Insp. 2

Reading Reflection Five

1. Discussion on the items that should be considered before starting a project with students.

Before starting a new project it is important to gather the resources you need. Teachers should take a look at their inventory and see what supplies, tools, and other materials are available at the school or offered by other support groups. As well you have to think about what technology you plan to incorporate into the project and if it is new to the students you need to plan how you will teach them about it and where you can access this new technology. Teachers should also keep in mind that in some projects students may be required to ask the experts or interview people to gain information. Teachers need to inquire about getting these experts to talk to the students before the project begins and if you can’t get them to come to the class then see about using technology to reach them. For these types of interactions it would be helpful to ask for assistance from the technology specialists or the librarian so you need to think about when you will set up these interactions. Another thing you should take into consideration is if you are collaborating with a teaching team then you need to plan who will do what taking into consideration everyone’s strengths.

2. Discussion on teachers’ and students’ management needs.

As teachers we need to teach our students to become effective managers of their own time. One thing to do is to plan a project calendar with milestones along the way. Students are more aware of deadlines when they have a visual representation. As well we can create a class website, project blog or group email so that the parents are aware of the deadlines and milestones also. In addition to being aware of deadlines students and teachers also need to agree on how the teams will be organized and how they will plan out the activities. Overall in teaching, effective project management involves minimizing risks while maximizing opportunities. Teachers project management needs include tools for communicating to the students about the project, tools for making deadlines visible, ways to make resources available, system to manage work, ways to assess the students, and a way to give them feedback. While the teacher needs to have management techniques, the students do as well. Students need to have tools to manage their time, collaboration tools, methods to seek assistance, and ways to get feedback from their peers and teacher.

3. Discuss some of the technology applications that should be considered for use in a project.

When thinking about what technology should be incorporated into project based learning consider selecting from web-based applications and servers to suit the needs of the project. Teachers can link a set of tools together in a wikki, a blog, or even a web based desktop application. Probably the simplest way to begin using the web to support projects is to build a project wikki. From here teachers are able to build a main project page with announcements and links to build team pages for the students. Technology allows the students to communicate with the teacher as well as with their peers. Overall the technology should assist in the learning process so teachers should find tools that will aid the students and are suitable for their abilities.

4. Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project.

Our project is about food and culture in other areas of the world. Since the students are not able to go to these parts of the world and actually see what then culture is like and how the culture affects peoples food choices they can use technology to learn new information. Before starting this project with our students we would need to set up and find resources ahead of time like sites they can visit, blogs where they can communicate with each other, and ways to talk to experts or in this case people from these other locations through emails or Skype. As the teacher I would need to manage how I would group the students for the project and how I would show the students through visuals the milestones and deadlines. All of this planning and use of technology is presented in this chapter.

Reading Reflection 5

Brittney Cox

Reading Reflection 5

            There should be many things considered before starting a project with students.  First the teacher needs to have done thoughtful preparation to ensure there will not be confusion that could have been avoided.  Time needs to be invested wisely and we must be sure the resources we will need is available.  Boss says “effective time management, teaming, and assessment” (p 75) needs to be addressed prior to the introduction.

            Teachers project-management needs are “tools for communicating with students and others about the project, tools for making milestones and events visible and for notifying students when changes occur, methods for getting resources to students, systems for managing work products, structures that support a productive learning environment in which teams and individuals are- engaged in a variety of learning tasks at the same time, and assessment tools and strategies” (p 84-85).  Students project-management needs are “systems and tools that help them manage their time and flow of work, systems that help students manage materials and control work drafts, collaboration tools, methods for seeking assistance, ways to get and use feedback on their work, through self-reflection, team input, and teacher advice, and ways to work iteratively and to see how parts add up to the whole” (p 85).  To be successful both the teacher, and the students, need to be prepared.

            There are many technology applications we can use in our classrooms.  Some of these applications are: wiki, blogs, Flickr, Skype, and ClustrMap.  Each one of these applications can be helpful if the teacher is prepared and have specific uses for each.  The students will have freedom to create projects that are relevant to their lives because these technologies support creativity. 

