Final Concept Map

Reading Reflection: Chapter #11

1. As a result of Project-based learning, students are able to partake in a variety of activities to get one large project.  They gain real-life experience, and rather than having homework and doing papers and exams, they work together.  They can make a difference in a surrounding community or school with a project, and learn to lead, grow, and increase their personal knowledge. 

2.  "Bringing the project home" has a great deal to do with reflection.  Being able to reflect on what you just completed.  Reflecting on what was great, what you could have improved, and what you would do differently next time. 

3.  Coming to an end of our "project time" it is important for us to take time to reflect on what we have done this semester.  To look back at what we did, could have done differently, and what got us to the point we are at now!

Reading Reflection: Chapter 10

1. Reflection time is an important thing in many things, projects being one of them. It allows you to take a look at what you have accomplished so far, what more you have to do, and see if there is any adjustments you need to make.

2. Allowing the students to reflect and elaborate not only lets them see what they have accomplished, but it allows the students to think about where they want to go, and all the possibilities they can take. 

3. Schools build their identity and traditions with certain goals and philosophies in mind.  They mold the schools character and that builds on the staff and students. 

4. Students want to show off their work and share their accomplishments and hard work. It also helps them to reflect and revisit what they did learn, creating them to keep using and remembering their learned knowledge. 

5. Reflecting is a great tool to use to see how far you've come and how far you need to go.  We as a group have had to reflect and it has helped throughout our progress this semester.  

Reflection 11

1. A result of using project based learning is that students are able to do projects that require them to do a lot of hands on work. Meaning that instead of just typing a paper, project based learning requires them to be innovative with how they present information to others. Through the use of technology PowerPoint, Excel, and others. Students gain experience with teamwork on projects, as well as furthering their knowledge with technology.
2. You can "bring your project home" by putting something personal with your project. By making an emotional connection to your project you give a real life sense of how important it is. This "brings it home" because it makes the audience sees that your project actually effect or has effected you in some way.
3. This is important to our project as we need to find a way to "bring our project home" to our audience, by making an emotional connection to it. As a former athletic trainer I brought personal experiences that I have seen/heard and made a connection to our parts about fitness and anatomy. We also see the benefits of PBL in that we have grown in our knowledge/understanding of technology.

Reflection #10

1. Setting aside time for reflection is key in any subject or project. The reason being that by setting time aside to reflect on your daily progress allows you to see what you have done well, not so well, and what else you need to do. This helps relieve stress and helps you look at future stuff that needs to get done.
2. Students need to reflect and elaborate because it allows them the chance to look at how they and their peers are doing on projects or subjects. Students need to elaborate because it gives them the chance to confer with their peers or teachers about information and what needs to happen.
3. Schools build tradition and identity by adapting certain methods or philosophy of teaching within their schools. Some schools may take a more hands on project based learning approach and build their identity that way. Or some schools may go a different route. It is up to the schools faculty to adapt their own identity, as it can't be assigned or given.
4. It is important to celebrate a project because it gives the students a sense of satisfaction that they completed a big task. By celebrating this, you raise their self-esteem and make them more confident going into further projects.
5. This chapter is important to our project because we have weekly reflections about our project. We quite literally set aside time to look back at how we are doing on our project, as well as look at what we did well, not well, and what else we need to do.

Reading Reflection: Chapter 9

1.  Have the students take out a piece of paper.  Ask them questions about the topic they will be learning about, some specific and some vague questions so you can see what they already know. 

2.  As a teacher, establishing anchors helps you to gain a sense of where your students are starting at and how far they are as they're working towards their learning goals.

3. A great way to assess them is to give them homework after you have taught them something and to see what they gained from it.  A few others ways to assess would be quizzes, a jeopardy game, and a personal conference to check in on their knowledge. 

4. This chapter relates greatly to our project.  We had prior knowledge about fitness and things within that topic.  Assessing the students is also something we have involved in our project lessons to asses the students knowledge and what they've learned. 

