Morse: Chapter 5 RR

Chapter 5 Reading Reflection: Project Management Strategies for Teachers and Learners

• Discussion on the items that should be considered before starting a project with students.

There are several items that need to be considered before starting a project with students. One item is to identify what materials you and your students will need for the project. If at first you cannot find these materials in the school in which you work, use the resources out side of school such as parents and other volunteer groups. You will also need to recognize which of these materials the students will need introduction to before you expect your students to use them. Another item is to create a way that technology will be easily and more readily accessible for students to use for research and other necessities. As well as technology, other resources such as experts and/or vitual field trips. If experts cannot come to the classroom, make sure that the technology necessary for them to be able to contact the students in this way is available. These accomodations and arragements can also be done with the help of both a technology coordinator and or a media specialist. These are two resources that are also important for you to contact before starting the project. While in collaboaration with these two resource specalists, being in contact with your taching team is also a very important way to share ideas and resources amongst the classrooms as well.

• Discussion on teachers’ and students’ management needs.

For Students: Not only is time mangement important for teachers to have but also for the students to be aware of. Students need to be consious of their time frame, progress, and over arching goal of the project. One way that you can help students learn about this important concept is by having a project calendar with deadlines that are visual to act as reminders to the students of where their progress should be at. Each student should also be provided a briefcase or a special place where they can keep all of their materials and findings from their project. This includes an online storage space where students can access their material at school, at hoome, at the library, or other areas to provide opportunities for further exploration at any point at which they want to do so.

For Teachers: Teachers need to be aware of how their students will be arranged in groups to work colalboratively and ideas for how they will be rearranged throughout the year. This will provide the opportunity for students to work with a range of people allowing for access to different ideas and perspectives. Teachers also need to be aware of how the different learning styles and levels. How will students be challeneged or have their learning needs met? They also need to be aware of the seriusness of the project to both the students and the teacher. Responsibilities are a huge part of this project and these all need to be met by the students. One way to do this is by creating a contract for both the students and teachers to sign to set these high expecations in place from the very beginning.

• Discuss some of the technology applications that should be considered for use in a project.

When considering applications to use for the project there must be a variety amongst them. A wiki of which students can create pages and paste basic information including Web links is one of the basic applications that can be used. Another is a blog which serves as a resource a tool to communicate with the community and other experts. Drupal and Textpattern are also two applications which can be used for the same purposes as the others; however, these include the opportunities to create forums and surveys as well. Podcasts and other personalized web pages are also important to consider, especially when trying to meet the needs of the different types of learners in your classroom.

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

For my topic/project, time management will be one of our major concerns and objectives that will need to be addressed amongst the planning and introduction of our project. We will also need to use a wide range of different technology applications. We have already planned on using podcasts as well as blogs to connect to an audience including the community. We can also use other web pages where students can put their stored information and resources and are able to access these through other computers - not just at home. Dropbox.com will be one resource we can use that is free so that students can create folders and organize their information in a way that makes sense to them. Using the resources that we have in our school and community are ways that will make our project sucessful.