Reading reflection #6

1. Technology tools can encourage students to be reflective and evaluate their own strengths in a few different ways. One way is through blogging, blogs offer students space where they can reflect over time about what and even how they are learning. Another way is by using ProfilerPRO, this is an online survey tool that allows you to identify the learning characteristics of an individual. You are able to identify strengths, interests, weaknesses, you can use this information to help guide learning. Finally the online tools called Survey Monkey and Zoomerang allow you to set up online surveys. You can use the survey results to track trends and hep students see how their self-assessment compares to the larger group.

2. There are several ways to get your students minds ready for a project. Be sure to start by getting your students attention and giving the idea time to settle in their imaginations. Encourage students to explore and think about the topic and to discuss their ideas with friends and family for a couple days. Bring up the project just for a couple minutes each day to build excitement and to allow the students to discuss their interests with the whole class, you or even other classmates. It might be a good idea to even have a special visitor that has to do with the project come in the friday before you kick off the project. This will no only get the students pumped up for the project but provide them with great information. Plus, we all know that students love when we bring visitors into the classroom! 

3. Make sure students know the fundamentals and basics so they can have independence in their investigations for the project. Although this project is geared to be independent and student driven, it's important to provide students with knowledge they will need to guide them so they can successfully work individually. Create an activity for you students before the project kicks off designed to find out what they already know, what they don't know and what they hope to learn once the project is finished. This will provide your students with a sense of purpose. Always encourage deeper thinking/questioning, transfer "why" and "should" questions to "how" questions. Lastly, its a good idea to create a rubric for your students to preview before beginning the project. This will be a great roadmap of the project for you students to have and make it much more organized.

4. There are important steps for preparing your students for using technology. Before starting the project, think about what tools the students will need for the project and think about what skills will need to be taught to the students before setting them free to work independently. A fun and easy way to introduce students to new technology is by setting up a technology playground. Set up stations around the room and set students out to explore all the new technology, you'll be surprised what they can discover on their own! In the next couples days following, you should set aside time to demonstrate how the technology is properly used and what is used for. After a step by step demonstration is given, allow students time to work with the technology independently while you monitor and are available for questions. This will be good practice for when they are working independently. By introducing technology before hand, it will eliminate confusing and frustration and make the project flow the way it should! 

5. As teachers, inquiry should be in our classrooms on a daily basis. A great way to promote inquiry is by doing experiments with things you know your students are interested in. Have them predict what will happen and then reflect afterwards. Another great way to promote inquiry and deeper thinking in your classroom is by role playing. Role playing and experiments will get students in touch with what they know and what they don't know. Always encourage questions from your students! 

6. The topics from this chapter relate to our project because we are planning to have the students use technology to do research and also communicate with their epals in Japan! Now that we know how to prepare our students for not only using unfamiliar technology but to prepare them for the entire project, it will be really helpful when working on ours! It was also great to learn about how technology encourages students to reflect on their work, that will not only help with our project for this class, but in our future classrooms some day! 

reading log 6

1.       Students can evaluate their own strengths in a project- based assignment with technology by using blogs, surveys, or even keeping a journal on the computer about it.  They should do these evaluations before and after a project and be able to look back on them throughout the year.  These evaluations should focus on the learning dispositions the teacher expects them to learn during the project so that the student will become more aware of the strategies they use during a project and the things they have learned.

2.       To help prepare students for the project I like the idea of the Know- wonder- learn activity because this takes their background knowledge about the subject and lets them get some topics and questions ready for the project.  The discrepant events was a cool idea as well because it uses a demonstration to get the students interested and then applies a new concept that students can be interested to learn why something occurred that was different before.

3.       Teaching fundamentals first is key because if the students have little background knowledge on the project that they are starting, they may not know where to start in their research or even what exactly they are trying to learn.  Another part of the fundamentals is to allow for inquiry to happen to allow students to have a list of things they are interested in learning about the big idea of the project.  The teacher should also have an assessment rubric so the students know what they need to find and the format the teacher wants it in.

