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.

Chapter 8 RR: Marshall

Some of the ways to build connections and branch out beyond the classroom would be: asking parents about their expertise to come into the class and share what they do, utilizing University’s resources that they provide for the community as well as politicians. It would take research on the teachers part to find people or events that will provide more information that relates to their students interests.

The EAST Initiative Model is based on student-driven learning, authentic project-based learning, technology as tools, and collaboration. The teacher becomes a facilitator- in making this experience of learning easier on the student as they become responsible for their own learning.

Letting students lead their own project will prove to be successful because they are the ones generating their own ideas for a project which will lead them to be more passionate about the topic. Students can chart their own path to completion of the project and hold themselves accountable.

This relates to our project because students can decide what they would like to see planted in their garden, how they design their garden and who they will sell their produce to. We as teachers can reach out to other resources such as farms or local community gardens so students can get tips and ideas before planting their own. 

Digital Story

Hey Jess,

We have digital stories due March 30th. Each of us have to create our own. The story can be anything related to our project. The rubric/guide is in elearning. I am going to do my story on shopping for our garden supplies.

-Kyla

Morse RR Chapter 8

Covers Chapter 8, Building Connections and Branching Out, of Reinventing Project-Based Learning, p. 125 to 138.

Your reflection should include:

1. Description of some ways to build connections and branch out beyond the classroom.

The use of technology increasingly allows for the opportunity for projects to branch out beyond the classroom. Using this technology allows students to communicate with an authentic audience who can share comments, read, watch, and/or listen. This in itself will create a motivator for students to perform at a higher level. Blogs and websites are two examples of how we as educators can use technology for an authentic audience.
Technology can also be used to communicate with experts in the course of researching. Communication with experts and even other classroom/students will also help your classroom branch out. When inquiry is incorporated into the project, communication with experts is essential for students during their exploration of a particular topic. Whether it is face-to-face or through technology, students will be able to build questions to ask and learn how to build personal responses to the information they are given.
Student collaboration using technology is also essential for project based learning. Communication within the classroom, school, and even the country or other countries are also experiences that will all benefit the students learning. Wikis, podcasts, skype, and other digital tools can also be used for communication and collaboration amongst students.

     2.  Description of the EAST Initiative Model.

EAST stands for Environmental and Spatial Technologies and its Initiative Model is used for demonstrating the benefits of using technology to solve problems and make improvements in their communities.

The EAST model is built on four fundamental ideas:

Learning is student driven and need to be responsible for their own learning.
Students should be engaged in solving real problems in their communities - authentic learning.
Technology needs to be used as learning tools to help solve authentic problems.
Students need to be collaborating in times to pursue authentic projects.

Teachers also play a new role in the model. Teachers now become facilitators rather than directors. East teachers must also learn to let students take the lead when it comes to learning so that they are given the opportunity to take responsibility for their own choices and learning progress.

     3.  Discussion on some reasons to let students “lead” their projects.

When students are able to lead their projects, they are also given the opportunity to chart their own learning paths and growth. They are able to see what they learned and the path they took to get there. Students are also able to preserve their learning path and developing new strategies for learning. Through the use of technology students are able to capture learning paths and discoveries and preserve student thinking through these technological tools.

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

Letting students take lead and use technological tools are all things that will be used in my project. Allowing students to use wiki pages and blogs to collaborate with their classmates and other classrooms around the world are two examples of how my classroom will be using technological tools to work together. Students will also have the opportunity to use skype to talk to experts/professionsals on their topic and generate questions and responses related to their topic. Students will have the opportunity to take control of their learning and be able to see their growth and development throughout the project.

Morse RR Chapter 7

Covers Chapter 7, A Guiding Hand -- Keeping a Project Moving, of Reinventing Project-Based Learning, p. 113 to 124.

Your reflection should include:

1.      Description of the levels of classroom discussions.

There are three levels of classroom discussion:

Teacher to teacher: These discussions include procedural to formative assessment and any other conversations that might consist of collaboration with one another. Teachers can also talk about any problems and confusion with the students and problem solving solutions as well. There are several ways teachers can communicate including the following: face-to-face, blog, wiki, or other collaboration tool.

Student to student: Students can discuss ideas and concerns to build learning experiences throughout the activities. Communication is essential for successful team work for increased learning as well as organization and staying on-task. Modeling for students how effective communication is essential for students to understand how to do this task well.

Teacher to student: Both one-on-one student to teacher and whole class to teacher communication. If communication tools are used, less communication can be on housekeeping items. These items can be placed on blogs, calendars or other online work spaces. Other communication can result by observing and letting the students know what you're seeing, working out other confusions, or talking with smaller groups of students.

2.      Discussion on the questions for “checking in” on students during a project.

Checking in on student progress is essential when using project-based learning. Asking questions to students to provide essential feedback is imperative for classroom management procedures. Types of questions that can be asked include procedural, teamwork, understanding, and self-assessment. Some examples of questions include the following: Are we staying on schedule?, Is one student carrying too much of the load for the whole team?, and Have you thought about…?

3.      Discussion on the benefits to students when optimizing the use of technology.

Educators need to make sure that technology is not used as a distraction, but instead for learning purposes and to enhance the thinking and ideas of the students. These students also need to be given the choice a few times as to which type of technology they would use. It is important that students are able to adapt their technological experiences to their learning and skill needs throughout different parts of the project. Teachers can use questioning to help make sure that their students are maximizing their technological experiences. Asking questions to make sure that the technology use is helping students reach learning goals rather than being a hindrance on these experiences.

