communicating and being effective in our work. It was also taught us to use primary sources as a source of knowledge- which was the letters, and it taught us more about Civil War life. Another thing that was good about the project was that it gave us some independence. Instead of being taught the same things by the same person every single day, we had to try and figure things out for ourselves, which made us realize that independence is very important. Another thing that was good about the project was that it was very interesting to learn about Dayton's life and how it was like at the war and home. It also made me realize how there were several brave soldiers who lived where we live today. For example in a letter, it was talking about how Dayton was very sick, but still had to continue doing whatever he needed to do. One thing that could have been better is the use of time. Towards the beginning, some letters were just getting dragged on for a while, not making much progress because several people would just get stuck on one word or sentence and not try to move forward. In the future, we should not get so stuck on a word or sentence, and come back to it later. Chances are it may make more sense if you give it a rest for a little and come back to it. The non-transcribers also could have helped out with transcribing, since several seemed to have extra time on their hands. One thing that could be done for future transcribers is to make a list of words that will probably be in the letter. This will make it easier for some words. A connection I can make to this project is the art poems we are doing in English. We each have a little part to do, which is writing our own poems about a piece of art, in order to make a final product- a poem book. This is like how we all did a part in the Dayton Project to get an end result of a museum exhibit and a book.
I feel that the Dayton Burnham project went extremely well and was a lot of fun to learn about. The transcriptions were very well done and everyone put a lot of work into their jobs. The website and book turned out great and everyone really put their time into this. I also think that everyone had worked productively and was almost always on task doing what they needed to be doing. So Overall I think that the project was a success. However, a change I would suggest is to allow more time for those that had longer jobs than others. I especially think that we went way to fast through the transcription (but they turned out good). I also think that some people with shorter jobs than others should also have another job with that instead of just transcribing because their work didn’t take as long as others. I also think that by doing this that the project could get done much faster. The project was really good for the time given though!
What do you think went well with the Dayton Burnham Project?
Overall, the project was great. The whole class was working very hard to make sure that they were doing their job right and they did their best to get the job done on time. I noticed that all the transcribers were always asking for help with words that they couldn’t figure out and they were staying on task too. Illustrators had created thoughtful masterpieces and when they finished drawing, they’d use their extra class time to help the other students transcribe. That type of work was perfect for this project, and that is what made it a success.
What do you think could have been better with the Dayton Burnham Project and what should we do differently in the future?
I think that the project would have been better if transcribers were assigned letters or have the option of picking one that peeked their interest. That would improve the project because students would be responsible for their own letter. With that responsibility they would make sure to try their best so that they would get a good grade. Also Mr. Croft would be able to keep track of who was doing their work well and who wasn’t doing as well as they could be. Another positive outcome of being assigned letters, is that students won’t have to waste time looking for a different letter. Instead, they would already have one that they could work on. I think that we as a class also needed more time to work on the project because it was very rushed towards the end. If we were given an extra week I think we could have had a greater substantial amount of work.
I think that overall the Dayton Burnham project was a success. I think this because we got to work independently. One of my favorite parts of the project was the fact that people got to chose the job they wanted and prove to Mr. Croft and Mrs. Baty that they would be good at that job. For example, some people find it easier to express their feelings through pictures and others through poetry. I liked that the artists in the class weren't forced to write essays and vice versa. Another thing that went well with the project was the group work. It's easier to work with a partner, so you don't have to do the work all by yourself and you have your partner to help you out in tough spots. For me, having a good partner helped me focus on the task at hand. Also, the Google Documents system was very organized and helpful. Usually in projects like this, it gets very chaotic and frantic but, everything was always neat and easy to read/understand. Last, I loved how this was an interactive project. It proved that learning about transcribing, editing, and writing would be of use to us outside of social studies class. The best part was seeing it all up at the exhibit and knowing that it was our work. I think that there should have been more editors in this project or the editors should have had more time. I agree with Rachel C. that we should maybe have transcribed other newspapers and primary sources about Dayton Burnham. This would have given us a wider range of information. The Dayton Burnham Project was definitely a success.
