Final Concept Map

This is our final concept map. We added when and where the fundraiser will take place as well as why we are having it. We also added all the gardening responsibilities that the students will take on.

Reading Reflection #11

1.  Description of what occurs as a result of using the Project-based learning approach.

Students and teachers alike, learn to incorporate relevant technology with the learning process.  Students are learning and thinking on their own, instead of being spoon fed every single piece of information by instructors.

2.  Discussion on ways to “bring your project home”.

Student reflections and discussions with colleges provide the feedback needed to properly asses the success of a project.  These assessments can then influence improvements to future projects.

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

I think that it’s a great idea that once our project is finished, we should put all of the information into a Web achieve.  This makes the information easily accessible for future use and easy to edit as improvements are thought of.

Reading Reflection 11

1. Description of what occurs as a result of using the Project-based learning approach.

As a result of project based learning, your project should leave you with vivid memories, souvenirs and artifacts you have collected along the way, and plenty of ideas for shaping your next learning adventure. This project should leave the teacher as well as the students with an open door and the ability to do so much more.

1. Discussion on ways to “bring your project home”.

Ways to bring your project home are to capitalize your investment, critique your work, share your insights, become a resource for your colleagues and just enjoy the journey. Teachers should invest a little more time to reflect on what they learned and consider how you might want to share your valuable insights with others.

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

This chapter just ties everything together for us to see what the end result of project based learning is. By this we can see what our end results with our students should be.

Reflection #11

1. Description of what occurs as a result of using the project based learning approach:
As a result of project based learning, students learn more than just what the project was all about. Project based learning leads you to build off of what you did and shape it into your next learning experience. Reflection on what you learned from your project based learning is a good way to show students their experience paid off. PBL also allows you to connect with your colleagues and peers after completing your project.


2. Discussion on ways to bring your project home:
Some ways to bring your project home include sharing your project ideas with networks, creating a project library, turning your project into an archive on the Web, or publishing your project. These are all great ways to get your ideas and project out there for everyone else to see. Becoming a resource for your colleagues can be a great benefit to both you and your colleagues.


3. Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic:
This chapter relates to our group because it is all starting to come together. We have noticed that all our hard work is starting to pay off and come together in our website. We look forward to sharing what we have done throughout the semester in PBL in a couple weeks.

Reflection #10

1. Discussion on the importance of setting aside time for reflection:
It is important that students set aside time to reflect on their own work because it gives them a sense of how others see their work. When students create their own meaning it is important that they look at it from a distance so that they can see their work from different sides and work beyond that to push themselves further. This also allows for deeper thinking.

2. Discussion on the reason students need to reflect and elaborate:
It is important for students to reflect because it gives them a chance to think about how their own creativity came into play and where the areas are they can improve in. It is important to elaborate because it gets them wondering whats next? what do you want to learn now? and how do you want to go about it? These are all great questions for students to reflect on because it engages think in higher order thinking and allows them to fix their own mistakes.

3. Discussion on how schools build tradition and identity:
One way schools build tradition is through students work. Once parents and members of the community see what students are up to at the school it builds a sense of identity and continues to build year by year. Once they have established a tradition, students will feel its a privilege to honor the tradition with their hard work.

4. Discussion on the importance of celebrating a project:
Celebrating a project allows for the community to see what your students are up to and helps build your schools identity. Classroom displays and exhibits are a great way to portray your students work and get it out in the community where your school is seen.

5. Discussion of how this chapter relates to your project:
This chapter relates to our topic because we are going to be putting on a fundraiser for our vegetables. This will allow our students to build an identity with the community and show off their hard work.

Reading Reflection #10

1.) Discussion on the importance of setting aside time for reflection.
Taking time to reflect helps students feel good about their accomplishments, but more importantly, reflection can be the thing that makes learning really stick. Setting aside time for reflection helps students reveal things they might not otherwise think about: what they learned, their growth as learners, and what they want to learn in projects ahead

2.) Discussion on the reason students need to reflect and elaborate.
As students complete more and more projects, they will be able to handle more tasks as they go. As a teacher you need to ask your students to reflect and elaborate. Ask: What does this get you wondering about next? What do you want to learn now, and how do you want to go about it?

3.) Discussion on how schools build tradition and identity.
Many schools' identities are tied to their traditions. Once you have established a tradition of excellence, students will feel it's a privilege to honor the tradition with their hard work. In order to build a tradition, you have to get the community involved so that the school can form an identity.

