Chapter 10 reading reflections

It is important to set time aside for reflection because it helps students to feel good about all of their accomplishments and because reflection helps students remember. When students reflect, they create their own meaning. They need to look at their project from different aspects and from a distance to get to the next learning challenge. Reflection also helps students' project have a personal meaning and to discover the importance of it to them. Students should reflect on the good aspects of their projects as well as the challenges and frustration and they should look at how they overcame those obstacles.
A successful project should set students up for the next cycle of learning. To get students to elaborate on their reflection questions should be asked such as "what are you wondering about next?" or "what do you want to learn next?"Teacher should be asking where students want to go next. It could help develop a project that the teacher would not have thought up on their own.
Schools build tradition and identity a number of ways. For example some schools are known for their sports or a performance such as a symphony. Schools using project based learning should establish a tradition of exemplary project work. To begin, building awareness in other is important. When others know what you are doing you have a foundation for tradition. When the community sees students' accomplishment they will support what you are doing, and they may want to get involved.
There are many ways to celebrate children's work . The school could hold an event, create a blog or have a party. A classroom display is a good way to share students work with others. For longer projects that last the whole school year a year-in-review retrospective could be held. This reminds students of everything that they did throughout the year. This is a part of building a schools identity in project based learning.
This chapter relates to our topic because students will need to reflect on their project. It is important for them to pick out what was important to them in our canning activity and feeding the homeless. It is also important to celebrate students accomplishments.

CH 10 RR

It is very important to set aside time for reflection. Not only is it an essential part of learning, but it is essential when students create meaning because it allows the meaning to take shape, especially when viewed from angles not otherwise thought about. When the project draws to a finish, students can reflect on what they learned and how it was personally meaningful and beneficial. A teacher can help facilitate reflection by asking questions such as how specific learning behaviors factored into the success of the project; their skill development; how they changed/improved; how their collaborations improved; how they got better at giving/receiving;how they learned to hold themselves and the team to high standards; if technology skills were used, and if they could apply their technical learning; and if they wanted to know about any other related technologies. Our students should also reflect on their growth and development as a learner, and well as graciously reflecting on how fun the learning journey can be.

There are many reasons for students to reflect and elaborate. When students become more accomplished "project-doers", teachers feel more comfortable putting decisions into their hands. Asking where students want to go is very enlightening for a teacher, because it allows them to really understand what the students want to get out of it. When students elaborate, they embrace challenges and employ skills to delve into the subject. Authentic assessments then help to solidify the information to make it realistic.

Schools need to build tradition and identity. When schools are unique and have a sense of tradition and expectation of excellence, a sense of community is created. The tradition of exemplary project work is formed partly when the students build an awareness for others, and partly when you are transparent in your activities and traditions. When community members notice and value student contributions,, they will give you as the teacher enthusiastic support. For example, the Charles N Fortes Magnet Academy in Rhode Island has a long tradition of focusing on history. Students, parents, and teachers alike feel "honor-bound to uphold the tradition of serving the community" in different ways.

Once a project has finished, it is important to celebrate! When a student spends so much time devoted to a specific project, working on it slowly and in depth, students need a finished project and a reason to celebrate their hard work. Holding a retrospective "Year in Review" is a good way to acknowledge the students consistent hard work all year long by capturing moments throughout and posting them all at the end of the year. Having an "end of project" celebration will be meaningful to students by anchoring memories, and will also help you as the teacher to learn the highlights of projects and how you can improve them in the future based on students' experiences.

This concept definitely connects to our PBL on food preservation. When designing the project, it is important to have a sense of tradition, connecting the students to the rest of the community. It is also very important to allow the students to reflect and elaborate. It helps them to expand their knowledge to the best of their ability, and allows us as teachers to know what was good and what can be improved upon for next time.

