Reading Reflection 1

When reading through this chapter there are many things that I must keep in mind when discovering new things in Project Based Learning. The chapter talks about how PBL will make me a better teacher, and can even make me more excited about learning. I love exploring and learning new things and I know that my students will too, which is also something to keep in mind. I must remember that students are open to today’s technology and that most of the learning that they are doing IS based in real life and their situations they encounter. I also must remember that I need to be an active learner just like my students.

            There are many benefits of the PBL approach. One of these benefits that really appeals to me is that the project is the center of the curriculum. When I was in fourth grade we did a project on Hawaii. All three of the fourth grade classrooms worked together to find all of the information we needed to know about Hawaii. The students used books and computers to find all of the information we needed and we had a luau at the end of the project. We got to present all of the work we had done to our parents and teach them about Hawaii as well. This helped me to learn about real-world activities and we all worked together to find the information about the Hawaiian Islands, which are also benefits to project based learning. Some other benefits were that our teachers all got to work together, which also helped all of the students work together and find out about places beyond our own backyards.

            Project- Based Learning seems really exciting and different too me. I know that it will benefit my students in many different ways. It gives the students the chance to explore things on their own while they expand their inquiry skill, with just guidance from their teacher. They also are able to explore all over the world and ask questions or exchange ideas with people all over the world. They learn to communicate with others to overcome misunderstandings, to make a great project and they will realize that communicating can help them to change the world. The students will learn to work together when others are depending on them and to work collaboratively to meet their deadline. Students will also better understand the rest of the world and the ways in which it works. PBL gives students the tools they need to be able to keep finding information for the rest of their lives.

            But Project-Based Learning will need to be approached differently than just regular projects in the classroom. Students must be taught to manage themselves and as teachers we need to be able to alter our expectations for what our students will do. We must be able to be flexible with our classroom and the way we interact with our students, their parents and our colleagues. We will always need to be open and able to communicate with them. We may need to interact with our students on a more personal level, especially if they are working in small groups and working on their own. While working through the projects we must make sure that we keep in mind what is really important during the research of this topic and what we will assess our students on.

             What has interested me most in this chapter was the New Technology High School. This going hand in hand with the New Technology model sounds like a great way for students to be practiced in today’s technologies. I also like how the students spend most of their time managing themselves which leads more time for learning. Of course, I wonder if the students ALWAYS manage themselves and if this is a realistic goal. When reading about the school I also was wondering if the students just sat on their computers all day doing projects. The chapter states that the technologies are viewed as tools, and not the focus of the projects they do. I also really like how the teachers are required to work together and create great projects for their students. I believe that we need to model how to work together to our students and give them room to learn on their own.