Logan-RR Chapter 11

Using PBL in your classroom instead of the common way to teach in the classroom can have many advantages. Things that occur when using PBL is that you see more enthusiasm in your students, the students feel more connected with the class because each student is sharing their ideas trying to find new ways to improve their project. Also students can guide their own path of learning, decide what they already know and what they want to find out. At the end of a project you will see students feeling accomplished and excited to share their work with others.

Ways to bring your project home would be to do a reflective piece with your class. This can be done both whole group, so that everyone has a chance to hear what everybody thought of their work, and also be individually as an informal assessment to track what the students have learned. Some other ways to bring it home is to share the new found information with other classes in the school, share it on the web, or enter your class project in a contest.

This chapter relates to my project based assignment because at the end I want my students to showcase what they have learned and be excited about their accomplishments and hard work. The ideas given in this chapter will help me demonstrate that within my project.

Spangler: Chapter 11 RR

Using the project-based learning approach has many advantages over a traditional lecture. It gives students more responsibility and freedom for them to guide their own learning. Students are having fun learning about something they enjoy. Students also learn how to work collaboratively, track their own learning processes, and take projects to the next level. After a project is completed, it should leave a lasting impression with artifacts, souvenirs, and memories.

Different ways to “bring your project home” includes reflecting on how to make your next project even better. You can get together with your colleagues and talk about what worked, and what could be improved. It is also important to share your project ideas with an online database like the New Technology network for other teachers to use your ideas. It is also a good place for you to get ideas for your next project. You could also enter your project in a contest to gain more exposure for your project and your students.

This chapter relates to our project because it talks about how to wrap up a project and how to learn from it. It is important that once we are finished with our project to reflect on what we could’ve done better, and what could’ve worked better for our students.

Grady: Ch 11 RR

As a result of using the project based learning approach, the students were able to engage in the the best learning activities. My students were able to get the most out of this project because of all it had to offer. As a teacher, I was able to learn to collaborate with teachers through blogging and using a wiki. My class was able to think beyond the set class time and i encouraged them to continue interaction with project membersm, and therefore to be thinking about and cnstructing their own reality at any time of the day. Good projects don't lead to a dead end. They open new doors and create connections that you can build into future project designs. To bring your project home, capitalize on your investment, critique your work, share your insights, become a resoouce for your colleagues, enter a contest, and enjoy the journey. This all relates to our project because it doesn't just stop when the project is done and over with. It is important, as a taacher, to reflect on the project when you are done.

Grady: Ch 10 RR

Taking time to reflect helps students feel good about their accomplishments, but more importantly, reflection can be the thing that makes learning really stick. When students create their own meaning, it's important that they look at it from all sides while meaning is taking shape, and then view it from a distance, too, as they get ready to step beyond the experience to the next learning challenge. As students become more accomplished project-doers, you will put more and more decisions for subsequent projects in their hands. Be sure to ask your learners where they want to g. Schools build tradition and identity by making an impact or doing something special. Think about how your class can establish a tradition of exemplart project work. When families, the community, and students coming up through the grades know what you are up to, you have a foundation for tradition. As community members begin to notice and value students' accomplishments, they will give you enthusiastic support. Celebrate finishing a project by showing students works, put on an event, create a blog, or hold a party. Anyway you do it, celebrate learning, and build your school's identity as a place where kids get to elarn through projects. As we finish up our semester with our students, we will be celebrating after our field day. I want the students to feel accomplished and special in knowing they did soemthing worth their time and to show how proud I am of how hard they worked throughout the project.

Logan-Chapter 10 RR

There will be a lot going on in and out of the classroom. There will be times when you rapidly move from one topic to another so it is important to set aside time to reflect. It is important to set aside time for reflection because one it helps students to feel good about their accomplishments, but also because it gives the students another chance to be reminded of the material. “Reflection can be the thing that makes learning really stick.” It helps the students reveal things that they may not otherwise think about, which helps them step beyond their experiences and grow.  This will also help the students to elaborate on their project. It gets them to think about what next? What else do I want to learn? Or what’s another direction this project can go? This helps them to have a personal connection with their project, which in return can benefit them in the long run because of the real world application.

