Chapter 2 A Learning Community

Learning Communities serve the purpose of putting the entire community of a school (or at least the people who want to be interested) on the same page for where the education of the students is going.   Also, the community gets to grow in learning too because people can connect through the program and learn some of the things the students may be learning.  It also puts parents and other community members in a position to be very active in their children`s lives but also in the future of the community. 

The benefits of a Learning Community would include great success for students, a closer community, and a more focused learning environment for the students.  Much of this would be due to the fact that most parents would know more about what their children were learning and maybe show more interest what the student had discovered since they are also involved in the project somewhat.  Also, the teacher would be able to have more contact with the parents instead of the conferences a few times a year. 

A Learning Community would also help teachers since they would be running ideas not just through their co-workers, but also through parents and other people who have an influence over their students.  There would be less misunderstandings between teachers and parents since parents would be very involved in the project and be around the teachers much more. 

Students would benefit greatly from a Learning Community since they would have a lot of support from their families and the community.  Also, when they had their finished project I`m sure the community that has helped them will want to see it, which could help the students get contacts in the business world for scholarships, letters of recommendation, and future jobs.  Also, it may motivate the students even more since they can realize that many people are invested in their projects.

For shared vision in a Learning Community a school would need teachers who want to collaborate together and have ideas for their students` projects, a school system who is willing to set meetings for the community at a convenient time for most community members, and community members who are open minded to learning and want to focus on what will benefit the students at the school.  Really, as long as the people in the community can stay focused on the students` success and be able to compromise on ideas a Learning Community could be very successful for the students.

The concept of teachers working together would go very well with our project since we would like the recycling program to be implemented throughout the entire school.  We would need the cooperation of the entire school for a project that size so all of the staff would have to be informed of the details of the program.  We would also need permission to put in recycling bins and gather the items to recycle.  It would also be very helpful to have the parents and community involved since they can offer assistance in the field trip to the recycling plant and also in gathering recyclables around the community.  With the community involved recycling could become a more important part of the entire areas life and the area could become a much cleaner place.

Reading Reflection #2 Learning Community

    The focus of Learning communities is to bring a group of people together, for them to share ideas and expectations. They can talk to each other about their lesson plans and get feedback; they gain new ways of learning together. It also focuses on student-centered ideas; making sure that the students are learning, that the school is improving, and that we are seeing results.

    There are many benefits to Learning Communities including, a decrease in teachers feeling isolated, more people committed to projects, responsibility is spread out among many people, and there will be a higher likelihood of fundamental, systemic change.

    Learning Communities really help teachers. It’s a way for them to get input from their colleagues about projects and lessons plans. They can receive critical feedback that can make their plans better. It’s also a way for the staff to get along. When everyone is able to work with one another things tend to run more smoothly. But I think the most important thing is teachers can gain knowledge from the co-workers and add things to their plans they may never had thought of before. 

    The students benefit a lot from learning communities. They may only have one teacher teaching them the material and doing the projects but the information that they are being taught is a combination of all of the knowledge from many teachers. For these students, weather they know it or not, they are being taught by all of the teachers and gaining information from all of them in some way.

    When two people have the same idea for a project they work together to find the best ways to teach the lesson. They both do research and share with each other what they discover. Once the project is started, the students from both classrooms can communicate and gain more information from each other. When classes are done, they can present their projects to each other and they will learn from it. They can see what the other class put into their project that they didn’t and vise versa. Students learn more from each other then in many other ways.

We can use this information in our project by talking with other schools and seeing what they do to recycling, like how they collect and what they do with it after. We can talk with staff from the school and ask them how they got started recycling and if they have any tips that can help us.

Recycling Activity Question

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Map for Assignment #4

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Reading response #1

1. As you start the journey through project-based learning, you need to keep in mind that today's students are up to the challenge because they are already knowledgeable about the wonders of technology, projects are worth the hard work put into them, theses projects help teach students about real world problems and new learning guides the project approach.

2. The overall benefits of the project based approach is not only are your students presented with a learning opportunity, but as a teacher you are learning too. It takes learning to a whole new level and encourages participation.

3. The benefits to students that participate in project-based learning is that they get to experience real world problems and discover real world solutions. It gives students a chance to practice and improve on their communication skills. They also get a chance to work as a team, so its a great opportunity to learn how to work together and compromise on important decisions being made.

4. The issues that need to be considered in the project-based learning approach is your expectations for your students, the way you interact with your students, your classroom management plan, your classroom furniture set up, the way you assess your students, the student work you collect and the way you communicate with parents and colleagues.

5. New Technology High focuses on the technology and 21st century learning. The teacher at New Technology High felt more confident that the entire school was on board with project based learning and he felt supported.

