Sunday, October 28, 2012
Chapter 6 reading reflection
Before and after a project students should complete a self- evaluation that allows them to be reflective and evaluate their strengths. The self-evaluation at the end of the project should have students reflect on experience that helped them grow. There are certain technologies that can help student’s reflections such as a blog.
Students can see their progress over time and can look back at everything they have learned. ProfilerPro is a website that surveys students to find their interests, strengths and weaknesses. These can be taken throughout the project to keep track of the skills they have learned. A survey website such as SurveyMonkey can allow students to see how their self-evaluation compares to other students in the class.
There are several ways to get students’ mind ready for a project. A project should always start by seeing what students already know about the subject. This can be done with a K-W-L chart. Their thinking should be challenged to generate deeper questioning. Teachers should have an “attention grabber” to get students excited about the project. Every day the teacher should bring up the topic to allow excitement to build and to get them to think about the project.
To teach the fundamentals first teachers should set the stage for independent inquiry. A good way to do this is by having students fill out the K-W-L chart. Through this students can become aware of what they do and do not know and it can serve as a starting point. Students are encouraged to think deeper about the things they are investigating. Teachers should also share the assessment rubric. Students will know what is expected of them and serves as a “road map.”
Technology should not be the project, but it should be an aid to do the project. The first step should be to determine what technology will be the best to use in a particular project. Once a device has been picked out and before showing students how to use it, it is a good activity to have them learn among themselves and to problem solves. It is important to observe the students to see where a demonstration is needed. Students need to know the expectation for each technologies use and the purpose. A project log or a journal helps students stay on track and see their progress. Sometimes a demonstration needs to be done for the students. If a teacher is not comfortable doing a demonstration a technology specialist or another teacher can help.
To promote inquiry and deep learning students should be guided as they choose a question and plan an investigation. Questions that students want to investigate may need to be altered to promote deeper learning. For example “what is money made of?” could be asked as “what is the process of making money and is it the same everywhere?”
The concepts in this chapter will help us determine the best technology to use for our project. It also shows ways to track students’ progress throughout the project.
Friday, October 26, 2012
Chapter 6 Reading Reflection
Chapter six discusses the appropriate way to launch a project. Students should do a self evaluation before and after a project that focus on the learning dispositions that the teacher expects the to develop during the project. Self assessment is a major factor in how students view themselves as capable and how they direct their own learning. Students can use ProfilerPro to evaluate themselves or they can use a blog to help track their reflective thoughts over a period of time.
Students should collect their thoughts about a project topic before they actually dive into the project. A way that some teachers have their students practice this is by using a Know-Wonder-Learn (KWL) chart. This chart helps excite the students by establishing interest before the project even starts. A teacher can spark a students interest in the project even more when they start the project off with a simple inquiry based demonstration that allows the students to guess what is going to happen, such as the ice cube example in the book on page 98.
Teachers should be teaching the fundamentals of what their project topic is about in order to allow the students to work more independently during their investigations. Students need to be helped and nudged before getting to the point of being able to work on a project independently. Working with 21st century technology based projects can be compared to learning how to drive for the first time. You start out learning the small things and work your way up to finally driving on your own, alone, in your car. Students should always be given a good rubric with room for brilliance to follow while creating their project.
Teachers should allow students to have 21st century technology available at their students fingertips in order to help them create their project more thoroughly. Even when they don't know how to use a piece of technology, students will turn it on and start playing with it in order to figure it out. Students can use a journal or project log to help them keep track of their progress toward their goals while working over several days or weeks. Teachers should be demonstrating this technology and the project log to their students if they are comfortable using it.
Teachers should guide their students through the inquiry process of a project. They should be their to guide the students as they choose questions, plan investigations, and begin to put their plan into action. The questions students should be asking are those of which the experts in the field of the topic would want to know more about.
