Why you need to do the busy work before finishing with the videos

Anyone who has ever been a student will know, as a school semester winds down - especially in the final term - the teaching units usually conclude with a string of videos.

My Ancient China units ends by watching the original Mulan film.

My Water in the World unit concludes by watching Finding Nemo.

But, before we launch into a slew of video lessons to finish the school year, there’s an important task that must be done first.

Busy work.

An important, but non assessable task (since reports are already completed).

A task where the students select from a list of choices and then create something touching on that topic - usually a poster or newspaper.

The reason this task is essential is because it incorporates a vital administrative function.

Every teaching unit has elements which, at minimum, you must touch on.

This final task ensures, through the smorgasbord of choices which you’ll need to describe, that you are honestly able to tick off everything in the unit outline.

For, while everything in a teaching outline is not equal and doesn’t deserve the same amount of focus, an open task at the end of the unit allows you to still include the red-herrings of the teaching units and give the students freedom to pursue the untouched elements if they so desire.