Reading Reflection 7 (Week 7)

1. Discussion on preparing students for the project.
2. Discussion on preparing students for technology to be used in the project.
3. Discussion on the benefits of screencasting.
4. Discussion on the steps for screencasting.
5. Discussion on promoting inquiry and deep learning.
6. Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project.

Start by laying the groundwork and getting students excited for the project. It’s important to know students prior knowledge and what level they are at in their learning and teach the fundamentals.

Begin by planning effective ways to get students ready to use technology. Set up a technology playground so that students can learn to troubleshoot on their own and also helps in encouraging students to ask questions to each other. Tap into student expertise by setting up tools that will help students. Then, discuss the purpose and expectations of each tool presented and finally do a practice run. Also, provide tools where students can map their progress  and helps teachers understand the difficulties they might be facing.

Screencasting is a way to narrate, caption, and record material on a computer screen that can help students share it with each other. Screencasting can help in setting up tutorials, narrated slideshows, flipping a lesson, and to give feedback.

There are a few steps to follow for screencasting – plan where you have to storyboard the content and narration. Practice with or without the microphone. Record, edit the unwanted information, publish to be accessible, and promote by adding screencasts to the classroom webpage to be available on a widescale

It is important to get students curious about what they are going to learn about. Projects that promote inquiry, will provide what is needed to encourage deep learning.

Concepts in this chapter relate to our project because it is important that students are learning through inquiry. Also, allowing students to use screencasting as a way to present their information will provide a way for students to make something that is all their own, and that they are very proud of. 

1. Discussion on preparing students for the project.
2. Discussion on preparing students for technology to be used in the project.
3. Discussion on the benefits of screencasting.
4. Discussion on the steps for screencasting.
5. Discussion on promoting inquiry and deep learning.
6. Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project.

To prepare students for a project you should have them do a self evaluation and have them set personal goals. You must get the students mind ready by giving them prior knowledge you can use techniques such as K-W-L. Your job as a teacher is to teach the fundamentals and then allow for inquiry to occur among students. To preparer students for technology that is going to be used in a project you can set up a technology playground, tap student expertise, introduce project-management tools and demonstrate. The benefits of screencasting are to use them for tutorials, narrated slideshows, flipping a lesson, and feedback on work projects. The steps for screencasting are to plan, practice, record, edit, and publish. By promoting inquiry and deep learning there is an understanding that a relationship between need and opportunity and scarcity and abundance, money bartering and other means of exchange have occurred throughout history, economics, health and well being are related, money means different things to different people, humans are interdependent. The concepts in this chapter give me a clear cut idea on how to start a project in PBL in a way that will guide my students in the right thought process.

Revised Concept Map

Reading Reflection 6

1. Discussion on the skill set needed to manage a project.
2. Discussion on gathering resources for a project.
3. Discussion on teachers’ management needs.
4. Discussion on students’ management needs.
5. Discuss some of the technology applications that should be considered for use in a project.
6. Discussion on what resources your group will need for your topic/project.

The skills needed to manage a project are being resourceful, able to collaborate, critical thinking, open minded, persistent, and more. Ways to gather research for a project while on a classroom budget can be difficult. Take advantage of web based Donorschoose and IncitED are all good places to find free or cheap resources. Teachers management needs include tools for communicating and making milestone and events visible for notifying students, methods for getting resources to students, systems for managing work projects, structures that provide support, assessment tools and strategies. Students management needs include systems and tools that help them manage their time and flow of work, systems that help students manage materials and control work drafts, collaboration tools, methods for seeking assistance, ways to get and use feedback on their work, ways to work iteratively and see how parts add up to the whole. Technology applications that should be considered for the use in a project are a LMS software package like moodle, desire2learn, blogs, propriety web spaces, and wikis. My group will need resources to track and communicate information between each other. We will collaborate and store work progress on google docs.

Reading Reflection 6 (Week 6)

There are several skills that are required in a business world – a good communicator, efficient time management, budgeting, troubleshooting, etc. A teacher can utilize a combination of skills to facilitate learning.

When launching a project, gathering the right kind of resources would be beneficial to both the teacher and student. Understanding what resources compliment the project and therefore enhances student learning is vital. Use on-hand and basic resources such as email, twitter, facebook, and community resources. Gathering resources depend on if the project is using technology that is new to the teacher and student, student access to technology, student access to experts, virtual tours, and specialists.

Some of the tools and strategies teachers need include tools necessary for communication, tools for milestones and events, methods for accruing resources, tools to check if students are working productively, and tools to balance work load.

Some of the tools and strategies students need include those tools that help in time management and workflow, tools that help in collaboration, methods for seeking assistance, and tools that help in getting feedback.

