Parker- Chapter 6 RR

Discuss how technology tools can encourage students to be reflective and evaluate their own strengths.

Using a blog can offer students space where they can reflect over time about what hey are learning. Tools like SurveyMonkey call allow students to set up online surveys. The results can be tracked by the students and help them compare their self-assessments to larger groups.

Describe several ways in which you can get students’ minds ready for a project.

Good projects start by tapping students’ prior knowledge. Introducing the project K-W-L.

Discuss the elements of teaching fundamentals first.

Teaching the fundamentals will get the point across and get the project going in the right direction. It is important to help students build their skill gradually before taking on a complicated project that use cutting edge technologies. When students are aware of what they know and what they don’t, they can establish a pint of departure and a sense of purpose. Using the K-W-L activity puts students in touch with their prior knowledge and helps them imagine where their learning can go.

Describe the important steps in preparing students for using technology in project.

Technology isn’t the project; it is how the project gets done. Plan efficient ways to get students ready to use technology for learning. Identify the learning functions that are important for the project. Ask what tools are best for the job, What do students already know how do, What will they need to know, etc. Consider how to set up opportunities for students for learn by and among themselves. Learning to use a technology or an application for a project can e a rich problem-solving experience, certainly of the 21^st-century skill variety. Set up a technology playground where student can explore and encourage students to teach and help each other.

Discuss ways to promote inquiry and deep learning.

Brainstorm ways to combine social studies with science, math, literature, and art in the learning ahead. The project is complex and engaging, it goes in many directions, and while they learn many things together students are challenged to explore their own interests. 

Cobb Chapter 5 R.R

Managing your Project!

This Chapter focused on helping teachers to invest their time wisely on the front part of the project before they engage the students in the actual project work. The first part of the chapter pushes you to consider the resources you will need and prompts you to plan strategies to support effective time management, teaming, and assessment. Previously the book talked about creating an asset map. In this chapter the teacher is prompted to take a look at the map and consider how specific resources can support their project.

The asset map or inventory map will also show you what materials you will need. If the teacher will be using technology that is new to the student it is essential that the teacher plan for instruction. Some projects require the assistance of an expert, such as a doctor or a veterinarian. When experts aren’t available, technology is always there to bring them closer. This can be done through emails, video conferencing, or virtual field trips. It is also key to look up technology experts in your district to help in some areas such as a web specialist. Teachers should remember that when they are collaborating with a team, they should divide the responsibilities between them. Setting up a Wiki or blog between collaborators helps the project run more smoothly.

Create a project calendar for yourself and the students that show deadlines and milestones along the way. The will increase your students attention to time management. The teacher should take the big task and divide them into smaller tasks that are more manageable; and explain the smaller deadlines to the students that they will have to meet along the way. Send a planning calendar home to the Parents to help them help you!

Team planning is important when working on a project because children are different. They all have different skill sets and placing the right students together will create good chemistry. A teacher may consider how the team will work better; should it be based on a childs proficiency or should it be on how well they complement each other.

The second part of the chapter focuses on how teachers and students can use technology to manage projects and increase learning potential.

The more complex a project is, the more assessment methods a teacher will need. These assessments can range from formal to informal evaluations. Author Lois Bridges gives five categories of assessments based on teacher behavior:

·         Monitoring

·         Observing

·         Interacting

·         Analyzing

·         Reporting

 Technology can help with these assessments.  Some examples are online surveys and online rubric generators.  A teacher should look at their project management needs as well as the students’ project management needs. As stated above, setting up a Wiki or blog between collaborators helps the project run more smoothly.  This works with students also. They can use Web based applications to work with their team mates and to edit their project before they present!  This also shows the teacher who has done what in the project. Personalized web pages are a great way to start the project off. The students will be able to keep track of mail, calendars, notepads, news and blog feeds just to mention a few. iGoogle and My Yahoo are just two of the  virtual office providers.

Our project will take careful consideration regarding time management! weather monitoring has so many different avenues that it could take therefore, it is up to us to manage it wisely so that the students will get the most out of the project. We will be using a vast amount of technology in our project so it was helpful to get some ideas about wiki and blogging. These online tools will help Amber, myself and lindsey to communicate better and this will strengthen our collaboration. 

