Reading Reflection 9

Understanding prior-knowledge of students:It is very important to help students tap into their prior knowledge at the beginning of a projects because it is a great way to for students and teachers to being monitoring a student’s progress throughout the project. An activity such as a KWL is a great way for students to think through what they already know when they begin a new topic. Then students can set goals for what they want to learn and at the end, this assessment can be used for students to list what they have learned. By completing a KWL throughout the project based learning process, students have a record of their learning process throughout a project.
 The importance of establishing anchors for a project:Establishing anchors for a project is an important part of the learning process. Teachers should help students go through the process of establishing a starting point setting themselves up for learning. Anchors are a good way to find out where students are starting and then monitoring learning and progress towards a project goal.
 Several ways to assess what students learned during the project:Good teachers asses everyday, multiple times a day. Assessments can be informal and formal and good way to keep strong and helpful data is to perform a variety of assessments constantly. Assessment can be a project that students complete following a rubric that is given to them by the teacher. Another assessment could be checking for understand at the end of a lesson by having students fill out an exit slip before they leave or having students list things they have learned, etc.
 How the concepts in this chapter relate to our project:We will use anchors and frequent assessments to make sure our students are learning and the project is benefitting them. 

Reading Reflection Chapter 9

1. Description of a method of understanding prior-knowledge of students.

This is something that has been discussed in previous chapters briefly. The option that has been brought up (which I personally hate) is the K-W-L. Each student fills out a piece of paper with three sections for what they Know and what they Wonder. When the lesson is finished, they go back and fill out the Learn section for what they have learned. Although K-W-Ls are stupid, it is important to find another method of seeing where your students have their base-level of knowledge. This way, you can assess where each student is and find out what information still needs to be covered.

2. Discussion on the importance of establishing anchors for a project.

This question is pretty much the exact same as the first one. Bla bla bla…K-W-L. Whatever. The book doesn’t even really talk that much about this, but it brings up Wikis. I wish I knew what those were.

3. Description of several ways to assess what students learned during the project.

You can create a quiz, test, verbally asking students, worksheets, ask them what they learned, base your judgments on their final project…etc. There are quite a few things you can do and this question is pretty obvious.

4. Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project.

It’s important to create meaningful assessments so that the students can look back on what they learned and take pride in their journey of knowledge. Specifically, they will be able to express themselves when they are chosen to be the weather reporters for the school. Perhaps their report will be recorded and watched in class and classmates can give positive and negative feedback so that all students may improve their skills. I don’t know.

            Description of a method of understanding prior-knowledge of students.

At the beginning of the project you identified to the students about the core concepts and processes that you want to reach.  You create rubrics or scoring guides that you make sure your students understand the goals they will be aiming for.  You want to aim for the criteria for measuring their success and make sure they know the criteria as well.  Throughout the project you will is a variety of formative assessments to check in on the students and their understandings and fine tune what they need to improve on.  

2    Discussion on the importance of establishing anchors for a project.

Establishing anchors for a project is important for you as a teacher because you gain a sense of where your students are starting and how far they are go to meet their learning goals.  This is important because you need to know where yours students started and how they are improving as the project goes on.  If they students are not improving or meeting the learning goals, it will be hard to continue with the project because you will be wasting your time but more importantly the student’s time.  You do not have much time with your students so you need to make very minute count.

Description of several ways to assess what students learned during the project.

There are several ways to assess what students learn during the project.  One way is to make sure that grades matter.  When you design your project, you have developed rubrics to measure progress toward key learning goals.  You need to know how to evaluate students work.  Another way is to ask students: what did you learn?  Interview your students at the end of the project to get their feedback.  They will be open and honest to tell you what they have learned during the project.  Another way to assess what the students learned during the project is to create something new.  Elect students to create something new that asks them to summarize or synthesize what they have learned. Modeling real-world assessments is another way to assess the students.  Since most of the projects you do with PBL is to apply the skills as if you were a professional, so you should assess them as a professional.  The last is to enter a contest or submit for publication.  When you tell students that you will be participating in something like a contest, they are more likely to do better and want to do their best. This is something that is very motivating for the students.

4       Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project.