One way schools build tradition and identity is by showcasing their talents, for example the school who has the best sporting team, or the school that always wins science fairs.  These schools share a sense of tradition and an expectation of excellence. It’s only right that we channel these traditions into the classroom. Building an identity or tradition as a teacher helps you to become known in your school and community. Having a PBL class year after year students will start to take interest after years of doing it. Younger brothers and sisters will be excited to join your class knowing that they’re going to do the fun PBL just like their older friends or siblings.

It’s important to showcase or celebrate your students work, for one it gives the students a sense of accomplishment and pride. It also makes them feel good to know that the teacher is going to take time out to celebrate our work. “Show students work, put on an event, creates a blog, or has a party…build your school’s identity as a place where kids get to learn through projects.

Concepts in this chapter relate to my topic because these are all useful tips that we need to think about while in front of the classroom and carrying the PBL curriculum out. Students will need to reflect and elaborate to achieve higher order thinking and be prepared to take a step further with their project. As the teacher it will be nice to build the traditions and identity of your school, it’ll help to get attention or help from other teachers as well as the community.

Spangler: Chapter 10 RR

Reflection is a very important part of the learning process. When students take some time to reflect on what they have accomplished, what they have learned, and what they have enjoyed learning about, it is only beneficial. Ask the students how the project related to them personally. By reflecting on what they have done from many different angles, students really get the full learning experience.

It is essential for students to reflect and elaborate because they might take it to a level you never imagined. The example from this chapter talks about students who did a project on technology, but weren’t quite satisfied with the available technology at their school. The students decided to take it one step further and write a grant proposal for updating their school’s technology. It is important for students to elaborate and make the project their own.

Some schools are known for sports teams or science competitions. But it is important to create a tradition with your project. This way younger students know that when they get to your class, they will be a part of it. Knowing ahead of time also gives the benefit of getting a head start on research each year and learning a little bit about it to establish some prior knowledge for when they are old enough to start the project.

Celebrating a project can be done by displaying it around the community and the school throughout the year, or creating a blog. It is important to establish your school’s identity of learning through projects and so they should be celebrated. Another idea is to get together at the end of the year and present all the projects that the students have done throughout the year.

This chapter relates to our project because we are working towards a summative part of the project, which for us is a field day where the students will be using what they have learned from hydration, exercise, and nutrition.

Monday's Class

Hey guys..sorry I couldn't make it back in time to Kalamazoo last night for class. My mom had emergency surgery over the weekend so the past few days have been crazy. Lets start thinking about days where we might be free because I'm sure we're going to have to work on our website outside of class as well. I'm back in Kalamazoo now so I'll see you all next week for class.

TEAM WEBSITE!

Team Website

What we need:

Opening Page

                Standards and description

                Link to wmu website using logo

                Final Concept Map with description

Navigational Bar (In order)

2 web pages for each person (1 is a new idea)

Name & Email on each page

Each lesson plan linked in an appropriate place

Each digital story linked in appropriate place with a description

Group virtual pen pals

Google Map assignments

Podcast with description

Link to blog

3 additional websites with description for each person (pertain to topic)

Team: Opening page, navigational bar, concept map, name & email, virtual penpals, google maps, podcast, link to blog

Annaliese: 2 pages, 2 lesson plans, digital story, 3 new websites, link standards, image on each page

Hope: 2 pages, 2 lesson plans, digital story, 3 new websites, link standards, image on each page

Kristen: 2 pages, 2 lesson plans, digital story, 3 new websites, link standards, image on each page

Logan-Chapter 9 RR

A method to use in the classroom to determine a student’s prior knowledge would be to form a KWL chart either as whole group or individually so you can really asses each student differently because they will all have different starting points. A KWL chart is what I Know, what I Want to know, and what have I learned. The KWL chart is not only good for measuring prior knowledge but it’s also a good way to see what your students learned in the end.

The importance of establishing anchors coincides with the importance of knowing the prior knowledge of your students, the distance traveled during a project will not be the same for each learner. Having anchors you gain a sense of where the students are starting and how far they are going as they work to meet learning goals.

The idea of establishing anchors and knowing that each student is not on the same page it makes it extra difficult to assess the students. Some ways to assess your students during a project would be to interview your students at the end of the project. Seeing how they started off, individually, can help the teacher to see the progress and be able to measure how much they really learned. Having students create something new or a summative project can also help the teacher measure his/her students. The old fashion pen and paper test would not be adequate for a PBL environment.

