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Classroom Project Management Tools

Projects are one-time, multiple component jobs that require a team to complete. This is what a classroom school year is.

The teacher is the project manager for a complex project. The project team includes bus drivers, cooks, lab instructors, librarians, custodians, campus administrators, psychologists, counselors, school nurses, special education teachers, and others.

The teacher is given the responsibility for this project, and the task is to build individualized learning experiences for about twenty to maybe thirty students. The teacher is not given the authority to manage this project, nor is the teacher given an adequate budget or enough resources such as Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), Team Members (staff help: aides and clerical help), or materials.

It is a paradox of teaching that a teacher, with all this help on their project team would feel so isolated and alone. This paradox exists because the teacher does not have authority to direct other members of the project team. The fact that this relationship is backwards is a fact of a teacher's role that teachers must learn to accept.

Project management is a systematic set of procedures that define the following steps or stages:

Define the Problem that the Project will Resolve: Brainstorm Solutions and Options
Plan the Project: What needs to be done?; Who will do what needs to be done?; How will the project be done?; By when must the project be done?; How much will the project cost?; What resources do we need to get the job done?; What are the risks and threats that might ruin or delay the project?
Work the Plan
Assess, Monitor and Control the Project: Are we on target?; What must be done to get on target...stay on target?; Should we change the plan to make our outcomes better?
End the Project: What was done well?; What could we have improved?; What else did we learn from this project