Bruner: Ch 5 RR

Project Management Strategies for Teachers and Learners

As teachers, we are project managers. When someone is a project manager in a business they must be a masterful communicator, an efficient time manager, and a careful budget-er. Students learn from example so we must show them what it looks like to manage time well and be efficient and organized in our work time. We must think in advance before we present the project to our students. We must consider the resources we will need and the strategies we will need to support time management, teaming, and assessment.
Gathering resources: what (and who) will you need? 
Before presenting a project, you have to know what resources will be needed for the project to be a success. If you find that you do not have all the material resources you need, use your "human resources" and get the word out there. Use a class website or newsletter, talk to parents or your principal. Another good resource that most do not tap into is the local recycling center, which probably has tons of useful supplies. Don't ever to forget to use your experts as well. For example, if you are studying the farming community, have a personal farmer come into your classroom, or better yet-take a field trip so he or she is able to show the students how special machines are used.
Milestones and deadlines: It's about time
Projects that support students in their development of time management is crucial when preparing them for high school and the real word after. Plan a project that has milestones and benchmarks that they must reach in order to finish the project on time.
Team Planning
Team planning is essential to the dynamics of a project. If the students are working in groups, how will the groups be made? A good team needs a mix of skills, not just students who are best friends with each other. During projects, students will be doing different things and it is important to have students who compliment each other and who can teach each other in the same groups.
Plan for Assessment 
Take assessments throughout the project, not just at the end. This will aid in your knowledge of what is working and what isn't, even before the project is completed. This way, you can make any necessary changes before the students are done. There should be both formal and informal assessments along the way.
Web Resources
Never forget to use your technology resources in guiding your project. Use web pages and ways that students can interact with each other, even outside of school. Web pages also help students organize their thoughts and project due dates with the uses of calendars, notepads, news, and blog feeds. They can stay in contact and relieve pressure off of you to make sure they are getting everything done on time!

This chapter is essential to our project. As the teachers, we must think about our project in advance and plan from there. If we don't have a clue on what kind of outcome we want the students to have, we can not possibly plan a successful project for them. By looking at all the aspects of our project, we can plan accordingly, making it a worthwhile and memorable experience for all.   

Parker- Chapter 5 RR

1. Discussion on the items that should be considered before starting a project with

students.

Before starting a project with students, you should consider the type of resources you will need and how they will support your project. You should also consider what type of materials you will need. See what materials are available at school or offered by parents and other class supporters. Consider what type of technologies your project involves and if they are new to either your students or both you and your students.  Will your students need access to your experts to answer questions? Also consider ways to engage with experts in person and from a distance. Consider who else is able to help you in the project; media specialist, technology coordinator, etc.  

2. Discussion on teachers’ and students’ management needs.

Effective management skills are essentials to students, it will support them throughout

their education and beyond. Teaching your students to become effective managers of

their own time will be an overarching goal of any projects. IF the project is going to last 

a couple of weeks, chunk big tasks into smaller, more manageable pieces. Learning a 

management system can offer students and teachers ways to organize all the

components of the project. 

3. Discuss some of the technology applications that should be considered for use

in a project. 

Technology applications that can be considered for your project is an assortment of web-based applications and services to suit the needs of your project. There is the option of linking a set of tools together in a wiki, and associate them with a blog. A blog is a web page that is easily edited. 

4. Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project.

Technology applications, like a blog, can relate to my project. It is an easy way to communicate ideas and progress with both students, parents, other teachers, and the community. 

Bruner: RR Chapter 4

Strategies for Discovery

Chapter 4 is all about selecting your project (or making your project) so that discovery for your students is capable. When making a new project, it is a good idea to look at projects that have already been done. Even if you decide to make your own instead of using one of these, you can look at different projects for ideas. There are some potential pitfalls that teachers fall into when planning and conducting a project.
Long on activity, short on learning outcomes: If a project is tedious and busy with things to get done but reaches only lower-level thinking, it is not worth the time. If the students could simply learn the same things through reading a textbook, then it does not involve enough information.
Technology layered over traditional practice: If the project is just a research project on the computer or if you could do the same through a lecture, the technology incorporation is not what it needs to be.
Trivial thematic units: Your classroom might have a theme that is incorporated into the daily lessons, but they have to be PBL as well.
Overly scripted with many, many steps: Do not have projects that are over scripted, telling the students exactly what to do. You want the students to have some reign on their education, making critical decisions for their projects.
When designing a project, it is best to think about what makes a project great. This aspects of great projects include, but are not limited to: loosely designed so students may have different learning paths, realistic, students learn with and from each other, and have students learn by doing. There are many sources as to where you can get projects from. Project ideas are everywhere! You can get them from other teachers, from news stories, contemporary issues, or even, my favorite, students questions or interests. By relating it back to the students, they will be even more interested in the project and take it that much farther!
This chapter deals specifically with our lesson because a project about weather can simply be taken from a textbook and then the students make posters and a presentation about them. However, that's not what we want. We want them to be able to predict the future weather, know how to take accurate readings about weather, and learn about the weather of a different place through people that actually live there. By allowing them this freedom of discovery, we are making this a worthwhile lesson for students. 