Spangler: Chapter 9 RR

A method of understanding prior-knowledge of students that could be used is a KWL chart where students fill in what they already know about the topic. This is a good way of understanding the prior knowledge of the whole class because if you were to just ask as them as a big group and one or two students answered, how do you know what every other student knows? Using a KWL graphic organizer is a good way to get feedback from each student.

Establishing anchors is an extremely important part of assessing student progress in a project. From the prior-knowledge activation activity, you will see that all students are starting from different levels of familiarity of the subject. Therefore, it is important to establish these anchors so you can assess how far the student has progressed to their own personal learning goals.

There are many different ways to assess the learning of students during a particular project. Online grade books that have many different categories of assessment like work ethic and critical thinking are much more beneficial than giving a student one grade with no explanation. Another way is to ask students what they learned in an interview after the project. Asking the students to create something knew to summarize what they have learned, apply to professionals, and submitting their work in contest are also ways to assess what students have learned.

Assessment is a huge part of any project, and this chapter discusses different ways to monitor student learning. How much have they really learned? This relates to our project because we are going to need to assess the students on the activities we have come up with.

Grady: Ch 9 RR

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. An activity would be using a K-W-L chart to find out about your students' prior knowledge. To assess what students learned during the project, test them throughout. Give them rubrics so they know exactly what they will be graded on and what you expect of them. This chapter related to our topic because throughout the project, it will be important to make sure our students are doing what we expect of them. Making sure what they know will help us as teachers make the project more meaningful for our students.

Concept Map 2

Logan: Chapter 8 RR

Some ways to ways to build connections and branch out beyond the classroom an be the use of digital tools. This makes it easier for students to share their work and exchange questions and ideas with a diverse audience, including family members and peers, local community members, and even across state lines. Knowing that others will be reading, watching, listening, and commenting can be a powerful motivator.
The EAST Initiative network of schools has been demonstrating the benefits of technology for a real purpose. The EAST model is built on four essential ideas, student driven learning, authentic project-based learning, technology as a tool, and collaboration. Another critical component is training and support for the teachers, as they take on the role as facilitator.
Having students lead their project is a crucial aspect in PBL learning. Students have the comfort level of being the lead because they generated a project idea they care about. As the teacher we don’t have to micromanage each group or our class. They can start their own learning path and goals and the teacher should be there for support.
This chapter relates to my PBL project because it gives me more understanding and clarification as my role as a teacher and effective ways we can incorporate the community using technology.

Spangler: Chapter 8 RR

With the use of technology, the opportunity for building connections is endless. Students have the opportunity to branch out to experts in the field of their study, as well as other students who are learning about the same things. They can use technology to communicate with other classes or experts by blogging, skype, and creating digital movies. Another way to branch out and build connections is to get involved with a real problem in the real world. Students can use technology to research and create arguments and fight for what they believe in.

The EAST Initiative Model is a perfect example of using technology to solve real world problems. The Environmental and Spatial Technology Initiative Network of schools shows how to use technology to make a difference in the real world. The director Matt Dozier explains, “Technology is the hook we use to get kids into significant projects, and to get communities to significantly wanting to support those projects.” It is made up of 260 schools from 2nd grade to post-secondary levels, and it focuses on four main ideas. These ideas include student driven learning, authentic project-based learning, technology as tools, and collaboration. Each school year students can showcase their projects.

It is important to know that the teacher doesn’t have to control and cause all of the student’s learning throughout the project. It is the teacher’s job to help the student find something that interests them. As soon as students are interested in a topic, they create their own learning and lead their own project.

This chapter relates to our project because it provides ideas about expanding projects to the community and other classrooms, which is a key idea of project-based learning. For our topic, we could present the information we have learned about health and teach the community about important nutrition, exercise, and hydration.

