Reflection 11

1. Description of what occurs as a result of using the Project-based learning approach.

Project based learning is a system that engages the students attention into the learning process. Students will gain knowledge and skills by working in a project that has a limited time. Moreover, students will have a time to investigate and answer to a complex problem that requires them a cooperation effort. In fact, project based learning has essential elements such as significant content, 21st century competencies, in-depth inquiry, driving question, needing to know, making choice, audience feedback and presentation. Significant content let the students know the important information, and one thing led to another until they understand the key concepts of the academic subject. In 21st century competencies, students will be able to solving problem, thinking critical, collaborating with the team work. As a result, they will improve their communication skills besides the creativity of solving the problems. The project would be done perfectly if the students do some research, asking questions, and using resources in order to provide a good solution. Communication would be the best part to get the feedback from the audience.  Students may need to do further revisions or inquiry due to the feedback they receive.  Using project based learning would help the learners to be more active in the classroom. The fact that I support the idea of using project based learning in the school or in the business because it might help the learners to be more creative of providing answers. All these activities have to be done by the use of technology, which makes the learning process more effective to the students. In sum, project based learning motivates the students to work as a group to reach the best solution of their assessment.

2. Discussion on ways to “bring your project home”.

·         Providing reflection of the project.

·         Giving feedback.

·         Working on professional development.

3. Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project.

I would defiantly prefer using project based learning in any project I will have as assignment. In fact, it makes me enjoy doing research and integrating my work with technology.  

Chapter 11 Reflection: Bringing it Home

1. Description of what occurs as a result of using the Project-Based Learning.

• By using Project-Based learning, it can open a door to a variety of future projects. As time goes on it's always good to reflect back and see what really worked in the projects and maybe what could be done differently the next time. Teachers often have noticed a transformation in students' learning. By learning about different technology that Project-Based activities offer, students can use what they've learned an apply them to other classes or future projects. This learning style is really allowing students to adapt to the changing environment we live in. Some don't want to admit it but educational resources are moving towards technology resources faster and faster. 

2. Discussion on ways to "bring your project home."

• To bring your project home you can come together as a class and do a reflection on the project they accomplished. Capitalize on your investment - what helped make the project successful. Critique your work - use your colleagues and yourself to draw out each other's best ideas for improvement by putting together a project debrief. This allows teachers to gain an opportunity for conversation and professional growth. Share your insights - find ways to share your project with other colleagues. Become a resource for your colleagues - think about what you've learned through designing the project and consider turning your experience into a professional development opportunity for your colleagues. Enter a contest - by doing this it gives you a chance to put your best work forward which will gain exposure to your project(s). An opportunity for critical feedback may be presented to you as well. And last, just enjoy the journey - wrap up your project in any way you'd like, but remember to take the time to remember how far you've came and what project/ideas may be presented to you in the future. 

3. Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project.

• This chapter relates to our project because it has opened new resources for not only this particular topic but for other classes. It has allowed me to collaborate with my group and create a blog, website, lesson plans, digital stories, the list goes on. This chapter wraps up how well our group worked together and allows us to reflect back on all the mini projects we completed to put into our big project. 

Reflection Chapter 10 - Celebrating and Reflecting

1. Discussion on the importance of setting aside time for reflection.
• Setting aside time for reflecting on projects is important because it helps students feel good about their accomplishments, but more importantly, reflection can be the thing that makes learning really stick!
2. Discussion on the reason students need to reflect and elaborate.
• During projects, students experience challenges, frustrations, and joy. Encouraging them to think about how their own creativity came into play to move through the project may help them remember techniques to use in future projects. Prompting students to remember the humor and compassion during the project is important to help outshine the issues found during the project process.In the end, this can help students see how joyous and gratifying the learning journey can be through recalling their positive experiences.
3. Discussion on how schools build tradition and identity.
• Many schools' identities are tied to their traditions. When a school can establish a tradition of exemplary project work, this can help build awareness to others: families, the community, and students in lower grades. This creates a foundation for tradition. Younger Students will be ready for the learning that awaits them in futur project-based classrooms. The Community will start to notice and value students' accomplishments, they will give you enthusiastic support. It is important to remember to think of ways to showcase the projects that will establish your identity as a community of learners!
4. Discussion on the importance celebrating a project.
• When celebrating a project, you can show students' work, create an event, create a blog, and even create a party. Celebrating learning is important to the student as well as building the school's identity as a place where students are able to learn through projects.
5. Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project.
• It is important to remember as a teacher that students need praise (celebration) to show that their hard work on their projects are important. It is also important for teachers to remember that reflection on projects helps students to see what their own strengths are and help them to be excited for future learning projects. With our students, hopefully we can use these techniques to help motivate the students to excel in the project-based learning that could possibly create a tradition that helps create an identity for the school.