Reading Reflection #9

1. A method for understanding students prior knowledge on a subject, or particular project is very simple. You can give them a sheet of paper with the topic or subject, and have them write down as much information about it as they can. This allows you to see where each student is at with their prior knowledge of the topic. If they have a lot or little information is irrelevant as a project or unit plan would benefit them all.
2. Establishing anchors for a project is very important because it allows you as the teacher to have information that will be instilled in your students mind for a long time. Much like a real anchor, it makes sure a boat stays put. Information in a project or unit plan does the same, as it stays put in your brain, which is very important as a teacher to have in students. It is crucial for their success.
3. You can assess your students on what they learned during their project, by doing weekly assessments on what they have so far. You can also do weekly progress reports, in which they give you details about what they have so far in their project. You can even simply talk to them and have them explain certain key points about their project.
4. These concepts can be focused on our project, as we chose our topic based upon prior knowledge of not only the information but our prior knowledge of how to use PowerPoint, blogs, websites. We are also creating assessments in our lesson plans to make sure our students retain information.

Reading Reflection: Chapter 8

1. Building connections and branching out beyond the classroom is a great tool to expand on what the students have been doing, get other ideas through exchanging videos, blogs, etc.  It helps them to gain more knowledge on a topic and work on networking with others. 

2. The EAST Initiative model stands for Environmental and Spatial Technologies.  It focuses on learning through technology, but the initiative looks more at realistic problems and practical problems for projects, allowing them to be better prepped. 

3. Letting students "lead" their projects has many beneficial reasons.  It gets the students to work on their leadership skills, working with others as a leader such as in the working world, it also helps confidence and public speaking. 

4.  This chapters concepts such as "leading projects" and branching out are some things we have had to do and are doing with our project.  We are the leaders of our project and in doing so we've had to branch out, expand our knowledge and have sought out information.

Reflection #8

1.Building connections and branching outside the classroom is vital to every student in your class. The reason being that this allows students to take their knowledge learned in the class and use it in the outside world. One way you can help draw connections and foster them branching out, is by having projects based upon real-world problems. As well as projects that have students explore their community, this allows them to connect what they are learning such as liner regression and apply it to the local car dealership.
2. The EAST Initiative model is much like project-based learning in that it is in part focused on learning through the use of technology. However this initiative looks more at practical and realistic problems for their projects. This allows them to be better prepared for college and the adult workplace.
3. Students should be allowed to lead their projects because it promotes leadership, realistic work environment, as well as promotes public speaking. By letting students lead their projects you allow them to get the experience of leading a educating presentation to their peers much like in the workplace. You also allow them to work on their public speaking, and possibly concurring their fear of it.
4. This chapter relates to our project in that we are building connections and branching out from what we have learned in this class to the outside world. We have learned how to blog and have created one and branched it out to the world around us and students in school. We also have to lead our projects, which allows us to work on our ability to present information in a formal education manner to our peers.

Reading Reflection: Chapter 7

1.  The books touches on three types of levels for classroom discussions: Teacher to teacher which is the teachers efforts that went into project planning, student to student which is peers discussing their learning experiences as they unfold, and teacher to student which is working with the whole class but more often smaller groups of students. 

2.  For the "checking in" questions while students are doing their projects, there is procedural, teamwork, understanding, and self-assessment used to "check in" throughout the course of the project. 

3. There are a great deal of benefits using technology! Finding correct sources with valid and useful data is a big help rather than using a book.  Grammatical errors are fixed within Microsoft Word among others, as well as the different presentation options and choices one can use with using technology.

4. The 21st-century skills that can make or break ones project is technology.  The knowledge you have about different technologies and their uses can either help you or hurt you.  Elders who did not grow up with the same technology have had to learn and adjust.  That is one benefit as a young child, now technology is everywhere and being used daily, therefore it is more prominent and around more to learn and use.

5.  For our project, it is important that both Jeff and myself listen and learn about all the technology that we can and are using within our project. It is important, if we do not know already how to use it, to pay attention, retain the information, and put it to use!

reading reflection #7

1. There are several different levels of classroom discussions, such as individual peer-to-peer discussion in which students discuss topics with their peers. There is student to teacher discussions in which the teacher discusses information with students, and there is also teacher to group discussions in which teachers meet with groups about stuff.
2.The questions for checking in with students are designed to measure their current progress with their projects. These questions should be simple because they serve as measuring sticks to their progress. You can also ask them more in depth questions about their project at different points in the project period to see where their project is going in terms of content.
3. The benefits to optimizing technology in the classroom, is that they can get several pieces of data for their projects. It can also serve as a grammar tool to students with the spelling of words. Technology also benefits students in that it makes presenting to their peers easier, as they can do different presentation designs, rather than sticking to a poster-board.
4. The 21st skills that make or break a project is that of technology literacy. Meaning that if you aren't able to work different forms of technology in today's classroom, then you won't be able to find or put information into a presentation. You nee to be able to work technology such as internet search engines as well as PowerPoint.
5. This chapter is important to my project, as my partner and I need to be able to have the 21st century skill of computer literacy to find and put information into our project. We also need to be able to check in with our professor to let her know our progress.