Grady: Ch 8 RR

To build connections and branch out side of the classroom connecting with experts is important. Teachers who make this a regular part of the learning experience often start by developing a list of willing experts. Knowing the skills and areas of expertise of your students' parents is a good place to begin. Also, expanding the learning circle is a good way to branch out side of the class room. The EAST model stands for Environmental and Spatial Technologies Initiative. Students in the EAST network of schools have been demonstrating the benefits of using technology for a real purpose- to solve problems and make improvements in their communities. Projects make use of geospatial technologies and multimedia tools that are more commonly found in professional laboratories or design studios. EAST students master these sophisticated tools and applications in context while solving community projects that interest them. As teachers become more comfortable with the project approach, they sometimes find that students are quite capable of leading their own projects--starting with generating a project idea they care about. The concepts talked about in this chapter relate to my project because it is important to form relationships and connections outside of the classroom to help the students succeed.

Logan-Chapter 7 RR

Classroom discussions can be the prime time of when information is being learned by your students, whether is a discussion before or after your lesson to discuss a topic allows the students more opportunities to know the material. My favorite level of classroom discussion is student to student. I find when students are able to conduct their own information they retain the information better. To discuss a topic you really have to know the topic. Checking in on students gives the students a since of responsibility, not having their teacher constantly lecturing to them will make them feel more at ease. With PBL students will be moving freely around the class and possibly school. It’s important that the teacher still holds the authoritative stands to help students fall back into track. Using technology in the classroom can benefit those students who have a more creative mind; technology gives teachers a tool to tap into some of their students brains that can be hard otherwise.  Changing up the way you teach to capture blooms taxonomy is a great way to optimize the use of technology. One way to manage conflict during PBL is to pay close attention to the dynamics of the teams I your class. Team conflict will make the project not so fun, and cause chaos where the focus is no longer on the project. Encourage self-reflection and group reflections so that everyone will remain on the same page.

Hey guys we need to update our concept map by Friday!!

Spangler: Chapter 7 RR

The levels of classroom discussion include teacher to teacher, student to student, and teacher to student. Teacher to teacher communication is very important throughout the implementation of the project. Whether your colleagues are close by or from far away, it is important to keep in contact with them throughout the project to help. Teacher to teacher communication about procedural and formative assessment needs to take place. For example deciding who is going to lead what lesson and suggesting a mini-lesson on a topic students’ may be struggling with.

In a project, different groups will work at different paces. For this reason, it is important for you as the teacher to be able to “check in” and monitor each individual group’s progress throughout the project. Some assessment questions you might ask are procedural (how is the scheduling going?) , teamwork (how is our group working together?), understanding (observing teams working and making sure that they are finding relevant information and are on the right path for the project), and self-assessment (project journals or blogs where students can reflect on their personal experiences.

It is extremely important the technology used for the project is helping students reach learning goals. Some questions to think about when determining if the technology is being used to its full potential are if it is helping students reach learning goals and not becoming a distraction for them, and making sure that the students are using all the available technological tools to keep their project organized.

Troubleshooting and teamwork are two 21st-century skills that can make or break a project. With troubleshooting, it is important for the students to know that this project is just like real life, and in life we make mistakes. With troubleshooting in the project, there are always methods to fix and fine tune problems that occur. Teamwork is another important 21st-century skill to recognize because if students don’t realize the importance of working as a team now, they won’t understand it in the future. It is an important component of project-based learning to emphasize and can be assessed by peer evaluations, or even just journal entries on how the students felt they worked as a team.

Chapter 7 relates to our project because it is very important to know what questions to ask and how to assess student progress throughout the project. Also with our project being about healthy living, obviously we want the skills they learn to translate to the real world. Finally, it is very important that we work as a team throughout our project and have teacher to teacher discussions on a regular basis.