Reinventing Project Based Learning: Chapter 1

1. Some things I found important to keep in mind while considering Project Based Learning are first to keep parents and the school updated on what their children/ students are doing in the project so no rules are broken and no parents are offended about the project.  Also, as a future teacher I would really like the parents to be interested about what their children are doing at school and possibly be involved in it.  Another thing that should be considered is that with PBL, the role of a teacher changes.  Instead of the attention normally being focused on the teacher, the students tend to be the main focus and the teacher sets everything up for them to learn by taking an idea or problem and working with the students to create whatever the project is for step by step.  It also probably makes it difficult for the teacher to set up lesson plans months in advance since the students` ideas inspire the lesson plan for each day.  Also, I had never thought about the fact that the classroom would probably have a different layout than most of my childhood classrooms since a PBL class would be much more group oriented.

2. There are quite a few benefits the book was hinting at that I love about Project Based Learning.  In the PBL examples the book gives, the teachers like Adam Kinory saw their students find a purpose in what they were learning.  I used to wonder why I needed to learn math but with a PBL assignment to measure pollution in a pond or something more hands on like that, I imagine I would have stopped asking a question like that. I would have been able to directly see where math comes in handy.  This is a question that many students seem to ask so with teachers using PBL in their classroom it will most likely give students a way to use what they are learning as they learn even more.  I also love how many PBL assignments tend to use more than one subject instead of just teaching one subject at a time.  This is great because the real world wants students to incorporate many subjects in one project, but most teachers that I`ve come across teach one subject at a time except for the occasional out of the ordinary assignment.  

3. As for the students who are involved in PBL environments, these assignments can have many benefits.  I think the biggest is the students find a purpose in not just what they`re doing in school, but also in themselves.  I think that part of the reason some students find school so boring is because they don`t think it amounts to anything on the big scheme of things.  If a student feels like they are doing something that matters, or affects the society they live in, they tend to show much more interest in school.  Usually, school is treated as a preliminary phase for one`s “purpose”.  If a student can get that feeling of having a purpose at school, they will be much more apt to try at school than if the time is treated as a time of only learning. 

4. In a PBL approach some issues are that for a teacher it is more work to set up the lessons and such maybe a week or two in advance instead of the usual months in advance.  Because of this, a teacher that uses PBL will have to be very flexible about their teaching since the lesson plans depend on the students` research and directions they want to take.  Also, I imagine finding a concept that all students will be interested in will be quite hard to find.  One of the bigger issues would be an unsupportive school district that prefers the older ways of teaching.

5. As far as the New Technology High goes it seems like the teachers and administrators are really in tune to what the business world wants of its workforce since they worked together with the business leaders in creating the program.  I think the few textbooks are great because it can be quite difficult to memorize and understand the information in a text book, especially as an elementary student.  Also, the idea of students of all ages putting on presentations about their ideas and research for a project is great because it shows that they are learning it better than on a test.  The students would have to present and explain their information and opinion to their classmates which would show more understanding than a multiple choice test.

Chapter One: Mapping the Journey. Reading Reflection 1

When you start your journey though PBL, you have to keep in mind that you are learning too. As teachers, we never stop learning. Some of the most important things we learn are through our students. When you begin using PBL, you may not see improvement right away or you may not think it is working, but you have to give it a few years and then looking back, you will be the improvement.

There are many benefits to PBL. Teachers rethink the way that they teach so that the students can benefit more from the lesson plan. The atmosphere of the classroom changes. Instead of the teacher always being in charge and taking the lead, PBL allows the students to be responsible and be the teachers for once.

Students benefit the most from PBL. Since they are the ones in charge, they gain so many life skills that they wouldn't be able to get any other way. The learn communication skills; being able to lead a group, communication within the group and working together to complete the project. Students learn responsibility; when working in groups they learn that they have to have their part of the project done on time and they have to have trust that the other students in their group will have their work done also. And most importantly, they learn that they can make a difference. Working on these projects, it opens students eyes to things that they may have never heard or seen before. It shows them the real world.

There are many issue that could come up when consider transitioning to PBL. One is yourself. You have to be willing to learn a new way of teaching. Yes, you could use some of your old teaching strategies but you are going to have to look at teaching in a completely new way. Students are also going to have to adjust. Students don't always like change, they want things to stay the same. They also might not see the benefit to PBL until after its done. They may just think that they have to do more work, but in the long run, they benefit from it the most. Another issue could be other colleagues. Where they think that the way the teach is the best and they don't want to change. They also may be scared of change, but like I've said, as teachers, we are always learning. Sometimes we need to get out of our comfort zone and take a risk.

New Technology High is a great example to the New Technology Model. The school is small so students get to know each other and working in groups/teams is easy. All of their projects are based on real world problems that the students may actually use out in the real world. They have so much technology that if a student needs an answer to anything, they can get it right there and then. The teachers always work together so that everyone is on the same playing field and all of the classes are structured relatively the same way. More online work and less textbook work.  

Concept Map 1

Concept map A

concept map version 1

practice map

Image practice

Image practice