Reflection 11, Chapter 11

1. Thinking beyond the set class time, thinking about and constructing their own reality, understanding of project management, big picture thinking, meeting deadlines, having a global audience, and being professional are all things that occur as a result of project based learning. If our students can leave our classroom with all of this being learned, we have done our job as a teacher. They will surely be a success in society. 2. Good projects should lead you to more projects. It should open new doors and create connections that you can build on in future projects. Make sure to reflect on the projects you are doing. This can tell you if any thing should be changed to make it better or what the next step in the project could be. Share your projects and insights with others so they can use the ideas or help you find extensions to yours. Best of all, enjoy what you have done. Enjoy the good aspects of the project with your students, and learn from the aspects that need to be changed. Have fun with what you are doing and let others have fun with you. 3. Reflection and sharing our project with others is what we will includein our project. Reflection being the most important so we can see how we could take the project to another level of learning and how to incorporate it into other subjects.

Spacing

Can anyone tell me how to get space between paragraphs? I've tried everything. Thanks.

Reflection 10, Chapter 10

1. "Taking time to reflect helps students feel good about their accomplishments, and reflection can be the thing that makes the learning really stick." This is so true! If we don't look back and see the good and the bad of a project, we can't learn from it and make it better. 2. Reflecting on positive experiences helps students see that these made them confident and made them look forward to more. Reflection is an essential learning tool. Asking students why and what questions about their projects helps them really think about these questions and helps the learning stick better in their minds. Reflections can also help students see what went wrong and how they fixed it. 3. "When families, the community, and students coming up through the grades know what yu are up to, you have a foundation for tradition." Young students will be ready to learn, community members will give enthusiastic support and expect to be involved. Forming traditions are a part of life. We have traditions of thanksgiving dinner, how and when we put up our christmas tree, even taditional presents. I started a tradition of getting my daughter an angel as a present for every christmas. When we start traditions, the students will remember it and others will wait for it as they grow and reach that grade. 4. Celebrating student work is a way to build your schools identity as a place where kids get to learn through projects. Students get a sense of pride when their work is displayed and celebrated. The school I use to work always displayed the students work in the classroom and in the hall ways. The students were thrilled when they could come in and see their work on the walls and they could show their parents or relatives their work during conferences. This also gives the students a way to look back at the project and reflect on how they did it and what they learned while doing it. 5. The most important thing we will include in our project is reflection. We must use this as a learning tool and help the students really learn and help that learning stick in their minds and hearts.

Chapter 9 Reflection

Students have a different amount of knowledge when entering a project, and they also learn at a different pace during the project. It is important for the teacher to set up anchors for gaining a sense of where a student is in the learning process.  It is important to use a variety of assessments when determining where you students are academically, and how much they have learned during the project.  You can use rubrics to generate a meaningful way to provide feedback to students and discover how much they have learned.  There are also online grade books, illustrating a novel they read, listening to conversations between students, and collecting typical tests.

                It is important to establish these anchors to you can adjust the project to better fit the individual students.  Sometimes you may find that your students are not where you would like them to be, and you must slow down the project to help them gain the knowledge they should have gained previously.  It is also important to create something knew to summarize or synthesis what the students have learned. 

                The assessments that go with project-based learning can come in a variety of forms.  You can assess students on a real-world model.  Students can draw on the real world experience of creating a portfolio and having the teacher or expert assess their work.  Another option is having students present their information to a panel of experts or international educators.  The students could take the information a step higher and submit it for publication or a contest.  Have students write a book or an article or a summary about the information they have discovered.

                I loved that this chapter discussed the different ways you can assess students.  For our project, I would like to get rid of the typical assessments and tests, and have students submit a unique project.  For weather, we could have the students create a website that teaches people about weather patterns.  Or we could assemble a group of meteorologist that the students must present their information to.  The options are endless when it comes to assessments!