There are several technological applications that could be used in a project. Digital tools can help teachers as well as students to facilitate learning. School servers can be utilized as a simple way to manage files. For students to work on projects outside of schools, LMS can be quite handy. Web-based applications can be useful as well. Some of them are wikis, blogs, and proprietary web spaces.

Our group will need to use the blog during our project, but we will probably use other technology applications as well. 

1. Discussion on the benefits of assessing during the project and after the project.
2. Discussion on the planning summative assessment.
3. Discussion on some options for summative assessments.
4. Discussion on the planning of formative assessment.
5. Discussion on the options and tools for formative assessment.
6. Discussion on the benefits of using rubrics.
7. Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project.

The benefits of assessing during the project and after the project so that teachers can learn how to support their students and think differently about standards. The planning summative assessment is assessing students at the end of a project. They can do so by grading against a rubric, presenting a performance task, giving a test, or asking other teachers to help assess. The planning of formative assessment consists of setting milestones, planning check ins, and looking for progress markers.  The options and tools for formative assessment are white boards, mind or concept mapping software to record interest inventories, needs assessments, listening, polls and more. The benefits of using a rubric are to have a guide for what you are hoping to see as an outcome from the students. It helps to set goals and milestones for students to reach and know what is expected ahead of time. Concepts in this chapter relate to my topic/project because they teach me how I can set guidelines for my students when partaking in PBL.

Chapter 5 reflection

There are many benefits of assessing the project during the process. We can see what the misunderstandings are. How each student is flourishing or maybe falling behind, or perhaps change the direction of the original goal.

Summative assessment allows us to see the end result of our students work. We can use this type of assessment by giving test or rubrics. We can gather information using summative assessment by using objectives, looking for evidence, and activities.

Formative assessment is a way of seeing the child’s abilities during the process rather than the end. We can give our students projects that they are able to have free reins to  chose the direction of their project. We can see if they are on task and reaching the goals or if they are not grasping it. Good ways to use this type of assessment is by setting mile stones. We can track their progress by seeing if they mastered the marker.

· Rubrics are beneficial so that all students have a common understanding of what is required or expected. It is helpful when teachers use the same rubic so that students don’t have to change to meet teachers unique expectations.

  I can relate this to my project because I am learning from my mistakes on the blog and concept map. I have the option to see what I am doing wrong and correct myself. That is a good example of a formative assessment. Also I will be assessed formatively by my groups finished project.

Reading Reflection 5 (Week 5)

While many teachers assess their students after a project is finished, it is also necessary to assess them throughout the project cycle. Formative assessments helps to check in on the students so the teacher can adjust the project accordingly. A summative at the end of a project is helpful in evaluating the project as well as giving the students a final grade.

Planning for a summative assessment involves three very important steps - objectives, evidence and activities. When planning for a project, teachers need to determine what the students will learn on completing the project. The next step is to determine what would the students need to demonstrate learning. Lastly, activities  must be designed or picked in order to help students acquire the required learning.

There are many options for summative assessments, but there needs to be a "natural fit" between objectives, activities, and methods for assessment. Some summative assessments teachers used are school-wide while others are in-class.

Formative assessments enable teachers to guide students to the right path with  the already existing objectives and goals in mind. It helps to make adjustments to get the required results. Create a timeline following the arc of the project. Set up milestones and check-ins. Lastly, be sure to add main aspects along the arc to reflect the learning process.

Some of the assessment options teachers can use are brainstorming to know what students care about, coffee talks involving differentiated attention, and concept maps showing relationships between ideas. There are tools that are designed or useful for each assessment options. Some are whiteboards, Evernote, Prezi, and Lucid Chart.

Rubrics helps students understand how their project is being graded. They are also a means for teachers to grade fairly.

This chapter helped to brainstorm ideas for how to assess students throughout our lesson, not just at the very end of it. Using rubrics and formative assessments are crucial in making sure that students will know exactly what you want from them.

Chapter 3 and 4 reflection

In chapter three the reading explained how using the verbs analyze, evaluate, and create all can offer a better result. These three skills will be able to make the students think more about their project when they are making a plan to complete it. It will allow projects to be more informational, passionate, and purposeful.We want more than just a plain informative project. From our students we want a project that has been analyzed and evaluated. As teachers we want to be able to teach our students to utilize the best learning dispositions. Some of the important traits that they spoke about will give our students the confidence for tackling their projects are attitude, habits and feelings. Which leads them to be able to work well and cooperatively together to make great projects. It is important to give students projects that they feel passionately about. This enables them to be more enthusiastic and have the ability to connect the social and emotional aspect of their experience.