Reading Reflection: Chapter 6

1. It can help the students in so many ways. It can help them see the words they misspell, or their english errors with how they write, it can help them use other word choices and review exactly what they need to work on.  There are many other ways too, that is just what using Microsoft word or similar programs to that can do. 

2. To get them thinking, you can have them do outlines regarding their project.  You can also show them examples and have them write a paragraph or two with their ideas. Another great way and to use group work would be brainstorming with their groups. 

3.  Giving the students the necessary information first is key.  You must set the stage for independent inquiry to get them to generate what they know, wonder, and learn. 

4. The important steps to prepare the students include set up a technology playground, tap student expertise, introduction to project-management tools, and to demonstrate it for them. 

5.  There are many ways to promote inquiry and deep learning, the chapter has a few great examples: brainstorming ideas to combine social studies with science, math, literature, and art. Also, having the students use technology to find an answer that a book or you asked in which they're struggling with. 

6.  This chapter has many great ideas in which we can/have used for our own project.  We have created an outline and are continuously changing or adding to it to better it for our final outcome.  Brainstorming as a group helped at the beginning and still continues to help as we work further and further on our project. 

Reading Reflection #6

1. Technological tools can help students evaluate their strengths in that they can help students see and work on their spelling errors. As well as it can help them with their punctuation. Technology tools can also help students who struggle with word usage, by allowing them to use pictures.
2. You can get your students ready for projects in a variety of ways. One such way is to have them brainstorm with their group members about what they want to do for their project. You can also have them do outlines so they have a general overview of what they want to put into the project.
3. The elements of teaching fundamentals first is to stress the overall importance of fundamentals. Students can/will succeed if they stick to the proper way of doing things for the project.
4. The important steps for preparing students to use technology for projects, is to set the ground rules for it. Inform the students that these are tools not toys for their project. That to use these tools and resources is a privilege, not something for them to socialize and fool around with.
5. You can promote inquiry and deep learning by having students ask questions that a book or a peer cant answer so that they have to use technology to get the answer. This helps students think about the question as well as allows them to see how technology can help them answer their questions.
6. This chapter relates to our project, as we made outlines for our blog project so we know what we need to get done right away.

Reflection #5

1.Before your students start a project, there are several things that need to be considered. The biggest thing to be consider, is that of the projects topic, as you want students to choose a topic that can be easy to research. You also want to make sure that the students also are able to use resources available to them so that they can have success with their project.
2.The management needs for students and teachers are the same for projects. Both need to make good use of time management, management of resource use, as well as management of work.
3.There are different types of technological applications that you can use for project.s Some of those are as simple as Microsoft Word, and as high-tech as Prezy. Depending on what type of project you are doing, you can choose which one to use. Many projects, require the use of a presentation, so PowerPoint and Prezy are great kinds.
4.The concepts in this chapter are useful for my presentation, as we will be using several different types of technological applications for our project/blog of Staying Healthy.

Reading Reflection: Chapter 5

1.  Prior to starting the project with students, you must think of all that you or they will need. What materials they will need, what you will allow them to use.  Also keeping in mind the safe sites or material that they may use.  You might have to send up some guidelines or preplan to have websites they can use and are safe for your age range. Will they be required to get expert information, and who can they seek for that. Also, potential field trips that could/will be taken? Thinking through all of these prior to starting the project with students is very important for safely, functionality, and time given for the project!

2. Time management is something you need every single day in life, whether for school, work, or your family.  Setting up a project calendar with milestones is something to help them have deadlines and be sure they know when those deadlines are. It helps the students to work towards them, and the teacher to set rules and guidelines for herself and for grading. 

3.  Now a days, there are a variety of technology applications you can use for projects such as with PBL.  Such as how we use for the course, a blog.  It works well for each group member to see what is used or being done in one centralized location.  Everyone can access it, everyone can add to it, and change what they wish to!  Other examples to share would be like google docs, and wiki to name a few other examples. 

4.  Time management is important to help to teach your students and to keep up with as a teacher.  It makes things roll better for both parties involved.  As a group, we must be concious of our deadlines, not only for our own grades and participation in the project, but to make sure we are meeting them for our overall group needs within our project and the final portion of it. 