For our project we want to make sure that we check in with our students to make sure that the students understand what is going on.  Finding different ways to assess our students will give us options on which assessment would be best for our project.  We also want to establish anchors throughout our project to make sure that our students are understanding the project and the importance of it.

project

hey girls,
We need to start getting together and get things done for our final project either this week or in the next couple  weeks.  I know we all have different schedules but I think we can find sometime.  Have a good week and let me know what you guys think. Also we present our final on Monday April 23 at 3:00 pm.

Natalie :)

Reading Reflection Chapter 8

1. Description of some ways to build connections and branch out beyond the classroom.
Connections can be built outside the classroom in many different ways. Digital projects can be shared with many people including parents, friends, and community members. It is important to integrate technology into the classroom to give students that sense of accomplishment that they were able to create something themselves, and that it can be shared with whomever they please. Something that I really liked from this section was the bit about the students sharing their harsh lives using moviemaker. That is a very strong activity and students must be vulnerable to complete it successfully. I think it requires a lot of trust. Another important thing to remember is to communicate the findings of the research that students will be doing. Not only can students have the opportunity to share their work, but others may benefit and grow from the information.

2. Description of the EAST Initiative Model.
The EAST in the EAST Initiative Model stands for Environmental and Spatial Technologies. EAST students get to use professional tools that adults would use in their field of study. EAST strives to incorporate the most appropriate and efficient technology in classrooms around the country. The EAST model strives for the four ideas which are: Student driven learning, authentic project-based learning, technology as tools, and collaboration. These four ideas are the pillar of EAST, along with adequate teaching and training for teachers.

3. Discussion on some reasons to let students “lead” their projects.
Letting students lead their projects is very important for many reasons. First of all, students will be forced to be in the position of "thinking outside the box." Letting students be leaders will allow them to encounter conflict and resolve it in their own way, creating pathways of learning for the future. Students love being in charge, and if the teacher is constantly giving specific directions and telling students what they should be doing, then there is no room for creativity or even a desire to learn. Since education should be about making learning fun, it is so important to make learning as awesome as possible. Radical!

4. Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project.

In our project, these concepts from the chapter are very important. We will be doing some things, like making our own weather-measuring devices, which require us as teachers to back off and let the students take the lead. They must think for themselves and decide the tools and materials to use. Also, when students become weather reporters, they will have the opportunity to create their own journalistic style and will be able to decide the way in which they want to relay information to their peers and teachers.

Reading Reflection #8

1.    Description of some ways to build connections and branch out beyond the classroom.
Digital tools make it east for students to share their work and exchange ideas with diverse audiences such as family, peers, local community, and even the much wider world. Integrating technology helps students reach different audiences.  In this day and age there is so much that the digital world offers and allows the students to branch out from the classroom.  Sometimes during your project you will find important research or information that could help you local community address an issue or solve a problem.  Your students can become the experts on that problem.

2.    Description of the EAST Initiative Model.
The EAST Initiative Model is the Environmental and Spatial Technologies Initiative network. The EAST Initiative Model is schools that have been demonstrating the benefits of technology for a real purpose.  They use this model to solve problems and make improvements in their communities in their projects.  The students that are apart of the EAST have used applications that many of us have never heard of before.  These students are using applications such as GIS, GPS, and CAD.

3.    Discussion on some reasons to let students “lead” their projects.
As teach it is only natural that we would want to lead a project, but I think sometimes we will find that some students can be perfectly capable of leading their own projects.  I think as teachers we get into the habit of thinking that they are students and don’t give them enough credit.  The story in the book about Sarah is a perfect example of how students can surprise you.  She wanted to create a resource for other kids like her that had dyslexia and explain to the other students how she was learning.  She is leading her own project and tackling an issue that she has in her own life.  As a teacher you don’t have to be the one who decides the project; ask your students and you might be pleasantly surprised.

4.    Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project.
  In our project we are giving students a chance build connections and branch out beyond the classroom is we are connecting them with students in New Zealand and asking them about their weather and how it changes.  We are also letting them lead their project by making their own forecast for them to broadcast.  The will make have to make up a forecast using correct terms that we have learned in class.
 

