Last Reflection!

1. As a result to project based learning the teacher and the students will feel like they have "been somewhere" together. Good project don't lead to a dead end. The end of this project should lead into another project that you can do with your students. Many teachers make sure to end a project with a reflection. This helps teachers to plan future projects. Take this time to find ways you can improve your projects for future students. Make you sure keep things that worked well for you. 2. As well as ending a project with reflection there are others ways you can "bring a project home". You can also talk to your colleagues and critique your work. Colleagues can be a great resource because your able to come together and share ideas. You have to be open to critique and understand that you are helping each other. Another thing you can do is share your insights. Tell other colleagues about things that worked really well for you. This is a great chance for you to create an online resource for your school. Find ways that teachers can see each others lesson plans. Teachers can enter their lesson plans into contest and be able to put there best work forward. 3. This relate to our project because we are bringing our project to an end. We are putting all of our work onto one page. We are bringing everything together. As we finish our project we are looking at things that we did at the beginning of the semester. Its cool to look at everything we have done with this project. I like how we were able to break our project up into three sections. We were each able to become experts in our area.

Reflection #10

1. It is important to set aside time to reflect because this is the last step to completing a project. Students think about why the project was important to them. Students can talk about the different learning behaviors and how they helped them through the project. When students reflect on their work it gives them time to think about different ways they can do things different next time. Students can also talk about different obstacles that they over came. The last thing you want to do is asked the students to reflect on the positive things they did during the project. 2. Students need to reflect and elaborate. Students need to decide what they want to learn about next. As students become better at doing projects, it is important to put more responsibility in their learning. Students should be able to work on something they are passionate about. This can lead a more ambitious project. 3. As a teacher you can create a tradition for a certain project you do every year with your students. Younger students will hear about the project and be excited for their chance. It is important to involve your community as much as possible. This may include your own community of learners as well as their families. Community helps are a great way of getting people involved and in your classroom. 4. It is important to celebrate a project as well. Arrange for some type of celebration for the students, this could include things like a party, putting on an event, and showing off students work. Another way you could celebrate student projects is by hosting a big event at the end of the year. The work would include several projects each student worked on through out the year. Don't forget to include a reflection piece to learn ways to do things different next time. 5. Concepts in this chapter relate to our project because we are at the end of the semester. This is when we are tying everything together and finishing the project. The end of the semester is a celebration for us!

Reading Reflection 9

One of the most common ways of understanding students prior knowledge is KWL charts.  It is important to know where the students are in terms of what they know about the project before it begins.  It is not likely that all students are starting the project having the same knowledge, therefore it is important to establish anchors in the classroom.
Establishing anchors allows the teacher to gain a sense of what the student's knowledge is at the beginning of the project.  The anchors also allow teachers to know how far students are going to meet there learning goals.  In a project-based classroom it is important to use anchors to differentiate instruction and help all learners be successful.
There are three main ways that teachers can ask students what they learn.  The first one is create something new.  In this example the teacher may ask the students to create something that summarizes the main ideas that they learned during their project.  The next example for teachers would be modeling a real-world assessment.  In this example students apply the skills of professionals to their project.  Some examples of professionals the students could use would be historians, journalists, scientists, and engineers.  This way of assessing students will allow teachers to know that the students are getting ready for the world outside of the classroom.  The third example of assessing students are their project is entering a contest or submitting your publication.  In this example students will submit a part of their project that they are proud of.  This form of assessing students can be motivating for students who may be ready for a real-world assessment.
One of the ways that these subjects relates to our project is the creating something new part of assessment.  At the end of the semester we need to create something new.  This may be considered a form of creating something new that the teacher could later use to see what we have learned.  Another way that these topics relate to our project is the since of the teacher trying to figure out how much knowledge we have on something before we learn it.  Our teacher often asks if we have used a certain form of technology before we must do part of our project using it.