4.       The teacher should first evaluate what technology they and their students already know.  Then they should consider how the class may use technology to help them learn and organize research.  When setting up the teams, the teacher should keep in mind the students who have more experience with the programs involved so they can help other people in their group.  Each group should have a project management tool to track progress.  If there is a problem the teacher or technology supervisor at the school can always demonstrate or help out with new or confusing technology.

5.       To promote inquiry and deep learning a teacher should think of all the concepts used in the project and in what ways can they use them in the project.  The teacher could pose an introductory question to the students to get them thinking about the project and discuss the possible answer in class.  The students should envision what experts or practitioners might ask.  The teacher should ask more open ended questions to provoke thought from the students instead of getting answers straight off a website. 

6.       This chapter is very helpful to our project because it talks about the different ways to keep students interested in the project and make sure they are using all of the tools that are available to them such as technology and promoting the higher quality thinking strategies.  They will learn to make connections to what they are reading with the open ended questions because they can take their background knowledge, opinions, and the information they just learned and use it to come to a conclusion on the subject matter.

Final Recycling Map

Reading Reflection #6

There are many tools that students can use to reflect and evaluate their strengths. They can create a blog, this is where they can post and reflect over time about what they are learning. There is a website called ProfilerPRO. This is an online survey tool that allows you to identify the learning characteristics of an individual and also among members of a group. It can identity interests, strengths, and weaknesses. Last, is a tool called SurveyMonkey. Which is an online survey creator. Student can use this tool to track tends and help students see how their self-assessment compares to larger groups.

            To get the students in the right mind set for a project, there are a few things that you can do. Let them use their imagination at first. Encourage the students to explore and thing about the topic and to talk about what they think with other classmates. Before you begin a project, bring it up in class discussions little by little and see what students already know about the topic and it will get them thinking before you even tell them about the project.

            Teach the fundamentals before you begin a project. When students are aware of that they know and don’t, they can establish a point of departure and sense of purpose for the project. Also, give your students the assessment rubric for the project. This way they know what you are looking for and they can look ahead of what they will be doing in the project.

            To prepare your students to use technology there are some steps that you can fellow. Set up a technology playground, let them explore and use the technology before you start the project. Tap the student’s expertise; let the students teach each other how to use the technology. Introduce project management tools; make a project log for the students to record their progress. Last, demonstrate, show the students how to use technology for the project, show them step by step how to do an example so they have a reference for when they do their projects.

            Guide students as they choose questions, plan investigations, and begin to put their plan action. Help the students think of skilled questions they could ask experts.

            From this chapter there are a few concepts that we can use in our project. The students will be creating a survey for other students to complete based on what students thought about our recycling program. They could use SurveyMonkey. Also the students could create a blog from the students in Japan to see what our students are doing. Last we will be having experts come in and talk with out students, we can guide the students to think of skilled questions they can ask them. 

Reading reflection #5

1. There are a couple things that you need to consider before starting a project with students. The first thing is inventory, make sure to check what supplies, tools, and other materials are available at the school or materials parents can help out with. If you look into this ahead of time, you can have a fund raiser or put out the word to gain the materials you still need. It's important not to overlook your community resources, there are a lot of places that are willing to help out teachers! Look into it! Take into consideration if the technology you will be using for the project is new to the student. If so, make sure to plan time before the project is introduced to the students to learn about and practice using the technology. It will have you a lot of time and a headache! Also think about how you plan on accessing the technology often if you need it. For further research, keep in mind if your students will need to seek expert answers and plan accordingly, plan guest speakers or plan for a field trip. Make sure to consider who can help out with the project. Help is always beneficial and the students will love new faces! 

2. It is beneficial to make a project calendar full of milestones that need to be hit along the way. It will be good for your students to see the management behind the project and will influence their management skills positively! Make sure students are aware of the little deadlines for the project along the way, it might be a fun idea for the students to make a plan of their own as well so they always have the dates handy.

Teachers management needs:
- tools for communication with students and others included in the project.
- tools for making milestones and events visible. Example: calendar. 
- methods for getting resources to students.
-systems for managing work products.

Students management needs:
- systems and tools that help them mage their time and work.
- systems that help students manage materials and control.
- collaboration tools.
- methods for seeking assistance.
- ways to work iteratively and to see how parts add up to the whole.