Chapter 9 reading reflection

Chapter nine discussed ways that teachers could make their assessments meaningful to their students in a classroom. One teacher tells her students that they can either be producers or consumers. She then goes on to say that we shoudl strive to be producers because we are creating something that will bring our learning to the next level. I think this is a great way to help remind students of how to think of themselves in the classroom and outside of the classroom. The teacher goes on to say being a producer is the "global goal" now instead of just being a consumer.
A teacher needs to be taking several things into consideration while assessing students' project work such as what they have created, teamwork, effort, and the creativity that went into the project. Teachers need to be fair when assessing and that doesn't mean that they need to assign everyone the exact same amount of work for each project. Some students take 3 hours to write what takes another student 20 min. The teacher needs to keep this in mind and assess accordingly. This is called establishing anchors.
The New Technology Foundation has come up with a gradebook that is shared with schools across the high school network. The grades are brokendown much more than what a normal teacher would do. One teacher has grades for how well the student knows the content, written communication, critical thinking, and work ethic. All of the students, parents and teachers have access to these grades, which can create more opportunities for meaningful conversations about student achievements.
Having students reflect on what they learned in a fun way, such as a podcast, can be another learning experience. Other students can give feedback on how they presented what they learned in their podcast in order for the creator to know what to do better next time. Another option would be to have the student create something new after the project is done to summarize or synthesize what they have learned from creating their project. An example could be having the students create a book about something that they had already been doing throughout the project then publishing the book for the students.
These new and improved ways of making assessment meaningful will help us in our own PBL project by fitting these different forms of assessment into our own work as well as the students. We will be able to assess whether the students actually know what they are doing or have done and how much they learned instead of allowing them to slack off on their work and still get a good grade becuase they know how to guess really well at multiple choice questions.

Chapter 9 reading reflection

One way to understand students prior-knowledge is to have  them fill out a K-W-L chart. Students fill out the K- what they know and the W- What they want to learn before a project begins. Once the project is over they fill out the L- what they have learned.
It is important to establish anchors for a project. By understanding what students already know you can "establish anchors," to see where students are starting, and to see how far they are going as they do the project. A project based classroom has more opportunities to have differentiated instruction so all students can be successful. When creating an assessment it is important to measure how each student has progressed throughout the project.
Online grade books can be used to assess what students have learned during the project. It helps measure students progress in several categories. The students, their parents and teachers all have access to the assessment data. Another kind of assessment was a video taped interview with students at the end of the project. There were able to be honest and reflect on the project. They could also have a real-world assessment where a professional would come in and give feedback and evaluate their work.
This chapter relates to our project because we will need to find some way to assess our students. By finding what students already know we can create realistic goals for them, and see how they progress throughout the project. Then we will need to find an appropriate assessment to go along with our food preservation project.

CH 9 Reading Reflection

One method of understanding prior knowledge of our students students could be through a variety of assessment strategies, such as the criterion-referenced assessments, alternative assessments, and performance assessments. Another method could be KWL charts, or Know-Want to Know-Learned graphic organizers.

When you establish 'anchors', you gain a sense of where students are starting and how far they are going as they work to meet learning goals. You are also able to expand the opportunities to differentiate instructions and help all learners to be successful. When using PBL, the emphasis is all on quality and not quantity.

There are several ways to assess students knowledge during a project. First, you will want to create a rubric to assess progress towards the key learning goals, or objectives you feel are the most important things your students should know. Another way to assess what students have achieved is through an online grade book, like Curtis at the New Technology Foundation created. This online grade book has different categories, like knowledge of a content, written communication, critical thinking, and work ethic. A second assessment tool could be podcasts, which allow students to be reflective, honest, and insightful about articulating their own learning.

Regarding our PBL on Food Preservation, I feel we can use many applicable points from this chapter. First, we obviously need to understand what our students already know, in order to have a base and foundation to build off of. I also think this is applicable because as teachers, we need innovative and inventive ways to assess our students, especially when traditional ways just don't measure all of the knowledge and applicable, analytical ways that our students think. As teachers, we need to think about creating assessments after they have created their projects on food preservation.