When students are exposed to new technology that allows them to create their own webpages and comment on their classmates webpages they will gain more knowledge of how to utilize the technology and take on new roles and responsibilities. The opportunity for teaching about information literacy comes from the possibilities for working on the Web today.
This information will help us with our food preservation project because it will allow us to think about the steps we are having our students follow when researching the information to complete the project.
Students should collect their thoughts about a project topic before they actually dive into the project. A way that some teachers have their students practice this is by using a Know-Wonder-Learn (KWL) chart. This chart helps excite the students by establishing interest before the project even starts. A teacher can spark a students interest in the project even more when they start the project off with a simple inquiry based demonstration that allows the students to guess what is going to happen, such as the ice cube example in the book on page 98.
Teachers should be teaching the fundamentals of what their project topic is about in order to allow the students to work more independently during their investigations. Students need to be helped and nudged before getting to the point of being able to work on a project independently. Working with 21st century technology based projects can be compared to learning how to drive for the first time. You start out learning the small things and work your way up to finally driving on your own, alone, in your car. Students should always be given a good rubric with room for brilliance to follow while creating their project.
Teachers should allow students to have 21st century technology available at their students fingertips in order to help them create their project more thoroughly. Even when they don't know how to use a piece of technology, students will turn it on and start playing with it in order to figure it out. Students can use a journal or project log to help them keep track of their progress toward their goals while working over several days or weeks. Teachers should be demonstrating this technology and the project log to their students if they are comfortable using it.
Teachers should guide their students through the inquiry process of a project. They should be their to guide the students as they choose questions, plan investigations, and begin to put their plan into action. The questions students should be asking are those of which the experts in the field of the topic would want to know more about.
When students are exposed to new technology that allows them to create their own webpages and comment on their classmates webpages they will gain more knowledge of how to utilize the technology and take on new roles and responsibilities. The opportunity for teaching about information literacy comes from the possibilities for working on the Web today.
This information will help us with our food preservation project because it will allow us to think about the steps we are having our students follow when researching the information to complete the project.
CH 6 Reading Reflection
Technology tools can be very effective and influential in students' learning. It can also help them to evaluate their own strengths. For example, a blog offers students space where they can reflect over time about what they are learning. A ProfilerPRO (which we have used in our classroom) is an online survey tool that allows you to identify the learning characteristics of an individual and also among members of a group. Another tool is the SurveyMonkey and Zoomerang, which both allow you to set up surveys. All of these technology tools really help students to tap into their prior knowledge, and allows them to evaluate how they are doing and what they are good at.
There are many ways to get students minds ready for knowledge. First, you want to tap into prior knowledge. By introducing a KWL (Know/Want to know/Learned), you can assess what students already know and how to assist them best. As a teacher, we must be intentional in our instillation of passion in order to transfer the desire to try and succeed into our students so they may do the best of their ability. We want to be encouraging, allowing students to explore and think and discuss.By building excitement throughout the lesson or the week, students' interests emerge, and they become more invested in the project. A teacher must describe the activity, answer questions, encourage students to inquire, and advice them on design. Teachers can also use technology to get minds ready. For example, teachers can use Google Earth if you are discussing geography, or they may use social media sites (safely) at school to display a project collectively.
By teaching fundamentals first, teachers must think about teaching prerequisite knowledge or skills students need to be independent. Teachers must build up to the idea in order to grasp what it means. Teachers can set the stage for independent inquiry through tools such as the KWL process.They can also share the assessment rubric with students, parents, teachesr, whomever.
The next important step would be to prepare for technology. The teacher can first set up a technology playground. Teachers can track how students are doing, but it has a large learning curve. The next step would be to tap into student expertise. Because they grew up cutting their teeth on technology, they likely know more shortcuts tan any of the teachers. A third thing teachers can apply is to introduce project-management tools such as journals or logs to keep track of all they have accomplished. Finally, teachers must demonstrate how to use technology successfully and wisely in order to be effective.