            Our students in the project we have created will be emailing pen pals through a trusted web site, which is much like the technology application I have discussed above.  We did not plan for our students to use Skype for this project, but that could possibly be an option if we were able to set something up with the students from around the world.  We want to use technology in our project in an effective way. 

Podcast Script: What We Have Done So Far

The project based learning assignment that we are having the children do is to compare and contrast their food choices to those to those of another area. The children were split into groups to study either China, Mexico, Italy, or Louisiana. They were assigned a pen pal from their area and wrote to them about what food choices they believe are typical of that region. Our fourth graders are now researching what people from their area actually eat and how culture plays a role in their food choices.  To prepare them for this research process the students met with the media specialist and got a lesson on how to use the technology necessary for their project such as how to safely navigate the web, how to use power point, and how to use a hot list to find resources. We are waiting to hear back form our pen pals so that they can provide us with more insight into what foods are actually traditional of their area. During this project we want our students to keep in mind the big picture/idea of the project. We have been discussing with the children how the information they learn applies to the real world and its relevance on their own lives. We discussed how the food that other regions eat impacts us and our food  consumption as seen by the different restaurants in our community. The students are continuing to research their region and its food choices and availability.

Hi Ladies,
I just wanted to let you know that I will not be able to make it to class this morning (my son keeps getting sick). I have talked to Mrs Peterson about this and she says that you guys can finish your parts of the podcast and save it, then I can come in to the lab Friday to complete my part. She also says we can can just finish it next Monday in class since it is not due until the 2nd. Either way is fine with me. Please let me know what you prefer.

Thank you and my apologies,
Shanika

Reading Reflection Four

1. Discuss the potential pitfalls in project design.

There are four main pitfalls that teachers should watch out for during project design. The potential pitfalls are that it is long on activity but short on learning outcomes, the technology is layered over traditional practices, the thematic units are trivial, and they can be overly scripted with many steps. First of all a project should be right sized for what you plan to accomplish, if students could learn as much through a lecture or by reading about the topic then the project falls short. The second pitfall is that technology is layered over traditional practices. Good projects should focus on reaching significant learning outcomes not just about incorporating technology. Third, thematic approaches can be trivial when teachers choose a theme that is not interdisciplinary and doesn’t allow collaboration. When doing a thematic project teachers need to think about how a theme connects different aspects of learning. The final pitfall is that teachers plan activities with too many discrete steps. You have to judge the activity based on the outcome so that students make use of the steps and they lead to an individualized result.

2. Discuss the features of a good project.

The best projects share many of the same features. The project includes features such as

·       Loosely designed to allow for different learning paths

·       Allow students to construct meaning

·       Structured for inquiry

·       Capture students interest by relating to real-life

·       Realistic

·       Involve others beyond school

·       Use primary sources

·       Allow learning through collaboration

·       Get at 21^st century skills

·       Get at learning dispositions

·       Have students learn by doing

A good project needs to get the students involved by relating topics to their real life while also allowing the students to discover the information on their own through inquiry and research.

3. Discuss where project ideas come from.

Good project ideas are all around us, we just need to know where to look. Project ideas can come from successful past projects where more meaning could be found, project plans developed by and for other teachers, news stories, contemporary issues, student questions or interests, a classroom irritant, or a mash up of great ideas and tools. It is also important to know that one successful project may lead you to others so it is necessary to start out by finding a good project to build upon.

4. Discuss the steps to design a project.

Projects exist within a context of the school calendar, curriculum sequence, student readiness, student interests, along with many other factors that teachers need to keep in mind. The first thing to think about is the framework where the learning objectives, core subjects, 21^st century skills, and learning dispositions must be decided on. As well while planning a project you need to plan a level of understanding about what information the students need to take way from the project. One of the last things to do is to plan the project theme or challenge that the students need to inquire about or create to display what they learned. During this time teachers also need to think about how they will introduce the project to their students.

5. Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project.

All of this information is necessary to consider when planning our lesson plan and project based learning assignment. Our topic is about food so we are going to have our 4^th graders research the food in a region other than their own and they will also need to research what factors determine what a regions diet consists of. When planning this assignment we need to keep in mind aspects like what we want our students to take away from the project, what will we assess them on and how will we do the assessment. These are all topics presented in this chapter. As well this chapter presented features that are exhibited in a good project so we can work to incorporate some of these factors to ensure that our students have the best learning experience and grow as a result of the project.

