Relfection # 9 -Caryn Hay

Caryn Hay

3/30/12

EDT 3470

Reflection # 9

            This chapter is about making assessments meaningful. End-of-project assessments are to check how well the student’s project demonstrated what they learned. Grading projects to see how well a student understood a topic is great, but this method allows you to go deeper to check the effort, creativity, and teamwork that went into the project. Alternative assessments allow the teacher to check the student’s understanding of a topic better than a multiple choice test.

            As teachers we need to realize not all students start at the same place when beginning a project, meaning the distance they took their project will be different also. The chapter suggests establishing “anchors” to get an idea of where each student started their project, and how far they worked to meet their goals. This means that teachers need to be more creative when they assess students, so they can measure how much the student gained from the project, beginning to end.

            The chapter closes with giving a few examples to assess what students learned during the project. The first way is to simply talk to your students. Ask each student on video, voice recording, or simply documented on paper what they learned by the end of the project. Allow others to comment and give feedback, which will help the students in the future with upcoming projects. The second way is to create something new. At the end of the project students can create a new project or creative way to display what they learned or took away from their project. An example could be writing a book or newsletter. The third idea is to model real-world assessments. This means to allow students to take what they learned and put it into action, or send their work to someone of that professional field. Lastly, allow students to enter a contest. Contests always push children to try harder especially if they know they have a chance of winning something, even if its just a school or class contest.

#8 Reflection

            Digital tools of the 21^st century aid students in expanding connections and learning outside the classroom.  A way of doing this is having them create an online digital story.  Through this they can branch out from the classroom, for they may want to consult experts on their topic, or they may want to communicate or collaborate with other learners from across the globe, which will result in being and working in a culturally diverse world.  When your students learn in new ways and expand in new directions you know they are gaining new knowledge.  When students are able to interview experts they are getting personal responses and experiences with the interview process.  Also, by giving students opportunities to get involved, meet and talk to experts will get them so interested and excited about the topic and to learn more.  But it is our job, as teachers to provide and set up meetings with experts.

            Environmental and spatial technologies (East) initiative network of schools have been demonstrating the benefits of using technology for a real purpose.  This means to improve or make a difference in their community.  East initiative started in Arkansas in 1996 and is now over 260 schools in 7 states, even the government has gotten involved.  In 2001 it became a non-profit organization.  The east model is built on four essential ideas:

1. Student-driven learning: students need to be responsible for their own learning.
2. Authentic project-based learning: students should be engaged in their communities.
3. Technology as tools: students need to access to the relevant technologies that professionals use to solve real problems.
4. Collaboration: when students collaborate projects, they accomplish more than any one person can do in isolation.

When teachers join East they become facilitators and their classroom roles change.  They must also let students take the lead when it comes to learning about technology.  There is also a 3 weeklong ongoing professional development for the facilitators in training.

            As teachers become more comfortable with the project approach, they will find students more capable of leading their projects.  Once students can grasp a topic, learn about it, relate to it and are given appropriate technological devices, they from there can take it into their own hands and provide a successful project. 

Reflection # 8 -Caryn Hay

Caryn Hay

3/23/12

EDT 3470

Reflection # 8

            Chapter eight begins with some ways to build connections and branch out beyond the classroom. An important way to extend the learning outside the classroom is the idea of incorporating technology. Digital tools help to allow students to connect with other people or information outside of the classroom. Many times students will try harder knowing that their audience is larger and other people they do not know so well will be seeing their work. Students can use blogs to not only connect with other students, but blogs also allow them to connect with experts on the topic they are studying at the time.

            The chapter introduces the EAST initiative model, which means environmental and spatial technologies. Students who use this technology are using it for a real purpose, meaning they can solve problems and make improvements in their communities. Technology is fun for students, they get the opportunity to use tools that are interesting, yet are learning something amazing at the same time.

            The chapter ends on the note of explaining why we need to let our students lead. Allowing our students to introduce and talk about their projects that they are interested in is exciting to them. Students learn more when they are interested in something and we, as teachers should be encouraging this behavior. If a student finds a blog that they want to join we should have an open mind and check over the site before allowing them to do so, but consider what they are insisting upon. 

