Reflection 8

There are many ways to build connections and branch out beyond the classroom. Branching outside of the classroom helps students reach an authentic audience. Students now can use technology to get feedback from people from around the globe. For example, students can use a blog to communicate with someone from outside of their classroom and have them put in their own perspective. It’s your job as a teacher to adapt to the 21^st century needs and provide your students with as many opportunities as possible that will prepare them for the real world.

The East Initiative model is built on four essential ideas, all which are part of the original design. First, students need to be responsible for their own learning. It’s important for students to realize that they are in control of their choices. A teacher cannot teach a student anything unless they take the initiative. It’s also important that students are solving real world problems. If students can make connections to a problem and their own life they will be more engaged. Since it is the 21^st century its important that students have access to relevant technologies. Having experience with these technologies will help prepare students to become professionals. Lastly, It’s essential that students are working together collaboratively. You will accomplish more as a team then you will as an individual. 

It’s important that students learn how to lead so that they will develop professionalism. It’s hard to teach students how to lead. The best way to introduce them is by putting them in the situation. This chapter relates to our class. We are working in groups collaboratively, using relevant technologies, and are developing leaders. By learning from this chapters content you are preparing yourself to be a professional. 

Reflection 7

There are several levels of discussions that take place in the classroom. The first level of discussion is teacher to teacher. It’s important that teachers collaborate together to create the best game plan. Teachers can communicate by using blogs, email, etc. It doesn’t have to be face-to-face conversations only. Student to student conversation are important for establishing teamwork. Having students working together helps them learn from one another. It’s important that students practice communicating with their peers because it helps prepare them for the next chapter in their life. The last discussion the book talks about is teacher to student. In a traditional classroom the lecture format dominates. A classroom discussion is a great way to get all of the students involved. It’s important for students to create opinions at a young age.

In a PBL classroom it’s important that as the teacher you stay aware of how the students are working together. When students are working in groups you can expect them moving at many different speeds, which is completely normal. Students should ask themselves “Are we staying on task?” Students need to track their progress and be able to estimate deadlines. Another question is “How are the team members getting along?” Sometimes some students decide to take on more responsibility than others. As a teacher you need to make sure that some students are taking advantage of the others. “Have you considered this research…? Have you thought about…?” these are great question to help extend students thinking. It’s important to push them to their individual limits. Lastly, it is important to ask questions that make students assess themselves.

It’s important that teachers choose technologies that are going to best meet the needs of the students. To find the best technology that fits is the project is key. If your technology software needs to be taught by a professional then make sure you do so. It’s the 21^st century: implementing technology is a must. It helps them reach their learning goals and prepares them for the future.

Teamwork is another 21^st century skill that can make or break a project. If you see conflict you need help students learn how to manage it. It is a real life skill that will help them later on. Working as a team is the most important aspect of working when you get older. You need to learn how to handle hostile situations. They are going to be uncomfortable no matter what you do. Just try to handle them in a professional matter as much as possible and see what happens.

This chapter relates to our chapter directly. The real world is about learning how to properly communicate with people. Being able to properly communicate with people helps you avoid conflicts, makes challenges easier, and solves problems.             

Reading Reflection 7

There are three levels of classroom discussion: teacher to teacher, student to student, and teacher to student. Teacher to teacher involves the project planning and taking advantage of opportunities to work together. Face to face collaboration isn’t always necessary to work on the project between teachers. The use of project blogs or wiki can help teacher-teacher conversation continue.  Student to student discussion is a crucial part of the learning process. It is important to remind students that good communication skills are a part of effective teamwork and “explaining their thinking gives students opportunities to learn from and challenge each other.” Teacher to student interactions are more dominate in traditional classroom settings. So in a PBL setting might need less teacher to student interactions. Using management tools through project web sites or blogs, online calendar, or online workspace can help check in on the students to see where they’re at.

            Many different questions can be asked to check in on students during a project and for different areas of the project. Some procedural questions include: are we staying on schedule? Do we have the right materials available? For teamwork check in you might ask, “is one student carrying too much of the load for the whole team?  Are students able to manage conflict themselves or do they need my help?” These questions can help move you in the right direction before continuing with the project to ensure a positive outcome. To check in with student understanding it is important to spend time observing them at work and listen to their conversations. If students are struggling you can ask them questions to trigger deeper thinking, “have you thought about ____?” When self-assessing you can ask questions that encourage reflections. Offering project journals and blogs give students the opportunity to share things they might not want to in class.

