reflection #5

Something that should be considered before starting a project with students is what materials you will need.  Take a look at your inventory and see what supplies, tools, and other materials are available at school or offered by your parent community and other supporters.  If you don’t find what you need put out the word about your upcoming project.  You should also plan a project calendar with milestones along the way.  The students’ attention to time management will be better if you share a project calendar that makes deadlines visible.  You can turn big chunk tasks into small, more manageable pieces.  You should also think about how your teams are going to be organized.  You should remember that students will be doing different things at different time when you are the project manager.  The team approach requires you to reset your expectations and experiment with different combinations.  Also plan for assessment. 

Teachers’ management needs are tools for communicating with students and others about the project, tools for making milestones and events visible and for notifying students when changes occur, methods for getting recourses to students, systems for managing work products, and structures that support a productive learning environment in which teams and individuals are engaged in a variety of the learning tasks at the same time.  Students’ management needs are systems and tool 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, through self reflection, team input, and teachers advice; and ways to work iteratively and to see how parts add up to the world.

Some of the technology application that should be considered for the use in a project are web based applications.  You can link a set of tools together in a wiki, associate them with a blog, or alternatively, use a web based desktop application.  This chapter relates to what we are doing in class because each of us are responsible for a section to research from our topic.  Also our whole class is broken up into smaller more manageable chunks rather than one that is hard to get through.  

1. Discussion on the items that should be considered before starting a project with students.
2. Discussion on teachers’ and students’ management needs.
3. Discuss some of the technology applications that should be considered for use in a project.
4. Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project.

Before starting a project with the students it's important to gather all the resources, tools and materials that will be needed for the project. Reach out to staff, parents and the community to help you gather all the necessary items. It's important to consider what technology your students will be working with and how much prior experience (if any) that they have. ALso consider primary resources that your students could consult with and how will you arrange for these interactions. 

An important management need is a deadline and mini deadlines. Mini deadlines will help your students not fall behind in their final deadline. You can use calendars to help students recognize their time management. Secondly it's very important that when grouping students together that you put the "right" team together. The book talks about the potential downfalls of not creating groups that are "right" for each other. For example if you put two students together that are at very different learning levels, than you could potentially have one student that does all the work. As a teacher it'll be important to figure out how group member and the teacher will communicate. This is important because students need to be able to seek assistance and have constant feedback on work that they're doing. By using some tool of communication through technology students will be able to seek help whenever they need it from not only the teacher but from their peers as well. Also the teacher will be able to monitor progress and ensure that students are on the right track. 

Some technologies that should be considered google docs, wiki and blog. Goggle docs is a great way for students to work together outside of school. They're able to access the documents whenever needed and everyone can work on the document together. Also teachers will be able to provide feedback in the google docs instead of only providing feedback during assessment. Wiki is a program that allows you to create a web page. This would be a great tool for the class because you will be able to post deadlines, announcements, ideas, surveys etc. FInally are blogs which can allow a place for students to post their work and ideas. 

This chapter relates to our project because a lot of the technology tools that were spoken about are tools that we are using in our project. For example our group uses a blog to collaborate and post our project artifacts. 

Reflection 5

Chapter 5 talks about Project Management Strategies for Teachers and Learners. I thought this chapter was very interesting. Before starting a project with your students, a teacher should first think about the project, what do you want your students to research, what is the main idea of this project, who will they need to talk to or get in touch with? A teacher should first turn to the school and take inventory and see what supplies they have on hand. Next, turn to parents and the community and see if they have anything you can borrow that you may need for the project. A teacher should also put the word out there, like I said talk to parents, tell them about the project and what students will be doing, you can also write in the weekly newsletter to inform families and the community. After thinking about the supplies, think about the technology aspect, will your students know how to use the technology or applications that you want them to use, or do you need the media specialist to come in and give a demonstration and talk to the class? Also think about other specialists that maybe needed throughout the project. Lastly, think about the experts that students may need to talk to, can they talk to these individuals in person or will they need to send e-mails, will students have the opportunity to video-conference or take a virtual field trip with the expert of their choosing based on their topics? There is a lot to think about and prepare for when having students work on a project.