Grady: Ch 7 RR

There are three types of classroom level discussion. The first type is teacher to teacher. Project planning and working together is important and teacher conversations will touch on everything from the procedural to formative assessment. If you are not able to communicate face to face or are at different locations, start a blog, a wiki or other collaborative tools to keep your conversations going. The second type of classroom discussion is student to student. Students should be talking about their learning experiences as they unfold. Remind them that good communication skills are part of effective teamwork and will help keep their team organized and on track. The last type of classroom discussion is teacher to student. As a teacher, you can either work with students individually, in groups, or as a whole group; depending on what you are trying to teach and how you want to teach. During a project, a teacher should ask questions. Procedural: Are we staying on schedule? Do we have the right materials available? When's the best time to schedule a field trip, expert visitor, or other activity? Teamwork:How are team members getting along? Is one student carrying too much of the load for the whole team? Are students able to manage conflict themselves, or do they need my help? Understanding: Have you thought about...? Have you considered this research? Self-assessment: Ask questions that encourage self-assessment and reflection. Project journals or blogs offer space for students to describe the challenges or frustrations. It is important to make sure the technology you chose for your students to work with is helping benefit their project. Ask questions such as: Is technology helping students reach learning goals, or is it leading them on side trips? Is technology helping students stay organized? Etc. Troubleshooting is a 21st-century skill that distinguishes effective project managers. Help students understand that real world projects come with real-world challenges. Help them learn from set-backs and fine-tune their strategies for getting a project back on track. These concepts relate to our project because it is important as a teacher to keep the project moving and to make sure your students are staying on track and doing their work. It is important to know how to keep the project moving while keeping the students interested.

Grady: Chapter 6 RR

Technology tools can encourage students to be reflective and evaluate their own strengths. For example: Blogs offer students space where they can reflect over time about what they are learning. ProfilerPRO os an online survey tool that allows you to identify the learning characteristics of an individual and also among members of a group. TOols such as SurveyMOnkey and Zoomerang allow you to set up online surveys. You can use the results to track trends and help students see how their self-assessment compares to the larger group. To get students minds ready for a project, activating students prior knowledge is a good way to start. Many teachers do this by using KWL charts. Shake up students' ideas of what they know. Discrepant events and role-playing predictions are two ways to arouse curiosity and start students thinking about the learning ahead. Technology can offer a captivating introduction to a project, as well. Before launching a project, think about teaching prerequisite knowledge or skills students need in order to work with a degree of independence in their investigations. When students are aware of what they know and don't know they can establish a point of departure and a sense of purpose. Give students the assessment rubric you created for this project. It is their roadmap toward great achievement. To prepare students to use technology you should set up a technology playground, tap student expertise, introduce project-management skills, and then demonstrate. To promote inquiry and deep learning all students should understand the following: There is a relationship between need and opportunity, and between scarcity and abundance. Money, bartering, and other means of exchange have existed throughout history and across civilizations, and they continue to change. Modern money has symbolic worth as an exchange mechanism. Economics, health, and well-being are related. Money means different things to different people. Humans are interdependent. This relates to our project because we have to plan before we jump right into what it is we are trying to accomplish. It is important that we make sure we activate students prior knowledge and get them excited and optimistic about the project.

Spangler: Chapter 6 RR

It is important for students to be reflective and evaluate their own strengths and weaknesses. Technology can make this even easier to incorporate into a project using online resources like blogs, ProfilerPRO, and SurveyMonkey. Blogs can be used to give students a chance to reflect on their learning, while ProfilerPRO and SurveyMonkey provide ways for students to assess their learning and compare it to the whole class.

When getting students minds ready for a project, there are many different things you can do as a teacher. This chapter suggests the graphic organizer K-W-L to have the students reflect on their prior knowledge, what they want to know, and after the project, what they have learned, but since this is a traditional thing to use there are other ways to get your students imaginations flowing. Present the topic of your project a week early, to give them time to talk about it at dinner, and with their friends. Also, introducing a guest to talk about their profession, for example bringing in a professional astronaut for a project about space.

It is very important to teach what the students the basic skills and knowledge they need to complete the project. It is necessary to provide this prerequisite knowledge so the students have enough familiarity with the topic to be able to have independence throughout the project. In other words, teaching the basics so the students can jump right into the fun stuff! It isn’t necessary to have the students start researching the boring basic knowledge when they can learn it in a few lessons prior to research.

When preparing students for technology use in a project first let them explore how to use the program. Then once some students who are more technology advanced can help teach other students how to use the program. Also introducing journals or different types of logs that students can track their progress can help students stay on track for the goals they set for the project. Lastly, if you are familiar with the technology the students will be using, show them yourself. If not there is always a technology specialist who can demonstrate for the students.

Promoting inquiry and deep learning is important for all students before starting a project. Making sure all students are aware of the primary learning outcome of the project. Have students develop their own questions to further their thinking with your guidance. Then they can use search engines to help answer these questions.