Promoting inquiry and deep learning is very important in PBL. Our questions we ask our students should be geared specifically towards higher level thinking. First, we must have a complex and engaging project. By taking a basic question/objective and really expounding upon it to stretch out as many possible answers as possible is ideal. Teachers must guide students to get them to imagine what experts might ask. We need to ask questions such as "which one", "how", "what if", "should", and "why".
In our unit of healthy living/food preservation, we need to include this in our lesson plan very explicitly. When planning hands on PBL we must plan ahead, and be sure that when we are implementing the strategies, they are cohesive and effective. First, we will lay the groundwork in our lesson plans and prepare as much as possible. Then, we can focus on getting ours students' minds ready by utilizing tools and technologies to instill passion in our students. Food preservation may not be the most exciting idea to some, so it is our job to make it have meaning. We can also think about how to incorporate technology to have a captivating introduction to a project. By understanding that we must teach the fundamentals first, and thoroughly preparing for technology, we can help our students to get the most out of it. Finally, by promoting inquiry and deep learning, we can include this in thinking about what projects we are doing and how we are approaching and presenting them to our students.
There are many ways to get students minds ready for knowledge. First, you want to tap into prior knowledge. By introducing a KWL (Know/Want to know/Learned), you can assess what students already know and how to assist them best. As a teacher, we must be intentional in our instillation of passion in order to transfer the desire to try and succeed into our students so they may do the best of their ability. We want to be encouraging, allowing students to explore and think and discuss.By building excitement throughout the lesson or the week, students' interests emerge, and they become more invested in the project. A teacher must describe the activity, answer questions, encourage students to inquire, and advice them on design. Teachers can also use technology to get minds ready. For example, teachers can use Google Earth if you are discussing geography, or they may use social media sites (safely) at school to display a project collectively.
By teaching fundamentals first, teachers must think about teaching prerequisite knowledge or skills students need to be independent. Teachers must build up to the idea in order to grasp what it means. Teachers can set the stage for independent inquiry through tools such as the KWL process.They can also share the assessment rubric with students, parents, teachesr, whomever.
The next important step would be to prepare for technology. The teacher can first set up a technology playground. Teachers can track how students are doing, but it has a large learning curve. The next step would be to tap into student expertise. Because they grew up cutting their teeth on technology, they likely know more shortcuts tan any of the teachers. A third thing teachers can apply is to introduce project-management tools such as journals or logs to keep track of all they have accomplished. Finally, teachers must demonstrate how to use technology successfully and wisely in order to be effective.
Promoting inquiry and deep learning is very important in PBL. Our questions we ask our students should be geared specifically towards higher level thinking. First, we must have a complex and engaging project. By taking a basic question/objective and really expounding upon it to stretch out as many possible answers as possible is ideal. Teachers must guide students to get them to imagine what experts might ask. We need to ask questions such as "which one", "how", "what if", "should", and "why".
In our unit of healthy living/food preservation, we need to include this in our lesson plan very explicitly. When planning hands on PBL we must plan ahead, and be sure that when we are implementing the strategies, they are cohesive and effective. First, we will lay the groundwork in our lesson plans and prepare as much as possible. Then, we can focus on getting ours students' minds ready by utilizing tools and technologies to instill passion in our students. Food preservation may not be the most exciting idea to some, so it is our job to make it have meaning. We can also think about how to incorporate technology to have a captivating introduction to a project. By understanding that we must teach the fundamentals first, and thoroughly preparing for technology, we can help our students to get the most out of it. Finally, by promoting inquiry and deep learning, we can include this in thinking about what projects we are doing and how we are approaching and presenting them to our students.
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Chapter 5 Reading Reflection
Chapter 5 discusses project management and how to keep a project organized when a group of people are working together. A solid project begins with great resources. Teachers should consider who and what they will need to make the project successful. If a computer lab is not available or a limited amount of space and time spent in the lab is sparse then the teacher should look into alternative options such as internet cafes around town. Allowing students the opportunity to experience something that has to do with their project is extremely helpful, such as the students observing a surgery in real time and having the opportunity to ask questions. Anyone and everything that could help students complete their project to the best of their ability and give the experiences that they never had before should be made available to a reasonable extent.