            When it comes to teachers’ and students’ management needs for projects, there are a lot. For teachers’ management needs they need Tools for communicating with students and others about the project, tools for making milestones and events visible and for notifying students when changes occur, methods for getting resources to students, systems for managing work products, structures that support a productive learning environment in which teams and individuals are engaged in a variety of learning tasks at the same time and lastly, assessment tools and strategies. For students’ management needs, they need 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, through self-reflection, team input, and teacher advice and lastly, ways to work iteratively and to see how parts add up to the whole.

        Throughout this chapter it also talks about technology applications that should be considered for use in a project. I found three applications that include, creating a blog, a wiki page, and also a web-based “desktop” application. A wiki page is created for sharing content. You can add web links and build pages. With a wiki page, anyone who is an author can write or edit the page anything from anywhere. You can make it open to the public or have it be limited. This application is good for developing information. There are two types of wiki pages, Wiki spaces and PBwiki. The next application is a blog, with a blog there is one primary author, viewers are allowed to comment. This is great for communicating with others; you can communicate about your progress, or milestones that you may have accomplished and also to broadcast news that is related to your project. With the blog application, you can one big blog or the group, or you can make individual blogs. Lastly, web-based “desktop” application, I did not find much about this in the book, but I did find two type, Drupal and Text pattern.

        This chapter relates to our project, because we each are responsible for a section to research from our topic. In this class, we have a calendar with all the due dates on it. Everyone in our group has some sort of skills to bring to the project. Also at the beginning of the semester, we all signed a contract saying that we will participate in the group and we each will be responsible for our part and that we won’t sit back and let one person do all the work. For this project, each group has their own blog for their topic, and everyone in the class can comment on our posts. Lastly, in the book it talks about rubrics, when we create our lesson plans, we each are creating a rubric to go along with it, with the rubric we are each using the same template but we will each have different components that we are looking for. 

Reflection 4

     When looking at potential pitfalls of project design there are four major ones to keep in mind.  The first is long on activity and short on learning outcomes.  This means that if the project is busy and long but reaches small or lower order learning aims, it is not worth investing your students' time or yours.  A project should be sized right for what it accomplishes.  The second potential pitfall is technology layered over traditional practice.  Having students research a topic on the internet and then present it in an electronic slideshow is not a quality project.  Decide whether the technology is being used to bring people together, and connecting students to rich data and primary sources, or if it isn't provide some other way to allow students to create unique and high quality learning projects.  The third potential pitfall is trivial thematic units.  When using thematic projects look for ways a theme elevates and connects the learning.  The last potential pitfall is overly scripted with many, many steps.  be wary of over perceptive projects plans that have many discrete steps but have limited possible results.  

     Some features of a good project are that they are loosely designed with the possibility of different learning paths, the are generative, causing students to construct meaning, they center on a driving question or are otherwise structured for inquiry, the capture student interest through complex and compelling real-life or simulated experiences, they are realistic, and therefore cross multiple disciplines, they reach beyond school involve others, they tap rich data or primary sources, they have students working as inquiring experts might, they get at 21st century skills and literacies, including communication, project management, and technology use, they get at important learning dispositions, including persistence, risk taking, confidence, resilience, self-reflection, and cooperation, and they have students learning by doing.  

     Project ideas can come from everywhere, even from a classroom issue.  Problems in everyday life can become the topic for students to research at anytime.  They can also come from ideas off of passed projects that have been successful, they are just changed a little.  

     There are four step when designing a project.  The first is to revisit the framework.  You need to make a list of learning objectives for core subjects and allied disciplines.  Decide which skills you want to address.  The second step is to establish evidence of understanding.  The third is to plan the project theme or challenge.  You should pick something the students would like to research about.  the last step is to plan entree into the project.  What are you going to use to get the students attention. We had to use these skills when we were making our lesson plans.  We had to think of a good project and then we had to make a lesson plan for it with a full list of procedures that we were going to follow.  

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.