Reflection #7

            Classroom discussions are important during a project because the questions asked can spark new answers for those participating in the discussion.  There are 3 levels of classroom discussion; teacher to teacher, student to student and teacher to student.  Teacher to teacher discussions consist of teachers who discuss multiple aspects of their project, such as how their procedures work, who leads the assessment and how their planning goes.  From the discussions they can collaborate during project implementation.  Student to student discussions consist of talking about their learning experience, and give them the opportunity to learn form each other.  Lastly, teacher to student discussions are usually in lecture format, this can be whole group or with one or few students. The purpose of this level of discussion is to ask questions to push students toward higher-order thinking.

            In the middle of a project, it would be helpful for the teacher to ask questions for checking in.  Procedural questions would be questions like “are you staying on track?”  Teamwork questions are to make sure the tea is getting along and they are doing their share of the work.  Understanding questions are to ensure the students are learning and to move them in the right direction.  Self-assessment questions are to see what students are thinking about during the project.  These questions will be both helpful to you and your students.  When using technology in a project, you want to make sure they are benefiting and learning form the devices and tools provided.  You want the students to be able to take what they have learned and be able to apply to other parts of their life and to be able to use the technological devices from there on out.  Teamwork is a 21^st century skill that can make or break a project.  If you detect trouble, help your students work it out.  Having team members who slack can really hurt the team, but teachers can give out evaluations to the teams to hill out for each member, which will be useful at the end of the project to ask students if they will make the same choice of teammates for the future. I think what I thought was the most like what we are doing in our groups in class, is the teacher-to-teacher discussions.  We are all future teachers, creating our own lesson plans and them coming together collaborating all of our projects into one unit, and pod casts and websites. 

Reflection # 7 - Caryn Hay

Caryn Hay

3/16/12

EDT 3470

Reflection # 7

            The chapter starts off by discussing the three levels of classroom discussion. The first is teacher to teacher, which is the collaboration into project planning. The second is student to students, this allows students to talk as they are learning and to also to share the new facts they find along the way. The third is teacher to student, which is the simple lecture interaction that is taken place in the classroom. These three discussion types together can make the classroom more productive. Students will all accomplish their projects at different speeds, and to help keep in touch with where they all are you must be asking questions. The four topics for questions to ask when checking in with students are, procedural, teamwork, understanding, and self-assessment.

As the book discusses technology, they also discuss the benefits that students will gain. Students can gain insights into how to communicate with a culturally diverse audience, as well as learn to give and take feedback. Troubleshooting is one of the 21^st-century skills that the book talks about and says that students can distinguish effective project managers. It also says that it can help students learn from setbacks and help them to fix their strategies to get back on track. Teamwork is another 21^st-century skill that can make or break a project. It allows students to help manage their own team conflicts, and also allows them to practice using a real-life skill. 

Reading Reflection #6

 Technology tools can encourage students to be reflective and evaluate their own strength because they will evaluate the success of their efforts, change direction and persist as they overcome obstacles. This will make them more experienced and they will be more capable learners

There are several ways that you can get students minds ready for a project, one of these ways is a K.W.L. activity. Before you get to KWL you need to establish interest and excitement. Some ways to establish interest and excitement are to get the students attention and give them ideas that will excite their imagination. Also, you should encourage the students to explore topics with friends, at dinner, etc. It is also that the students have great optimism. Before you do the project, bring it up in intervals a few days prior, to generate more excitement. The most important aspect is to get the students really excited to start the project and spark their interest.

The main element of teaching fundamentals first is making sure the students have the prior knowledge that is required to complete the project. Before launching a project, make sure you are aware of background knowledge students may need and spend time going over them so they will be successful in their project. Be sure to set the stage for independent inquiry and share the assessment rubric. The example that the text gives is that of a traveler. When you are traveling you need to know your starting point and have some idea of your destination. This is also true with projects. Students need to be comfortable knowing how to start the project as well as what is expected for their final outcome.

Preparing students for projects involving technology requires advanced planning. Prior to starting the project it is important to think about what tools will be necessary and imagining these tools in the students hands. You should also think about what the students might already know and what the students will need to know. Some good ideas for preparing students are to set up a technology playground where students can explore, let technically able student teach others, introduce project-managing tools such as a project journal, and demonstrate the use of the tools to the students. It is important that you feel comfortable with the technology before trying to teach it to your students.

