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.