Cobb Chapter 4 R.R

Chapter 4 discusses the process to create a basic project idea that encompasses learning ideas. There are two ways to start a project; either by scratch or from a plan designed by someone else. If you decide to use a plan from someone else remember, caveat emptor (“let the buyer beware”). Be selective of the project that you choose because all projects are not of the same quality. However, if you start one from scratch, it is good to review other projects to get an idea of what interest you.

When viewing project plans you can overcome pitfalls by looking past the glamour of the project and look at the quality of: the student experience, the learning aims that are addressed, and samples of student work. Then imagine how your own students will be in the project. Will they master the content? Will they become independent? Make inquiries? Are students researching effectively, making new meanings, learning from others, and using tools? Watch for the following pitfalls when reviewing potential projects:

·         Long on activity, short on learning outcomes.

·         Technology layered over traditional practice.

·         Trivial thematic units.

·         Overly scripted with many, many steps.

If you find a project that looks promising but doesn’t quite add up, just keep looking because you may find a similar project and diverge the two or you could simply remodel the project for better learning outcomes.

When starting a project, make sure it has a flexible framework.  Any extenuating circumstances can take place and you have to be prepared for what happens.

When setting up project make sure you design it in a way  where students will be put in situations where they want to ask questions, learn more, need to know something  they don’t already know, believe that it is important to the larger community around them.  The best projects share the following qualities:

·         Loosely designed with the possibility of different learning paths.

·         Generative, causing students to construct meaning.

·         Centered on a driving question or structured for inquiry.

·         Captures students interest through complex and compelling real-life or simulated experiences.

·         Realistic and therefore crosses multiple disciplines.

·         Goes beyond school to involve others.

·         Taps rich data or primary sources.

·         Structured so that students learn with and from each other.

·         Work as scientist or as inquiry specialist might.

·         Promotes 21^st century skills development and literacies including communication, project management, and technology use.

·         It develops important learning dispositions, including persistence, risk taking, confidence, resilience, self-reflection, and cooperation.

·         Students learn by doing.

Good projects can be found anywhere! You can turn any inquiry from a child into a project. Chewing gum can be a doorway to understanding agriculture and factories and markets, etc. a good project will always have a doorway to another good project.  Here are a few places to find ideas:

v  “Of Mice and Men” Ch. 9 p. 141 (Project with potential for more meaningful, expressive learning)

v  “Global School Net and iEARN” Ch. 2 pp.38-39 (project plans developed by and for other teachers)

v  “Energy Diet” Ch. 4 p.63 (News stories)

v  “iHistory” Chapter7 pp. 118-119 (a classroom irritant put to use)

You can also use the web and your local library for resources. Teaching professionals are contain a wealth of knowledge that you can tap into.

Design your project. Plan how to put your ideas into operation. What are the learning objectives? What 21^st century skills do you want to establish?  What learning dispositions do you want to foster? What will student know or be able to do as a result of the project? What is the theme or challenge of the project? What’s your attention getter? Once you have considered these questions, create a project sketch, a short description of the project that you can share with others for feedback.

Then create an asset map which shows you all of the material goods, strengths and talents that are available to you through yourself or others. You can track your assets on a spreadsheet also to  manage them.

This is the beginning of any successful project!

The Ideas in this chapter will help us to organize our lesson plan more precisely. This chapter gives us a good head start, especially since our project is going to be project centered. The idea that I found most appealing in the chapter was creating an asset map. This will help us to see where we need to go.

COBB Chapter 3 R.R

How do you prepare for a project? The first question you should ask is what is the big idea of the project? This can be a good work out. You should think about the curriculum standards for your subjects and also ask your colleagues: what do these add up to?

After identifying the overarching concepts and processes you want your students to understand, you can reflect on why the concepts are important and how it relates to real-life. This will help you understand the interdisciplinary nature of a project. When students know that a project is important in society they become even more interested in learning.

It is ok if your project ideas veer into unfamiliar territory or require you to learn new skills or master unfamiliar content. This will open the door for you to collaborate with your colleagues.  

Once the big idea is determined you can know determine how the project will help the child to develop 21^st century skills. How can your project help students to stretch their intellectual muscles? The following higher-order thinking skills can be used to evolve your project:

·         Analyze-Examine, explain, investigate, characterize, classify, compare, deduce, differentiate, discriminate, illustrate, prioritize

·         Evaluate-Judge, select, decide, justify, verify, improve, defend, debate , convince, recommend, assess

·         Create- adapt, anticipate, combine, compose, invent, design, imagine, propose, theorize, formulate

Regardless of the subject matter, students should possess basic literacy skills. There are many different definitions of literacy that give into the fact that literacy boils down to learning to be independent, aware, and productive citizens.  “A true-to-life project naturally involves opportunities for the learners to become literate in the 21^st century sense of the word-  and for teachers to accomplish their own 21^st century instructional goals.”

