Chapter 4

When deciding to use project based learning as part of their lessons, teachers need to weigh the possibilities of pitfalls and the qualities that best projects share. The potential pitfalls are as followed:

·         Long on activity, short on learning outcomes.

·         Technology layered over traditional practice.

·         Trivial thematic units.

·         Overly scripted with many, many steps.

When trying to design a project based learning lesson, it is important to look at what criteria is needed for the best projects. The book lists what they call “The best projects share the following qualities. They”

·         Are loosely designed with the possibility of different learning paths

·         Are generative, causing students to construct meaning

·         Center on a driving question or are otherwise structured for inquiry

·         Capture student interest through complex and compelling real-life or simulated experiences

·         Are realistic, and therefore cross multiple disciplines

·         Reach beyond school to involve others

·         Tap rich data or primary sources

·         Are structured so students learn with and from each other

·         Have students working as inquiring experts might

·         Get a 21^st century skills and literacies, including communication, project management, and technology use

·         Get at important learning dispositions, including persistence, risk-taking, confidence, resilience, self-reflection, and cooperation

·         Have students learn by doing

When designing the project, teachers must follow these important steps:

1. Revisit the framework

2. Establish evidence of understanding.

3. Plan the “vehicle” (the project theme or challenge).

4. Plan entrée into the project experience.

If we as teachers follow these four steps, we can be sure we can create successful project based learning opportunities for our students.

Chapter 3

I think the “big idea” of this chapter is having the teacher decide on what they want to teach and then find the appropriate benchmarks to link to the lessons.  When taking in effect of the 21^st century learning it is important to remember the following:

·         “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”

When we use these guidelines it shows us exactly what we want each student to obtain from each lesson. As the teacher we need to keep these ideas in the backs of our minds at all times.

Of the eight essential learning functions, I believe every one of them is important to our children’s learning process. The functions are:

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

I think it is important when figuring out everything we as a group want to do for our lessons to remember to focus on these eight essential learning functions. I believe we can get the most out of our students if we remember to focus on these as part of our lessons.

Chapter 8
Building Connections and Branching Out

Once the students have created their Project then they are able to seek other ideas or inspirations for improving thier learning. It could either be by adding new concepts or ideas from the project or seeking guidance from others.  When seeking guidance from others you must pertain to what is significant to the project, what types of teacher facilitated blogs are available for the students to use, given that the learning is based on the project the students are creating. Sometimes when the teacher is guiding the students learning you sometimes forget what students are thinking and what inspires them to think of why they are using that idea in their project. When the teacher gives the students different choices but guides them in their learning you can be inspired to what your students come up with in their projects. When the teacher is trying to find an expert on the topic the students are trying to understand there are different ways to approach them.

• The teacher can contact the expert from making phone calls, e-mails, mail and any other communication process available to have a different voice to speak to the classroom about the  project.
• If the teacher is able to find an expert you must create an introduction on the topic of discussion, try to get the expert to give you some helpful hints or learning experiences to help the teacher guide the students learning toward the project.
• If the communication process then is successful and the teacher has communicated with the expert, then try to create a way to have the expert to try to communicate to the classroom. 
• If the expert agrees to communicate with the classroom, have the expert know the grade level of the students, have specific information of the project and try to make the expert feel comfortable with talking to students. 
• If the teacher has been able to set a day for the students to talk to expert about their project remind them that the expert can help facilitate the experience of the project since they are experts, have the students understand that the expert has limited time to talk to the students and if the students need questions answered and there is no time left then we can set up another session that the expert can speak with the students.

Once the expert has talked to the students about the project then communicate with the students if they have a different understanding of the project. Let the students know if the expert has challenge their thinking to what understanding of the project they can capture or if they need a different challenge to help with the students expectations. 

Chapter 8 Reflection

When the project near completion, teachers cannot overlook opportunities for extended learning. Teachers need to guide students to reflect and synthesize their understanding on what the learned.

Some ways to build connections and branch out beyond the classroom are connecting with experts, expanding the learning circle, and communication findings.  To connect with experts, look for parents who are experts or use the class website to ask for volunteers. Connecting with experts can have mutual benefits, the experts may be able to improve their practice while the students are learning from their experiences. Expanding  the learning circle can include trying to include participants from distant places. With the assistance of technology in the classroom teachers and students can communicate with people from all over the world. Working with international students can have a major impact on students and they will take pride in their work and learn from each other. Communicating findings is very important during a project. Some projects can address real problems and when they share finding they advocate for change. Communicating findings is nice contrast than the typical report method at the end of the project. Students can teach others of their finding that can be beneficial to others.