Chapter four discussed ways to evaluate students projects to make sure that they can get the best results possible. They gave ideas to think about to make a quality project. We can ask our students two compare and contrast, predict, cause and effect, determine how parts relate to the whole, look at change over time, patterns and trends, and look at points of view. This allows the students to look at their project from different perspectives to see which parts could be changed or bettered. I also really liked the features that they shared to produce the best products. It talked about how a project should do more than answer a question it should reach out. It should offer other learning paths, construct meaning, capture real life experiences, involve others, rich data resources. This allows the students to be able to have a strong connection with the audience. Their research will be engaging and beneficial to themselves and also to whoever is learning about their topic. I liked that this chapter helped me understand how important it is to teach students to have well developed projects.

Reading Reflection #4

1. Discuss the potential pitfalls in project design.
2. Discuss the features of a good project.
3. Discuss where project ideas come from.
4. Discuss the steps to design a project.
5. Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project.

The potential pitfalls in project design are an activity taking long while the outcomes on learning are short, technology layered over traditional practice, trivial thematic units, overly scripted with many steps, not enough focus on formative assessment, and assessment that doesn't feel authentic. The features of a good project are they are loosely designed with the possibility of different learning paths, are generative. center on a driving question, capture students interest, are realistic, reach beyond school to involve others, tap rich data, are structured, and get at digital age skills and literacies. The project ideas come from online, in books, the ideas can literally come from everywhere. The steps to design a project include revisiting the conceptual framework, deciding on specific skills, identifying learning dispositions, planning the "vehicle" and entrée into the project experience, and writing a project sketch that you can share with others and follow through with.  This chapter has helped me better understand what a good project should consist of and where I should go about finding project ideas. 

Reading Reflection #3

1. Discussion on what should be considered in finding “the Big Idea” for a project.
2. Discussion on the digital-age skills.
3. Discussion on the digital-age literacies.
4. Discussion on each of the essential learning functions.
5. Discussion on the prompts to developing a conceptual framework for a project.
6. Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project.

When finding "the Big Idea" for a project is scanning the curriculum along with the Common Core Standards and figure out what you want the students to understand. Digital age skills should have the students engaged in the subject matter and analyze, evaluate and create through pbl. Digital age literacies deal with the behavior required of accomplished people in the 21st century. This means being able to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate, and compute using printed and written materials. The essential learning functions are learning, to make ideas visible, express ideas creatively, collaboration, project management, reflection and iteration, supported study or enrichment using open educational resources. To develop a conceptual framework for a project you must narrow down your topic and make a wiki to organize your thoughts by answering a series of questions. Concepts in this chapter helped me to figure out a way to organize my thoughts and know what to focus on when creating my lesson plan.

Reading Reflections 3 and 4 (Week 4)

Reading Reflection 3:

When looking for the big ideas for a project, make sure to review the curriculum and standards so you have a clear direction. After you have done this, find a way to make it relate to your students by giving real world contexts for the material.

While planning the projects, keep in mind the skills that the students need to develop in the digital age. By using Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, we are able to get students to use these skills such as analyzing, evaluating, creating, etc.

The definitions of digital-age skills and literacies mean more than the simple ability to read and write and hence the focus is being shifted towards the behaviors of accomplished people in the 21st century. Teaching students the processes that go along with literacy is always important, but doing so digitally helps this generation learn it in a way that relates more to them.

The essential learning functions enable students with the help of tools to interact, collaborate, interpret raw data, sift through information easier, get responses from team members or other students, and encourage thoughtful reflection.

When planning to develop a conceptual framework for a project, it is important to keep in mind the concepts you want to teach throughout the year. Make sure to list key concepts for each subject

This chapter helped to give ideas on how to get started with developing our project. I need to remember to keep in mind the goal for the lesson and design a project that is constantly aiming for that goal. While remembering that our students are from a different generation, we can design our lessons to fit their needs of a more project and technology based learning.


Reading Reflection 4:

One of the potential pitfalls that stood out is the problem of having a lot going on and being very lengthy reduces the learning potential. Another pitfall is the inability of the assessment to feel authentic by not measuring the quality of the work accordingly.

A few features that make a project really good are - the possibility of the project having different learning paths, being realistic, being a collective effort, having a practical feel rather than all theory, and well structured so that students learn with team members and other students.

Project ideas are everywhere. It could come from student interests/questions, new stories, tried and true projects, projects done by other teachers, and relevant issues.

Designing a project involves several considerations to be taken into account. By revisiting a conceptual framework previously established, it would give the opportunity to decide on which skills are to be addressed, and to identify learning dispositions. Establishing evidence of understanding teaches students to gain the ability to show what they have learned and emphasizes on the reflection part of the project. Last two are capturing the students attention and striving for an optimal ambiguity.