chapter 8 reading reflection

There are many ways to build connections and branch out beyond the classroom. Connecting with experts virtually through forums, video chats or students could meet face to face with them.The first step for teachers is to create a list of experts with skill pertaining to the project, willing to talk to students. Before students talk with the expert questions should be developed to get the most out of the experience. Another way to branch out beyond the classroom is to expand learning circles. This could be exchanging videos, blog entries or other forms of communications to other students and communities across distances. This give students the opportunity to collaborate with students across the country or even across the world.
EAST initiative model stands for Environmental and Spatial Technologies and is a network of schools that show the benefits of using technology to solve problems and improve their community. Matt Dozier said "technology is the hook we use to get kids into significan projects, and to get communities into significantly wanting to support those projects." The EAST model has four main ideas that were all a part of the original design. Number one is student drivin learning. Students should be responsible for their own learning. Number two is authentic project-based learning. Students should be actively trying to solve problems in their community. Number three is technology as tools. Students should have access to technologies that professionals do to solve problems. Number four is collaboration. Students need to be collaborating with the team to accomplish more than they could individually.
   Teachers sometimes find that students are able to lead their own projects. This starts with students creating a idea for a project they care about. This allows students to be responsible for their learning. This chapter relates to our project because we need to know how to build connections outside of the classroom. When students are able to talk to experts it gives them an experience they couldnt learn from a classroom. Students should also lead their project and take responsibility for it.

Chapter 8 Reading Reflection

There are many ways to build connections and branch outside of the classroom through project based learning. One would be to connect with experts. Asking experts can help students to broaden their horizons, and probe real life, authentic ways for students to learn all the facts and the opinions. Even though connecting our students with experts requires extra work on our end, both students and teachers benefit. Teachers should be continually looking to connect with experts of all different fields. When a teacher can bring in an expert, the teacher should prepare the students by having them come up with questions and preparing them. Another way would be to expand the learning circle through connecting our students with others on a national and international level. By bringing people together across distances using technology, students understand the globalization of learning. Online collaboration is really active in extending the learning experience as well.
The EAST Initiative Movement is an Environmental and Spatial Technologies Initiative network of schools that utilize geospatial technologies and multimedia tools  to solve problems and make improvements in the community. The EAST Initiative started in Arkansas in 1996, and now includes more than 260 schools in seven states. The EAST Initiative model is based on the ideas of student based learning, authentic project-based learning, technology as tools, and collaboration. Another really important component is training and support for teachers. Teachers now become facilitators, where they have to work with student teams using interdisciplinary learning, teaming, authentic projects, and student driven learning. There are different phases in EAST training, and these all contribute to the greater goal of connecting with the community.
Letting students "lead" the project is important. As students feel comfortable and learn more about their topics, they can begin to generate their own ideas and expand into a leader role. It is very important for our students to feel in control of their projects and especially their learning. When they feel in control and a real part of the project, they are more engaged and benefit more fully.
Connecting students with others on a broader scale is important to expand their experiences, as is the EAST Initiative to get students connected with their community. However, this chapter really relates to our PBL because we need to provide students with opportunities to let them lead their own projects. As teachers, our lessons must be directed towards open, authentic ways to let students really take the lead. When we are thinking of ways to create our projects and our lessons, we need to be mindful of making the project make sense, but also that it is open enough and general enough to allow students independence.

Reading Reflection 7

There are three levels of classroom discussion. Teacher to teacher discussion is when teachers collaborate even after the project has started. This is just as important as the prep because it keeps teachers on the same page. If students are struggling with a concept small changes may need to be made. For example a mini-lesson could be planned. This is a good time to use blogs, wiki and other online tools to communicate if your project colleagues are at another location or if you cannot meet face to face with them. Student to student discussion is when students are talking amongst each other about their learning experiences. Students can talk with their team members and it is also good for them to talk with other teams. Communication is very important because they need to work as a team and stay on track. Students learn and challenge each other. Teachers should be observing, and sometimes joining the conversation when appropriate. The last level of classroom discussion is teacher to student. This is the dominating classroom discussion format in a traditional classroom where teachers lectures most of the time. During project based learning this level is only used occasionally to make announcements to the whole class or to introduce or demonstrate new ideas. Teachers should be checking in on students along the way. Students will be taking different directions and working on different speeds, which is normal. There are four types of questions that should be asked. Procedural questions should be asked such as “are you getting everything done on time?” and “do you have all of the materials you need?” The second is teamwork questions. This is good to see if everyone is getting along and sharing the work equally. The third are understanding questions. This will take some observation and listening to students. This is a good opportunity to bring up ideas that they may not of thought of and encourage them to push themselves. The last type of questions are self-assessment. This is a good time to get feedback from the students on what they think about the project and for them to share their excitement or challenges about the project. It is important that technology is used as a tool and is not a distraction. Check in with students to make sure the technology is used properly is important. There are many benefits to optimizing the use of technology. It should help students reach their learning goals. It should help them stay organized as well. For example a collaborative blog allows them to log their ideas and to share with their team mates. Technology should expand students’ horizon by connecting to experts and people outside of their community. It should also be easily accessible. Teamwork is a 21st-century skill that can make or break a project. Pay close attention to team dynamics during the beginning of the project. Allow students to manage their own conflicts. It is a good idea to have the students make a contract before their project starts where students agree on everyone’s responsibilities and have them each sign it. Students can also evaluate each other on a teamwork-scoring rubric or with a journal entry. The concepts in this chapter relate to our project because we will need to implement appropriate classroom discussion. We will also need to check in with our students along the way to make sure the project is running smoothly.

