- Discussion on the items that should be considered before starting a project with students.
Before starting a project with students, things that are very important to consider is budget, time, technology needed, materials, and a final plan for assessment. When starting a project, the book as well as our class referred to working with media specialists to ensure that all of the technological resources that the teacher plans on using are available, ready for student access, as well as how to instruct students with these tools. I found it very helpful that working with a media specialist to introduce how to use the tools such as a website, internet, email, and other resources were incorporated to the beginning of starting a project with students. Another influential item that can be addressed before starting a project with students is the use of time management. The teacher must address if the project should be blocked into smaller chunks, and specific due dates that are accessible for students and parents (i.e. a class website or blog). A great tool that teachers can add to their website is an e-calendar so that students, parents, and the teacher all have access to due dates for pieces or the entire project.
2. Discussion on teachers’ and students’ management needs.
As stated on page 84, there are several management needs for both students and teachers. A few of the teachers management needs are a means of communication with the students, as well as making a way to introduce to students if there will be any changes to the project, or rubric. Getting resources to students such as reading material, internet, computers, or any other things needed for the project is for the teacher to manage before they start the project. Teachers also need to manage the assessment strategy. The teacher needs to make goals, balance between individuals on work load, feedback, and productivity assessing, as well as how to keep productivity of learning in an environment that exhibits varieties of learning among the teams.
Students need management as well during the project process. Students need the major importance of tools to keep their time managed for productivity during the project, as well as tools to keep the entire team working together towards their project goals. I personally believe that seeking assistance is one of the most important management need for students. The students need readily access to an email, discussion board, or instant message notification that gives them assistance if they need it during any time of working on the project.
3. Discuss some of the technology applications that should be considered for use in a project.
Something I found helpful in the reading about technological applications for projects is a class blog. I have had several instructors in my college career use this, and it was very helpful throughout the semester. In the reading, it stated that Drupal, and Textpattern were a few helpful blogs that included discussion forums, and surveys to help during the learning process or projects for classroom teachers. Another application is the use of wiki and flickr as it can be a great file folder for all the students projects, work, and other items that can be readily accessed from anywhere, on any computer, as long as it has internet access. Another great tool is the use of dropbox, this can be used on quizzes, and sends from one computers folder, to another computer's folder (i.e. from one student, to another, or to a teacher).
4. Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project.
The concepts in the chapter relate to our project because of all the tools, assessment, and technological applications that we are learning to use in the process of creating our ongoing project. In the topic of gardening, it is hard to do your own project in the snow that we have in Michigan, unless we use indoor facilities. We can use images, videos, and other web based tools to find out more about our topic to help us create our project and learn at the same time both on gardening, as well as technology applications. By creating our blog, online lesson plans, podcasts, the use of our class website, eLearning (D2L), we are learning different tools to become better pre-service teachers.
Marleigh, I agree that a media specialist is a great idea for starting a lesson. In fact, in creating my lesson, I used a media specialist to start out the research for students by introducing them to Safe Surfing. I agree that in order for student and parents to check on chunks of the project that are due, it is a great idea to incorporate a e-calendar in our websites. In my opinion, it is so important for teachers to help students manage their time and provide them with valid feedback so they can self-assess if they are on the right track. Just like you, I have had many of my instructors use blogs, as well as wikis, and drop box, etc. and I feel at least comfortable knowing that I have used this forms of technology before, especially since they are important for our future classroom. I agree that you cannot do all of your project during the season we are experiencing, but a green house might be a good idea. Since we are working on weather conditions, we can make observations of weather conditions with weather instruments during the winter, but I agree that in order for students to learn about things like radar images, facts about weather conditions, maps, weather forecasts, and the job of a meteorologist, students need to use other web-based tools, images, and videos to learn about them. This is why we need to keep all of the resources that are beneficial to our project in mind. Lastly, I agree with you that all the technology we have discussed and learned about is only helping us to be the best teachers we can be. I truly love your reflection! It was very insightful and easy to read. Excellent Job!
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting when reading your response to number one because I myself had never really thought about a budget being something to consider before starting a project, but it is something that is obviously very crucial and important. Also i agree with you on the idea of using a media specialist to help the teacher to plan if what they want to use is available and also teaching not only the students but the teachers how to use it. Also i really enjoyed what you have stated about time management because its a skill you will use throughout your life and it is a skill that should be picked up at a young age.
ReplyDeleteI especially liked your technology applications. I never really thought of using flickr in a classroom and I think that could be an interesting website to use. I also liked how you have to think of budget, time, and technology available to your class because a lot of that could come from a teacher's budget rather than the school's
ReplyDeleteExcellent review - I'm glad you mentioned the necessity of a budget when considering what needs to be done before starting a new project. Unfortunately we'll most likely have to gather most of the materials ourselves, and this will often require having a strict budget. I appreciate your references to the book (page numbers); this makes it easy for me to reference where you found your information, and where to look if I want to learn more about that specific topic. Good point about not being able to carry out your project in Michigan right now! You did a great job of thinking of other resources and ways to carry out this project, despite this awful weather.
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