This chapter relates to our project because it discusses the importance of knowledge that we should provide our students before starting the project, and with how to introduce the technology they will be using.

Logan-Ch 6 RR

From the ideas listed in the book, “Reinventing Project-Based Learning”, I think using a Blog would best help and encourage students to reflect and evaluate their work.  Students will be able to see past post, what they learned, ideas that might have not been answered yet, or they can reflect and improve on a post after doing more research. I’m looking at the idea of a Blog like a running record, but also a place for your classmates can give advice or leave positive comments.

Building up excitement, recognizing prior knowledge, and relating your topic to the real world could all help the teacher get his/her students ready for a big project. From the book, I thought it was a good idea that the teacher in the example brought up the idea just for a few minutes each day before actually starting the project.  I think this method helped the students to start brainstorming ideas, even if it wasn’t necessarily on their minds, she planted the seed.

The fundamentals are a big key, we can’t assume that our students know technology and are familiar with it. Before starting their research it could be good idea to visit the library, refresh your students on how to properly their resources to get the information needed. This doesn’t have to be a boring step but could be worked into the unit as a fun activity, like an internet scavenger hunt.

This chapter will help my group and me with our unit plan because it has given us good suggestions to formulate the beginning of a project with our students.  This is information that will help us with our unit plan but also how we conduct ourselves as the facilitator of a project.

Grady: Chapter 5 RR

This chapter is about time management and how it is important for both teachers and students. In order for a project to be successful, time management needs to be evident. If you don't plan out what your students will be doing ahead of time, the project can end up being more complicated than it needs to be. Being organized and having good time management skills are something both teacher and learners should become good at. Before starting a project, materials should be collected as well as resources. Having experts in the field who know a lot about the topic your students are working on is very helpful and beneficial for the students. Interacting with people who know a lot about their topic gives them insight to how the project will fall into place. As a student, it is hard to manage your time especially when you are studying several different subjects. You can help your students become more organized and improve their time management skills by providing them with an outline or calendar of dates when things are due. When students have it all laid out in front of them, they can plan ahead and know when everything is due. They can plan around these deadlines. Assessing students is a huge part of PBL. Testing students before, during, and after the project helps you as a teacher get a sense of what they knew prior, what they found out through research during, and what they gained and learned at the end of the project. This all related to our project because in order to be a good teacher, you need to have good time management skills so that you can model for your students how they should be organized and manage their time. Planning ahead of time is key for a project to be successful.

Spangler: Chapter 5 RR

This chapter is about project management strategies for teachers and learners. Time management, teaming, and assessment are important strategies to learn to prepare a successful project, so that the best use of instructional time is present. Gathering the materials you need is very important before starting the project because without materials, it could cause delays in the process and unproductive instructional time. Other teachers, parents, and even recycling centers can be really good resources for materials. Another important thing prior to starting a project with your students is to get in touch with experts in the field, and find ways for students to communicate with them and ask questions. Whether these experts are in the community, or are accessed via Skype it provides the same type of communication, and it is important that these experts and who to ask questions to is set up before the project begins.
An important skill to be learned throughout any project is that the students are learning how to manage their own time. A way to do this is to plan a project calendar where students can easily see and follow along where the deadlines are and what is due on what day. This also provides students and teachers with the opportunity to organize all aspects of the project online. It is also important when making the groups that they are diverse in skill. Students need to “compliment” each other. For example, if one person is extremely organized and another person is great at using the Internet, they can feed off each other’s strengths.
Assessment is a very important aspect of project-based learning and should not only be done at the end of the project, but throughout. Technology is really important in these assessment activities. For example, students can take an online survey before they begin the project so you can test their prior knowledge. Technology is also used with developing a wiki. This way other collaborators can add to it at any time. This wiki can also be the center of where everything is about the project, and both students and the teacher have access.
Finally, this relates to our project because we need to know for our future in teaching, what to have planned out before a project, that doesn’t take the fun out of it. Also, creating a wiki is sort of like what we are doing with our website, so this will help us get the idea.