Reflection #9

1. There are multiple ways of understanding students prior knowledge. One way is a KWL chart this can be useful for teachers to learn what students already know, they can also use the "want to know" column to adjust their lesson plan to the students interests. You can also take the boring way and give them a pre-quiz. These are useless to me but many people use them. You can figure out what students already know about a subject, these are not graded and students tend to blow them off since they wont be getting graded. Another thing you can do is have a discussion about an upcoming project. A discussion can sometimes get off topic but students enjoy talking. 2. By establishing anchors you gain a sense of where student are starting and how far they are going. In a project based classroom you expat the opportunities to differentiate instruction and help learners become successful. 3. Ways students can be assessed: - Using rubrics helps students stay on task and focused. - A teacher points out that having children lose points for being late is inappropriate. You lose a lot of meaningful data because you marked them down for being late. - Having deep conversations with students lets you know if they know what they are talking about. -Giving tests, this is self explanatory. 4. For our storyboard we have to discuss a way that students can be assessed for this project. This chapter gives us multiple ways that we can assess students. If let us know that we don't have to go to the standardized testing that multiple teachers use. We can think outside the box and come up with unique ways to assess students.

Reflection 8

Building connections and branching out are a very important part of many 21 century projects.  The use of digital tools make it easier for the students to share their work with people outside of the classroom.  This might include family members, peers, local community members, and some of the world outside of that.  Connecting with experts is a very effective way for students to brand out.  An example of this would be students from around the world being able to watch an expert speak via a video.

EAST stands for Environmental and Spatial Technologies Initiative.  This is a network of schools that have been showing the benefits of using technology to make improvements in their communities.  EAST students are allowed to choose the problems that interest them.  An example of a project that EAST students have completed would be the use of GPS, and other forms of technology, to map the trails of Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas.

After the students have completed a few projects they may be ready to lead their own projects.  This may be as they are now know what is expected to be completed with this projects.  Students may also be able to lead if they are better at certain ways of learning.  The book used an example of a person with dyslexia.  The person hated to read, but enjoyed blogging as it was easier for him.  Students will also work harder on a project that they are more passionate about.

In this class we are given the privilege to lead our own project. Outside of telling us what types of technology that we need to use, there is not much that we are forced to do.  I feel a great deal of the students in class are having an easier time completing their projects.  Students at EAST are able to complete projects that have a subject that interests them.  We also were given the choice of what topic we wanted to pick.

Reflection #8

1. Digital tools make it easy for students to share their work and exchange ideas with diverse audiences, including family members and peers, and even the community and its leaders. If students know other people will be watching and reading their work it can become a powerful motivator for students to put forth their best work and take time to form ideas. Technology offers students numerous ways to branch outside of the classroom, it connects students to a world they are not used to. 2. EAST stands for Environmental and Spatial Technologies. Their purpose of using technology is to solve problems and make improvements within their own community. The EAST model is built on four essential ideas. Student- driven work, this means students are responsible for their own work. Authentic project- based learning, this means students should be engaged in real problems. Technology as tools, this means students need access to technology that the professionals use. Collaboration, this means students work together to find their solutions. As a teacher in a EAST classroom you have to be able to be very supportive with your students. They need to know that they can trust you to be their supporting them. 3. As teachers get further into their lessons they begin to realize that many students are good at leading their own projects. They become independent in knowing what to expect from their teacher. It is important for students to be interested in what they are doing. It is okay for students to find a reason to do a project and go with it. Sometimes it isn't the material we learn that teaches us best, sometimes its the process we had to go through to get to where we are. 4. This relates to our project because it is important to remember the key ideas in this chapter. Letting students find their interests can be something very valuable to themselves. They need to feel that independence and the confidence. Supporting students in whatever they do is something I strive for. I am every student to feel comfortable coming to me and knowing I value their education. I want them to know I am here for them, and only them. I want to be able to connect with every student that comes through my door, and leave an imprint in their brain about me. The related to our project because we are using technology in many ways that allows us to reach diverse audiences. We are having our students branch out and find resources that they can use in their future studies.