I think that many things went well with the Dayton Burnham project. I thought it was a very good experience and fit to everyone in different ways. It was something new for almost everyone and made fun learning process. Everyone was able to do what they wanted for the most part, some did illustrations while others did poetry and short stories, everyone at some point or another transcribed, and there were people who chose bigger jobs like editing and website designing. I think it made us think about what we were learning about much deeper; for example in a letter it stated, “I’m glad you have not yet sworn into Uncle Sam’s service.” This means that whoever was writing the letter was glad that the receiver of the letter had not joined the army in the Civil War. We had learned that many people had joined the war and then regretted joining. I think when people read that, it made them realize first hand that people would actually basically tell each other not to join through this primary source. Another good thing about the project is that we were able to try something that adults do as a profession. I think this gave us an idea about what it’s like to be a historian or historical researcher first hand. While this project was an overall wonder success, there are a few things that may help in the future. For one thing, people who were transcribing probably often felt pressured and scrappy towards the project. My reasoning for this is that people were not assigned letters to work on, and almost of them had never done this type of work before and were now trying to complete it for a website and museum exhibit. This can be overwhelming; some may think that they have to work slowly and get every word and others may think that they have to rush and get it done. I think that if transcribers were assigned the letters to work on, it would clear things up. Also if they were given clearer copies of the letters in the process of photocopying, it may have been easier for them to identify an unknown word. That’s what I would change in the project. This project reminds me of the ASAP play because in both situations a group of kids are working together to make a good final product by a certain deadline like a job simulation. In the play it’s to put on a good show and for the Dayton project it was to make a good final product for the website and museum exhibit.
A: What do you think went well with the Dayton Burnham project?
What I think went well with the Dayton project was that we achieved our goal of the museum exhibit, the book, and a website. Also, most of the time we stayed on task and showed dedication, and each individual took their job seriously. Well done everyone!
B: What do you think could have been better with the Dayton Burnham Project and what should we do differently in the future?
Something that could have gone better would be to arrange it so each period worked on a certain group instead of everyone working on the same letters. I remember one class where I got a lot of transcribing done, and this included researching places and words in the dictionary. Then, the next class I looked and all of my changes were changed back to different things than I had researched. This one the one thing that I would change, so that the letter you work on can only be “fixed” by you.
I think that the project on Dayton Burnham went very well. I think that the whole class was focused and worked hard on achieving a goal. Every class when I looked around everyone was doing something and working hard. As a student I found it very helpful to be able to use my classmates as a resource. I learned how good of a resource they could be. Since all of the participants in this project had a common goal I don’t think it was that challenging to complete the project by the due date. That is what I think went well with the Dayton Project.
Since the project went very well there is only one little thing that could’ve been done better. The thing that could have been done better with this project is that it could have been more organized. I thought that the system of using Google Docs made the process a little confusing. It took a little while because we had to share the document with ourselves and then sometimes we could not find the certain letter. That is one thing that could have been done better in this project.
I can relate this project with my baseball team last year. Since we all had a common goal of winning the league championships and were willing to work hard to do achieve that goal we were able to win it. This relates to the project because the entire class had a goal of completing the project and we were able to achieve it.
A: What do you think went well with the Dayton burnham project?
I think the project went really well.
I think overall the project went very well. We had 30 letters to transcribe in a short amount of time, and we did it. As Molly said, the letters that I saw had at the most, 4 blank spaces. I think that’s very impressive for people who have never transcribed before. The project was also very satisfying- whenever I struggled with a word and then figured it out, I was very proud. I remember Mr. Croft and I not being able to figure out a word. We thought and thought for days, before Mr. Croft realized it said “ice skating.” We looked at the date of the letter and saw it was in December, in New Haven, which is prime skating time. However, he didn’t ever directly give us the answer- he just sent us on the right track to find it. Also, as an illustrator, I loved that we got to pick out on line that spoke to us. I had a very enjoyable time reading through each letter to find the perfect line. I think the Google Documents was a very organized and simply solution to keeping all the letters available to those who needed them. It was helpful to see what draft each letter was on without having to open it. I enjoyed working independently, because it helped train me to be responsible for myself. If I realized I was socializing too much, I had to be the one to tell myself to get back on track. I also agreed with Olivia D., this project felt like a real job with deadlines and such. The only thing that I think could have improved was the number of copies of the letters. If someone accidently took one home, or couldn’t find one, it would’ve been more helpful to have several copies of each. This project reminds me of science class. The last few weeks we have been in groups working on separate units about the human body. This relates because in both situations a teacher isn’t there the whole time, reminding you to stay on track and to do your homework. It was up to each individual to keep their project moving. Overall, I thought the Dayton Burnham project was a success.