4.) Discussion on the importance celebrating a project.
Anyway that you can celebrate the experience of learning by a student, do it. Students worked really hard on their projects and it's important to show the students how good of a job they did and how much you appreciate their hard work.

5.) Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project.
In this section, it is important to understand how much reflection is important to a students learning. At the end of our garden fundraiser, students will be able to look back and reflect on everything they have learned.

Reflection # 9

   1.   Description of a method of understanding prior-knowledge of students.

Quizzes and surveys can be taken ahead of time to determine the capabilities of the students.  These determined capabilities will in hand be used to develop the ways in which lessons with be taught, projects will be conducted and grading rubrics will also be based on them

    2.  Discussion on the importance of establishing anchors for a project.

Anchors are important to establish before assessing a student’s work.  Not every student starts their learning process in the same location, so it is unfair to grade them by the same finishing standard.  They should be graded by level of progression and effort.

    3.  Description of several ways to assess what students learned during the project.

It is important to asses a student’s progress in more ways than just evaluating a written paper.  It is important to also evaluate their understanding, presentation, knowledge of content, work ethic and so on.  All of these areas are important to learn while in school and therefore they should be assessed.

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

Anchors are a great concept to use while determining how the project will be graded.  Expectations for each student will remain equally demanding, but also equal within the starting point.  That way students with more experience do not excel above the others in their classes, just because of their advantage before even beginning the project.

Reflection #9

Description of a method of understanding prior-knowledge of students.
Relying on assessment strategies is a good way to understand prior knowledge. Knowing what kids understand about the project beforehand will then give a really good outline of what the teacher will need to know in order to create a lesson plan.

Discussion on the importance of establishing anchors for a project.
By establishing anchors, you gain a sense of where students are starting and how far they are  going as they work to meet learning goals. The distance they travel during a project will not be the same for each learner.

Description of several ways to assess what students learned during the project.
A really good example to see what students understand something is by having them read a book and then showing the movie, the students should then be able to tell you the differences between each and how the movie strayed from the book. You can ask the students to summarize what they have learned as well, in a paragraph or several paragraphs. Tests are always the choices of checking of learning after a unit or project, but sometimes tests aren't always the best way to check for understanding.

Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project.
This topic would help teachers check for understanding on the project as well as give us ideas on how see that the children are actually learning something from the project.

Reflection #9

1. Description of a method of understanding prior knowledge of students:
Before beginning a project it is best to know what your students already know about the topic. A good way to do this is to have your students fill out a KWL chart or other graphic organizers that may go along with the project or topic. These methods will help you as a teacher to determine what students already understand.


2.  Discussion on the importance of establishing anchors for a project:
By establishing what your students know and don't know before you begin will determine how far your students come along in meeting their learning goals. If you don't know what your students already know, you won't know if they learned anything in the end.


3. Description of several ways to assess what students learned during the project:
A big way to assess students would be to have them create something new. By this, I mean we could have our students create something that overall asks them to summarize and utilize what they learned in the project. Another way to assess them would be to ask the students what they learned. This will give us a straight forward answer of where they have come and what they learned overall. Another way would be having them demonstrate their understanding through real world assessment. By this I mean have your students give feedback through a profession. For example, having students have a debate or describing what they know through journalism.


4. Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your project or topic:
This correlates well with our project because we need to know where our students stand on the basis of gardening. We need to know where to begin and what things we need to touch base on. This chapter demonstrates how we can measure our students progress toward the goal we plan to achieve.

Reflection #8

1.  Description of some ways to build connections and branch out beyond the classroom.

Building connections is a process.  The first steps should be small, such as keeping a data base of parents and their expertise.  Then checking out forums and conferences where experts would be available to communicate and interact with students.  After all that it would be possible to move on to reaching people worldwide through blogs and to communicate with them through video chats, wikis and podcasts.

2.  Description of the EAST Initiative Model.

EAST Initiative is amazing.  It is nationwide and covers learners from elementary school all the way up to post-secondary. It takes students who typically are uninvolved and teaches them in an interactive setting.  They learn to use new technology and how to apply it to projects.  They often work in groups and branch out into projects that involve their community.  It is exactly what project based learning should be.  The students are excited about learning and can be proud of their accomplishments.

3.  Discussion on some reasons to let students “lead” their projects.

By letting the students take the lead in their own individual projects, you are giving them wings.  Each student has their own passion, and their work will be at its best, when they are working on something they care about.  It gives the student the opportunity to deepen their knowledge, while really being able to show off their talents.  Teachers don’t always have to be there for the leadership, but they will still need to provide support.

