Describing Elephants

I'm feeling rather like one of the blind men describing the elephant. When I proposed this workshop, I had a vision, probably similar to the visions I've had for the classes I taught back 10 years or more ago when I was in the regular classroom. I know enough to understand I had to expect that that vision would be altered by the reality of the kids in front of me, but wow. This has thrown me far more than I expected.

When I proposed and described the workshop, I envisioned educators who had assigned a research project to their students for several years running deciding that the project needed a facelift, a little extra umph, a little more relevance. I thought I'd get some folks who'd decided that they needed to introduce a little project based learning into their class, so they were thinking of adding a project to their study of.....

In other words, I made the fatal mistake of assuming my class would be coming with all the pre-requisites for learning that tend to make educational experiences worthwhile. But they're like the kids...(see the lightbulb?) So, hmm. I'm glad I asked, but how am I going to fit all this into one day? What are the MOST important things for us to explore? How will I offer something worthwhile to the collaborative team working on strengthening a portfolio research project (whatever that is) and something equally useful to the individual who wants to make a powerpoint about classroom rules? Good reminder for me about the challenges of the classroom.