Reading Reflection Ch 7

There are three levels to classroom discussion. The first is teacher to teacher. In this form, teachers collaborate together, taking every opportunity to work together, sharing ideas and resources. The second is student to student discussion. In this, students should be talking about their learning experiences as they unfold- within their teams as well as across teams. When students explain their thinking, it gives everyone the opportunity learn from and challenge one another. The third is teacher to student, which entails an announcement of some form or whole group lessons to introduce a new concept or demonstrate a skill that all students need to understand how to progress. In PBL, teacher to student can be used through project management tools, like project Web sites, blogs, online calenders, or online project work spaces.
When students are in the middle of a project, we as teachers can help our students to focus and adjust by checking in. Based on the information you want, you can ask questions based on different approaches. For example, if you wanted to focus on Procedural aspects, you can ask questions such as "are we on schedule? do we have the right materials? when's the best time to schedule various activities?" These questions will help reinforce progress towards milestones and deadlines, and also remind students of the project calender and monitor students' project logs and checklists.Another approach you can focus on is Teamwork. By asking questions like "how are team members doing? is one student carrying too much of the load for the whole team? Are students able to manage conflict themselves, or do they need my help?" By asking these question we can assess team dynamics and create open dialogue about the team. A third approach is Understanding. You can spend time observing teams at work, listening to student conversations and asking probing question in order to see if students are on track, making progress, and are able to go beyond expectation. The last approach is self-assessment. Asking question that encourage self-assessment and reflection can help students to describe challenges or frustration, ask questions they may feel uncomfortable asking in front of everyone, or sharing their excitement.
Optimizing technology is very useful for students. Students respond very positively to the experience of learning through technology. When teachers maximize the potential of technology through examination such as helping them focus on the learning goal; helping them to stay organized; using technology to expand their horizons by connecting to outside experts or a broader community; and by having technology be equally accessible. When technology is optimized, students gain greater benefits, new insights, and authentic feedback.
When keeping a project moving, 21st century skills must be employed. For example, teachers must act as project managers to troubleshoot any challenges or problems that may arise. For example, Anne Davis, a teacher in Georgia tried to match her fourth and fifth graders to high school mentors. When it came time to publish their writings, her students froze. Mrs. Davis talked to another teacher on the high school end, and he talked with his students about reassuring the younger students. This really eased the way for the project to continue  with success. By using conversation in the classroom as an instruction tool, you build your community of learners. Another 21st century skill is teamwork. If a teacher detects trouble, they can help their students to learn to manage their own team conflicts. An excellent way to do this is to make teamwork a focus of formal assessment.
This chapter on keeping the project moving really applies to our PBL on food preservation.When we are discussing making any project, we need to continue to ask our students questions to see if they understand. We need to check in with our students to see if we can do anything to help, and then adjust our teaching accordingly. When we vary classroom discussions, we can help students to grasp information, especially when we are teaching about food preservation, which can be difficult for many students to conceptualize. By optimizing technology and using 21st century skills, we can strive to help our students achieve.