1. The potential pitfall in project based learning is having a long activity that doesn't have many learning outcomes. Based on what we've learned in lecture and in the book, a good project can teach students many different content area subjects. For example they can learn math, english, science and history all in one project. The pitfall is that the class spends so much time on a project that doesn't teach them anything more than what they could've learned from a book or a teacher. The second potential pitfall in project based learning is what the book calls "Technology layered over traditional practice." Basically this pitfall says that if the technology isn't essential to the project than it's nothing more than a research report. Thirds talks about how one theme can address many different learning outcomes for students if manipulated to do so. Lastly is that the project can have too many steps that take away the uniqueness of each individual. 

2. The features of a good project are loosely designed with the possibility of different learning paths. They allow students to construct meaning, and leave room for inquiry. They capture the interests of students and a realistic. They involve others in the students communities, include primary resources, allow students to learn from each other. Uses 21st century skills and literacies, and students are learning by doing. 

3. Project ideas should come from the students. In the book the teachers were going to work on a unit about ocean's but they noticed that a large group of students were interested in boats. They figured they should change the unit to boats instead of oceans because they connect with the students interests. It's important for students to have their interests taken into account because this will create a passion in learning for the students. 

4. The steps in designing a project are to first revisit the framework. In this step the teacher(s) should make a list of possible learning objects for their students in each content area. Then they will want to figure out what 21st century skills they will want to address. Finally identify learning dispositions the teacher wants to foster.

Second step includes looking into the future at the end of the project. How will the students be different as a learner? 

Third includes creating the instruction for the project. It's important to leave enough room for creativity. 

Finally the step includes how are you going to get the students excited about the project?

5. This chapter I thought really connected to the lesson plan each member in our group has to write. 

Reflection #4

                                                                                            Ricki Feuereisen 

This chapter has a lot of good information about creating projects for your classroom. Teachers have the opportunity to collaborate and get feedback on a project they are thinking about having their students do. It also talks about getting ideas from other colleagues that they may have used in their classroom and has been successful and engaging.

There are four different potential pitfalls in project design the first being long on activity, short on learning outcomes, the second one being technology layered over traditional practice, the third one is trivial thematic units and the last one is overly scripted with many, many steps. What does each one mean? The first potential pitfall, long on activity, short on learning outcomes means; that you as a teacher need to make sure that what you are teaching your students is worthwhile and interesting. You don’t want your students to just read a book and listen to a lecture because they probably aren’t taking in any information and aren’t listening. If you have an idea for a project, think off all the components of research that can take place. The second potential pitfall, technology layered over traditional practice; when students are doing a project, given students choice on how they can present the information, make it fun. Provide a reason of why they are doing this project and what you want them to take away from this. Also providing choices of research will improve engagement. Do you need technology for this project; will it help improve learning?

The third potential pitfall, trivial thematic units, with this one, it’s okay for teachers to think of theme for the whole year or even half of the year. When you introduce a theme make sure that there is enough to research and learn about throughout that amount of time you are using that theme. Make sure there is a connection between the theme and a project that you are having students complete. What do you want them to learn from that particular theme? The last potential pitfall overly scripted with many, many steps. You want students to have the chance to choose what they want to research within a topic. Make sure there is enough information to research that is solid but not overloading that they get overwhelmed. Students should be able to answer all the questions that they need too. If they can’t find all the answers then the topic may not work. Teachers need to remember to think from a student’s point of view when thinking of projects.

There are many different features that makes a good project, I chose to talk about four; the first is having students learn by doing, students in your classroom can be visual or auditory learners. Students also like to do hands on assignments. Students learn by doing it themselves or in groups, for some students it’s hard to learn only by watching. The second one is a good project is loosely designed with the possibility of different learning paths. To me this means, you may think a student will learn about point A but when they complete the research they find a whole different path. A good project should be flexible. The third one is good projects are realistic, and therefore cross multiple discipline. When having students complete a project there should be reason why you choose that topic for the class. It’s better when you relate it to your student’s lives, and so that they can use it outside of school. The last one I chose to talk about it, center on a driving question or are otherwise structure for inquiry. A good project should have room for inquiry, letting students have some say in their research.