Reflection #10

1.   Discussion on the importance of setting aside time for reflection.

Reflection requires the students to have time in order to give appropriate reasons. Moreover, students will have time to provide their opinion just to make sure of what they have done. Also, setting aside time might help the students to look at their classmate reflections, which give them the experience to understand the other opinions. 

2.   Discussion on the reason students need to reflect and elaborate.

Students need to reflect and elaborate because of the fact that reflecting and elaborating are an important parts of project based learning. As a teacher, students have to experience something new besides doing research. When my learners elaborate they are going to improve in some certain area as taking care of the time in every step of their project. Also, reflection is going to help them to in the way of expressing their feeling about their accomplishment.   

3.   Discussion on how schools build tradition and identity.

The foundations of any school tradition are students, their families and community around them. In fact, each school has their own tradition and identity. To illustrate, you can find some school that focus and teach certain majors such as engineering, sport, and so on.    

4.   Discussion on the importance celebrating a project.

Celebrating a project is an important thing that teacher can do for learners. When the students celebrating, they might feel proud of what their accomplishment. Teachers might celebrating the students’ final work by showing the final product in the social media. Moreover, teachers might give some prize to the students who have been working hard as reward of their work.

5.   Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project.

Reflection would be my best part due to the fact it makes me express my thought about the reading part. Reading reflection guide me to look to the subject from different aspect, which helps me to do more research and understand in order to understand the topic.  

Chapter 10 Reflection: Celebrating & Reflecting

1. Discussion on the importance of setting aside time for reflection.

• The text says it best, classes barely finish one learning experience before moving on to the next. By taking the time to reflect on projects/topics it gives students the time to take in all the information they've learned and really let it stick to their knowledge. When classes move on before reflecting I often wonder how often students actually remember what they learned. Not only does reflecting allow students to feel accomplished in what they've learned and done on the topic but it can also help them with future projects and topics that may arise in their future academics.

2. Discussion on the reason students need to reflect and elaborate.

• It's important for students to reflect and elaborate because this allows them to be more successful in future projects. By having students reflect and elaborate you can see what they've learned on the particular topic or project. Teachers can ask questions such as: What does this get you wondering about next? What do you want to learn now, and how do you want to go about it? Be sure to ask your students where they want to go on a topic, some answers could yield a more ambitious project than you would imagine. 

3. Discussion on how schools build tradition and identity.

• There are many ways schools build their own traditions and identity. For example, some schools are known for their sports achievements. Inspiring teachers can leave their tradition for younger students who look forward to their class based off what they've heard about the teacher. As community members recognize students' accomplishments, they will give them enthusiastic support. Regardless of the tradition or identity, when families, the community, and students come together you have a foundation for a tradition. Build your school's identity as a place where students get to learn through projects.

4. Discussion on the importance celebrating a project.

• Celebrating a project that students have done is very important because it showcases students' accomplishments. This also allows you to anchor memories in students' minds. Teachers can celebrate projects in a variety of different ways such as showing students' work on a blog, creating an event or holding a party. Big or small, it's important that you celebration has the following: an opportunity to look back on more time, acknowledgment of how hard work and commitment contributed to the success of the project and a culture of excellence at your school, appreciation for those who helped, a display of learning, including both student creations and presentations, a look inside the learners with opportunities for them to talk about their processes and growth, and an opportunity to showcase projects to colleagues, administration, parents, and others in your larger learning community (p. 155). 

5. Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your project/topic.

• This chapter relates to our project because in a way we are celebrating what we've accomplished thus far in our blog. We are also sharing this blog with a larger learning community including our teachers and other classmates. We can also look back on our blog and reflect and elaborate on what we have learned over the past several weeks. 

Final Concept Map

Reflection 9

1-      Description of a method of understanding prior-knowledge of students.

There are several ways that helps the teachers understand the students’ background in any topic such as:

·         Students’ performance based on prior knowledge.

·         Self-assessment in prior knowledge.

·         Concept map.

·         Test.

·          KWL chart.

2-      Discussion on the importance of establishing anchors for a project.

Anchors is one of the most helpful technique that teachers can use as a guide to assess the students’ performance. Also, it helps the teacher to know how the students are doing in their project. As a result, they are able to help the students based on their needs.

3-      Description of several ways to assess what students learned during the project.

·         Making a model of real world.

·         Competition,

·         Doing classroom project

·         Submitting of publication.

4-      Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project.

I like in this chapter how to know the students prior knowledge. In fact, understanding the students previous information help me as a teacher to assess and improve the learners’ performance.   

Reflection #9: Making Assessment Meaningful, of Reinventing Project-Based Learning,

1. Description of a method of understanding prior-knowledge of students.
• KWL chart or have students have a discussion about what they already know about the subject.
2. Discussion on the importance of establishing anchors for a project.
• 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. This helps the teacher develop a plan to help be successful on what needs to be taught or what can be expanded on in the lesson plan.
3. Description of several ways to assess what students learned during the project.
• model real-world 
• contest
• submit for publication
• classroom projects 
4. Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project.
• This chapter helps us to see that it is important to make sure all students are prepared for a unit and make sure that what is planned is at the right level for the certain students in your class. I liked in this chapter the different ways to "test" what the students learned from the topic/activities.

Chapter 9 Reflection: Making Assessment Meaningful

1. Description of a method of understanding prior-knowledge of students

• By using projects in the classroom students have the opportunity to not only learn new things but also apple what they already know. a teacher can use different tools of assessment such as the K-W-L chart rather than using national testing to see where they are academically. 

2. Discussion on the importance of establishing anchors for a project

• The anchors of a project give teachers a sense of where students are starting and how far they're going as they work to meeting learning goals. By expanding opportunities of differentiated instruction it will help all students be successful in their projects. 

3. Description of several ways to assess what students learned during the project

• There are many ways to assess what students learned during a project. For example, teachers can bladinently ask students what they've learned and may what they're unsure of to help guide their learning and prevent any misconceptions. By taking what they've learned teachers can have them apply it to something new to create. Teachers can also encourage real-world assessment and maybe even push students toward entering their project into a contest or submit it for publication. 

4. Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project

• This chapter helps our group take what prior knowledge we have about staying healthy and apply it to what we have learned thus far in our project. By taking what we know and what we have learned we are able to create new things. 

Reflection 8

1. Description of some ways to build connections and branch out beyond the classroom. • Using technology to have the students’ attention to explore the course topic. • Have the students to experience learning by technology. • Using the project based learning to have the students to explore and know more about the research topic. • Students need to be connected with experts by using some online conference or another tools. 2. Description of the EAST Initiative Model. The EAST is the Environmental and Spatial Technologies that use the technology for solving problems besides improving the students’ and the teachers’ performance. The purpose of EAST is: • Students are independent for their learning. • Having the students to solve the problems. • Using the technology as a supportive tools. • Students have to collaborate and accomplish the goal as a teamwork. 3. Discussion on some reasons to let students “lead” their projects. I believe that when the students have the opportunity to experience something new, they might be more responsible for their own problems. Moreover, students are able to describe and discover the knowledge, which engage them in the course and let them be creative. 4. Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project. Having the students discover and experience being a leader is a most important part of the learning process. For example, as a graduate students, when my professor ask me to do more research in order to finish my project, I would be more excited to find all the answer for the my project driving question. Also, I will feel that I am the leader for my project, and I will be more responsible to accomplish my goal.