4.      Discussion on the 21st-century skills that can make or break a project.

Teachers need to keep a few things in mind in order to make the project successful. Paying close attention to team dynamics in terms of team conflicts is important. Teachers can do this by creating a formal assessment so that students are well aware that they are being graded on their participation within their group. Guidelines and procedures

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

Communication between both my students and myself is the most essential and critical component to creating a successful project and classroom.  Collaboration will be used amongst not only different classrooms within the same district but also with the teachers from the classrooms we will be talking with across the world. Classroom management, procedures and routines will help the conflict amongst the different groups and these will all be set in place before the project so that these minor conflicts will hopefully not have to be handled.

Chapter 6 RR: Marshall

1. Discuss how technology tools can encourage students to be reflective and evaluate their own strengths.

Using a self-evaluation before and after a project will assess the students strengths based on the learning outcomes of the project. SurveyMonkey and Zoomerang are two great websites to use an online survey. A blog can be used as a reflection tool throughout the project and students can keep track of how they are doing and what they are learning. Another tool that can be used is ProfilerPRO which is an online survey tool that can be used to track individual or group progress. This also allows students to acquire badges as they make progress on skills throughout their project.

Describe several ways in which you can get students’ minds ready for a project.

A K-W-L can be used to introduce a topic and can also be looked at throughout the project and as a follow up. Also bringing up the topic a few times after it is introduced to get students minds thinking and build anticipation about a week before the project is actually launched. 

Discuss the elements of teaching fundamentals first.

Assessing a students prior knowledge and building on that by teaching the fundamentals of what they should know before starting on a project is key. Using students basic understanding of a concept and having them expand on it by planned investigations will help teach the fundamentals.

Describe the important steps in preparing students for using technology in project.

1. Introduce the technology that will be used.

2. Show step by step guiding of how to use the technology.

3. Allow students to explore the technology on their own to become familiar.

4. Have students demonstrate how to use technology.

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

Our students will be communicating with pen pals over the course of their project and will need to utilize technology in order to keep in touch. They will also be creating blogs to use individually and collaboratively. We will utilize ProfilerPro in order to survey their skills and help keep track of skills they accomplish them. 

Morse: Chapter 6 RR

Covers Chapter 6, Project Launch -- Implementation Strategies, of Reinventing Project-Based Learning, p. 93 to 112.

Your reflection should include:

1. Discuss how technology tools can encourage students to be reflective and evaluate their own strengths.

Throughout the project, technology can be used to ask students to think about their thinking and processes. They can use the tools can help them articulate about the strategies they are using throughout the project. Students are encouraged to study, plan, evaluate, compare, collaborate, manage, create, and present their findings and throughout all of these different strategies students are able to find their strengths within an inquiry and technological based learning. Students are also able to lay out projects in the way they see their learning styles and can set and achieve their own goals. This process will allow students the opportunity to reflect upon these experiences throughout the project as well.

       2. Describe several ways in which you can get students’ minds ready for a project.

Identifying student's previous knowledge has and is always a necessary first step when planning any project or lesson. Engaging students is the next step for getting students' minds ready. Students need to see the value in learning the material and be able to explore and think about the topic both in and outside of the classroom setting. We can also do this by grabbing their attention through thought-provoking events. Some activities that can be used are role-playing, making predictions, and KWL charts. Students can start to learn and visualize the learning process ahead if students are able to see the importance of a topic. Next, make a list of the possibilities the way the project can be introduced and approached. This includes questions that need to be asked to promote higher-order level thinking. Questions that need a simple yes or no answer will not do a sufficient enough job and will flatten the learning process very shortly.

         3. Discuss the elements of teaching fundamentals first.

One element that needs to be addressed for is the previous knowledge or skills that students will need in order to work independently and successfully. By identifying what the students known and do not know for yourself and for the students, they are able to make sense of this information and create a place to build and learn from. Organization of thoughts and information is a key part for students. Another fundamental element would be to share the rubric you will be grading them from. This will provide the students with no surprises when working on the project.

        4. Describe the important steps in preparing students for using technology in project.

One of the ways that teachers can do to help prepare students for the use of technology in the project is by allowing the students to explore technology with and among themselves. Also recognizing what the students already know so that valuable time is not spent re-teaching what the students already know how to do. Students can also be used as resources to teach one another. Stations are a great way to help students learn many different techniques in a short amount of time. Checklists and procedures need to be set in place from the start so that students become aware of what is expected of them from botht eproject but also while they are using technology. Demonstrations can aslo be used to help show students processes and tools within technology.

        5. Discuss ways to promote inquiry and deep learning.

Teachers need to be guided and prompted with questins but also encouraged to create their own questions and plan their own investigations. Question starters can be used to help students develop further questions and ideas they have. Teachers can also provide a structure and environment where students are comfortable to ask questions and explore throughout the project.

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

Safety and setting up technology will be a necessity for students as they start their learning process. We also need to identify students' previous knowledge, ideas, and questions they have before we delve into a project. Teachers also need to ask what their curious about and relate these curosities to activities that can engage our students into the project. The more student engagement we have in the classroom, the more learning will take place.