In order to promote inquiry and deep learning it is important to guide students toward skilled questioning. “What if” questions ask students to use their knowledge that they have to consider options and develop a hypothesis. “Which one” questions ask students to collect information and make decisions. “How” questions ask students to understand problems, possibly from different points of view.

Concepts in this chapter relate to my project topic because I will need to prepare students for working with technology as well as promote deep learning and inquiry. I learned a lot from this chapter about teaching the fundamentals prior to beginning a project and I feel more comfortable with preparing students for working with technology. I really liked the idea in the chapter about creating a technology playground where students can explore and become comfortable with the tools they will use in their project.  

#6 Reflection

            A few tools students can use that encourage them to be reflective and evaluate their own strengths are through blogs and online survey tools.  Blogs are a great technological tool for students because they can reflect over time about what they have learned.  ProfilerPRO is an online survey tool where members of a group can identify learning characteristics, and as they learn more understanding they can reassess their profile.  Lastly, a tool called SurveyMonkey, is another online survey you can set up for your students, tracking their results, helping them and comparing them.  KWL (know-wonder-learn) is a great activity for getting students minds ready for a project.  Encouraging students to think, explore and use their imaginations and discuss the topic at the beginning is another way to get their minds ready.  An example from the text was to tell your students about a surprise guest, each day giving them new ideas to build their excitement.

            It is important to teach the fundamentals to your students first.  This is important because if you just push your students into a project dealing with skills they have not acquired yet, it will be unsuccessful.  As teachers, we want our students to be successful.  At the beginning of a project, give your students the topic to think about, this is when they can start the KWL activity.  This will inspire them to learn about the topic and drive them to participate to their full potential in the project.  By giving you students the rubric for the project, they will have a better understanding for each part of the project and your expectations to complete it accurately.  Another teaching fundamental is to expose your students to the technology, software, or programs, having them practice with it will benefit them during the project.  When designing a project it is a good thing to incorporate all subjects in some way.  To guide inquire and deep learning you can ask hypothetical questions, ask them to imagine things and ask them how, what, why, when and where questions to your students.  This chapter can be relatable to our projects especially form the beginning of the chapter, about the different technological tools we can use in a project, which we are doing in this class and also applying to our group projects and lesson plans.

Reflection # 6

Caryn Hay

3/2/12

EDT 3470

Reflection # 6

Chapter six begins with the technology tools that can encourage students to be reflective and evaluate their own strengths. The chapter suggested three tools such as, blogs, profilerPRO, and survey monkey. We are using blogs in our class projects, which allows students a place to reflect on what they are learning. Before launching a project, we as teachers need to get students minds ready for the upcoming project. This can be done in many ways, such as KWL charts, the use of technology to draw them in, and simply bringing up interesting parts of the project that can get students excited and thinking about the upcoming assignment.

The chapter takes us back to the elements of teaching fundamentals first. As teachers we need to set the stage for independent inquiry. This means we need to get students thinking and using their background knowledge to help prepare for an upcoming project. The most important thing to do before giving a project is to share the assessment rubric, which sets students up for success right from the beginning. The chapter also mentions the importance of promoting inquiry and deep thinking. We can follow these guidelines in our projects in class by letting our students choose their own plans of investigations and questions. Our job as teachers is to guide students along the way making sure they are meeting the learning outcomes, by asking questions that are open-ended, such as “how”, “what if”, and “why”. These questions allow students to think deeper and help us teachers to understand what they are learning along the way.

Lastly as teachers we need to know how to prepare students to use technology in the classroom. The first suggestion for preparing students is to set up a technology playground. This means as teachers we need to make the decision if a brief demonstration or a more technical lesson is needed before the project. Secondly is to tap student expertise, which means to allow other students to help when needed. Another important step is to introduce project management tools. Similar to what we are doing in class, project logs or journals can help students to keep track of their projects. The chapter points out that the teacher should demonstrate if needed and the teacher feel comfortable doing so, also to rely on your technology specialists for help or information. Lastly, as teachers think about if the technical skills are useful or if it will help beyond the project itself.