- Description of the levels of classroom discussions.
When implementing a project there are three main levels of discussions
that take place; teacher to teacher, student to student, and teacher to
student. Teacher to teacher discussions will take place before, during and
after the unit. Teacher discussions allow for critical criticism, while working
together to build a strong unit that the student will gain the needed knowledge
and skills. Student to student discussions allow for the student to dive deeper
into their experiences with the project. Usually done best in groups students
are able to explain their thinking process and reasoning skills to one another
which in turn helps students learn from one another. Teacher to student
discussion is a traditional method that everyone is familiar with, but when
working in project based learning this level of discussion should be different.
This discussion is more about the teacher listening to the student’s responses
to one another and in their groups. The teacher should only be having these
discussions as whole group when introducing new topics.
- Discussion on the questions for “checking in” on
students during a project.
As we know every student is different and not everyone will learn at the
same pace or even learn in the same manner, so when students are working in
groups on projects it is necessary to check in on groups. The book states to
check in about half way through the project but in my experiences checking in a
few times (at least 3) is very beneficial to the teacher and the group. If a
teacher doesn’t check in enough it is possible the group will be very of track
or off topic and this makes it more difficult to help them reroute in a small
amount of time. If a teacher checks in too often the project isn’t really the student’s
project but the teachers with the help of the students.
There are four main
areas that a teacher wants to check in with when students are working as a
group; procedural, teamwork, understanding, and self assessment. Procedural
questions to ask could be is the group
staying on schedule? Are there sources outside of the school that could better
help them understand the topics? Teamwork questions could be how are they working together? Is there any
conflict? Is everyone sharing the work load? Understanding questions might
be higher order thinking questions, what
does this information say to you? How could you use this information outside of
school? And always check the self assessment of a student so that they know
how they are feeling about their progress and their personal understanding of
the project.
- Discussion on the benefits to students when optimizing
the use of technology.
When technology is implemented and used thoroughly in class projects the students
have a different path of learning. They are able to gain new insights that
might not have been possible through traditional teaching. Students are able to
practice their 21st century learning skills, while developing new
skills that are involved when working with groups, technology, and presenting
information.
- Discussion on the 21st-century skills that can make or
break a project.
There are many 21st century
learning skills that student will learn in project based learning communities,
two that are always found when working with technology are trouble shooting and
managing conflict. Trouble shooting skills are essential when working with technology,
students must know that where lays technology lays the chance it will fail, and
lose everything you have worked on. The project might not be worth pay like in
a “real- world” job, but students need to understand the challenges of the real
world. Working in groups will usually have some type of conflict, and student
who will be successful in the working world will know how to manage conflict
with in groups and the workplace.
- Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to
your topic/project.
This chapter relates to our topics and project very
well, managing conflicts be it with time, schedules, classmates, etc helps us
to develop our 21st century learning skills as well. When it comes
to questioning and monitoring students we are at an age that we should be self
monitoring a lot more with all they levels of communication and they types of
questions that were discussed in number 2.