Morse Chapter 11 RR

Covers Chapter 11, Bring It Home, of Reinventing Project-Based Learning, p. 157 to185. (4/13/12)

Describe what occurs as a result of using the Project-based learning approach.

A reflection piece among both the students and yourself is also essential. A lot of planning time has been put into the project, and therefore revisions and alterations can be evident only if we spend the same amount of time reflecting upon the structure and process. By being involved in a project-based learning approach, you are not an essential resource for other colleagues who value the teaching strategy. Other teachers who are using the same approach can also debrief and reflect upon the best ideas that they found would improve the project even more. Different communication tools can be used for this dialogue. Sharing the strengths and weaknesses are both an effective teacher strategy so that learning experiences are developing for not only the students but the teacher as well.

Discuss ways to “bring your project home”.

Some ways to “bring your project home” would be collaborating with your colleagues about the improvements and strengths of the project. Sharing the project with community members, parents, and students are also a way to help bring the project home for as these are all important to do after all of the hard work. You can also enter your project into contests that allow you to share your best work. Receiving feedback from other members is important and can help highlight your accomplishments as well as provide insight into constructive criticism.

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

Sharing our projects and collaborating with colleagues will be a part of the project that is done before, during and after the project has starting. Allowing community members and others to view our projects to provide feedback and share our accomplishments will also be a part of our project. It is essential for the teachers but also the students that projects are shared and displayed for others to view. Entering these projects into contests will also be an opportunity for students to participate in. If they see their best work forward, we will give them this choice.

Chapter 11 RR: Marshall

As a result of using Project-Based Learning, you and your students should feel like you have taken a journey together and each experience is vividly remembered. This project does not just simply finish; it opens many doors for continued learning.

Ways to bring your project home include:

         Reflecting on your own.

         Reflecting with peers.

         Critiquing your project.

         Reflect on what you have learned.

         Reflect on what you would still like to learn.

The end of our project will allow us to see what we may have missed in our own project and what we would like to learn in the future. We will also brainstorm that if we were to do the project again, what would help it move along smoother.

         

Chapter 10 RR:Marshall

Doing a reflection for a project allows students to measure their success as well as you. The students will be able to take pride in their accomplishments. You as the teacher will be able to see if what they had learned form the project has lined up with your initial goals/learning outcomes.

Students should reflect because this allows them to measure how much they have learned from their project and what they still want to learn. Asking them to elaborate will allow them to ask questions and think about new ways in which they can start new projects and learn more.

“When families, the community, and students coming up through the grades know what you are up to, you have the foundation for tradition.” (pg 150) Sharing your student’s accomplishments and asking the community to join in on their success will help build traditions. If the community and families know what you are doing in your classroom, they will be able to expect what will come when they join your class.

It is very meaningful to students when their work is celebrated. Students want to know that what they are doing is right and appreciate the affirmation. It is important to show off student work and let them know that their hard work has paid off.

The students in our class will take pictures of the progress of their garden. When the vegetables are ready for harvest, we will throw a harvest party and invite other classrooms and parents. We will provide the pictures and information of our garden as we took care of it. We will also hold a reveal for harvesting our vegetables. 

Morse Chapter 10 RR

Covers Chapter 10, Celebrating and Reflecting, of Reinventing Project-Based Learning, p. 147 to 155. (4/6/12)

1. Discussion on the importance of setting aside time for reflection.

Reflection is a large part of the learning process and is essential for students to receive an effective learning experience. One benefit or the reflection process is that it allows students to feel good about their accomplishments. They are also able to establish meaningful learning experiences connections to projects that are done if they are able to reflect on both the process and outcome.

2. Discussion on the reason students need to reflect and elaborate.

Students are able to see all that they have done which helps the information/concepts be more retrievable at a later date. By reflecting upon their learning, it also provides the opportunity for students to see something they might have overlooked if they were pushed to move on to a different activity. Growing as learners is essential and setting time aside for reflecting can help them do just that. We can help our students in their reflections by asking question such as, “How was the project important to you?” We can help them identify their behaviors that made the project successful and allow them to write in a journal to capture these thoughts.