The students should also be given time to reflect on their own learning disposition to improve their intake of information. They become more sophisticated learners. The following are essential learning functions:

1.       Ubiquity: Learning inside and outside the classroom, and all the time.

2.       Deep learning

3.       Making things visible and discussable

4.       Expressing Ourselves, Sharing Ideas, Building Community

5.       Collaboration-Teaching and Learning with Others

6.       Research

7.       Project Management: Planning and Organization

8.       Reflection and Iteration

Keep your students in mind! Will they like the project? Will it keep their attention? When you tap their enthusiasm they will dive deeper into the subject.

Parker- Chapter 3 RR

Curriculum should be considered in finding “the Big Idea” for a project in the classroom. We ultimately want to set up our projects thinking about our students. We want our students to know that their projects can offer value for their community. When they know their projects can over value, they become more invested in their learning. These projects can offer numerous learning opportunities for students.

Projects will help students develop 21^st century skills. A well-designed project helps students stretch their intellectual muscles in ways traditional learning activities can’t. A way to ensure a project is to plan for learning actions associated with Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. These objectives will include analyzing, evaluating, and creating; they are related to project based learning.

There are four 21st Century literacies: the Digital-Age Literacy, Inventive Thinking, Effective Communication and High Productive. 21st century projects will have students use printed and written materials to explore the concepts of literacy through real life interactions and projects.

There are eight essential learning functions: 1) Ubiquity: Learning Inside and Outside the Classroom, and All the Time- Web-based applications can allow students to learn inside and outside the classroom. 2) Deep Learning- allows students sort information 3) Making Things Visible and Discussable- showing rather than telling 4) Expressing Ourselves, Sharing Ideas, Building Community- opportunities for expression 5) Collaboration- Teaching and Learning with Others- tools that help us learn together 6) Research- Internet research puts information literacy to the test 7) Project Management: Planning and Organization- helps students manage time, work, sources, feedback from others, drafts, and products during projects.  and 8) Reflection and Iteration-deep learning happens when you examine your ideas from all sides and from other points of view.

Bruner: Ch 3 RR

Imagining the Possibilities 

You have to be able to set up your project, visualizing the end goal and destination, to set it up properly for your students. It's important to make the project complex, making it better suited for the format of Project Based Learning in the 21st century. By looking at what you have to teach (standards, books provided, etc) you can pick out the big ideas and decide what the projects should be about from there. By looking at your content and then relating it back to your students, linked through their references, interests, and experiences, you as the teacher can create a meaningful project that they are sure to remember. Textbooks are a tool at this time, instead of the main medium for learning. 


For example, Robert Griffin took a writing assignment to the extreme for his students, with valuable lessons and rewards at the end. He uses an everyday writing assignment as a real life application by having his students write letters into the Minister of Fisheries. He states that real-life journalists turn letters into the paper and so will his students. The editor of their paper can make a decision to publish one of the student's letter, if he so wishes; the reward being $15 dollars and the satisfaction of having their letter in the paper for the student. Real life application in learning. 


When creating a project, we want our students to be experiencing learning in the top 3 levels of Bloom's taxonomy; Analyze (investigating, classifying, and discriminating), Evaluate (selecting, justifying, improving, and debating), and Create (composing, inventing, designing, and imagining). For example, the book talked about a boring biography assignment, that I'm sure we all had to do one time or another (or another or another!). Instead of finding one person to research and then writing a paper on them, decide to do a classroom "Hall of Fame" for the era your students are researching. Have them look at 3 different people each, deciding which one to put into the Hall of Fame and why. Then, they can create a special award for the chosen person to put on the Hall of Fame. 


Finally, we can think of project based learning as passion based learning, when trying to decide exactly what our students will be doing. Why should they care about this project? Will they be interested? What will spark their creativity?

Parker- Chapter 2 RR

The focus of Learning Communities is three big student centered ideas: ensure that students learn, create and culture of collaboration for school improvement, and focus on results. Their other focus is teachers working together to better their curriculums and school and also, at the same time, work collaboratively. 


 The benefits of Learning Communities are numerous. Teachers get support and critical feedback from other teachers. Teachers can find time to watch and reflect on each other’s classroom interactions and learn to give each other critical feedback. 