Revised Concept Map

Reading Reflection: Chapter 4

1. Some potential pitfalls in project design include spending a long time on activity, short time on learning outcomes, technology being layered over traditional practice, trivial thematic units, as well as being overly scripted with many, many steps. 

2.  Some good features of a project would be projects loosely designed with the possibility of different learning paths, generative which cause students to construct meaning, centered off of a driving question, captures the students interest through complex and compelling real-life experiences, structures so students learn with and from other students, and by the students actually doing are a few good ones. 

3.  Project ideas come from everywhere! Some great ideas from the chapter include: project plans developed from other teachers, contemporary issues, news stories, and student interests and questions. 

4.  The first step to design a project is to revisit the framework and make a final list of learning objectives. Next, you must establish evidence of understanding for what the students would know or be able to do. The third step is planning the project theme or subject.  The fourth step is to plan entree into the project experience. 

5. The concepts in this chapter relate greatly. We already have our project idea, but revisiting the framework of our idea and looking at our learning objectives is still very important. We want to include all our information in a clear and concise way.  

Reading Response #4

1. The potential pitfalls in project design, is that you or at times your students will get overwhelmed with all the needs of projects design. Designing your project needs a lot of collaboration from you and your group, as the presentation is the key component to your project. 

2. Good projects feature a lot of components. Good projects are well designed meaning that they have a creative and fluid flow to them for the audience. They also are clean and neat, meaning no scratched out misspellings, or anything of that nature. They also aren't too wordy, meaning that they provide clear concise information to the readers.

3. Project ideas; come from you or your group members. The ideas for projects stem from being given a topic and letting your creativity and imagination provide you with the idea for how you will present the topic to the reader. Some people will stick to generic clean/simple project ideas. While some will choose wild and imaginative ideas for how to present the information.

4. The steps to design a project, starts first the idea. You first need an idea of how you will present the data to the audience. Next you need to design your idea, in that you need to think of how you find a way to implement your idea for the audience. The next step is construction of the project, which is data collection, recording, and putting the project together. The final step is presenting your project, in which you present your project to an audience or peers.

5. These concepts are very important to my project, in that we are currently developing the "how" part of or our project. In that we are working on how we are going to present our idea. We also need to remember to keep our project clear and concise, not making it difficult for the audience to read and understand our projects overall goal.

Reading Response #3

1. Discussion on what should be considered in finding “the Big Idea” for a project.-When doing a project, you need to consider finding the "big ideas" or the "main ideas". These are key concepts, words, meanings, or at times people within the text that you are covering. By finding these, you are able to start to think of how they apply to the text and world around you. That makes it easier to do projects, if you have the main ideas.
2. Discussion on the 2lst Century skills.-21st century skills are designed to make one go beyond subject matter and look at the skills, tones, and mind-sets that projects may have. One way to help students to accomplish this is by using the Blooms categories of objectives: Apply, Analyze, Evaluate, and create.
3. Discussion on the 21st Century literacies.-21st century literacy is being able to be an independent, informed, and useful member of society with the technology around you. You can help students become literate in this sense by using "true-to-life projects"(pg.49 Reinventing project-based learning, Boss&Kraus). These projects allow one to become literate of the world around them through the use of real life situations.
4. Discussion on each of the essential learning functions.-The ISTE NETSS addresses the manner of becoming more skill-full of technology in this digital age. NETSS focuses more so on the ability to be creative and innovative with technology in school and work. 
5. Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project.-These concepts are very useful to our project, as we will need to find the big ideas for our project so we can help apply them to the world and text to our students. By doing so it can spark an interest in the students to want to learn more. We also use the NETSS, in that our projects are done in a manner that help keep us up to date with the technological advancements of our time, as well as prepare our students for the innovations of technology down the road.

Reading Reflection: Chapter 2

1.  It focuses on the new contexts for learning, which creates new opportunities for teachers to work together using other forms of learning rather than traditional ways, such as using technology.  

2. It decreases teacher isolation, increases commitment to the mission, shares responsibility, the learning is more powerful, and a higher likelihood of fundamental, systemic change. 

3. Learning communities is a great way for teachers to work together to make school better for the students.  It gives them time to share ideas and information, rather than being isolated. 

4.  These learning communities help the students to work together and share their ideas, similar to their teachers.  It helps them broaden their thoughts and visions on a topic rather than just what they thought of. 