Reflection 4

            Brittney Cox

Reflection 4

Chapter 4 discussed a number of potential pitfalls in project based learning.  The first one to look out for is “long on activity, short on learning outcomes.”  This is where a project is long but lacks level three and level four thinking. A way to avoid this is to “pay attention to the quality of the student experience” (p 60).  If this is done then the lesson will remain, or be, high quality.

A second pitfall is “technology layered over traditional practice.”  Just because technology is used doesn’t mean the lesson is guaranteed to be great.  “Good projects focus on reaching significant learning outcomes, not merely making use of technology applications” (p 61).  The project must be filled with experiences where technology facilitates and advances higher learning.

A third pitfall is “trivial thematic units.”  The book uses apples as the chosen unit of study during the fall period.  Just because students were learning about apples, and apples surrounded them across the curriculum in their class, doesn’t mean the students were learning anything useful.  “Although apples are everywhere, the work is not interdisciplinary, collaborative, or especially rigorous” (p 61).  Krauss then suggests making a variety of projects that are centered on apples, but have larger themes like change or power.

A fourth pitfall is “overly scripted with many, many steps.”  The point of projects is to allow students to make decisions, mistakes, and progress in deeper understanding of subjects.  “The best projects have students making critical decisions about their learning path” (p 61).  We do not want our projects to have predictable results when the students are reaching conclusions.  We must always revise, reorder, and rewrite projects if they do not push students to problem solve and justify their answers. 

A good project will give the students flexibility.  They will be engaged and understand why it is important for them to investigate.  We want students to have meaningful experiences working as a team.  We want there to always be the essential learning functions being utilized during all projects.

“Good projects are everywhere.” (p 65).  One of the greatest perks of being a teacher is the ability to be creative in our classrooms.  We can make our own projects, use a project that is already made, or alter a premade lesson.  The book gave us sources that have sound projects that promote deep understanding. 

To design our own project we should follow these steps: design your project, write a project sketch, create an asset map, learn about asset map, and track assets online.  In our group projects we have taken in consideration all of these steps.   We have set up our project in a way that our students will have to take ownership over their learning through technology and communication.  They will learn as much as they want to learn (with me scaffolding).  There will be communication with other students from around the world as well as hands on portions where students are able to create a recipe from their chosen country.  This project supports project based learning while taking into consideration the potential pitfalls. 

Reflection 3 revised (I just found the rubric)

Brittney Cox

Reading Reflection 3

            Projects go beyond a set objective which is why they are so interesting.  Teachers make projects based on what their students need, how they learn, and what they are interested in learning.  It is nice that the textbook becomes more of a reference rather than the main source of information.  The students learn to be creative and take ownership of their learning.

            Projects can overlap multiple disciplines which is a teacher’s dream!  We have so much content that needs to be covered and projects can be the most efficient way to do so.  Instead of covering the content in a traditional style, projects can make learning relevant to the students’ lives.  They can also help the teacher scaffold each student on an individual level and challenge them to progress in Blooms Taxonomy. 

            Teamwork is essential when students are working on a project together.  This is my favorite aspect of project based learning.  It does not matter what job each student will end up getting once they are finished with school, teamwork is almost always used.  Literacy is also incorporated in almost every job available.  In chapter three, literacy incorporates identifying, understanding, interpreting, creating, communicating, and computing.  “Literacy boils down to learning to be independent, aware, and productive citizens (p 49).”  I want all of my students to be fluent in all of these areas.

            Essential learning functions are the basic points we want our students to take action in when they are doing our project.  Ubiquity, deep learning, making this visible and discussable, expressing ourselves, sharing ideas, building community, collaboration, research, project management, reflection and interaction are all covered in a project based learning curriculum.  When our students are researching and writing back and forth with their pen pals we will assess and encourage them to ask questions, have fun, and connect new information to their prior knowledge.  As teachers we must study ways to form lessons that enhance our students’ experiences in the classroom as well as reach the benchmarks.