Student Self-Direction 12-3

What drives a student to remain engaged in a self-directed activity?
    My first response to what drives a student to remain engaged in an activity is when student have choices.  Also when students have a personal connection and have a chance to share their thinking with others they are more motivated.  Take for instance the 6th grade social studies wiki we created.  Students were highly engaged during the time given to post comments. In just one day and an evening we saw students getting on to the wiki, starting to research and back up what they believe and responding to others.  Students love talking with on another and middle schoolers are social- evidence of that is clearly seen as students are responding to each others questions and expressing agreement.  Even if some comments are superficial- the foundations are being built.  Now, that this is kicked off, how do we keep the excitement?  How do we make sure all kids have a voice?

What are some elements that you think need to be in place?
    Teachers need to be very clear on what they want the students to learn and at what level.  Students must have a certain level of knowledge and schema and be clear on the end product expectations.  Students need to be reflective and know what they know and what they don’t know and look at that in a positive way.  Teachers become the coach and learner right along with the student.  Teachers need to be aware of letting students do the thinking and not doing it for them.

One Wonderful Wiki Moment

So, after introducing our students to our wiki today and allowing them to experiment I had some students ask me, can we get on to this and add onto it at home?  The cost of the wiki? Free.  The engagement of students? Priceless!

Groundwork (Chapter 6)

Groundwork is such a great keyword for chapter 6 and essential when designing any product.  I can’t agree more that the careful planning that goes into instruction has a direct impact on student achievement.  I like the focus on accessing prior knowledge and assessing where students are at a given time and place.  This chapter fits perfectly in with the district’s focus on the formative assessment process.  In particular I liked the section of the chapter that ask the reader, “What tools are best for the job? Imagine these tools in students’ hands.  What do students already know how to do?  What will they need to know?”  As I experience introducing new tools and techniques to my students I have spent the time to lay groundwork…but like trying something new there are glitches and unforeseen issues.  There have been times that I wanted to give up even when I thought I had scaffolded the lesson- only to not anticipate student’s questions and struggles to do things as an independent learner.  Take for instance, setting kids up with an e-mail account.  While the steps were spelled out and we had students fill a hard paper copy out of what needed to be done before every entering anything in a computer- it ended up being one of my nightmare days.  All I dreamed about that night was the little crazy, insanely hard to read verification codes…!!!

Test Anxiety All Over Again

Okay, the TRAIL’s assessment took me back in time when I remember the nerves high stakes brought to my heart.  My palms were sweating, my heart started to beat faster and I started to recall all I knew about test taking.  As I took the test my mind went to my students and what they must feel like taking tests.  Some of the words in the questions tripped me up and it made me think about how the reading teachers in my building are looking at how students approach questions.

I also found resources that I had no idea were available to me as a teacher.  Barb was so knowledgeable and able to show us some great sites that I have already accessed to help improve my instruction.  I also believe that core teachers, myself included, need to have more staff development on teaching kids how to research.  We all need to be a part of this and with the level of thinking that we must push kids to we must all work we need to push information fluency.

Pifalls or Paradise?

I have always joked that I “steal” my best ideas from other teachers.  Many parts of this chapter made me think about how I have come across a project or idea created by someone else and it had so many steps, layers, and the timeline seemed to take a big part of instruction only to hit a few learning outcomes.

Chapter 4 was a good reminder for me to be a critical thinker and take the time to examine what the project is asking of students.  Looking at student work is powerful and I completely agree with the authors that this should be a standard to look at to gauge projects for the depth and quality.

The list of pitfalls are a good list to keep handy when searching all the many projects available.

Learning in the Sandbox

Today I really enjoyed the amount of time we got to play in the technological sandbox if you will.  I played with voice threads.  I can see so many possibilities for this tool.  One instructional strategy that has been very successful in my classroom is the use of written conversations.

Written conversations are a variation of dialogue journaling.  Unlike class discussions that feature one person talking with the rest of the students waiting for a possible turn to add their comments, written conversations are silent but ongoing discussions that involve every student in the entire process as a communicator.

I started thinking about how to use voice threads with the written conversation.  This tool has the capability for students to not only respond in written format but by recording their voice as well. 

I appreciate the time in the sandbox and it has help to spur on some more creative thinking to reach students in a different and engaging way.

Golden Lines

Here are a collection of quotes and passages that I consider “golden lines” or part that stick out to me as important, meaningful or stick out for some reason.  These “golden lines” have been collected from our E2T2 class and our text, Reinventing Project-Based Learning by Suzie Boss and Jane Krauss

"It's NEVER about the TOOL- it's about YOUR curriculum." Jason Douglass

On Professional Learning Communities:
“Working together didn’t cost us anything other than time, but it makes a huge difference in our classrooms. This was nourishment for us.  It changed my worldview.”

“How often do you have time to learn together?”

“Belonging to a community of practice can make your professional life more productive and satisfying.  But to really reap the benefits of partnerships, don’t stop there.  Professional learning communities focus on the threee big, student-centered ideas:  ensure that students learn, create a culture of collaboration for school improvement, and focus on results.”


Rigor and 21st Century Skills:
“A well-designed project causes students to stretch their intellectual muscles in ways traditional learning activities may not.”

Projects and Pitfalls:
“Let the buyer beware.  With a multitude of projects to choose from, you need to be aware that quality varies widely.  Be selective.”

“Long on activity, short on learning outcomes.”

“Technology layered over traditional practice.”

“Trivial thematic units”

“Overly scripted with many steps.”

“They were wise enough to let student’s interests and curiousity drive the learning experience.”

“Good projects are everywhere.”

Authenticity

Out of the many excellent points and ideas “Reinventing Project-Based Learning” brings up I can not second loudly enough the idea of creating authentic projects for an authentic audience.  When teachers focus on big ideas, compelling topics, and connect learners to the real world amazing things can happen in the classroom.  I know that all learning can’t be completely authentic but the closer we can get to making learning relevant the more engaged and motivated our students will be.  I have always been fascinated in learning about how other teachers do this.

One goal I have this year is to be able to use what I am learning in this cohort to as the book puts it “design projects that cause students to stretch their intellectual muscles in way traditional learning activities may not.”  I know that this starts with being intentional in my planning and by analyzing my learning targets to check for the deeper levels of Blooms

As much as possible I want my classroom to be one in which kids hardly ever have to ask, why are we learning this?

World of Wikis

E2T2 Reflection #1
10-22-10

What did I learn today?  Did I do a good job?  How do you knowI started class wanting to build my schema on 21st Century learning skills and learning some protocols to go along with collaboration.  I definitely increased my knowledge of 21st Century Learning.  The frameworks and the contexts were really helpful to look at.

I found the facts about work ethic interesting.

While we not introduced to any direct protocols for collaboration I discovered how wikis can be a resource to foster collaboration.  I was interested to hear how other schools are using the wiki to record information on student’s after school programs and how curriculum areas use them.

I did do a good job today because I wanted to follow the norm of listen, learning, and applying to my context- my brain was already whirling about how I can use the wiki for my content area.

Okay...so I am super excited to play with all the things I just learned about and now I want more nuts and bolts of how to create a full wiki.