3. Discussion on how schools build tradition and identity.

Creating and displaying projects where families, community members, and students can observe helps create a foundation for tradition. Younger students will identify what you have been doing in the classroom and have something to look forward to when they are in your class. Community members will value the accomplishments that are displayed and provide support and might even want to be involved in the students’ learning process. Inviting community members in to help the students can help build participation and engagement with the students as well.

4. Discussion on the importance celebrating a project.

Celebrating a project by either blogging about it, hosting a party, or putting on an event are all ways to help develop a school’s identity as well. Classroom displays can also be used to share projects with others around the school and community. Celebrating the project encourages students to be proud of their learning process and accomplishments. By celebrating, we are providing the opportunity for students to imbed one last time the concepts and memories they learned about throughout the project.

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

Celebration will be a huge portion of our project at the very end. We will set time aside for students to celebrate all that they learned. They will have the opportunity to share their accomplishments with the community and other staff members and students. We will also provide time for students to reflect upon the process of the project and make connections with other aspects of life. Both of these concepts are essential for student’s experience with learning.

digital story (jessica)

I will be doing my digital story on nutrition.

Chapter 9 RR: Morse

Covers Chapter 9, Making Assessment Meaningful, of Reinventing Project-Based Learning, p. 139 to 146.

Your reflection should include:

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

A method of understanding prior-knowledge of students would be to create KWL chart with the class about a specific topic. Ask the students what they already know about the topic and what they want to learn. After the lessons have been completed, bring the class back to address what they have learned from the activity.

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

By recognizing prior knowledge and establishing these anchors for the project, the progress and distance the students will need to travel through their learning process in order to meet the learning goals and objectives you set for the project. By learning where the students are with the content already, differentiated instruction can be set up to help all learners be successful.

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

Rubrics should be set in place for assessment so that students become aware of your expectations of their learning progress. Providing feedback and opportunities to grade on areas other than content mastery, allows students to become well rounded in other areas of being a student. Both traditional tests and non traditional activities to assess content mastery are also ways that we as educators can assess our students and what they learned during the project.
We can also use class discussions to assess content that the students are learning. Are they using the vocabulary correctly? Are they staying on task? Formative assessments are great tools for teachers to use for assessment.

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

Being aware of my students previous knowledge will be a component that we will address within our project by either doing a KWL chart or possibly having them write everything they can think about a specific topic, or even give them a traditional pre-test. Gathering this information allows us to provide instruction that will benefit all students and include other strategies that will become effective in our teaching practices.
We will also use several different types of assessment include formative and summative assessments in various forms throughout the project. Walking around and taking notes on conversation and assessing group or individual progress with their project are two ways formative assessment will be used. A final project and other materials can also be used for the summative assessments.

Chapter 9 RR:Marshall

Using a K-W-L chart will help, you the teacher understand the prior knowledge of your students. It will also help assess what they have learned when you review the K-W-L chart at the end of the project and fill in the “Learning” portion.

It is important to establish anchors for a project because it helps gage where the student is starting in their project based on their prior knowledge. It also helps keep track of what learning goals they are meeting as they progress through their projects.

Interviewing the students about what they had learned during the project is one way to assess their knowledge. Videotaping them will allow the student to review their own assessment. Something else is having the students share their work with peers for constructive feedback.

Ask students to create something that summarizes or synthesizes what they have learned from their project. This could be something that is formally written, a podcast, something interactive or even a poem.

Utilize experts to help critique students projects and give honest feedback on their success.

Encourage students to submit their projects for a competition or publication. Sometimes students will get the feedback from judges about their projects or will even have to defend their projects.

For our project I would ask a Registered Dietician or a Gardner to come and critique our students classroom project. This would allow them to hear of some new ideas that they may have not thought of before and will assess their knowledge of the content they have been obtaining throughout their project. The students will interview each other on tape as a form of assessment and will have the opportunity to play back their interviews.