Reflection 5 (Allison Burt)

Allison Burt

Reflection 5

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

Before starting a project with students be resourceful. Find out what materials you will need to implement the project. Use community resources to support the project. Select the right technology tools that will be beneficial for your students. Always ask yourself, “Will this tool benefit my students?” If your project involves talking to professionals/experts you need to make sure you have a list of contacts and plan accordingly. It is great to involve many different disciplines when working on a project. Also you should consider talking to specialists at your school when integrating technology or finding resources. They could actually come in to share about resources that the students could use for their project. If there are people who you want to talk to in another country figure out how you could skype them and who to contact. This will bring diversity into the project.

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

Effective time management skills involve using a project calendar for your students. In the text it mentions a teacher may use a magnetic or online calendar for their students. Also chunking the bigger projects into smaller deadlines will ease the stress. Time management is so important to establish in school, because it is a real-life skill you will need. Also teachers can post all the assignments for the project online where students can access it at any time. All their projects can be turned in online to easily access who has turned in what. Setting up an online environment limits confusion because deadlines are clearly stated. Also you can put rubrics and detailed descriptions of what the project entails. Overall, it is an easier way of communication.

Team planning is also important when managing student needs. Teachers should consider pairing up students with different strengths and mixing up people they normally don’t work with. When students are going about different stages of their projects the teacher should be observing what is working and what is not.

Here are example questions to self-reflect (p. 79)

In these shifting contexts, how will you ensure that all students are challenged?

How will you ensure that students take seriously their responsibility for the team’s success?

Also, when you are managing you classroom and groups are made have the groups sign a contract of expectations. This ensures that team members will work as a team and put forth their best effort. If not, there are consequences.

Doing assessment activities will help your students monitor their progress with their project. This means students are practicing “self-assessment.” It enables students to know where they stand when completing a project.

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

A teacher could use Web-based applications including wiki, a blog, or a Web-based “desktop” application (p 87). A wiki is used to share information online through a page. They can add web links to other sites that will further explain the content. Additionally, people can collaborate by writing and putting together information for future publications. A blog is an excellent application to use for communication purposes. There is one person who creates the blog and then they will add you to be able to post. However, anyone can comment on your blog. Lastly, build a “desktop” application that all your students can use. This includes tabs of links, search engines, news, discussions, or anything relevant for use in your project.

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

Before my group started working on our project with the topic, staying healthy we had to sign a contract. This chapter had discussed the importance of having your group members sign a contract to be on the same page. For PBL you need to have an established set of boundaries, because it is so essential to work with others to meet deadlines. This contract should describe the responsibilities for all group members and have consequences if a group member decides to not do their work.

Another aspect is the use of a blog. We use a blog weekly for communication purposes with our staying healthy workshop. It is a quick and easy way to communicate with your group members.