Reflection - Chapter 6

Reflection – Chapter 6

 

Projects offer fantastic opportunities for students to learn to be reflective on their learning. Projects present mastery in a variety of forms; consider the difference of a multiple choice test and a blog. The blog not only can give the students the chance to write about what they have learned, but how they learned. Learning to self-reflect can often be a daunting task, however, to “get the ball rolling” there are online surveys such as SurveyMonkey.com.

There are many great ways to begin a project. There are also two very important concepts that aids in getting your students minds’ prepared for the learning journey ahead; activating prior knowledge and using an anticipatory set. One common method of activating prior knowledge is to use a K-W-L (Know-Wonder-Learn) chart. This activity asks students to first think about what they already know about the subject, what they wonder about, and then what they have learned at the conclusion of the project. Anticipatory sets vary greatly depending on what the subject for the project is. This exciting introduction can be as simple as a really silly and disequilibrium-invoking question about the topic to really get the students pondering about what comes next.

Equally popular with teachers is the “I do, we do, you do, “or scaffolding model of instruction. This concept applies to teaching technology as well; however, it is important to first consider that the students may already have vast knowledge in the technology department! An assessment of the skills students posses can be done by just letting the students “have at it” and watch them closely; monitoring what skills they made need you to model.

When monitoring your students during assessment, consider the learning opportunity that is in front of you. Ask students what they know, how they know that; promote deep learning. Use this strategy from beginning to end of each project and you will facilitate inquiry and deep learning skills for your students.

My project requires self-reflection in many ways. The students will have a blog, work collaboratively as a team, and ask themselves questions that promote critical thinking, or deep learning. The act of presenting their findings on birds in a variety of styles and media they wil not only learn content but will evaluate their learning journey as well.