Students and teachers need to be able to see what milestones they have accomplished with their project and what they still need to accomplish. The easiest way to do this is to keep a classroom calendar available at all times showing all of the due dates for the project. You can also use a calendar online that everyone involved in the project has access to at all times. Teachers should make sure they use the class website, blog, wiki, or email to communicate deadlines and milestones with parents.
Team planning can be difficult because teams should consist of people who complement each other. One person who is good at writing may be paired with anothe person who is good at using technology. Each of the partners should hold their own weight. Sometimes teachers pair high achieving students with lower achieving students and the result of that is one student doing the majority of the work. Teachers should allow students to choose their partner for one project but then switch the members of a group around for the next project.
Students need to have guidelines given to them so they know what they will be assessed on throughout the project. There are websites that help teachers create rubrics that are worthwhile for the students and the teacher. One of the websites is http://rubistar.4teachers.org.
Web-based applications are amazing tools for students to be able to stay in contact with each other while working on a project. They are a good way for teachers to give feedback right away as well. These are both good things because students will learn to continually be revising and editing their work based on the feedback from their peers and teachers!
Once students are familiarized with 21st century technology and all that can be done in order to build a project with a partner without meeting face to face they will be able to create their own personalized web page. These are virtual office spaces to help keep their lives and projects organized. Some of the providers of virtual offices are Netvibes, Protopage, Pageflakes, iGoogle, and My Yahoo!
The information in chapter 5 will help us work on our project in class and outside of class. This will help us be able to stay organized and meet deadlines while using online tools and colaborating with each other. While planning our project, we can create incorporate these tools and knowledge into our preservatives project while planning it for our future students.
Students and teachers need to be able to see what milestones they have accomplished with their project and what they still need to accomplish. The easiest way to do this is to keep a classroom calendar available at all times showing all of the due dates for the project. You can also use a calendar online that everyone involved in the project has access to at all times. Teachers should make sure they use the class website, blog, wiki, or email to communicate deadlines and milestones with parents.
Team planning can be difficult because teams should consist of people who complement each other. One person who is good at writing may be paired with anothe person who is good at using technology. Each of the partners should hold their own weight. Sometimes teachers pair high achieving students with lower achieving students and the result of that is one student doing the majority of the work. Teachers should allow students to choose their partner for one project but then switch the members of a group around for the next project.
Students need to have guidelines given to them so they know what they will be assessed on throughout the project. There are websites that help teachers create rubrics that are worthwhile for the students and the teacher. One of the websites is http://rubistar.4teachers.org.
Web-based applications are amazing tools for students to be able to stay in contact with each other while working on a project. They are a good way for teachers to give feedback right away as well. These are both good things because students will learn to continually be revising and editing their work based on the feedback from their peers and teachers!
Once students are familiarized with 21st century technology and all that can be done in order to build a project with a partner without meeting face to face they will be able to create their own personalized web page. These are virtual office spaces to help keep their lives and projects organized. Some of the providers of virtual offices are Netvibes, Protopage, Pageflakes, iGoogle, and My Yahoo!
The information in chapter 5 will help us work on our project in class and outside of class. This will help us be able to stay organized and meet deadlines while using online tools and colaborating with each other. While planning our project, we can create incorporate these tools and knowledge into our preservatives project while planning it for our future students.
