“You know that science project with the planets made of foam balls? That’s what I call a ‘trash can lid project’ because it ends up on top of the trash can when it’s over.” Harsh words from our presenter, but he wasn’t wrong. It made me cringe hearing those words because I knew I’d assigned those types of projects many times over the years. This memory was called back to the forefront of my mind after reading this thoughtful post from The Educator Collaborative.

In a nutshell, the author shows what classwork her child decided to keep and what she wanted to recycle. Spoiler alert: all the items she wanted to keep were projects she’d done at home. They were beautiful examples of authentic literacy work, including a superhero book created from some blank paper and writing utensils. Aside from the authentic and joyful nature of the work, it also revealed so much more about this child’s knowledge and skills. On the other hand, the recycle pile was marked by premade worksheets that showed very little of their abilities.

So why do we keep doing these projects and tasks that just end up in a circular file? For myself, I know that there were times when it was the easier route to take and other times when I just didn’t know an alternative. But time and time again, I would find that completing a thing is not the same as learning a thing. On the one hand, I felt a sense of accomplishment if kids finished a project. On the other, I would feel deflated when later there was little evidence that kids had learned any real content or skills. Eventually, I learned to be much more critical of the things I was asking kids to do.

There are many things to consider when designing or adapting curriculum, of course; here are some questions I consider to avoid falling into the trap of doing work that ends up in the recycle or trash bin.

• Is this an authentic task? Do people outside of school do this work? Will it lead to doing this type of work more successfully?
• How much student voice and choice can be embedded?
• What are we (students and teacher) learning? What exactly am I hoping they will learn or get better at? How will this task show me where kids’ understandings or skills are?

Using those questions as a guide, it was easy to spot the worksheet below as something that would inevitably end up in the recycling bin. First of all, filling in the letter I on a worksheet is far from authentic. Yes, knowing how to write a capital letter I is helpful as a writer, but there are many other ways to practice that skill. Secondly, there is zero student voice or choice here. Finally, the time spent on this gives me very little information about what a child can do on their own other than copy the letter I.

An alternative to this activity could be a student-created I Can book. With some blank pages, they can use drawings and words, and even the letter I, to tell others about themselves. Not only is this a more authentic task, it also helps us learn so much more about a child.

What activities or projects will you look at critically to keep it from ending up in the trash pile?