3. Some technology applications that should be considered are creating a website or blog. This is a good way for students to voice their opinions on issues or post their work for everyone to see. I think its a great idea for students to post their work online because not only can the teacher see it but other students! They can constantly be learning for one another even over the weekend when their at home. Drupal and Textpattern are more sophisticated web spaces that are a combination of sentient management framework and blogging. They have plugins such as forums and surveys. 

4. Concepts in this chapter relate to our project topic because we want our students to use technology. We have to take into consideration of all the aspects of the project that need to be addressed before the project even begins such as teaching them about new technology they have never operated before. It also pointed out a lot about time management which is crucial in a project like this! 

Reading reflection 5

1.     1.  Items should be considered by many factors.  When the teacher has some ideas in mind for what to use, they should check on what services their school district offers.  Then the teacher should let the parents and community know what the students need by blogging, take home sheets asking for any help the family can give, or even checking local businesses.  They should also check and ask around for free technology apps and sites that may help with the project.  Also, a teacher should think about if the students will need information from people outside the teacher like experts and workers familiar with the main idea of the project.

2.       2. The teacher needs to make sure that they are having students be somewhat independent about their own project management so that they can manage their projects easily as an adult.  I liked the idea about organizing the project with a calendar type tool because then students can visually see when they need to have things done and can be independent about it instead of the teacher reminding them. 

3.       3. Technology in a project can be used to graph data, research, share the information, and manage the project.  The class has to keep in mind what is easily available to them like what other classes can lend them or services that the community offers that could help out with the project.  Students and teachers can use a blog to manage and broadcast their project. 

4.       4. Technology and items relate to our project because for much of the research and testing that our class may do we will need some high tech equipment to obtain the information.  We may need special barometers and other devices that get the information outside but the students have to read the information on computers.  Also, if we decide to do water testing for pollution, the students will have to use very tech equipment, technology to graph and put the data together, and possibly have an expert come in and help them with the technology and concepts.

Reading Reflection #5

Before you start a project you should consider what materials you will need, if your project is going to involve technology that is new to students, do you need to expand the access to technology for your students, will your students need an expert to answer questions?  

Teachers management needs

• Tools for communication with students and others about the project
• Tools for making milestones and events visible and for notifying students when change occurs
• methods for getting resources to students
• system for managing work products
• structures that support a productive learning environment in which teams and individuals are engages in a variety of learning tasks at the same time
• assessment tools and strategies

Student management needs

• systems 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 teaching advice
• ways to work iteratively and to see how parts add up to the whole

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There are many different types of technology applications, you could have your students create a website where they could display all of the information that they have gathered. They could create a blog, again writing what information that they have found. Using a blog is also a good way for other student to comment and ask question. Last, there are two websites, Drupal and Textpattern are more sophisticated Web spaces. They have plugins such as discussion forums and surveys.

I think that the information from this chapter could help our projects, especially the technology applications. We are having the students in our projects communication with other students and creating a website or a blog is a good way for them to stay connected. They can show each other what they are learning and share information.  

chapter 4 Reading reflection

1.       The book mentioned some very important pitfalls we could run into with our projects.  One of the most important to keep in mind is that we have to remember that our activities need to have many ideas that the students learn so that they are not working hard only to learn a small amount of information and skills.  I also think the pitfall of overly scripted with many steps is important to avoid as well because students need to be able to figure some things out for themselves.  The teacher has to be able to evaluate how much help their students are going to need though before this step.

2.       A good project will challenge students but not completely frustrate them, have a main idea or question that the teacher wants students to answer, include many different ways that students learn, focuses on a subject that interests students, uses skills that go beyond schooling like communication and project management, and has students doing varied methods of research like gathering information about weather patterns by having students keep a journal of the weather patterns they experience and why they happen.

3.       Project ideas can come from other teachers, news stories, and student interests.  These are some the best places because the ideas are usually recent topics and can keep students motivated about the project.

