Matthew+Leftwich+Artifact

__**Introduction**__: The success of my students, my school, and myself as a teacher is measured using the students' performance on the end-of-year standardized test, the CRCT. Consequently, there is great pressure on the students to perform well on the test and on the teachers to ensure their students are prepared to do so. As eighth graders, my students are required to pass the Math CRCT in order to advance to the ninth grade. If they fail this test, they must attend summer school and retake the test at the end of the summer session. If they fail the test a second time, they will enter the appeals process in an attempt to be promoted to the ninth grade. Throughout the year, every minute of class time is dedicated to ensuring that students master the skills they need to pass the eighth grade Math CRCT. A substantial amount of class time must also be dedicated to not-yet-mastered foundational skills upon which the eighth grade math skills build. The CRCT is administered in April, which leaves several weeks between testing and the end of the school year.

__**Goal:**__ During the remaining post-CRCT weeks, the students will complete an entrepreneurship project that requires them to utilize the 21st century skills of critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, and communication. The project will span across three of the subjects that eighth graders study: Math, Social Studies, and Language Arts. The three teachers for these classes will work together to create the guidelines for the project and support the students in completing their individual projects. The joint effort will also maximize the time during the school day during which the students will be able to work on the project. Two of the elements of the project will be a written proposal and a videotaped presentation. While it will be easiest to ensure that students demonstrate communication skills, the teachers will ensure that students must demonstrate the other 21st century skills in order to successfully complete the project.

__**Working Space:**__ As part of the project, the students will:
 * create a new product or improve a previously existing product
 * present a written proposal for their entrepreneurship project
 * introduce their business idea to the class in the form of an oral presentation, which will be filmed
 * upload their written proposals and recordings of the oral presentations to a wiki
 * reflect upon the process of developing their businesses by posting blog entries
 * explain how their project will benefit the local and global community
 * provide feedback to their peers by commenting on one another's blog posts

media type="youtube" key="UU8L95EBR-Y" height="344" width="425"