Chapter 4 RR
Chapter four discussed strategies for discovery and how teachers can integrate technology into the classroom. This chapter discusses how teachers should plan for projects that students will be creating. There are many reasons why projects don't work out as planned and sometimes it stems from the very beginning and how the project was put together. There are four major pitfalls that this chapter discusses that have an effect on how good the project will or will not be for the students. 1. Long on Activity, short on learning outcomes. This pitfall is stating that these types of projects can be long and a lot of busy work but they only reach a small or lower order learning aim. These are the projects that are a waste of time for the students and the teacher. The students should be learning more from the project than what they could learn from one short lecture or from reference material. Teachers should take these limited idea projects and figure out a way to enhance them so they aren't a complete failure! 2. Technology layered over traditional practice. If the sole purpose of using technology is just to dress up what could otherwise be created without the technology while doing a research project then it is useless. Teachers need to make sure that they are integrating 21st century technology into the projects for students so that they are learning how to research online and become connected with print rich data and primary resources. 3. Trivial thematic units. When using thematic units in the classroom such as apples in the Fall, teachers tend to just add pictures of apples to every subject. In order to use a thematic unit correctly, the teacher should be having a farmer come in to explain how to harvest apples, where they come from, the process of how they get from the orchards to our tables, having the students interview the produce buyer in a household, polling students to find out which type of apple is their favorite and then creating a class graph out of the data to display their results. Those are all examples of how to have a successful and meaningful theme in a classroom. 4. Overly scripted with many, many steps. Giving students too many directions can hinder the quality of the overall project in a classroom. If all students are creating a "cookie cutter" project in the end or the results don't equal out to the amount of work that had to be done to get to the end then the teacher needs to reevaluate the project they are having their students work on.
The information in this chapter will help us with our project on preservatives because we will be able to create a project that will help the students learn about preservatives using 21st century technologies. The four major pitfalls are techniques that we can keep in mind and question ourselves to see if our project falls into those pitfalls or not.
The information in this chapter will help us with our project on preservatives because we will be able to create a project that will help the students learn about preservatives using 21st century technologies. The four major pitfalls are techniques that we can keep in mind and question ourselves to see if our project falls into those pitfalls or not.
Friday, October 19, 2012
reading reflection #5
There are many things that should be considered before starting a project. The first is to gather resources. Teachers should look at the materials that are available at the school and find ways to acquire the material not provided. It should also be determined if there will be anyone who will assist with the project. This could include someone who does a demonstration in front of the class, or an expert that the students will need to speak with to get questions answered. This also includes technology coordinators and media specialists.
Another thing to consider are milestones and deadlines. Teachers should provide students with a project calendar with milestones along the way. This will help students manage their time more effectively and plan ahead. If the project will last more than a few weeks, it should be broken down into smaller assignments with several deadlines. The next thing to consider is team planning. It needs to be determined how student teams will be organized. Sometimes students will be grouped by their skills and interests, and other times students should complement each other attributes. Students with disabilities also need to be considered. How will all of the students be challenged?
Teachers need to plan for assessment. This should be done throughout the entire project. One should be done before the project even starts to determine student’s prior knowledge and interests. Assessments during the project allow you to see what students are thinking and understanding. Assessment shows you if the project is successfully meeting the goals or if changes need to be made. Assessments differ depending on the complexity of the project and can use formal or informal. Technology can assist in assessments such as an online survey.
Teachers and students both have management needs. Teachers need tools for communicating about the project to students and others involved. Milestones should be visible for students to see at all times. Teachers need a method for getting resources to the students and a way to manage the students work. Assessment tools and strategies should also be included. Students’ management needs to include a system and tools to manage their time, and a system to help them manage their materials and control work drafts. Collaboration tools, methods for seeking assistance, and a way to receive feedback should be included. They should also have a way to work iteratively and to see how parts add up to the whole.
There are some technology applications that should be considered to use in projects. A wiki is a web page that can be easily edited. Users can create pages and they can write and edit pages together. A blog is another application that can be used that is also easily edited. Usually one person is in control of the content and viewers make comments. Drupal and textpattern combine a content management framework and blogging engine.
These concepts relate to our topic because we will need to determine what resources we will need. We should create milestones and deadlines for the students to follow. There should also be multiple assessments throughout the project that we should determine.
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