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.
I really agree with your comment that successful projest set students up for the next cycle of learning. It is so important that learning is a continual process, every idea building onto the previous one. All of the questions are extremely relevant in helping to get students thinking so their learning can organically grow into something more.
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