What I thought went well with the Dayton Burnham project was that we got to choose someone to work with that was working on the same topic that you were working on. I think this went well because we knew the person and could communicate with them and help each other. But if we didn’t get to work with someone who we wanted to work with, then maybe we got paired up with someone who we don’t talk to and that sometimes makes it hard for the project to be finished well. Also that everyone who was transcribing (from what I saw, since I was transcribing) got better at it and could finish the letters quicker and still have it be accurate. I agree with Maisie W. when she said, “The project was also very satisfying- whenever I struggled with a word and then figured it out, I was very proud.” I agree with this because when Margot W. and I had no idea what the word was, and took a while to figure it out, I felt smart when we finally found out what it said! I think also what went well was how we did 4 drafts on all the letters so we’d be positive that it’ll be our best work and easy to read. So overall it was good!
I think that what could have been better and make future experiences better was that there should be a copy of the letters on the computer that could be used and work just as well as having the letters at school. I think this because then the letters would not be so crammed and wrinkled. Also that then we wouldn’t be rushing as much to finish the 4th drafts for the letters.
My connection to this is like studying for a test because you could study with someone at school in D1 but also at home you might need to study by yourself. Also the project had to be done on a certain day to be ready just like how for a test or quiz you needed to be ready by the day of the test or quiz.
I think that the Dayton Burnham Project was overall a big success. The transcribing went well, aside from come lack of communication between periods, and I think all the literary contributes and illustrators did a great job. We got some awesome drawings and poems and journal entries. That in and of itself shows how the project made an impact. We were able to make a deeper connection with the stories portrayed in the letters. I, personally, felt it was a very interesting, very new way of learning a topic that could have otherwise been just like any other story in a text book. The only issue I had with it was that a lot of the transcribers and people who weren't Curators got left out of the loop when it came to research. Everyone went out and found out a lot of cool facts and put together a great exhibit, but it wasn't really shared with the rest of the class until it opened. It made it hard for anyone volunteering at the museum, me included, because i wasn't told much about the people in the letters or what research we did. If the classes had all found time to share ideas and findings more often it would have made it easier and perhaps more enjoyable for everyone. But it was still a cool experience.
I think that the Dayton Burnham project went pretty well. I think that it went well because people were making sure that they were getting things done on time and were doing a good job on their part. Also another good thing about us as a class did was that we learned how to transcribe letters. Another good thing that happened was that classmates made sure that were ever they left off they put a comment on what they were reading. Another thing was that I agreed with what RayC said, “I liked how the transcribers worked together and I think that got the transcribing done fast.
One thing that I would of changed on the project would be that when we put the papers away that were done they would have been put away in another clean folder. Other than that I think that it was a very good process.
Overall, I think the Dayton Burnham project was a success. I think this because, for this project to be completed, the whole 8th grade class had to contribute significantly in order to meet deadlines. To transcribe about 30 letters, create illustrations, write poetry, and so much more, I think we, as a class, did an excellent job. For example, for the transcribers, each and everyone had asked for assistance if they couldn’t decipher a certain word, phrase, or a whole sentence. Also to even speed up the process in an effective way, each transcriber had worked with a partner or even a small group to thoroughly transcribe each letter. To me, that showed commitment, teamwork and responsibility towards completing the project. Another way I thought the project went well was because everyone was in charge of their own work. I think this made the students feel independent because they were in control and responsible for their own work. I know from my own experience that I enjoyed being able to do my own work independently, or with a group because I felt that I get tasks done faster when I know what I’m doing, on my own, with no or little direction. Another aspect of this project that I thought was a success was that I think that everyone who was included and worked on this project, had been taught a little bit about not only the civil war, but people who were actually alive and communicating through that time frame. I think that it gives more of a sense on how people lived and what they went through when they had to live in a time of war. All and all, I enjoyed being able to have the experience to work on this project and the process that went along with it.
I thought the Dayton Burnham Project went really well. I say this because everyone did a great job at what they needed to do. Also everyone finished on time so we could put the book all together. And everyone enjoyed reading the letters to learn more about the civil war first hand. One thing I thought could have been better was the way we shared the letters with each other. I say this because it took time to get a letter from the list on the front computer to your lab top. Also it got confusing with the first, second, third, and final drafts because I thought it would be a first draft then correct the letter and then make the final draft. That would have saved the transcribers a lot of time.