There are unlimited benefits to students when optimizing the use of technology. An example from the book was the use of MP3 players in the classroom to integrate them into teaching as opposed to confiscating them. The students were able to easily make and listen to podcasts. This helped students because they could go back and listen to the information instead of asking questions repeatedly. The students described this as a “better way of learning.”

            21^st century skills can make or break a project. It is important to watch carefully to students working in teams right at the beginning. Help the students learn to manage conflicts and work together. This is an important skill that they will continue to use throughout life. One idea from the book was to implement roles for each member that consists of certain responsibilities, and if they neglect these responsibilities they can be fired. By making teamwork an assessment like this, it helps emphasize the importance of teamwork.

            This directly relates to what we do in this class because of how important teamwork is. To work in groups sometimes can be hard, but with the right communication and problem solving skills, it can really enhance learning.

Reading Reflection 6

“Through the project and all of its cognitive demands, they will become more experienced, and they will be more capable learners at the end. Before and after a project, have students complete a self-evaluation that focuses on the learning dispositions you expect them to develop during the project.” When students are able to evaluate themselves before and after a project, it helps them specify the certain events that helped them learn. When they are able to pin point the tools in which assisted them in learning they will know for the next project what is most successful for helping them learn. Blogs and surveys are two prime examples of ways for students to reflect before and after projects. This is also a great way to see the difference when comparing the two. Technology can test students on many levels to push them to work outside of their comfort zone.

            Good project start by tapping students’ prior knowledge. An example used was KWL activities. When you start getting students attention, its “all about possibilities”. Let the students think about the topic when they are at home and come back with ideas. Students working on colonizing the planets each brought something to the table. One student made a digital slideshow of photographs, another looked on Ebay for posters.

            Teaching the fundamentals first is a very important aspect of beginning a project. All students need to be equipped with the proper information to move forward in a certain unit to make it successful. “By teaching the fundamentals, I was sure my students would be pointed in the right direction when they started the project.” Another teacher talked about how she worked with her students on online collaboration, video production and other skills for a year before they began their project. This way they are ready and prepared with the right tools.

            There are steps to take in preparing students for using technology. Ask yourself, “What tools are best for the job? What do students already know how to do? What will they need to know?” Before starting a lesson teaching technology, they suggest considering how you can set up opportunities for students to learn among themselves. “Encourage students to teach each other. What to see where your helps is needed.” By setting up computer stations each with one tool or software, this way students can switch between them. It is also important to make sure to demonstrate tools if you are familiar with them, and if not, rely on your technology specialist to help you along as well.

            Students can brainstorm the ways to combine social studies with science, math, literature, and art in their learning. As teachers we can guide their inquiry by using starter questions like, “which one”, “how”, “what if?, “should…” and “why”. Any of these can be used to cover a topic and subject matter to help students inquire.

            This relates to what we are doing in class because when you are teaching technology it is important to demonstrate the way to use these tools, but the best way to actually learn, is to use them yourself. Which is exactly what we do in this class.

Reflection 6

As students gain more experience in project-based learning, they will better understand themselves. By using technology you can see your learning growth over time and where you struggled. For example, a blog offers students space where they can reflect over time about what they have learned. You can identify your strengths and weaknesses through self-reflection and by having peers comment on your posts. There are also online survey tools such as ProfilerPRO, which will help you identify your interests, strengths and weaknesses. Some software’s also help track trends and helps students see how their self-assessment compares to the larger group. This software will help provide you with the tools to become a better learner.

A great way to start a project is by first activating students background knowledge. It is important that you relate what the students already know to what they are going to learn about. KWL (Know Wonder Learn) charts are very effective when starting a new area of study. The goal is to get the students excited and interested in what they are going to learn. Another effective way to get students minds ready for a project is by telling the students about upcoming projects earlier. If next week we are doing a astronomy project, I might tell students to start looking at the stars at night. This way they are building interest in upcoming class topics and can make connections in class.

