Reading Reflection #6

Discuss how technology tools can encourage students to be reflective and evaluate their own strengths.

An obvious way that students can do this is to go back and reread their blog or examine what they posted on it and reflect on the quality of the submission. They will be able to see how their ideas changed and can post a new submission addressing these changes, I know it is a good way for our group to communicate about past projects and what we would like to change about them. Another way is ProfilerPRO which gives students a chance to take surveys and give feedback to their teachers, or other students. They can see how they feel about different subjects and if they took a pre and post survey like we are going to they will be able to reflect on the growth of their knowledge. SurveyMonkey and Zoomerang will also give students a chance to evaluate themselves, where they will reflect on their experience and as teachers we will be able to see how they are thinking and feeling.

Describe several ways in which you can get students’ minds ready for a project.

The first way to prepare students is to figure out what they already know. Using prior knowledge is great for starting any lesson that you will be teaching because it gets students to see that they already know something about the topic and they can relate to it. They can also connect their prior knowledge to their new knowledge they are gaining. We should also give students time to think about what would really be a good project for them. They should be able to discuss it with their groups, friends, families, and even their teachers before they decide on a definite topic. Slowly introducing the topic and having a guest speaker can build excitement in the students.

 Discuss the elements of teaching fundamentals first.

We must give students background knowledge of a subject before throwing them into a full blown project. Without knowing an important piece of the puzzle they will be stuck trying to figure out everything, may feel frustrated, and it will make the project more difficult and unpleasant. Students must also have a purpose; realize what they know and what they don’t know about the topic before beginning it. They should be able to see what they are going to learn and be able to ask questions before, during and after the process. Students must also be informed on how they will be being graded. They need to know what is expected of them and what they must do to get the grade they want.

Describe the important steps in preparing students for using technology in project.

As teachers we need to know what students know how to do and what they will need to know for the project. If the students are all familiar with one type of technology and they produce quality results there is no need to teach this technology again. But if it is a new technology students may require some instruction (of us explaining and demonstrating to students how to use the technology) before they can complete their tasks. Before we jump right to instruction and demonstration we should let the students explore the technology on their own first, I know that this is how I learn best so it would make sense that the students will do the same. Another way to teach a new technology is to put students who know how to use it with students who are unfamiliar with it so they can learn collaboratively. Giving students a journal or log will help them to stay focused on the project and track their progress. We must also decide which technologies we want our students to learn. We only have so much time to teach so we want to make sure they are learning technologies they will be using the rest of their lives.

Discuss ways to promote inquiry and deep learning.

Working together to decide what to include in the project is HUGE. We must try to incorporate as many subjects as possible into one project. To have students practice inquiry we must give them a little information and then let them work out what they think about the information in their minds. We must also make sure that the students think deeply about what they want to know and that we as teachers make the project well rounded and successful.

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

I believe this is very important to our project because we need to realize how much background knowledge the students need before starting a project. We want the project to be a fun learning experience so we want things to run smoothly with the technology and the deep learning. I can also see where we are progress monitoring ourselves for this project, by keeping a blog and communicating with each other.