Chapter 8 Reflection: Building Connections & Branching Out

1. Description of some ways to build connections and branch out beyond the classroom.

• Digital tools can make it easy for students to share their work and exchange ideas with diverse audiences. This allows students to work with a real audience and make connections to others in the community. For example, they can even work with a class that may be across the hall from their classroom. 
• Explore more in depth to expand their learning. 
• Allow students to choose an interesting topic to ensure they will put more into their project rather than just what is expected. Let students create projects that allow them to become the experts. 
• Expand their learning circle, use connections with experts using blogs.

2. Description of the EAST initiative model.

• The Environmental and Spatial Technologies model was develop by Tim Stephenson. This model is used to demonstrate the benefit of using technology for a purpose and solve problems to make improvements in their communities. The model is essential for four reasons:
• Student driven learning - meaning students are responsible for their own learning.
• Authentic project-based learning - meaning that students should be engaged in solving real problems in their community.
• Technology as tools - meaning students need access to the relevant technologies that professionals use to solve real problems
• Collaboration - meaning students collaborate in teams to pursue authentic projects, they accomplish more than any one person can do in isolation. 

3. Discussion on some reason to let students "lead" their project.

• Allowing students to lead their project can be extremely beneficial in a students' learning. It allows students to do projects they're ultimately interested in. This also allows students with learning disabilities to display their project in a way that works for them. By allowing students to lead their project the teacher is giving students free range accommodations if needed to ensure they will be successful in their project. Students can take on their own learning while the teacher is there to support them. They learn to think as detectives, journalists, scientists, historians, ect. 

4. Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project. 

• By allowing us to lead our own project in terms of creating our own lesson plans, activities, health fair. We also use our blog to build connections between our group and branch out when we create activities that would go beyond the classroom and into the community. 

Reflection Chapter 8, Building Connections and Branching Out, of Reinventing Project-Based Learning

Description of some ways to build connections and branch out beyond the classroom.

• let students choose an interesting topic
• allow students to make connections to self or to their communities
• introduce the students to an expert on the topic
• Make connections to real world problems
• have students explore more in depth to help learn more about topic

Description of the EAST Initiative Model

• Student Driven Learning: Students are accountable for their own projects and coming up with ideas.
• Authentic Project - Based Learning: Helps students connect to real world problems or activities. 
• Technology as Tools: The students should be able to use technology the same way others use in the real world.
• Collaboration: Students will work together to get the project done faster and be able to work out these real world problems together.

 EAST is a program that gets students thinking about real world issues and then has the students connect with technology to create ideas and projects to help solve the issues.

Discussion on some reasons to let students “lead” their projects.

• if students lead their projects it allows them to choose something they are passionate about. When they are really into a project they are leading then there is more of a chance for better learning!
• Also, students can work together on real world issues that they both feel strongly about to help work on collaboration within a group.

Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project

• I feel that our group is talking about real world problems like health issues created from bad eating habits and not enough exercise. I feel that allowing the students to use technology to study these topics will get them interested in learning more!

Reading Reflection7

1. Description of the levels of classroom discussions. In implementing the project, the classroom discussions has several levels: • Techers to teachers. • Students to students. • Techers to students. 2. Discussion on the questions for “checking in” on students during a project. Teachers have to make sure that students understand all required materials of the project. In other words, teachers need to pay attention to the students’ performance and activity during the projects. There are some steps teachers should follow to check in the students’ performance during a project: • Procedural. • Team member. • Understanding the materials. • Self-assessment. 3. Discussion on the benefits to students when optimizing the use of technology. Technology is a big supportive to the students. In fact, technology can connect the teamwork together and help them to assess their work faster and safer. There are the benefits of using technology by the students: • Technology helps the students to reach their goal. • Technology helps the students to stay organized. • Technology helps the students to find more resources that support their project. • Technology helps the students to do research easy and fast. 4. Discussion on the 21st-century skills that can make or break a project. Teamwork is an important part in the learning process. In fact, while the students work in a team they become an affective part in the team. In fact, not all the students have the same ability of doing research or understand how the project work. By having the students work as team, they will help each other understand the materials and improve their performance. 5. Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project. From this chapter I learn that I should pay attention to my students’ ability. Not all the students have the same way of understand the topic. I need to create a teamwork that help each other to understand the project and work side by side to finish it.