The concepts learned in this chapter relate to our project because we will be needing to design a project for our topic. It is nice to know where our areas of struggle will be, as well as what is considered to be a good project and how to obtain that. Getting started is often the hardest part, so being able to get ideas on how to start is very valuable information.

Virtual Penpal

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1E6P0se0xD17owPAWt9YsUz9hraLWfa-Wbf_nAxf1jF0/edit?usp=sharing

Reading reflection #2

In chapter two I learned how great of an effect that project based learning can have on the students but also the children. Teacher collaboration in schools can make a better environment. It is a great opportunity for us teachers to team up with other teachers to make our classrooms the best they can be. In chapter one I really liked the sentence, "If we're going to connect kids, our teachers need to know how to connect to each other" (pg 34). I agree we need to be able to connect with our fellow teachers so that we know how to get out students to engage and connect. It is good to remember that in order to communicate best we have to be honest, appreciative and trusting of other teachers. When we communicate in these ways we are able to grow and improve. Teachers can collaborate in many different ways. They can come together in small meetings, conferences, and means of social media. Another line i liked from the reading was on page 37, this experience forced us to become learners. It is important to know that as teachers we are always going to be learning. It is important for our students to learn and we can do this best by learning together in collaboration with other teachers. In collaborative learning it allows teachers to spend more time on whats most important and less time dealing with other issues.

Reading Reflection #2

1. Discussion on the successful ways to create a professional learning community.
2. Discussion on how to restructure interaction with other teachers in project-based learning (PBL).
3. Discussion on what teachers can learn from HTH’s model of PBL.
4. Discussion on the protocols to frame collegial conversations.
5. Discussion on the benefits of professional learning communities and online communities.
6. Discussion on what features the community involving digital-age projects should share.
7. Discussion on how to take the advantage of online supporting materials.

The successful ways to create a professional learning community are working together and learning from others who are trying to reach the same end goals with their students in project-based learning. Teachers must push each other to the next level with projects and not be fine with it working out "just okay". A way to restructure interaction with other teachers in project-based learning is to learn how to give critical feedback, take part in new patterns of thinking, and take the time to listen and share ideas that you can give each other feedback on. Teachers can learn from HTH's model of PBL that it is important to emphasize teacher-as-designer role, adopt formal protocols, and find your community. The protocols to frame collegial conversations are to frame the request for feedback with a question, mix it up, and include students. These are used to invite critical peer feedback, troubleshoot problems, and examine student work as a team. The benefits of professional learning communities and online communities are making your professional life more productive and satisfying because you are connected to so many people in your goals of developing yourself while helping students develop. In online communities you can create a culture of collaboration and have more access to successful results and ideas in PBL.  The community involving digital age projects should share a clear sense of mission, a vision of the conditions that they must create to achieve the mission, organize into groups, be goal oriented and collaborate together. You can take advantage of online supporting materials through ePals.com, Flat Stanley.com, globe.gov and more. These are project sources from around the world with built in suppost from a community of educators that share a common goal as you.

Reading Reflection 2 (Week 3)

To create a successful learning community, it is necessary to have respect and collaboration with everybody.

Along with that, teachers need to be respectful and collaborate with other teachers if they want PBL to be successful. Often times, teachers will need to restructure the way that they interact with other teachers in PBL because it is still a learning process. Keep in mind that you can learn from other teachers, and working together based on the shared goals that you have will make an even more meaningful project for your students.

High Tech High is a school based on a "head-and-hand model of learning" (pg. 41), where they know that it takes action to really teach a student something. They go out into their community to practice what they have learned in the real world for things that actually matter. Teachers can learn from HTH because this head-and-hand model is just like PBL - making learning meaningful for the students. Teachers can also learn that collaboration is key to this model (HTH even has glass walls separating the classroom). With HTH, the teachers learn to become skilled designers of lessons. They want to do this because that's how they want their projects to be, but also to emphasize that we are a collaborative adult learning community.

To help have a successful collegial conversation, make sure that you have made time for collaboration. PBL is something to get excited about, but you need to make sure you have enough time to get ideas rolling. The most important concept about this is that teachers share their work. Everyone has ideas that you can use in your class and visa versa.

Some of the benefits of professional learning communities and online communities are that the you are not restricted to just utilizing the people in your own school, especially if there are not a lot of PBL teachers in the school. All of the teachers are like-minded colleagues that lobby together to make necessary changes (pg. 48).

Some features that the community involving digital-age projects should share are having a clear sense of the mission along with the conditions they must have in order to reach the mission, goal and result oriented, student-focused, and commit themselves to continuous improvement.

To take advantage of online supporting materials, all you need to do is get involved in collaborating with the teachers on some of the websites. The book recommends that before launching a project that you alone have came up with, first try to join a project that has the same goal as you and collaborate with the teachers involved in the creation of that project.