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

Branching out will really affect our project.  Communicating with the classroom in France will be very important.  I am glad that other forms of communication were brought up.  Video chats are great, but with different time zones, they may be difficult to achieve on a regular basis.  To supplement that, wikis and podcasts will be very helpful, along with the blog.

Reading Reflection #8

1. Description of some ways to build connections and branch out beyond the classroom:
Technology in itself allows our students to reach out in the community and to reach a broader audience. Motivation is a big connector when it comes to technology because our students will know that others are reading, writing, and listening to what they have to say. Creating digital stories is something students can do to get their research or topic out in the community and this is all done through technology.


2. Discussion of the EAST initiative model:
EAST stands for Environmental and Spacial Technologies. This model has students working to demonstrate the benefits of technology in order to solve problems and make improvements in their communities. The students get the community involved to show them the significance of their projects and getting them to support their projects as well.


3.  Discussion of some reasons to let students lead their projects:
As students become more familiar with technology and project based learning, it becomes well aware that the students are in fact capable of leading their own projects starting with the basics. Asking students what they are passionate about and having them be responsible for their own project gives them a sense of ownership and responsibility. Having students share their ideas and come up with their own plan is a great way to expand critical thinking skills as well.


4. Discussion of how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project:
This chapter relates to our project through the talk about building connections. By creating a podcast and reaching out in the community through a fundraiser, we have to know how to get the word out and we do this through technology too.

Reading Reflection 8

1.) Description of some ways to build connections and branch out beyond the classroom.
Teachers can arrange for their students to meet with politicians, academics and experts as well as have a pen pal system so children can talk to other people their age all around the world. By conversing with experts, children are able to see what some people do and the experts can answer any questions that the children might have.

2.) Description of the EAST Initiative Model.
East stands for Environmental and Spatial Technologies. It's a network of schools that have been demonstrating the benefits of technology for a real purpose to solve problems and make improvements in their communities. EAST students master the tools that they need to, to solve community problems that interest them.

3.) Discussion on some reasons to let students “lead” their projects.
Students can take on their own learning and we as teachers can be there to support them. Students have their own path and they can tackle it themselves. Students need to eventually be able to think for themselves and go about things in their own directions.

4.) Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project?
The topics discussed in this chapter can help our students be able to understand that they need to take their own lead for the projects that they do. Our students also need to know that we will be there for support.

Reflection #7

1.  Description of the levels of classroom discussions.

• Teacher to Teacher- These kinds of discussions are necessary for teachers who are collaborating together as project facilitators.  Communication is needed in order to figure out who is covering each responsibility and to keep track of student progress and needs.

• Student to Student – It is important for the students to develop strong communication skills.  It helps them work together effectively.  Discussion time is needed for them to bounce ideas off each other and develop their projects.

• Teacher to Student- While lectures may not take place as often as they would with non-project based learning, it is still important to have regular interaction between students and instructors.  The teacher can have small discussions with individual students and groups and have larger discussions while instructing the class on the basics, such as how to use certain digital devices.

2.  Discussion on the questions for “checking in” on students during a project.

There are four types of questions in this criteria, Procedural, Teamwork, Understanding, and Self-assessment.  Procedural and Teamwork questions are focused towards the instructor.  Many questions can be posed to see if the projects are on task and to keep track of where all the students are at.  It is also important to keep track of how the teams are working together, so no one is doing more or less than the rest of the group.  Understanding and Self-assessment are directed towards the student.  It is important to make sure every student understands what is going on and to make sure they are headed in the right direction with their project.  It is also important to ask careful questions to help them look critically at their work, and an online journal would be useful for reflection.

3.  Discussion on the benefits to students when optimizing the use of technology.

Using the technology that students normally use in a recreational setting, in an educational manner, makes learning interesting.  It grabs the student’s attention and takes away from the negativity of always having to confiscate the items.  When students learn how to use the items in an educational manner, it increases their capacity to learn in and out of the school setting.  It also keeps their interest and they are more likely to actively participate.

4.  Discussion on the 21st-century skills that can make or break a project.

Technology is a great tool, but it can also become very distracting.  Care should be taken to keep students on task.  It is also important for the students to know the direct requirements with the technology, so they don’t get hung up on making something look cool and yet it doesn’t achieve the goals that were intended.

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

It is important to let the students have discussions among themselves.  They can figure out a lot on their own.  It is also important not to lead the conversations too much and when asking questions it is important to ask them carefully, to keep the conversation in the right direction.