Reading Reflection #4

    Kim Poe

EDT 3470

February 17, 2012

Reading Reflection #4: Strategies for Discovery

This chapter presented a lot of useful information regarding designing projects to teach your class. One of the main points that it touched on several times was to “revisit the framework.” This means making a final list of learning objectives for core subjects, decide on the specific skills you want to address, and identify learning dispositions you want to foster, such as persistence and reflection. It is really important to have proper framework for your lesson to expand on before you attempt to teach it. It is also important to imagine what students would know or be able to do once they have learned. You need to have a set goal of what you want them to learn or accomplish from this project before you begin it.

It also mentioned in this chapter to be very careful when trying to use projects that you find online. It is a good idea to go over them with colleagues in order to receive other's professional feedback. Going over projects and lesson ideas with your colleagues is also a great way to build relationships with them if you have not yet already done so. Also, it can never hurt to ask a more experienced teacher for advice on what they think might work best. I also liked the idea of drawing out a project sketch / asset map when planning a project. The example on page 72 really helped me by having a visual of what they were talking about.

Overall, I got a lot of good ideas for when it comes to planning my own projects as a teacher. I learned that not all projects on their internet are “ready for use”, and it is ok as a teacher to tweak a project and make changes to it so it will better work for your needs and the needs of your students.