Papakowhai School, New Zealand

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This is the location of the school where we will be sharing our virtual penmanship.

Reading Reflection #1

During this semester I have come to find out that many of the professors here love to use project based learning.  I have heard about project based learning in my past semesters but never really knew the real definition.  Project Based Learning is an instructional approach built upon authentic learning activities that engage student interest and motivation. These activities are designed to answer a question or solve a problem and generally reflect the types of learning and work people do in the everyday world outside the classroom.  As I start my journey through project based learning I need to keep in mind that I want to learn as much as possible.  

There are many benefits to project based learning for students and teachers.  Overall the benefits are for the students. When using project based learning in the classroom you will find that students want to come to class and learn.  The students are coming to school knowing that they will not sit at a desk all day and not interact.   Opportunities to develop complex skills, such as problem-solving, collaborating, and communicating are just a few of the skills that students will learn while working in a project based classroom.

With all of the benefits there also comes issues with the project based learning approach.  When I start teaching, it will be my administrations decision whether or not to use PBL in my classroom and throughout the school.   When I become a teacher I will realize that there are just not enough hours in the day. PBL can be as short as overnight or as long and several weeks in duration. PBL units flourish in a block schedule routine. Be aware of the amount of time a project takes when examining the PBL.  You will also have to be prepared to explain your decision to use PBL to the parents of the students involved. Notify and explain to the concerned parents that may have questions about their child's learning. Updates, newsletters, FAQ sheets are among many ways to keep parents informed of their students' involvement with this learning process.  Their is always going to be people that disagree with what PBL is all about.  You just have to make sure you have the right research and examples to back up your arrangement's.

I feel that I am going to learn a lot this semester about PBL.  I am excited to try and make our own projects in our own classrooms.  I think that once I learn more about PBL, I will be able to make the decision to one day teacher this approach in my classroom or not with the support of my administration and the parents of my students.

Chapter 1 Reading Reflection

I really enjoy the way that this chapter opens. It talks about how this guy names Scott is walking around his old school and questioning what he actually learned in each room. I once visited my high school and did the same thing. By reading this, I was able to connect that the classes I liked the most were because we had lots of hands-on projects that required a lot of time but were the most fun. I believe that if we aren’t having fun, we aren’t learning. Nobody wants to get knowledge shoved down their throat; learning should be a collaborative effort driven by curiosity and desire, not a good grade. This reading response, for example, is driven by a good grade. I’m writing this because I have to, not because I have any desire to read textbook examples of how project based learning is effective. I would much rather find out how they work by observing or participating in them in a classroom setting…but I digress…

One of the things that I found in this reading was on page 13. It’s called “Tour of the Blogosphere.” I went to the website about David Warlick’s two cents worth. I really liked what was on that website because it calls for the focus to be on less, not more. This means less per-pupil spending, less teaching time, and attention paid to grades. David wrote that these are the sorts of techniques that are being used in Finland’s educational system and that they’re working pretty well. I like this approach because it leaves learning up to the student. It provides the student with more opportunities to come up with his/her own ideas instead of being forced to assimilate those of the teacher/curriculum.

Something that I found to be quite sad was the example of the guy named Paul Curtis and how he tried so hard to use project-based learning in his classroom, but it didn’t quite work out and he had to relocate schools. Teaching, in my opinion, should be a profession where it is up to us to craft the minds of students. However, it seems that there are so many government regulations nowadays that teachers are not only being taught what to teach but how to teach it as well. The real-world application of learning is being lost between textbooks and standardized tests. Not cool, government.

One of the things that the book talks about on page 20 is about how project-based learning is an investment. It takes a lot of time and preparation to “set the stage,” as the book puts it, for success to be attained by students, but it’s worth it. Students/teachers share responsibilities and control. Instead of having a rigid student-teacher relationship, teachers become more of a guide and students become more human-they are no longer test-taking, worksheet-completing robots. I like this approach a lot and will be looking for ways to incorporate it into my curriculum.

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