Brown - RR #5

1.       There are many things that should be considered before starting a project with students. The most important is resources. These resources include any type of material you will use. If you need something that you can’t find in the classroom, then find resources outside of the classroom. When searching for resources, keep in mind which ones students are familiar with and which ones they will need to be introduced to before beginning the project. Technology is also an important resource. The use of technology for things like presentations and virtual field trips can be valuable for the students. Also, having “experts” on the topic of the project available for the students is important. If these experts aren’t able to come to the classroom, using technology such as Skype can give the students the opportunity to speak with the experts.

2.       Students need to be aware of time and time management. One way for this to occur is by having a visual reminder. A project calendar is a good thing to do. This way, deadlines are written down and students are able to check to see if they are progressing at the rate they should be. Project calendars can also help the teacher keep the students on track.

3.       There are many different applications that can be used in projects. Blogs, podcasts, and wiki’s are well known technology applications. You can also use applications such as Drupal and Textpattern. Having a variety of technology patterns available is very valuable considering that you will be teaching to students who learn in different ways.

4.       The concepts in this chapter relate to our concept in many ways. One is that our students will have PenPals in Paris, France and they will be using technology applications such as Skype to communicate, as well as creating podcasts and blogs to compare their ideas and outcomes.

Brown - Reading Reflection #4

1.       1. Project design can have several potential pitfalls. One such pitfall of project design is that it can be overly scripted, thus giving students a long list of explicit directions to follow with nowhere for the students to get creative. Another potential pitfall of project design is that there could be no learning outcome. The project could be extremely long and full of activities, and that’s great, but if there is no learning outcome the entire project is a waste. 2. A good project has many features. First of all, it needs to capture the students’ interests. When students are interested in what they are learning they retain more of the information that is being taught to them. Using real world experiences in projects will help students gain skills that will be needed later in life. Having a loosely designed project will give students more freedom to be creative and independent. Including several modes of learning, such as visual art, theater, music or technology are also features that will make a good project. 3. Project ideas come from many different people and places. They can be plans developed by teachers, plans developed for teachers by different teachers, or even come from students themselves (based on questions and interests). Project ideas could also come from contemporary issues or news stories. 4. There are many steps in designing a project. First, start a wiki page and call it “Project Sketch”. Then finalize your list of objectives. After that, you need a project theme. You also need a way to get your students excited and interested. Finally, write a paragraph summary describing your project, otherwise known as a project sketch. 5. All of the concepts in this chapter can be related to my topic. Project kitchen/catering has been done countless times in too many schools to count, so there are many resources out there for us to tap into. I think that the most important thing to remember is to make sure that the students are allowed to be creative and independent, while making sure that there are strong learning outcomes at the end of the project.

I am going to do lesson #1 on the five basic food groups. :)

Carrie Brown - Reading Reflection #3

1.       1. There are many things that should be considered in finding the “Big Idea” for a project. Reviewing teaching guides and curriculum standards are very important and they should be done first. From there, it is great to get families of the students involved, as well as members of the community. Students can use technology in these projects to help them advocate for their proposed solutions. This is a great way for them to prepare for real life situations. 2. In order for students to stretch their intellectual muscles, they need to be involved with types of projects that they aren’t familiar with. For this to happen, these projects need to be well designed and nontraditional. One way to do this is to use Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. These are: remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate, and create. The ones most important to PBL are analyzing, evaluating, and creating. 3. As defined by UNESCO, literacy is the ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate, and compute, using printed and written materials associated with varying contexts. 21^st century literacies recently changed focus to the behaviors required of accomplished people. A true-to-life project involves opportunities for learners to become literate in the 21^st century sense of the word. 4. There are eight essential learning functions. Ubiquity is the quality of tools that support project learning. Deep learning is going beyond filtered information and helping students find and make sense of raw information on the web. Making things visible and discussable is about using digital tools to do things that otherwise would be hard to do. Expressing ourselves, sharing ideas, and building community discusses using the web to express ourselves and for personal interaction. Collaboration involves using different tools to let people meet and interact. Research is used to help students answer questions that students may have. Project management helps students manage time, work, sources, feedback from others, drafts, and products during projects. Reflection is used to get a better idea of what was learned during the project. 5. The “Big Idea” and the eight essential learning functions will both be used during our project.  They will both help students better understand how to use technology for a variety of things.

Brown - Websites

Cooking with Science

Class Garden

Muffins for Moms

Assignment #4