Chapter 7 Reflection: A Guiding Hand - Keeping a Project Moving

1. Description of the level of classroom discussions.

• Teacher to Teacher: these discussions touch on everything from procedural topics to formative assessment. If getting together face-to-face is an issue the use of an online based communication tool can be useful.
• Student to Student: these are used for students to talk among one another as learning experiences unfold. Using their communication skills play a roll in effective teamwork and organization. This also allows them to learn from each other and challenge one another. As the teacher it's important to listen to the student conversations rathe than lead them. Use constructive feedback if they need to be redirected. 
• Teacher to Student: by using online tools there may be less of a need to do house keeping in the class and rather spend more time circulating, observing, and talking to the small groups of students. This is great resource because it pushes students toward high-order thinking.

2. Discussion on the questions for "checking in" on students during a project.

• Procedural is used to track progress toward milestones and deadlines. 
• Team work aspect is used to circulate and ask questions to help you assess team dynamics in your students groups.
• Understanding by observing teams at work, listening to conversations, and probing questions. 
• Self-assessment is used to find out what students are thinking about the project, ask questions that encourage their reflection. 

3. Discussion on the benefits to students when optimizing the use of technology.

• By optimizing the use of technology students are able to gain new insights into how to communication with a culturally diverse audience. When it comes to students learning about the different technology that is being offered make sure you give them options to work with. Not every student will be successful with a particular program so give them options to ensure they will succeed in their assignments. 

4. Discussion on the 21st century skills that can make or break a project.

• Troubleshooting which distinguishes effective project managers. Help students understand that real-life projects come with real-world challenges. 
• Manage conflict - team work can be a huge make or break in a project. 

5. Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project.

• Similar to this chapter our class is set up like those of teacher to student interaction and student to student interaction. We use this type of interactions and communications in person and via blog. We use ways of checking in to keep ourselves on track and communicate through our blog. 

Reflection Chapter 7- Keeping a Project Moving

1. Description of the levels of classroom discussions.
• Teacher to teacher - Teacher conversations help make sure that everything is in order to move on with a classroom project. If teachers are not able to meet or live far from each other, the use of a blog, wiki, or other collaborative tool can help teachers stay in touch.
• Student to student - Students using good communication between each other is very effective teamwork and helps keep them goal oriented and organized! Most importantly a teacher should make sure that students know how to give positive and effective feedback, and make sure the students have an opportunity to practice giving that feedback.
• Teacher to student - There are two different directions to take to make sure the students get the information they need to get their projects done. First, make sure the teacher gives whole-group instructions to introduce a new or complicated concept. Second, teachers can have small group discussions and use observation to see if certain groups need more direction to help!
2. Discussion on the questions for “checking in” on students during a project.
• Procedural - This helps to tract progress toward milestones and deadlines, remind students of the project calendar and monitor students' project logs and checklists.
• Teamwork - This is important to make sure that the group is working well together. A teacher may circulate and ask questions to make sure that the students are on tract and see the team dynamics of the group. To gain the trust of students and give them a safe place to communicate, using a anonymous poll of the day can give the teacher an idea of how well the groups are working together. Another thing teachers can try, if their is some students not participating as much as other students. this can be the perfect opportunity for the teacher to have an open dialogue about teamwork.
• Understanding - Teachers must really observe, listen, and create probe question to the groups to help see the progress in each group. Some groups may start to go off task or use faulty information. The teacher can use questions or suggest resources to redirect the students in the right direction. 
• Self - Assessment - When working in a group project, students can have challenges and frustrations. A teacher ask questions that encourage self - assessment and reflection. Project journals and blogs gives an opportunity to the students to express these challenges and frustrations, and the students can also give their excitements about the project too. It is hard as a student to express these challenges and frustrations in front of all their peers, so this way it gives them privacy to express their thoughts about the project.
3. Discussion on the benefits to students when optimizing the use of technology.
• When introducing new technology to students, it can open many doors to our ever changing world. Students that love to game at home, can get into programing. It is important not to limit students to the use of particular technologies, but instead give them different technology choices to best fit their personal interests! After students can work with technology that mirrors their interest, those students ca add examples to their digital portfolios. The digital portfolios will becomes the centerpiece of their high school learning experience. 
4. Discussion on the 21st-century skills that can make or break a project.
• Team Conflicts and Solving Them
• Real-Life Skill: Being able to resolve problems within groups
• Team Contracts: Team members agree on roles and responsibilities and then sign the contract and be well aware of the consequences for not following through with an individual's responsibility.
• Team Evaluations: Gives the students a chance to give feedback to the teacher, have reflections on teamwork, and have students think about their choice of teammates in the future.
5. Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project.
• This chapter really help to show how important it is to use teacher interaction to help get ideas, perfect a project, and someone to give feedback as a peer. Also, as a teacher it is important to make sure that they observe their students to make sure their is equality in each group, groups stay on track, and all students are getting the best outcome from the learning material and the use of technology. With our project, I hope that students can connect within a group and be able to optimize the use of technology in a group setting.

