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.