5.  The components for shared vision would be have a clear sense of the mission, be organized within the groups, share values and beliefs, teamwork towards their goal, and commit themselves to their work and the groups final goal. 

6.  This chapter relates to my group in numerous ways. Having to work together to accomplish our goal, sharing our own ideas but listening to others, as well as accountability of each member and all of us as whole are some things that stick out in my mind after reading this chapter. 

Reading Reflection Chapter 2

1. The focus of learning communities, is to help your school, business, etc. develop better and be better functioning. They grow, as they continue to try and get the results that they want.

2. The benefits of learning communities are that they allow for growth with their members, as well as their overall goal is to make their business or school better.

3. Learning communities affect teachers in that it can help them see what different methods of instruction work, as they have several members with different ideals for how a solution to a problem. This allows for collaboration between teachers.

4. Learning community’s affect the students in that they learn to understand and work together, much like their teachers. The students learn to work together and bounce different ideas off of each other to solve a problem.

5. The components of the shared vision for learning communities, is very similar to any team project. In that their shared vision is their goal, or what they are looking to achieve in their group. To do this, the members need to learn to work together, ensure group accountability, and be reasonable, as well as accepting different methods of achieving the overall goal.

6. The concepts in this chapter relate to my project, because as this is a group project my members and Ii need to engage in type of learning community. We need to work together, on achieving our goal which is to finish this project. As we are a group of three, we need to be able to hold each other accountable for their roles. As well as we also need to be understanding of the different methods to achieve our goal of finishing this project and making it the best that it can be.

1. As I start my journey on project based learning I need to keep some things in mind. I need to be able to work on my ability to work/trust the members of my group. As project based learning requires you to work in small groups, there needs to be a level of trust and accountability to the group and its members.
2.The benefits of project based learning is that it allows you to work on your ability to do projects in the group setting. Meaning that you have to be able to put your trust in your fellow group member s to do their job.
3. The benefits of students doing project based learning is that it allows them to get more confidence while working on projects. As well as being able to get to know their fellow classmates.
4. When doing project based learning you need to be careful of students doing all of their work. As well as preaching accountability, as in some cases some students won't fully do their portion of the group project.
5. The new technology high is in California and it focuses on the fundamentals of technology. It strives to use technology in the class as part of its project based learning curriculum.

Virtual Pen Pals: Part A and B

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Reading Reflection: Chapter 1

1. The Things you need to keep in mind when doing Project-Based Learning include: Today's students are up for the challenge, projects are with the effort, students live and learn in the real world, and new contexts encourage the project approach. 

2. It is something new for the teachers and students.  The benefits of the PBL are phenomenal for students to take forth with them long after school.  The teacher-student dynamic changes.  Students are using their own mind and creativity to come up with ideas in this type of learning.  They are eager and ambitious to follow through.  It creates real life experiences that they must figure out on their own.  It not only helps them learn, but it teaches them to think for themselves and problem solve.  As an adult in this world, those are very helpful traits to be able to have and put forth on a daily basis in any setting. 

3.  There are a great deal of benefits for students who participate in PBL.  By learning and engaging in real-world projects, their experience with learning changes.  The students behavior changes from just sitting in class, listening to a teacher teach.  They begin to come up with their own thoughts and ideas and form their own meanings.  The classroom setting changes for the students. Rather than dreading coming to school, it gives a fresh new take on learning and real-world experiences that will be beneficial to them after they are done with school, day to day life. 

4.  When using PBL, it is different than what teachers are used to.  When using it, teachers must keep in mind just that.  The way you engage with students through PBL will change, and you will have to readjust. Communication, classroom management, physical arrangement, and assessment changes dramatically with PBL.  Another thing to remember is that with PBL, there is a lot more preparation and planning for teachers. 

5.  New Technology High is all based off of research.   They do not use technology as the focus, but as a tool they consistently have access to.  This is a great example of New Technology Model.  The school is limited to learners, but those who do get in by lottery get to benefit from this type of learning greatly.  It is a forward thinking program using technology to help aid their learning.  

Concept Map 1

Brainstorm

Project ideas:

• Healthy Living
• Fitness
• Meal planning
• Make their own dictionary / Nutrition Vocabulary
• Food groups
• Digestive system

Final Project: 

• Fitness
• Can create a video ... work out video
• Fitness program (Open and invite people in)
• Will have to learn fitness safety
• Meal Planning
• Students have to learn how to cook
• Safety of cooking

Topic: Fitness