When thinking of where project ideas come from, they can come from anywhere, you could be at a restaurant and see something interesting and that can create a project idea for your class to do. It also helps when you know what your students are interested in and what they like, because then when you think about an idea you’ll know your class will be excited about it.

There are five different steps to design a project, first is revisit the framework, meaning think about what the learning objectives for this project, what do you want your students to address while doing research, what’s the point of the project and also identify learning dispositions. The second on is, establish evidence of understanding, meaning why should your student learn this, what do you want your class to take away with? The third one is, plan the theme or challenge, when creating a project make a connection for your students. Have the topic have to do with something they like or are going to learn about in class. The third one is plan entrée into the project experience, with this, how can you get students excited about this project? The last one is write a project sketch, with this, you want to look at the plan you have set up, how does it look? Would you want to complete this project if you were a student?

The concepts in this chapter relate to my project that we are doing in class, because we were able to decide what we wanted to research and when we got the broad topic we were able to choose what we wanted to research within that topic. We have the flexibility of what we research and it makes the project more interesting. My group is researching Local History, so it relates to us because we live here and we are learning about the different events and places around Kalamazoo. 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zXrUywpEJquKhi7ZtLcigHtCzBnVCCP0MQnYqECiDKU/edit?usp=sharing

Google Map

Reading Reflection 3

When considering the "Big Idea" of a project it's important to think about what you want the students to learn. It's important to ask yourself: why is this important to learn? This question is important because it helps you as a teacher to gain passion and real life connections to the subject you plan to teach. If you the teacher can't find why what you're teaching is important, than how can your students find it relevant to learn. This leads to the next important part of the "Big Idea"which is applying the subject matter into real life. This is important because a lot of the time students will say, "Why do I need to know this for my future?", connecting content to real life will help avoid your students posing that question.  The "Big Idea" also really helps to overlap the content ares, so instead of having complete different subject like math, language arts, history, etc. you will be able to intermingle most of the subject ares.

21st century literacy  and skills incorporates more than just the ability to read and write. Using a more project based learning system will not just teach the students the knowledge they need to know but will also prepare them with skills they will need in the 21st century. For example the book spoke of certain skills that projects can help foster in students which are: analyzing, evaluating, and creating. These are skills that will carry on with them past the school years. Developing these skills will allow them to stretch their mind past memorizing facts for a test. They will be able to problem solve and think critically about things that memorizing facts from a book or lecture cannot give to them.

When reading about the essential learning functions I thought about how easy these functions help to allow students to feel in control of their learning. In most schools the teacher is required to teach certain subjects but by incorporating these functions and projects into the learning process students have a lot more say in how and what they learn. The first essential function is ubiquity which allows students to have access to their learning at anytime. I really like this because it models to students that learning is an ever on going process and that it doesn't stop when you leave school. It also allows them to constantly have access to the projects they work on and would want to add to. Deep learning requires students to really understand where their information is coming from and how to access raw data. Making things visible is a great idea because they can look at see things and talk about them instead of just reading about them in a text book. Expressing ourselves, sharing ideas, and building community is great for creating a great project or work because more heads are better than one which also incorporates into collaboration. Research, project management and reflection all intermingle when creating a final project and can help to develop future essential skills.

Reading this chapter really reminded me of our group projects because we took an assigned topic and put our own personality into it. This is a lot like how teachers take a topic that students have to learn and allow them to put their own personality into it as well. It provides a more meaningful learning environment and allows students to learn based on their own uniqueness.

Reflection 3. 2/13

1.     When thinking about the “the Big Idea” for a project in your classroom, you want to think about what you want your students to walk away with. What do you want them to learn about when completing this project. When students are assigned to do projects, are you providing the main topic and students get to decide what they want to research inside that topic or are you coming up with what they have to research. What is the idea of this project and what should students take away from it at the end? Students should understand why they are doing this project and learning about the topic. Why is it important? When thinking about the main idea, the teacher should find a topic that can be interesting and engaging. Teachers can work with other colleagues for ideas and even work together on a project. 