Important Info for Group Website

The email address is: weathermonitoringgrouptwo@gmailcom
The password is: thisisthepassword
The URL to get to the website is: https://sites.google.com/site/weathermonitoringgrouptwo/

You can edit it from there!

reading reflection 7

Description of the levels of classroom discussions.

It is important to have discussions in the classroom throughout a project.  The book argues three levels of classroom discussions. The first is Teacher to Teacher. Teachers should be communicating with each other at all times during a project.  They should be talking about knowing what the project is about, how to better the project, and the student’s success.  But those are only a few examples, there are so many more. The second level is Student to Student. Students should be communicating as much, if not more than the teachers.  We want them telling each other what they are learning, their experiences, and how to better other students for a better way of learning.  The last level is Teacher to Student.  To me this is the most important level of them all.  We have to meet with our students individually as much as we can when we teach.  We have to let each student know our expectations, but also LISTEN to our students thoughts about how to make a project better.  

Discussion on the questions for “checking in” on students during a project.

We will find as teachers that each group/student is going to be working at different paces throughout a project.  It is important that teachers “check-in” to ask students questions that will guide them to a better learning experience. The book gives four check- in questions:

- Procedural: Where they are in relation to milestones and deadlines

·         -Teamwork: Team Dynamics and how they are working together

·         -Understanding: Give suggestions for further inquiry

·         -Self-Assessment: Give them a chance to reflect on challenges or things they went through throughout the project.

Discussion on the benefits to students when optimizing the use of technology.

Technology can be used in projects to expand the minds of students and open their world to something they have never seen before.  Technology will prepare students for the future.  We, as a society, are technology addicts and everything is pretty much run by technology now a days.  Giving them an education on technology will only benefit them in the future.

Discussion on the 21st-century skills that can make or break a project.

Technology is great, but it also comes with frustrations.  We have to educate our students on what can go wrong with technology and how we can fix it.  Students need to know how to know the best ways to not let technology get the best of them, because sometimes it gets the best of us.  It will only help them be more successful in the future.

Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project.

This chapter relates to our project because we need to have the relationships with everyone that is going to be dealing with our project.  Creating the proper communication throughout our project will not only benefit the students, but us as teachers as well.  Weather is something that we have to deal with every day so educating our students about all the technology that deals with weather, is going to help our students.  We want to explain to the students why weather is so important and we can do that with the help of technology.

Lesson Plan 2

I am going to do a lesson on temperature.

Reading Reflection Chapter 7

Description of the levels of classroom discussions.

The book breaks this down into three main types of discussion involving: teacher-teacher discussions, student-student discussions, and teacher-student discussions. Each level of conversation yields its own purpose, causing new information to be discovered and un-thought-of questions to be asked. One of the most rewarding discussions will be student-student conversations. Since they are the ones who are trying to take away new information from this topic that they may know nothing about, it is important that they influence each other in a positive manner, making learning fun and not lame.

Discussion on the questions for “checking in” on students during a project.

The book divides the “checking in” questions into four subcategories: procedural, teamwork, understanding, and self-assessment. It is important to ask questions coming from each category in order to know how the project is going and what needs to be changed. The book gives all sorts of example questions that can be used to stem a deeper discussion with the class and I will probably refer back to them when the information is more relevant.

Discussion on the benefits to students when optimizing the use of technology.

This chapter always talks about technology this and technology that. The students which are allowed to use cool technology in the class will be encouraged by the teacher and might see the class as more hip than what it once was. For example, if cell phones are usually prohibited in the classroom, bringing them in to help students gain a better understanding of the project that is being taught could be beneficial.

Discussion on the 21st-century skills that can make or break a project.

Technology can serve as a distraction, sometimes. It is best to be prepared always for the problems which might arise with technology. An example would be trying to operate a projector to show a powerpoint to your class, but for some reason, you can’t get it to turn on. Although this is a fairly common problem, it should be prepared for.

Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project.

This project, like any other project, will have outlets for children to become very distracted with their original assigned task. Especially when we have our students making their own weather-measuring devices, it will be extremely important to stress the importance of using the tools for what they are for and not to harm other students or be disruptive with them. Perhaps this can be accomplished before each lesson by allowing time for the students to carefully pick up each object and guess what it might be used for.