Reflection 9, Chapter 9

1.One method to understanding a students prior knowledge is to use a KWL chart. This chart tells us what the students already knows (K) what the student wants to know from the project or assignment (W) and what the student has learned after the project or assignment is finished (L). 2. By using these anchors you get a sense of where your students are at when starting a project or assignment and how far they have come during and at the end of a project or assingment. Teachers need to know if the project is too hard, too easy or just right for the students to understand and move forward. 3. Create a rubric with the students to see if they meet all the criteria of the rubric and understand the material. The book talks about how a teahcer had the students create a classics illustrated style comic book. I love this idea. You can use it to assess anything. Showing the students a film or clip of the information you are working on can get them questioning more or help them understand something better when they see it. Sometimes things are hard to grasp by just reading it, seeing it in a movie or clip might be the extra boost they need to really understand it. These are all ways to assess what your students learn during a project. 4. I think the concept we will use in our project is the assessment of what students learn during the project. We have said in our podcast that we will have an on-line assessment to see what the students know at the beginning and I think we will have an assessment at the end to see what they have learned during the project.

Reflection 8, Chapter 8

1. To build connections and branch out from the classroom you can, of course, use the internet. Technology helps reach an authentic audience. Students might get in contact with experts to help them in what ever project they are doing. Any time you can ask another person who has extertise in an area is a great thing to do. This not only helps the students it can help the other person they are talking to feel better about themselves or their job. 2. The EAST model is based on is built on 4 essential ideas: 1. student-driven learning. Students need to be responsible for their own learning. 2. Authentic project based learning . Studensts should be engaged in solving real problems in their communitites. 3. Technology as a tool. Students need access to the relevant technologies that professionals use to solve these real problems. 4. ollaboration. When students collaborate in teams they accomplish more than any one person can do in isolation. Training and support for teachers is another critical component as well. All of this is essential for students to do and to learn. 3. Letting students chose their own projects helps them find information they need, ups,dwns of a project, how to work with others durning those ups and downs, gets them curious about things they might not have ever thought of, and gets them interacting with others from down the hall, down the street, or around the world. This chapter relates to our project in that we got to chose our project from the start. We will also incorporate into our project the interaction of other students from other countries.

Chapter 8 Reflection

It is important for students to have the opportunity to branch out and build connections beyond the classroom.  Allowing students to extend their learning experience beyond the classroom will help them meet the goals of many 21^st century projects.  This is easily done through the digital community, which includes a diverse audience, family members, peers, local community members, and people around the world.  Knowing that others will be reading, watching, listening, and commenting can be a motivating factor for our students. 

                There are many great ways to build connections and branch out of the classroom.  You may seek out experts on the project topic to give curious students an opportunity to chat with experts around the world.  You can do this by allowing students to interview politicians, doctors, etc. using a blog, or you could put the word out around the community that you are looking for expert help.  Save a list of experts and add people as you meet them.  This will give students a large choice when it comes to interviewing an expert on their topic.

                Fluency in technology is a great skill to teach students, and it will benefit them for the rest of their lives.  For over a dozen years, students in the Environmental and Spatial Technologies (EAST) have been showing the benefits of using technology to solve problems and make improvements in the community.  The students use geospatial technology and multimedia tools to solve problems that interest them throughout the community.  This is done following the EAST Initiative Model, a model which can be replicated in your classroom.

                The EAST Initiative Model is built on four essential ideas: student-driven learning, authentic project-based learning, technology as a tool, and collaboration.  Students need to be responsible for their own learning, and they should be engaged by solving real problems that their communities face.  It is important to give students access to technology in order to solve these problems, and for students to work as a team.  Following this model will teach students how to be effective problem solvers, fluent in technology, and give them the 21^st century skills necessary to be successful in their generation.

                It is important to teach students to lead their own inquiry.  This will allow students to be more interested, and it will allow them to retain the information for a longer amount of time.  Of course it is also important to teach to the standards and requirements of your school, but there are ways to let students take charge of their own learning.  With higher interest and more collaboration, your students will become more successful academically, socially, and in the future. 

                For our project, I would like to incorporate the EAST Initiative Model.  It is so important for students to learn these skills, and be able to apply what they have learned in the future.  The students will learn how to solve problems, involving weather, which are found throughout the community.  And hopefully the students will retain this information and be able to apply it later in life.

Chapter 7 Reflection

Good questions are an important aspect of effective classroom discussions.  There are three levels of classroom discussion that take place on during project implementation; teacher to teacher, student to student, and teacher to student.  Teacher to teacher discussions are the collegial effort made when project planning, and it continues when you begin the implementation phase.  Student to student discussions allow students to talk about their learning experiences as they unfold.  Remind students that good communication skills are part of effective teamwork and will help keep their team organized and on track.  The teacher to student discussions are the important during lectures and projects, but vary deeply depending on the type of instruction.  During projects, it will be the teachers job to address the whole-class, individuals, and teams.

