This quarter I am going to do something different with my final project. I am going to imbed the work into the entire quarter and work on it a little each week. I also plan to complete it and grade it by the end of week 8. This way students wgho did not complete the project, usually because they don't believe me how much a summative assessment worth 35% of their grade can change their grade, they will have a full week to complete it if they wish to improve their grade before the end of the quarter.
I also really like the idea of feeling like the project not only is totally connected to our main focus of the quarter, but that it is imbedded and not something done at the end. The reason for this is that I wish I had started the Autobiography project during the first weeks of the quarter, instead of waiting til week 7.
Our research project is going to be on a French-speaking (francophone) person of their choice. I have dropped the idea of making them choose a musician, and have decided that my main goal is to encourage them to find a personal link to the french world via someone they are interested in for their own personal reasons.
I am still considering allowing students to work in small groups or with a partner, to support their need to socialize during spring/final quarter. I have a Wikpedia list of Frenchies on my website and am going to have students choose their person this week. I am also going to try out the Research Calculator next week in the lab with students. Any recommendations from teachers who have used it so far would be welcome! Merci.