Reading Reflection 5

Before you start project with your students teachers need to consider is what type of materials are you going to need. You should make sure you have all the materials before starting a project so you don’t run into any problems. You also need to consider if there is any technology that you or students have never used before. You should always plan for an introduction for the technology. Will you actually need to expand the access of technology that your students use or will it all right be in the school is something that should be considered. When having a public speaker are you going to have them come in physically or are you going to have them give the presentation virtually. Lastly you should consider who can help you with your project. You could ask other faculty members or even parents to help with the project. 

To help students’ with their time management skills, you should share your project calendar with them so they will be able to see deadlines. Seeing deadlines will help your students be able to plan ahead, track their own progress, and see trouble ahead (hopefully there is none). Teachers should also share the planning calendar with the parents as well so they can help with deadlines and milestones throughout the project. Teachers will also benefit form the schedule of the project to help students break down big concepts of the project and be able to keep the classroom on the right time track. 

The first technology application that was discussed in the book was using a wiki. A wiki is just a Wikipedia page that can be changed by the students and is something that can be changed by multiple students, this is something that would be neat for a group project. The next technology application discussed was a blog. You can create your own blogs, students can have group blogs or you can link all the blogs together. Blogs are great for commenting on each others work, as well as posting work that the whole group needs to see. Drupal and Textpattern are nicer blogs basically. 

I would use these concepts in my project because if I was going to actually preform this lesson I would make sure that I had all the materials for the weather report as well as the journals. I also would make sure to have a schedule where the students, parents and I will be able to follow and make sure we are all on the right track. 

Shelly Henderson - EDT 3470 - Reading Reflection #5

There are important things to consider before starting a project.  First, you need to consider the resources you will need.  Do your students have easy and consistent access to technology?  How available is your school’s computer lab?  Think about whether or not your students will need access to “experts” to answer questions throughout their project.  If so, how can you foster a connection between your students and the experts?  Will it take place face-to-face or will you have to get creative and help them make a virtual connection?  Look at your school staff and get to know others that can help you.  Media specialists, computer lab aides, etc. may prove to be very beneficial sources as you work to put your project together.  Don’t hesitate to ask for help!  In addition to lining up your resources, you will need strategies to support time management, teaming and assessment.  These are 21^st century skills that your students will benefit from, not only in your classroom, but in their other classes and real-world.  Think about scheduling deadlines along the way, break larger tasks into smaller ones, and tap into some learning management systems.  As you plan, keep in mind that the times your students are working with you may look different from one day to the next.  Don’t make a plan for teaming your students up that you can’t adjust or shift around.  Also, you need to plan for assessment during the projects.  You have the freedom to design tools to help you assess their progress and performance as you go along.  Look to formative assessment, as that will allow you to check in on them along the way. 

Keeping track of and managing in-depth projects is a pretty tall order for both teachers and students. Teachers need tools to help them communicate about the project, tools for keeping a calendar/schedule for themselves and students, ways for making resources available and managing work products, structures that support a positive and productive learning environment, and tools and strategies that support assessment.  Students also need systems in place that will help them manage their time, work flow, resources, work products, etc.  They need help managing their tools for collaborating, the methods available for getting help, and the overall flow of their project.  Students should be shown tools that will help them get and use feedback from their teachers, allow for self-reflection, and team input.  I think the most important management need for teachers is some tools for effective communication.  Teachers need to be able to communicate with students, parents, other teachers, supporting adults, etc.  Being able to effectively communicate will make the job more manageable for all involved.  For students, I think it is important that students are given and shown some management options.  Each student is different and one that fits for one may not fit for another.  There are a lot of management tools available, it is important to explore the options and know them ourselves.

The number of technology applications for use on a project is generous!  Web pages such as wikispaces and blogs are great places to start.  With pages like these, teams can write and edit together or one person can have control over the content.  Either way, content can be viewed and commented on.  You can start with a project wiki that gives students a way to communicate with you and a place from which they can create pages of their own.  They can also link podcasts, blogs, other wikis, photos, etc.  Students can also create their own virtual offices on the Web.  There are a lot of valuable tools available through a personalized web page, and students can tweak and make them truly their own.  You should know enough to lay the foundation for them, but they should be given the challenging 21st century  task of creating their own pages that will work the best for them. 

From this chapter I learned that there a lot of valuable tools available for teachers and students when working on a PBL project.  I learned that organization and communication are two important elements.  I learned that I need to pay closer attention to how things are facilitated and managed.  I think that it would be easy to think that projects could just be managed along the way, but now better understand that management strategies need to be in place when starting out.  I need to step back and look at my project with these things in mind.  Being prepared at the beginning will help everyone’s projects go more smoothly and be more successful.  Also, it would keep things much more manageable for me.  

Reading Reflection 4

RSome potential pitfalls in project design are that the project could be a long activity, but the students are not getting a big learning benefiting out of the project. If this is to happen, this isn’t worth your time or the students time. Another is technology is just layering over traditional practice, students should not just be researching online and then presenting online. This is just a research project which is not a quality project. Thirdly trivial thematic units are not always the best because students may not be getting disciplined, or being collaborative with one another. Lastly the project may be too complicated and have way to many steps. 

A good project won’t use any of the above pitfalls and will be very flexible. Flexibility allows things to change within the project in case things come up that will make the project too hard or too easy. The students need to want to be involved in the project is very essential because it will make the projects better and give the students something to be proud of in the end. Students are structured to learn from themselves and one another and are realistic with goals that they set for their projects. 