Questioning is an important part of the learning process, and it is important that teachers use questions for checking in.  To check in, you may want to answer the following: procedural, teamwork, understanding, and self-assessment.  When asking procedural, you should be tracking progress toward milestones and deadlines, and remind the students of the project calendars.  For teamwork, circulate and ask questions to help you assess team dynamics.  Understanding requires you to spend time observing teams at work, listening to student conversations, and asking probing questions.  For self-assessment, find out what your students are thinking about with the project.  Ask questions that encourage self-assessment and reflection. 

It is important for a teacher to get students to optimize their use of technology.  By optimizing technology use, students will gain new insight on how to communicate with a culturally diverse audience.  To maximize the use of technology during a project, you shhould consider the following questions: Is technology helping students reach learning goals, or is it leading them on side trips?  Is technology helping students stay organized? Are students able to use technology to expand their horizons by connecting outside experts or a broader community?  Do students have access to the technologies that they need?

There are important 21st-century skills that can make or break a project.  Troubleshooting is one of the 21st-century skills that distinguish an effective project manager.  Hleping students understand the real-world projects come with real-world challenges.  Help them learn from setbacks and fine-tune their strategies for getting a project back on track. Teamwork is another 21st-century skill that can make or break a project.  During project implementation, it is important to play close attention to team dynamics.  If you detect a problem, helps students resolve it.  It's a real-life skill that will serve them well for years to come. 

This section was wonderful to read because it allowed me to realize some important life skills that students should be learning about during the project.  It is very important for teachers to still be involved in their students work, and it is important that the teacher gives the skills needed to overcome challenges.  This is good to know when planning a project with my students, and would help in teaching students about the weather project.

Reflection 7, Chapter 7

1. Levels of classroom discussion range from teacher to teacher, student to student, and teacher to student. Teacher to teacher discussion can show us how we are doing on a particular project or subject. If they need something more, if they are to long, if another teacher has done the same thing and has suggestions to make it better or how it didn't work for them. You can use blogs or wikis or any other mode of technology to communicate with teachers that you can not meet face to face. Student tostudent discussions helps them communicate with other students and collaborate on their project. They can get new ideas, get different views, and even explain their own thinking to others when communicating with other students. Teacher to student discussions help the student understand something they are confussed about, helps the teacher understand where the students are coming from with a idea that may be close to the students heart or why they are passionate about something. Discussion is communication, communication is essential in any classroom or work place. 2. Questions for "checking in" on students is very important. Procedural questions like "Are we on task?" "Do we have the right materials?" Teamwork questions like "Are the team memebers doing their part?" "Are they getting along with all memebers?" Understanding questions like "Have you thought about...?" and "Where did you get your information?" Self-assessment questions like "Did you include all the information necessary to finish your project?" or "How do you feel you did on your project?" All these questions are intended to help the students do their projects to the best of their ability. If we just let them go and do not ask questions, we might end up with students not doing what they are suppose to do or studetns not understanding something and not even bothering to t=do the project. 3. Benefits to students when optimizing the use of technology are that the technology can help studetns reach learning goals. Some studetns learn best with hands on experience. Using different types of technology gives them this hands on experience. Technology can help students stay organized. Like using Excel, students can put thier information into a spreadsheet and graph instead of writing it down on paper, this helps them keep it organized and it won't get lost in the mix of other papers. Technology is always expanding and adding new things. There should always be something new that a student can learn while using new technology. Most studetns should have access to the technology through school. If they do not have it at home they can try a library or computer labs at various locations. Some schools are even giving their studetns laptops or ipads to use at school and at home. 4.Teamwork is a skill that can make or break a project. If the students are doing their work and doing it well they can make the project work. If students do not get along with their partner this can be a terrible situation and they will not communicate with each other and they may not even do the project, thus breaking the project. When teamwork is an important part of a project, we need to make sure we fit the right partners together to get the end results that we want. When doing a project that requires new information about a subject, make sure to listen to the studetns prior knowledge and suppliment anything else that they should know before starting the project. The book talks about different cultures. Somethings we say in America sould be rude or offensive to someone in another country. The conceps that relate to our project are that I am using new technology that I have not used before. Like blogs, podcasts, and moviemaker. This makes the project more interesting to do and hopefully more interesting to view. I also think it will help us by using the different "checking in" procedures to help keep us on track and on time.