Project With My Students -- Why?

So why am I completing a project alongside my Lights Academy students? It certainly is not because I have so much extra time! Yet I am making it a point to persevere with this project. Why?

Here are the reasons why it is a priority for me to complete a project with my students before the end of the school year:

• To learn something new about something I enjoy -- baseball and its history!
• To allow my students to clearly see the joy of learning through my experience with learning and inquiry
• To better understand the challenges, joys, and frustrations my students experience as they complete learning activities of their creation
• To allow my students to actively see me as a co-learner -- one who has the same learning goals and expectations as my students even though I am in a different phase of life
• To provide an opportunity for my students to hold me accountable with my work and perhaps better comprehend the strategies used for accountability within Lights Academy
• To model life-long learning for my students and provide them with a visible reminder of the importance of continuing to "re-invent" oneself professionally when living and working in this fast-changing digital society.

Have you ever worked alongside your students? What worked? What didn't? Share your experiences as a comment to this post so we can all learn and grow together.