The EAST Initiative Model demonstrates the benefits of using technology for a real purpose, to solve problems and make improvements in the community. The students use technology that is commonly found in professional labs or studios. The EAST students master sophisticated tools and applications in context while solving real problems that interest them.
The EAST model has four essential ideas:

1. Student- driven learning
2. Authentic project-based learning
3. Technology as tools
4. Collaboration

It is important that students learn to lead their projects. By letting student take the lead they can work on something they are passionate about, they take on their own learning and the teacher is there to support them. They take a lead in something that is important to them. 

This topic relates to our research because we need to continue to expand on our circle during and after the project. Students will learn more about their project and when they can take the lead themselves. 

Michelle Webb

Reading Reflection 8

Your students can build connections by going out and meeting experts on their topic. You could help them do this by giving your students contact information of those you know would not mind helping them. They can expand their learning by reaching out to those who are not directly in their community. They could reach out to people on the other side of the country or on the other side of the world.

The EAST Initiative Model demonstrate the usefulness of technology for a real purpose, within classrooms we can use it to help students learn to solve problems and make a difference in their communities. EAST stands for Environmental and Spatial Technologies, the national program director states, “Technology is the hook we use to get kids into significant projects, and to get communities into significantly wanting to support those projects.”

Students should lead their own projects because then they can work in a way that makes the most sense for them. They can use the technology that best fits their specific project. Students will also get more invested in their work if they feel that they have full control.

Concepts from this chapter relate to my project because we have to figure out the best way for our students to do their project. If we feel that they are comfortable enough with the technology we then have to make the decision to let them take more of a leadership role within their groups.

Chapter 7
A Guiding Hand Keeping a Project Moving

Once the project stated moving, now what's next. The teacher is learning new ideas to improve the students thinking. The students are involved in the process of improving their project. In order to keep the students learning new ideas from PBL what is another learning experience that will encourage the students critical thinking. There were some key points that were informative in PBL. From the classroom discussion are they productive in the students critical thinking or are they just questions on if they are doing their project the correct way. Some level of discussion are significant in PBL. (Chapter 7, Pg. 114-115)

• Teacher to Teacher: What does a teacher do if they have questions on the project they are facilitating in the classroom. The teacher can ask their peers about the project, or they can find some helpful resources from other teacher that are doing a similar concept on the project to get ideas. 
• Student to student: The students need to collaborate on ideas on which person is doing what on the project. The students can collaborate on ideas on what works and what doesn't. The teacher can listen to the students ideas while understanding the challenges of the project. 
• Teacher to student: The teacher can do a whole group discussion on what part of the project is difficult to accomplished based on technological issues. The teacher could even have group discussion to help facilitate learning by inquiring the students thinking. 

When asking questions to figure out the groups collaboration or overall experience what should be expected from the studnets if they are learning through experiences. There are some question that could help the project move along smoothly. What David Fragg (2007) discovered from his project is that the students had questions on the overall experience. David Fragg was able to interpret the students progress on the blog is, "My students tended to want to check every answer with me! This showed that they were not used to independant investigation work." (chapter 7, pg. 117) Students want their teacher to validate their question by saying yes or no. How can you validate the students progress if they don't want to do the work, or if they are ecstatic on doing the project but have never had the chance to work on something and not being able to know if they are doing it correctly or not. Students need to validate their own work from the amount of time, knowledge, skills, teamwork, and overall confidence that their project is heading to a right direction on getting a good grade if applicable.  

Michelle Webb

        The levels of classroom discussion are teacher to teacher, student to student and teacher to student. These different levels of discussion can be helpful to find a deeper meaning to the project because different people will come up with different questions to ask. During these conversations different questions can be asked, this is a good way to check-in on your students. Ways to check-in are procedural, teamwork, understanding and self-assessment. Students can maximize their learning by using technology by allowing it to help them reach their goals, keeping them organized and connecting them to outside professionals. Technology can make or break the project because it can give the students more information to use or they can become frustrated by not understanding how the technology works. All of these concepts work with our gardening project because they help us set up better ways to help our students and be more prepared when thy have questions.