Follow The Yellow Brick Road
Use
This active learning method can be used when students are deciding what course of actionto take.
Aim
Teams will recognise the importance of planning when undertaking a project. They will setgoals and create a plan of action for their project that is practical, achievable and realistic.
Steps
Every plan is really like a journey: like Dorothy who followed the yellow brick road to get toOz, you will have to follow a road to get to your end goal. Think of the many groups youknow who have succeeded-they all had a goal. The team who wins the Champions League,the band who get a number one, and the rally driver who wins Formula One all have an endgoal in sight and a plan to get there. Planning is really just figuring out how to get to the endof the road.Where Are You Going?Dorothy knew that she wanted to get to Oz so that she could get home
–
that was her plan.The FormulaOne team who wants to get to the finish line first
–
that is their plan.
• What is your plan?
• What
are the aims off your project?
• What do you want the end result of your project to be?
• The end of the road… What do you want to happen as a result of your project?
• While the plan may change as the progress develops, make sure your goals are
S.M.A.R.T.Specific: Is your goal well defined? Be as precise as possibleMeasurable: How will you know when you have achieved your goal? Achievable: Unrealistic goals will only end is disappointment.Your goals should be challenging but realistic.Relevant: Try to look at the big picture and see how relevant each goal is to your overall aim.Time-bound: Set a time-scale of completion of each goal. This may be viewed as yourprogress.Getting Started On The RoadThe band that gets to number one in the charts needs a number of things before they caneven consider
the charts
–
band members, instruments and a decent song. What will youneed to help you get your
project done?
What do you need to do first? Who will you need to help Resources (pens, paper, you getyour project done? library, internet etc.)On the RoadThe team which wins the Champions League would not succeed if it only had forwards, ateam needs defenders, players to set up the scores and a decent management team
–
inother words: everyone has their job to do to achieve success.
• Who will be doing what in your group?
Learning:
Teams will define their goals, highlight what they need to do to achieve their goals, what arethe roles that are necessary within their group and the resources they will require.
Materials:
Paper and pens, whiteboard to write ‘SMART’ goals.