Final Inspiration

Reflection - Chapter 10

Writing is such a personal and reflective task; students are given the opportunity to write about their views on specific subjects when journaling. As educators, it is our responsibility to facilitate a love of writing and teaching students how much they can learn from themselves. We all know school days are busy; therefore writing must be planned and precise. It’s easy to think we will implement reflection; but carving out the time and pre-planning the questions will ensure this important task doesn’t get left out.

By pre-planning the questions, you can promote elaborating and critical reflection skills. Questions should ask more than, “What did you learn?” Try asking students why this project is important to them, and why they care. Predicting is a valuable skill and fits in perfectly for journaling about projects. Children have wonderful imaginations and love to share; facilitate that joyful experience.

When students care about something, it shows through pride. Build that pride by incorporating your schools’ traditions and identity into your PBL projects. For example, our bird project will include a tour of our school ground; specifically the garden sanctuary. This sanctuary was built by students and staff and is an ever-growing entity of our school pride. The students reflected during a writing assignment about how important they feel; taking care of the garden is so fulfilling. This reflection sparked the idea that we must include a tour on the day of our event.

Reflection - Chapter 9

Before starting a new project, teachers should assess their students’ prior knowledge. The best way to find out what they know is to ask them! I successful model for doing this is using a K-W-L. Ask the students to write anything they know about the topic and what they predict or expect to learn during the project. Anchors are great way for a teacher to measure learning in a frequent, timely manner. The anchor begins with the prior knowledge; from there you gain insight what direction to take.

Anchors are a great idea and if teachers use them properly, they can be great, alternative assessment tools. The information you obtain from the K-W-L can help you establish the anchor points for each individual student; possibly aiding in assigning collaborative, small groups. Also, knowing that each student learns and progresses at different rates, anchor points ensure that you are providing differentiated assessment based on each students learning journey. Alternative assessments that are effective and fun include self-reflection writings, peer feedback, project creation, portfolios; assessments that offer more than circling True or False on a quiz.

My students will journal daily on their own during the birding project, as well as team reflections on their blog. I really appreciate the ‘want to know’ part of a K-W-L and plan to use that information to help establish anchor points for each student. I believe that involving students in the planning of their learning journey of our project will help with the entire process.

Reflection - Chapter 8

Technology can bring faraway lands right into your classroom! Students can visually experience different cultures and global concepts through podcasts, distance learning sessions, and blogs. Teachers can build virtual classrooms, offering a safe and structured learning environment with students from around the world, or even down the hallway. When you branch out of the classroom your students look forward to interacting with a world that previously was out of reach.

One particular model fantastically represents the ability of branching out in a classroom using technology; the EAST initiative Model. This program started in Arkansas in 1996 and has now spread across seven states and over 260 schools; including both secondary and post-secondary levels.  Academia has partnered with industry and both state and federal government agencies to bring real world into the schools. The four main components of the EAST model are:

·         Student-driven learning
·         PBL; students are engaged
·         Technology as tools, and
·         Collaborations
Teachers are trained in these techniques and offer support to one and another. This level of professional development has proven to be positive and results in teachers and students learning.

Think back to your favorite subjects in school; you always did the best in those situations! When students lead their projects their interests are sparked, and therefore they will feel more responsibility and pride in their work.

My project will involve many components of technology. One of the most exciting is talking to other 3^rd grade classes in various countries about birds in their region, and migration. We will discuss our findings with the other 3^rd grade classes in our school by creating a blog.

Reflection 11

As a result of project based learning the student will be able to take their knowledge and memories and be able to recall them in years to come. The students will be able to make connections and use what they have learned through this process for future projects. There are many ways that you can "bring your project home." Some of these include: capitalize on your own investment, critique your own work, share your insight, create a project library, publish your project, and enjoy the journey! These concepts relate to my project because the chapter discussed the end results to "bring our project home." We will be using these concepts and show others all the work we have accomplished with project based learning by creating our own website and sharing it with others.