A lesson taught this week

About a week ago I realized that my second level students had yet to fully understand the purpose and use of the GPS standards. So I decided to give each of the 14 students in that class a standard. Each student was given a rubric and asked to create a poster based on the given learning goal. Students have turned in their posters. Unfortunately I was out 2.5 days last week. So we will learn the info that each student has to share on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Thus far students have taken a greater sense of ownership in the unit. One student made the comment " I get it, this is how you know what to teach us". Sure I want them to understand the content within the standards. However, It's sometimes feels like they're never going to get it because they think its just busy work. I think showing them that my lessons are bigger than our little classroom will helps them meet the expectations of the outside world, which they so desperately want to be apart of.