I think that overall, the Dayton Burnam project went really well. Our class managed to transcribe letters, turn out really exquisite drawings and literary contributions, put together a book and website, and get all of that done in time for our deadline and the opening of a museum exhibit. I thought that each class (mine at least) worked really well together when it came to going to one another when we needed help, and no one really sat around and let other people do the work- everyone got really involved in the project. And everyone seemed to have fun with it, as well.
I think that in the future you should keep the same system of having kids apply for the jobs they want and dividing up the work and time for the final project, that system seemed to work really well. However, for transcribers and editors and researchers that were in different classes, there sometimes seemed to be issues with communication. Later on in the project we learned how to insert notes and comments and share documents with one another- but teaching that earlier on in the project could potentially help any communication issues. But besides that the project seemed to work really well.
I think overall that the Dayton Burham project went better than I planned. Our class managed to do everything Mr.Croft told us. I was expecting at least a 2 day set back because of some kids not doing work. In My opinion I thought that my class period G did very well working together and getting everything accomplished without mistakes. My favorite part about it was the applying for jobs I found it unique and something that all teachers should do. Some people may sometimes get of topic but Mr.Croft would always get that back on. I was an Illustrator and I thought that it was gonna be very hard to draw something historic but with the help from Mr. Croft I was able to do it. I found this project great and i would love to do it gain in the 4 years I have left of grade school.
I think that the Dayton Burnham Project went really well. I thought the curators and other helpers that contributed to the exhibit did a very good job in setting up. Specifically, I liked how there were a few posters that showed some important and interesting info, like where the letters were sent from. I also like how there was a wall of student pictures and literary contributions. Aside from the exhibit, I thought the books turned out really well, too. I thought the format and the chapters, fonts, and pictures were well presented and easy to understand, neigh, inviting. I think that the project could have gone a bit smoother if there was a mite bit longer. This might have allowed for maybe a bit less scrambling to assemble a product and a bit more time for editing and revising. It has been brought to attention that a few points of data on exhibition were incorrect, so maybe a bit more time could have allowed us, the students, to have caught the mistakes before the presentation. Overall, though, this was a great project that allowed us to use primary resources to learn, and ultimately create a final product that was fit for the public.
i thought the dayton burnam project went well. one of the main things i thought went well was how me and my partner communicated alot. one thing i thought didn't go well was sometimes we would get off task pretty quickly at times.one thing i would change in the future is just to make sure people are doing work and not getting off task.also i thought it was a good idea for people who didn't have any work to do transcriping.
I think the Dayton Burnham project came out superb. Everyone seemed to always be on-task, and we finished the project on time. Like ‘Emma Rose’ said, “Writers had a chance to express themselves, along with artists and others without a specific talent through transcribing.” Everyone had a job that fit them well. Most of the student seemed to like working on their individual projects. We had the opportunity to look at thinks outside of textbooks and do something people will remember. This project was a huge success.
A connection I had was that in the project we had to present our project to the public when it was done. I had to do a project that was presented to the public before, and could relate to the feeling of wanting people to appreciate the work I had done.
Question A: I think pretty much everuthing went well with the Dayton Burnham project. Accept for the fact that with the website, you could only have one person and one computer working on the website. I think that the drawinggs went well because they had alot of time to draw them. Another reason why the project went well is that the transcriders did a good job transcribing. Because some of the letter were really hard to read, also some of them didnt make sence because the gramar back then wasnt that good. Another reasn why the project went well is that everone contributed alot, and if it wasnt alot they still contributed, which counts. Thats why I think that the Dayton Burnham Project went well.
Question A: I think everything went went well for the most part in The Daytom Burham project. The drawings were great, the letters were tough but we transcribed them, I think webcite B was abit better.
Question B:I dont think you should chnge a thing it was a great experience.
Yes I do think the project did go well. The reason that I think the project did go well is that is that the teacher put us in groups and that made it go fast. I think the things we did well were the book, the websites, and transcribing. The reason I think this is because there were a lot of people working on transcribing so we were able to transcribe a lot more letters than if we had only a few people. I agree with Dylan that it made us feel self-empowered and more responsible. I liked that we could work independently so it gave us the boost to be able to ask other students for help instead of asking Mr. Croft or another teacher. I think that also being able to grade ourselves made us really think about how we had been working, but the bad thing about that is kids could say that they did a lot of the work yet they really didn’t. The only change that I would make is that there will be less transcribers and more authors because I think the transcribing is easier than being an author.
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