Reading Reflection 9

1. Describe a method of understanding prior-knowledge of students.

Projects open the door for learning experiences and students benefit because they are active throughout the project and have input in the assessment. During projects the students learn new skills as well as how to apply what they already know. Teachers can assess students before the project begins to get an idea of what the students know and what they need to work on so that they know in what direction they should take the lessons. Another good way to understand the prior-knowledge of the students is through KWL charts where the teachers gets to see what the children already know, what they what to know, and what they learned.

2. Discuss the importance of establishing anchors for a project.

By establishing anchors teachers get a sense of where the students are starting and how far they go as they work toward their educational goal. Establishing anchors in a classroom gives you the opportunity to help all the students by differentiating instruction.

3. Describe several ways to assess what students learned during the project.

There are several ways for teachers to assess students, at the beginning you may develop rubrics to assess how much progress the students have made towards their goal. As well online grading books allow the teacher to give the students feedback and assess them based upon the actual work and collaboration they do, it is important to show what you graded them on so they can make improvements in the future. Another type of assessment is a traditional test.  When giving traditional tests they may not show all that the children have learned so it is important to also check in with the student throughout the project to make sure they are picking up on the important elements. There are many more ways to assess the students like interviewing them, having them do podcasts about what they have learned , other projects that synthesize what they have learned, have the students apply what they learned in a discipline related to their project, and having the students enter their findings in a competition to get their work published.

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

These key ideas relate to our project because as teachers we need to know how to get the children to apply their prior-knowledge to the project, how we will gain information about where to begin our lesson, and how to assess the information the children have learned. Our project is to have the children learn about the culture of another area through their food choices. At the end of the project we are going to have the students cook a meal from their area and serve it to their friends and family at a gathering we will have. The students will need to present the meal to the people at family night and also tell some information they learned throughout the project. This gives the students a way to apply the information they learned and a way for us to assess them.

Reading Reflection 9

Brittney Cox

Reading Reflection 9

            There are many ways we can understand our students’ prior knowledge.  I would like to specifically focus on the KWL assessment.  Each student will begin a project with the KWL graphic organizer.  First they will write what they know and what they want to know about the subject.  After, or during, the process of the project, the student would then return to the KWL and write in what they have learned. 

We must establish anchors during a project because students connect new ideas to their prior knowledge.   Before we begin the project, we must know what their prior knowledge is so that we can introduce new ideas in an appropriate and effective way.  We want all of our learners to be successful, and these anchors are the first step in the right direction.

Multiple choice tests are not good tools to measure what a student knows about a subject.  Instead of using traditional summative assessment formats, like a research paper or multiple choice tests, we should make rubrics and have students present what they have learned.  This is more authentic and will allow us as teachers to get an accurate measurement of the students’ learning.  We should also break up the grading groups so late papers do not change the content grade.  If a student writes an “A” paper, but hands it in two days late and receives a “C,” we are hindering our own ability to assess their knowledge.  I am not saying they should not get docked for handing it in late, but it should not be included in the grade of the work itself. 

Our project uses rubrics rather than a traditional summative assessments.  We want our students to learn through experience and not memorize facts.  We will assess our students’ prior knowledge by using a KWL before the projects begins, this way our anchors will be put in place.  Our students will know what their learning objectives are every day and will have the freedom to make choices and mistakes.

Reading Reflection 8

1. Description of some ways to build connections and branch out beyond the classroom.

Digital tools make it easy for students to share their work and exchange ideas with diverse audiences. These audiences include their family, peers, local community, and many areas of the world. Projects using technology help the students to reach out to an audience and by knowing that someone is viewing their work it motivates them. As well as connecting the students to audiences digital projects offer unlimited opportunities for branching out. Some ways the students can branch out is to consult with experts in the area, the students can communicate with fellow learners from in the school or half way around the world, this gives the children a more culturally diverse working environment. There are many ways for students to branch out and build connections and teachers can assist in this process by providing many opportunities for outside connections.

