Friday, February 28, 2014

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.

2 comments:

  1. I agree that students should evaluate their strengths periodically using tools such as blogs, surveys, and journals. I think that teachers should have students do this to help them become more self-aware and be better able to self-improve. I also like the KWL activity and discrepant events activity to gauge children's knowledge and get them interested in the subject. It's important to do a starting activity or interest gainer before the project in order to get them ready to take ownership of it.

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  2. I agree with your point that teachers should first evaluate the technology before the students do. This is important so they can find any faults with the technology before the students use it. I like how you mentioned this chapter was related to our project because it introduces different ways to keep students interested in the project, which can be difficult to do at times!

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