2.     When thinking about the 21^st century skills, think about Bloom’s Taxonomy, in this chapter it provides the analyzing part, evaluating and creating sections. When working on a project you need to think about what you want to research and you use these three categories to make the project. With 21^st-century skills, it requires you to use inventive thinking and risk taking, when it comes to inventive thinking, you use your creative side and it helps if your curious about the topic and really engaged in the topic. You also use communication, which is an important aspect when it comes to group work, even individual work.

3.     21^st-century literacy is being able to use technology and being aware of what to use and how to use it when doing research and what you want to research.

4.     There are eight different essential learning functions discussed in this chapter, the first one being ubiquity, this is the ability to give students the chance to learn anytime and anywhere they are. Individuals learn something new anywhere they are, it can be as little as a new word. Students can use books and technology to learn something new. They don’t only have to learn in the classroom. The next function is deep learning, with this learning function, students can use the internet to do research, but they need to really think about and analyze what they are reading and if there’s something not understood, they can do further research. The more information a student has the better it will help with their project. The third function is, making things visible and discussable, with this it’s always go to have a visual of what you are presenting or talking about. This way when you are presenting there is something for your audience to look at and can give them a better understanding. With a visual the audience can have a discussion about what they think the presentation will be about. The fourth one is about expressing ourselves, sharing ideas, and building community, these talks about using the Internet to express how we are feeling, and you can use the Internet to talk to other people. The fifth one is about collaboration, when you are assigned to work on a project many times you work with someone, when this happens you need to have good communication and discuss what you want to research and how you want to present the project. The six one is about research, you need to know what you want to research, all the parts of the project you want to research, and who is going to be in charge of what section. Students also need to know what websites are useful and trustful. The seventh one is project management, with this topic it talks about how it’s useful to have a schedule so that you can manage what you do and when you want to do it. The last one is about reflection, this talks about reflecting on how you did, what you think you did well on and starting a blog to track your thinking.

5.     These concepts relate to the project that we are doing because in class we decided on the main topic and were put into groups, based on the main idea that we chose we picked subsections to research. Each individual in the group is responsible for doing research on one of the subsections. But we work together to discuss who wants to research which section and if we need help we have each other to go to for assistance and ideas. 

reflection 3

Reflection 3

Catherine Hinckley

     When thinking about "the Big Idea" for a project it is important to consider what core concepts and processes should the students learn about throughout their time with the project. You also need to consider the curriculum standards that your students will meet.  Good projects connect directly to the students' frame of reference, interests, and experiences.  Textbooks are used like a reference book.
    A 21st century skill is analyzing which is examine, explain, investigate, characterize, classify, compare, deduce, differentiate, discriminate, illustrate, and prioritize.  Another is evaluate which is judge, select, decide, justify, verify, improve, defend, debate, convince, recommend, and assess.  another is create which is adapt, anticipate, combine, compose, invent, design, imagine, propose, theorize, or formulate.
     21st century literacies are digital age literacy, inventive thinking, effective communication, and high productivity.  It all boils down to literacy is learning to be independent, aware, and productive citizens.
     One essential learning function is Ubiquity which is an overreaching and desirable quality of tools that support project learning.  The second is deep learning which is where students find and make sense of raw information on the web.  The third is making things visible and discussable.  The fourth is expressing ourselves, sharing ideas, and building communities.  The fifth is collaboration, teaching and learning with others.  The sixth is research.  The seventh is project management: planning and organization.  Last is reflection and iteration
     This is relevant to our project because we need to find information about Kalamazoo history for our project.  We have to use all of the 21st century skills and most if not all of the literacies.