Project ideas come from many different places.  Some come from books, where students can show each other what they have learned, projects that are developed from other teachers, new stories or contemporary issues. Project ideas can also come from students interest or questions, or just a “mash-up” of good ideas. 

The first step when designing is to make a final list of learning objectives for core subjects and allied disciplines. You then decide on the specific 21st-century skills you want address. Then identify learning dispositions you want to foster. The secondly establish evidence of understanding. You must imagine how the students will be different as learners and people. Then you must plan the project or theme of the entire project. Lastly you must start to plan what you are going to say and do to get the students excitement and attention in the project. 

I am going to use this concept in my project because I am going to make a good project for my students. I am going to make sure none of pitfalls are in my project and that I follow this list of steps in designing my project. 

Reading Reflection 3

When finding the “Big Idea” for a project things that need to be considered are the real world concepts and how this will help students in the community. 

The 21st century skills are analyze, evaluate, and create. Analyze is examining, explaining, investigate, characterize, classify, compare, deduce, differentiate, discriminate, illustrate and prioritize. Evaluate refers to judging, selection, justifying, verifying, improving, defending, debating, convincing, recommending, and assessing. Create is referring to adaption, anticipation, combining, composing, inventing, designing, imagining, proposing, theorizing, and formulating. 21st century literacies the NETS S address, communication and collaboration, research and information fluency, digital citizenship and technology operations.

Essentials learning functions are very useful in learning inside and outside the classroom, and all the time, deep living, making things visible and discussable, expressing ourselves, sharing ideas, building community, collaboration-teaching and learning with others, research, project management-planning and organization, and reflection and iteration. 

The research would be very helpful within our project because the students will research the weather in certain areas using the web.

Shelly Henderson - EDT 3470 - Reading Reflection #4

Learning to look at your projects critically will make a huge difference in their success.  There are many potential pitfalls and if you don’t pay attention to them, you could have a project that lacks in many areas.  Keeping your students and the quality of their experience at the forefront of your decision-making will help you design a project that avoids them.  Possible pitfalls include a project that is lengthy and full of busy work.  It may lack in depth and cause students to create products that are very similar from group to group.  The thinking involved here is lower-level, not higher-level.  Another pitfall is when technology is used simply as a means to an end, not as a tool that can help students reach high learning goals.  Often, teachers use themes to guide their lessons.  This can be dangerous in terms of project design because themes don’t automatically help students make connections and elevate their learning.  Themes do have the potential to provide the platform for interdisciplinary lessons, collaborative learning and higher-level thinking.  You just need to be careful when working with them.  Something else to look out for is whether or not the project is largely scripted, and not more open-ended.  You want to avoid a project that is predictable and where students create work that is similar to others.  This pitfall occurs when students aren’t making their own decisions about their learning and taking ownership. 

A good project is one that avoids the above pitfalls and that is driven by the students’ experiences.  Such a project is flexible, allowing for changes along the way where either the students or teachers deem necessary.  Students need to be engaged in the learning, asking their own questions that they want answered, and believing in what they are doing.  The very best projects include these features:  they are flexible and have room for diverse learning paths, they allow the students to construct meaning, they are inquiry based, they engage students because they include real-life experiences, they are interdisciplinary, they involve the greater school and/or community, they tap into primary sources through the use of technology, they give students the opportunity to learn and teach each other, they invite work on 21^st century skills and literacies, and the good projects allow students to take risks in safe environments and learn by doing.  The best projects are owned by the students and guided by the teacher. 

We are surrounded by project ideas!  Anyone willing to do a little looking, even in an area where it doesn’t seem like a project is possible, may be surprised.  I think the saying “don’t reinvent the wheel” is important to consider when designing a project, especially if you are on your own or doing it for the first time.  There are tons of resources out there that can offer ideas, support, guidance, and collaboration.  There are even project plans out there written by teachers for teachers.  Exploring other plans might guide you in creating your own and once you have a successful one, it most likely will lead to another.  Teachers need to be aware of what’s around them and be open to what they may discover. 

There are steps to take when designing your project.  Start by spending some time revisiting the framework you created when considering the “big ideas” and establishing the learning objectives.  Decide on the 21^st century skills you want to focus on, be specific.  Think about what learning skills you want your students to experience and “establish evidence of understanding.”  Start planning the theme or the challenge of your project.  Then examine how you are going to introduce them to the project, how you are going to get them excited and engaged.  Now you are ready to make your “project sketch.”  This is just a brief statement summing up your thoughts so far.  At this point, you should share your sketch with your colleagues and get some critical feedback.  Use them to help you look critically at your plans.  After, you then need to create an “asset map” to organize your resources, materials, etc.  This can even be done with some collaboration and managed with technology.

The ideas in this chapter will be very helpful in creating our project.  I appreciate the step-by-step guidance for creating a PBL project and the rich resources that are offered.  I like being given “permission” to look at other projects, to see how different educators have handled their projects, and to know that there are lots of resources out there so we don’t have to feel alone when working on ours.  I really liked the section on where projects ideas come from.  We are surrounded by possibilities and I feel like this chapter will help us tap into those while staying on track and organized. 

Weather Pals

Click here for a description of what's in store for our Weather Pals


Here again is a map showing how far away we are from our friends in Italy.  (original post 2-1)

Lesson Plans

Hi Stephanie! 
I thought about your idea for our lesson plans and I love it! I will do a plan on the weather journals.  (I originally wrote this as a comment on one of your posts but I wasn't sure you'd see it so I deleted it and posted it here)

Have a good weekend!

:O) Shelly