2. Description of the EAST Initiative Model.

The Environmental and Spatial Technologies Initiative network of schools helps to demonstrate the benefits of technology for a real purpose of solving problems and improving their community. The East Model is built on four essential ideas including student driven learning, authentic project based learning, technology as tools, and collaboration. These are all essential ideas for the students but the teacher is also impacted in this model as they take on the new title of a facilitator.

3. Discussion on some reasons to let students “lead” their projects.

As teachers we want to teach our students but in some cases they are capable of leading their project and take the initiative to do more. We need to take a step back and let the students lead their own learning. This allows students to generate their own ideas and begin a project that they are passionate about so that they will have more of a drive to do more. When students lead their own projects they take on more responsibility and it shows them that their ideas are valued and that their opinions matter. As teachers we need to loosen up on the reins and allow the students the freedom to show us how accomplished they are. In these projects I can guide the students and give them the tools they need to set them off on their journey of self-lead projects.  

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

In our project based learning assignment we are having the students research the food choices and availability in other cultures. To do this they will be communicating with other culturally diverse classrooms from around the world and while gaining information they will also be building connections and branching out. As well the students will be using many of the ideas in the EAST Initiative Model such as the use of technology, collaboration, student driven learning, and the teacher as the facilitator. We will be asking things of the students and directing the learning but much of the actual research and ideas will come from the students such as what area they will study, what food they will decide to make from their area, and how they will present this information at family night.

Reflection 8

Brittney Cox

Reflection 8

            There are many ways to build connections and branch out beyond the classroom.  Some of these ways are using digital tools and integrating technology.  This allows the students to reach out into the community and world.  Blogs, digital stories, connecting students with experts, and other students and teachers from around the world will all help build connections outside of the classroom.

            The EAST Initiative Model (Environmental and Spatial Technologies) is a “network of schools (that) have been demonstrating the benefits of using technology for a real purpose-to solve problems and make improvements in their communities (p 133).”  This group uses technology to promote student-driven learning, authentic project-based learning, using technology as a tool, and collaboration. There are three EAST training facilities; the training is split up into three phases.  It takes nine weeks to complete the program, but even after it is finished, the teachers will continue to receive support. 

            Teachers should let students lead their projects because they will then be personally connected to whatever it is they are studying.  They will take ownership over their learning because it relates to their life.  They may even connect with other people by finding commonalities.

            This relates to our project because we would use blogs, digital stories, and connections in our unit.  We also will let our students take the lead, chose their own culture to study, and pick the recipe they are interested in making.  We will use technology as a tool to connect to the world.

Movie

For my movie I am going to do it on food safety. It is going to be a fictional story about someone getting sick because they didn't handle the food correctly and then it is going to have facts about how to handle/prepare the food in our lesson.

Chap 7 Reflection

There are three levels of classroom discussion. Those levels are teacher to teacher, student to student and teacher to student. In the level of teacher to teacher, teachers compare ideas with regards to how to lead activities in ways that best benefit the students. In student to student, classmates discuss their learning experiences in class during activities. It is during this time that students learn from each other while the teacher acts as the facilitator, joining in when necessary and allowing students to control the conversation. Teacher to student interaction is what one would call the traditional classroom, where the teacher provides the information to students in a more “I tell you, you write it down” function. However, in the project based classroom, this format is only used as a check in for the whole group, with student understanding being the primary focus.

When checking in on students, be mindful of the types of questions you are using to drive student processing and understanding, progress monitoring, track timing, and building teamwork and partner management skills. There are four types of questions that teachers should use to foster student learning, they are procedural, teamwork, understanding, and self-assessment.

There are many benefits to students when optimizing the use of technology. Using technology allows the students to go beyond the walls of their classroom when researching and finding answers. The student response to learning with the use of technology is a positive one. Using technology in the classroom helps students build a confidence prepares them for the workforce as well as the technology they will use within their field.

Twenty-first century skills that can make or break a project are finding and eliminating faults of the project and managing group dynamics.

Before engaging in a project with the students, the teacher should think of any and everything that could come up that would prevent the project from running properly, fixing anything that does come up. The teacher should also take into account the characteristics of groups they have created. Rearranging groups if necessary, or being prepared to act as a facilitator; guiding the students when trying to correct this themselves.