 Learning Communities affect teachers because they get the opportunity to get critical feedback from each other. They have more opportunities. All the teachers work together so it makes a strong school because of teamwork.


 Learning Communities affect students because they are now able to work collaboratively in a group and learn together, they can help each other learn. 


This chapter relates to our project because it is talking about working collaboratively with teachers so students can get the most out of learning. This is exactly what my group and I are doing, we are working collaboratively to come up with a great project that our students will benefit from, learn from and have a lot of fun.

Bruner: Chapter 2 RR

Chapter 2 discusses the importance of collaboration between educators and the positive impacts this can have on multiple classrooms and a school. As teachers we often can get isolated in our own little classroom with our students, forgetting that other people are doing the same exact thing. Why get isolated when we can learn from each other and bounce ideas of one another? Julie Lindsay, who created the Flat Classroom Project and teaches in Bangladesh, happened upon a blog by a teacher in the U.S. commenting on her students' reactions when reading The World is Flat. This sparked ideas of a project-based learning for students to connect across the globe. By working together, with respect for one another's ideas, they were able to work together to give their students and enriched curriculum and learn through technology. One section in the chapter that really struck out to me was on page 33 when they talked about the significant benefits from learning communities where teachers are actually able to interact and learn with and from each other. These benefits included decreased feelings of teacher isolation, increased commitment to the mission, shared responsibility, more powerful learning, and a higher likelihood of fundamental, systemic change. My favorite benefit mentioned was that there was more powerful learning for our students. If we are able to collaborate with other teachers BEFORE we teach the lesson, then there is less likelihood for drawbacks or problems to arise when introducing a new project. And then more powerful learning is acquired because you have worked out some of the kinks that would have been there if not seen by another person's eyes. By collaborating afterwards, you are able to voice your successes as well as some of the problems that arose, helping future teachers who want to participate in the project as well. One problem that I could see arise from this is that everyone thinks that their methods are the best and are the right way to teach students. While I think a more passive, friendly community is better for students, other teachers might believe that a very disciplined, structured classroom is better. Neither is wrong and we have to remember to consistently respect each other, taking and giving constructive criticism. Like page 35 says, we are collaborating with each other and we are focused on the student's learning, not which teacher is right. We have to consistent, life-long learners to be successful in this profession. 

Cobb Chapter 2 R.R

New opportunities for teachers to work together are created when new context for learning are developed; teachers are then able to overcome the traditional isolation of the profession. It is hard to change something alone but change happens when an individual takes the initiative to do something different. The best way to accomplish the change that you want is to work with others when exploring and implementing project based learning. In order to work with others you have to evaluate your own readiness for teamwork; consider how you interact with your colleagues. Respect is essential for teamwork. You have to have trust, appreciation and display honesty with your team.  Having like-minded colleagues is essential when working with a group of teachers. Also, the desire to bring in cutting edge technologies is key when preparing students to become contributing citizens.

The school should be considered a ‘Learning Organization.” This means that it engages in ongoing, collaborative problem solving focused on making the organization better.  This concept was started in the business community and migrated to the schools. Schools often don’t foster a collaborative examination of the fundamental acts of teaching. They often focus on “housekeeping;” scheduling, program coordination, planning school events, etc.  

Traditional professional development activities make up approximately 5% of a teachers non-student contact time each year! It is you duty as a teacher to intentionally redesign your interactions with other teachers because this will help build your skills.

·         Watch and reflect on each others classroom interactions.

·         Give critical feedback to each other.

·         Benefit from the wisdom of the group.

·         Engage in new patterns of thinking.

·         Continually learn together.

By doing so you become a part of a community and belonging to a community of practice makes your teaching career more productive and satisfying. Main three benefits of belonging to a teaching community is: it ensures that students learn, creates a culture of collaboration for school improvement, and focus is on results. 

A project based learning program delivered by a high functioning professional learning community of teachers can be the engine of “improvement” that drives a school forward. Some benefits include:

·         Decreased teacher isolation.

·         Increased commitment to the mission.

·         Shared responsibility.

·         More powerful learning.

·         A higher likelihood of fundamental, systematic change.

 It is important to remember that whether you start as two teachers, a department or an entire faculty, you should always have these components when starting a digital age project:

·         Clear sense of mission.

·         Shared vision.

·         Work together in collaborative teams.

·         Collaborate with each other.

·         Organize in groups headed by teacher-leaders.

·         Focus on student learning.

·         Goal and results orientated.

·         Shared values and beliefs.

·         Commitment to continuous improvement.

·         See themselves as life- long learners. 

Step one…join a well-designed project that is already underway. Practice makes perfect!