 It is a necessity to teach the fundamentals first. Students need to be pointed in the right direction initially so they learn what the teacher is trying to get across. After the teacher introduces the fundamentals students can move on to the more student-driven part of project based learning. It is especially important to teach students the skills needed for using technology software such as audacity. Without the fundamentals the project will move at a much slower pace and might not be good quality work.

Technology is not the project, however it is how the project gets done. When deciding to use a new technology in a classroom you have to plan ways for students to effectively learn how to use it. Asking yourself questions like: “What tools are best for the job?”, “What do my students already know?” and “What they will need to know?” will help you determine what technologies will be most beneficial. It is important to find out what your students are already experts at. If they are experts at PowerPoint then for group presentations have them use PowerPoint. In order to get the best project results you need to take into consideration what technologies work best for the project focus and what technologies the students are experienced with.

The key to promoting inquiry and deeper learning is by questioning. Questions require students to use their own experiences to connect to the topic. In order to comprehend anything you are thinking about questions in your mind. When you don’t understand a topic in class you have to ask a question so you can make a connection. This helps them relate what they are learning in class to previous experiences that will make them more interested. Hypothetical questions extend student’s thinking even farther. For example, “What if the Romans hadn’t invaded the British Isles?” Questioning is the key to deeper learning.

This chapter directly relates to what we are working on in class. The technologies used in class best fit the needs of our group projects. Some of the technologies we have used before and others we haven’t. The technologies that we haven’t used before Connie has taught us the fundamentals so we can complete the tasks. The project is very open regarding guidelines. This way we have choose topics that interest us and we will provide the best results.  

Updated Concept Map

Only a few changes were made to our concept map. We trimmed down a bit by focusing on 4 main categories of Plant Life, Types of Seeds, Tools and Finance. Those are what we plain to base the majority of our unit on and felt the other topics less important. Although we cut down some of the topics, we did expand within the topics that will relate to our end of the year project.

Reading Reflection 6

Chapter 5 Reflection

There are many items that need to be considered before starting a project. First off, when starting a project you need gather your resources. You need to know what your school is going to provide and what you are willing to provide out of your own pocket. For example, if you want your students to make posters you have to take into consideration how much the supplies are going to cost. The schools do not fund every school lesson plan you come up with. It is well known that teachers spend a lot of money out of their own pocket to cover these costs. You also have to consider trying to incorporate technology. If you do decide to use technology you need to make sure your students know how to use the chosen software. If students in you class are unfamiliar with the software then bring in a professional to help teach the students how to use it. A small tutorial of how to use PowerPoint will benefit an entire class. Students also need to learn how to divide their responsibilities up when working with a group. Before students dive into a project these need to assess each other and find out the strengths of each group member. This preparation will benefit all the groups.

One of the goals of PBL is to teach students to become effective managers of their own time. Students that learn how to manage time become very successful at what they do. Students can connect these projects to real life scenarios. Once these students grow into adults they will be more prepared to face time deadlines. This will teach them how to better balance their time and help them become responsible. When introducing a new project it is just as important that the teacher manages the project as well. Teachers need to be good communicators with students during the project. They need to find different ways to communicate. A blog and email are both ways of effective communication. Teachers also need to know how to assess. Teachers need to find ways to gauge whether students are working productively and accomplishing project goals. It’s important that they provide feedback to their students so they can learn from their mistakes and build off them. Students need to learn how to self reflect. It is important as a learner that you can learn from your mistakes. You need to be able to critique yourself in order to become an effective learner.

It is the 21^st century and technology should be taken advantage of inside the classroom. Introducing technology to students at a young age is only going to better prepare them for the future. There are several web-based applications to choose from. You can link a set of tools together in a wiki, associate them with a blog, or use a web-based “desktop” application. Many classrooms are using blogs to communicate between the classmates and the instructor. A blog is a great place to share news, milestones, and resources with each other. These applications will help students deliver their projects and improve their effectiveness.

This chapter directly relates to our project. It talks about our responsibilities as a students and the teacher. We are using a lot of the web-based applications talked about in chapter 5. We currently use a blog everyday to share our thoughts and we respond to other classmate’s posts. This helps us self reflect on our posts and gives us a better understanding of PBL.