In chapter two of "Reinventing Project Based Learning" the book really lays out the idea that it takes a village to raise a child, but in this case, teach a child. Learning communities are ways of communicating and working with other teachers on projects for students and lesson plans. The benefits of a learning community is that you have more than one mind working on an idea for your students. Since you have other colleagues working with you, as a teacher you will be able to expand your ideas and maybe try things you never thought of before. I think collaboration is very important because it's really hard to critique your own teaching, having other teachers to provide you with feedback and ideas can really help better the teaching that you give your students. Also sometimes you may think you have the best idea for a project but having a learning community can allow you to take a good idea and turn it into a great idea. Another benefit of a learning community is that teachers are able to provide support, opinions and new ideas to each other. Sometimes you may have moments as a teacher where you get stuck on an idea that you have for your students, having that support and extra brains can help you take an idea and expand on it. The benefits for students is that by having a teacher who collaborates the students in a sense have many different teachers. Since we live in a diverse world we will have many different types of students and by having a teacher that works with other teachers it can really help create a differentiated learning environment that meets the needs of every students. Also if a teacher were to teach something and it totally goes over the students head, having other teachers to give criticism can help to ensure that  students learn the material. Finally, the benefit for the students is that they will have more meaningful learning, instead of memorizing something for a test they will actually learn it and if they ever forget it, they will know how to find it.
This section really reflected on our topic because we are working together on one topic and sharing ideas and thoughts. This is an example of what it'll be like when were all teachers collaborating together.

Ricki Feuereisen
February 6, 2015

While reading this chapter, I learned a lot about learning communities and the importance of it. Learning communities comes with quite a few benefits, including decreasing teacher isolation, increasing commitment to the mission, having shared responsibility, being able to have more powerful learning opportunities and lastly, a higher likelihood of fundamental and systemic change. (pg. 33) What does a learning community focus on? It focuses on learning how to learn together as a group and team, instead of thinking individually. You learn more from a group and bouncing ideas off one another than thinking individually.

            When it comes to teachers, learning communities has a positive affect, meaning, teachers can get critical feedback on an assignment or project they are planning to use in their classroom or maybe have already used. This gives teachers a chance to improve their work. It also gives teachers a chance to bounce off new ideas off one another, teachers really get the chance to collaborate and communicate, which is an important factor to take part in. Lastly, teachers also have the chance to problem solve with learning communities, whether it being in person during school or online.  When it comes to students, a learning community affects them in a positive way also; students have the chance to learn to learn together. Students have the opportunity to communicate and problem solve. Students can take on roles when completing assignments and/or projects, they are given the chance to motivate one another and keep each other on track.

This relates to the project in this class, because I am working with a group, and we need to communicate with each other in order for this project to be a success. We can bounce off ideas with one another, and with these ideas it allows for us to come up with new ideas we may not have thought of individually. We also provide each other with feedback on if we think an idea would work for this project. 

Reflection 2

Catherine Hinckley

Reflection 2

     The focus of Learning Communities is that they create new opportunities for teachers to work together and overcome the traditional isolation of the teaching profession.  There will be change and restructuring in order to organize teachers and students to where time and opportunities for teacher collaboration are built into the normal school day.
     The benefits of Learning Communities are that the is room for collaboration.  As a group you are smarter or have more collective knowledge that one person would on their own.  This means that your weaknesses maybe someone else's strength and all the bases are covered.  Solving problems will become much more efficient.
     Learning Communities definitely affect teachers.  Lesson plans are almost expected to be made as a group so everyone is on the same page.  This takes pressure off of the teachers so they do not have to come up with the entire lesson plan all by themselves.  However you do have to make sure that you are being honest with each other.  This in key because the teachers depend on each other and there cannot be a weak link in the chain.  Teachers are also able to create their own opportunities for shared learning.
    These communities also affect students.  Learning Communities help student get prepared to the real world where they will have to work with other people to solve problems and get results.  It also ensures that students learn, creates a culture of collaboration for school improvement, and focuses on results.  The communities not only decrease the isolation of students, but also give the students shared responsibility which ultimately takes pressure off the students and they are able to learn more.
     The components of Learning Communities are have a clear sense of mission, share a vision of the conditions they must create to achieve the mission, work together in collaborative teams to determine the best practice to achieve the mission, focus on student learning, organize into groups headed by teacher-leaders, goal and result oriented, collaborate with each other, hold shared beliefs, commit themselves to continuous improvement, and see themselves as life long learners.
     This idea of Learning Communities is relevant to our projects now because we are working as a group to complete an "event" and each step of the way we have to collaborate with each other.