There are so many things that occur as a result of using the project based learning approach. The benefits that students can reap are infinite. The skills that students will learn to use in project based atmosphere set them up for the real world but maximizing their retention of knowledge and teaching them cooperation, communication and more. The front loaded work for us as teachers pays off in the end as well. Working with other teachers ensures that multiple thought processes can give the best project as well as being able to tweak it as time goes on. For both the students and the teachers, project based learning can benefit all around.
There are a few ways to "bring your project home." You want to think about how to capitalize your investment. Think back on your project and figure out which activities were the most engaging. Those are the ones to continue to use on future projects. Another thing that is important is to critique your work. Go through and review the students' products. From there you can see which activities were successful and which ones flopped. This is critical in continuing into the next year to alter lessons and activities. Be a resource for your colleagues. When you can share your PBL experience with them it will help gain new insights to the approach. No matter how the project wraps up, it is good to remember that the journey is also important. Take time to see how far you've come and what new things the future holds.
This chapter related to what we are doing in class because with the end of the semester right around the corner, we too are wrapping up. We are working on our websites and finishing up everything we have been working on. Making this website is a lot like "sharing your insights" from the chapter. By making everything accessible online for other teachers to use. This is also a way for us to reflect on the work we have completed.
Margaret, your reflection was very insightful. I enjoyed reading about paragraph about “bringing your project home” and also how you related the chapter to your website. It is very important as a teacher, when you finish a project, to reflect on how the project went. Like you said in your reflection, “figure out which activities were the most engaging.” Because those are the ones that you are going to want to keep and continue with, and then think about how you can make the activities that weren’t engaging, engaging. Nice job!
ReplyDeleteI really liked where you said " Another thing that is important is to critique your work. Go through and review the students' products. From there you can see which activities were successful and which ones flopped. This is critical in continuing into the next year to alter lessons and activities." I have found this to be very important especially for me when doing projects.
ReplyDeleteThis reflection was very well thought out and had many great ideas. I really like the part where you said the benefits are infinite with PBL. Very well done!
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