4.       To start designing a project the teacher should have an idea from her students or other source and be relating learning objectives to it.  Then they should consider what Job/ 21^st Century skills they want their students to practice along with the learning dispositions.  Then the teacher should consider the background knowledge of the students as well as the best ways the students learn to incorporate the information the students will need into the project.  Think about what the students` overall goal would be and anything structurally you may need to change to allow your students to do their best work.  In other words, think of ways to make your project very flexible to all your students` needs without blowing off the project`s structure.  Imagine how you will introduce your students to the project to excite them about learning about it and motivate their future work.

5.       The lesson plan concepts relate to our project because we are working on lesson plans and also it is making me reconsider certain aspects of the project that my group may have to change to accommodate all of the students.  

Reading reflection #4

1. Some potential pitfalls in project design are having a long and busy project but doesn't accomplish much learning, technology layered over traditional practice, considering thematic units as project based learning, and having too many steps and scripted projects. To make your project based learning as successful as possible make sure you avoid this pitfalls.

2. A good project is closely designed with the possibility of students taking different learning paths, causes the students to construct meaning, realistic, tap into rich data and sources, inquiry based, students will learn with and from one another, and have students learn by doing. Your project should have many of these qualities to be consisted a good project.

3. Project ideas can come from multiple places, such as projects with potential for more meaningful learning, by and for other teachers, students questions or interests, new stories, contemporary issues, and a combination of a great idea and a new tool. The possibilities are endless with project based learning. A successful project will often lead you to another successful project!

4. There are steps to designing a project and they go as followed:
    Step 1: Revisit the framework.
    Step 2: Establish evident of understanding.
    Step 3: Plan the "vehicle" (the project theme or challenge)
    Step 4: Plan entree into the project experience. For example, the things you would say first to the
                students to get them engaged and interested in the project.

5. This relates to our topic/project because we are learning from one another and getting ideas from each other while we are working on the project together. It is helpful to know the pitfalls in project design so we can avoid making those kinds of mistakes in our project. It is also good to know where project ideas come from so we can be inspired to create this project and other ones like it when we become teachers.

Virtual pals recycling

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Reading Reflection #4

There are 3 potential pitfalls in project design.

·      Long on activity, short on learning outcomes-if the project is busy and long but reaches small or lower-order learning aims, it’s not worth investing your student’s time.

·      Trivial thematic units-make sure you change the theme of the projects. Don’t have every unit have similar themes. The students will get bored of learning the same things and they will not be as engaged

·      Overly scripted with many, many steps- you need to find a project that has direction yet lets the students think in their own ways. If they get lists of directions and exactly what to research, there is no room for them to think outside the box and they will probably not put as much effort into the project.

      

Features of a good project

·      Loosely designed with the possibility of different learning points

·      Generative, causing the students to construct meaning

·      Center on the driving question or are otherwise structured for inquiry

·      Capture student interest through complex and compelling real-life or simulated experiences

·      Realistic, and therefore cross multiple disciplines

·      Reach beyond school to involve others

·      Tap rich data or primary sources

·      Structured so students learn with and from each other

·      Students working as inquiring experts might

·      Get at 21st-century skills and literacies, including communications, project management, and technology use

·      Get at important learning dispositions, including persistence, risk-taking, confidence, resilience, self-reflection, and cooperation

·      Students learn by doing

Good projects come from everywhere. Project plans developed by and for other teachers. They come from stories that teachers hear. Contemporary issues, student question and interests. Good project also lead to other great projects

When designing a project considering the following

1)   Revisit the framework

a)    Make a final list of learning objectives for core subjects and allied disciplines

b)   Decide on the specific 21st-century skills you want to address

c)    Identify learning dispositions you want to foster, such a persistence and reflection

2)   Establish evidence for understanding. Imagine what students would know or be able to do once they learned. Imagine how they would be different learned and as people.

3)   Plan of “vehicle.” Strive for “optimal ambiguity” there is enough structure for the students yet there is still flexibility.

4)   Plan entrée into the project experience. What will you say to the get student attention and get them excited to learn?

I think this chapter is everything that we need to think about while we create lesson plans. It gives us all of the information that we need to consider when creating a lesson plan that will make our students interested in the project.