Grady: Ch 4 RR

This chapter focuses on selecting and designing projects. When doing this, you are going to encounter some pitfalls. One of those pitfalls is long on activity, short on learning outcomes. This means if the project is busy and long but reaches small or lower-order learning aims, it's not worth investing your students' time or yours. Looking at the outcome is very important. Technology layered over traditional practice is another potential pitfall. You don't want your students' to research something and just throw it all into a powerpoint presentation. You want them to make use of using technology and really decide if technology is something that is crucial to their project. Another potential pitfall is trivial thematic units. Some teachers' use this approach but you have to think about how it could be be repeated. The last pitfall is overly scripted with many steps. The best projects have students making critical decisions about their learning path. Look to the description of learning objectives and student outcomes as you evaluate a plan and if it seems too lengthy, you might run into difficulty. The best projects share important features. They are: loosely designed with the possibility of different learning paths, 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, realistic and cross multiple disciplines, reach boyone school to involve others, tap rich data or primary sources, structured so students learn with and from each other, work as inquiring students might, get 21st 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, and have students learn by doing.

Spangler: Chapter 4 RR

This chapter discusses the many potential pitfalls in project design. The first is, “long on activity, short on outcomes.” This basically means if the project takes too long and the students aren’t challenged by it, then it’s not worth doing. Another potential pitfall I thought was interesting is, “technology layered over traditional practice.” This occurs when a regular research project is referred to as a project design project. The students researching a topic on the internet and making it a slideshow is not project design! The next pitfall chapter 4 lists is “trivial thematic units.” This was kind of hard to understand but it talks about doing a lot of activities with apples that are not beneficial in any way to the students. It comes down to what you do with apples. Adding pictures of apples versus learning about commerce, agriculture, and transportation. There is a big difference! The last potential pitfall is “overly scripted with many, many steps.” This is just how it sounds. If there is too much instruction, there won’t be any creativity. So it is important to look at the learning objectives to figure out how many steps of instruction you should have for your project.

Some features of a good project listed in this chapter are very helpful for teachers who are designing their projects. Some of these features include having a loose design so there can be a possibility of many learning paths, but also to make it structured so students can learn with and from each other. Another important component for a good project is to go beyond just school and get the community involved. In my opinion, one of the most important of these features is to let the children learn by doing. Isn’t that the whole point of project-based learning?
One of the hardest parts of project-based learning in my opinion is where to begin. Where can you get ideas for what you want your project to be about? This chapter provides many resources that teachers can access. It also discusses the idea that projects start other projects. In other words, a project the students are currently working on, will always lead to something more, a bigger idea or a continuation of the same subject.

Now it’s time to design the project. Chapter 4 gives steps to designing a project. Important things to remember are to consider the context, for example the school calendar, curriculum sequence, and student interest. First revisit the framework and reconsider the objectives. Then write a project sketch outlining your entire idea and how you are going to make it into a project.

The topics in this chapter relate to our project because it tells us very important features of a good project. That way we can be sure to implement these ideas into our project. It also includes ways that a project idea could become unsuccessful.

Logan-Chapter 4 RR

Technology layered over traditional practice is the pitfall that stood out to me most. I’m not the best at technology and I haven’t had good experiences with teachers incorporating technology into the class so as a new teacher I’m afraid of this happening to me. We become comfortable in what we already know so I have to be conscious and aware that the technologies pieces I choose to incorporate can benefit my students in a greater way, “to allow students to create unique and high quality learning products that will connect each student to rich data or primary sources”.

                What makes a project is if you can incorporate more than one content area, if the students are learning by doing. I’ve notice that when students actually do the work, meaning hands on activities, they’re more likely to know the material instead of the classic memorization technique. Other ways a project can be considered good is if it reaches the community, real-world situations, and of course a project that will capture the interest and attention of your students.

                Project ideas can come from anywhere, the interest of your students, conversations you’ve had with other teachers, or a new idea can come from an idea that you already had, just enhanced or modified to fit your students’ needs.  The steps needed to design a project are pretty much the same way I would write a lesson plan. To consider al routes that I can take with a particular subject, how can I make it interesting, and what can I incorporate to make it hands on. Although a project is on a grander scale I believe you need to work small to prevent feeling overwhelmed.

               This chapter directly relates to my unit topic because it’s a great resource to know the right and wrong ways of doing things when putting together a successful project for my students.