Reflection Of Chapter6

Discuss how technology tools can encourage students to be reflective and evaluate their own strengths.

Letting the students using the technology in the classroom is absolutely a great idea. Furthermore, it helps the students to build their experience, which is required in their future business. Using technology has a benefit of reflect and evaluate the learners’ works at the classroom:

·         Students are able to reflect their opinions about what they learn by using blog.

·         Students are able to identify their interest, strength and weakness by using ProfilerPRO.

·         There is another tool such as SurveyMonkey helps the students to do some online survey that reflect what they have learn in the classroom.

Describe several ways in which you can get students’ minds ready for a project.

As a teacher, I would get my students ready for any project by following some steps:

·         I should know the students background of the topic related to the project.

·         I should introduce project management tools that help the students of doing the research.

·         I should offer some help for the students who have a weak experience of using technology.

Discuss the elements of teaching fundamentals first.

·         Students need to learn some new technology tools.

·         Students need to learn how connect their old experience of doing presentation with learning a new thing such as narrated slideshows.

·         Students will improve their work by receiving feedback from the professor and classmates.  

Describe the important steps in preparing students for using technology in project.

Before start doing the project, students have to go through some important steps in order to be prepared:

·         Learning more about the technology tools.

·         Students need to gather all the important supplies that help them of doing the research.

·         Students need to do a storyboard.

·         Students need to practice what they have done.

·         Students need to ask for a feedback.

Discuss ways to promote inquiry and deep learning.

·         Learning is opportunity and everybody should take advantage from it.

·         Money paly the main role to achieve a high degree such as Master, PhD.

·         Having a good health can be the most important thing in the learning process.

Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project.

This chapter can be related to my topic because I have learned how to get my students to start their project. Moreover, technology is a creative way students can use in order to assess their work.  Also, I learn how to have my students connect their old experience about the technology with the new tools, which is a great way to get their attention.

Concept Map

The concept map of the Summer Health Fair

 Here is the link:

Summer Health Fair

Chapter 6 Reflection: Project Launch - Implementation Strategies

1. Technology is a great way to encourage students to be reflective and evaluate their own strengths. They can use blogs to reflect their learning over time on a particular topic, similar to what we're doing for our project in this class. Another technology tool the text mentions is ProfilerPRO which is an online survey tool that allows you to identify the learning characteristics of an individual and also among group members. This website allows you to create a survey that meets your needs, which is very useful in projects. SurveyMonkey and Boomerang are also websites that allow you to create your own surveys. I've used SurveyMonkey in many of my other classes and it seems to work very well for gathering data in all areas of the topic your working on. 

2. To get students' minds ready for a project teachers can tap into their prior knowledge on the topic the project will cover. The KWL (Know-Wonder-Learn) is a great tool to figure out what the children know, are unsure of, and what they can learn about the topic. Another great way to open students' minds is to allow them to use their imagination and open their eyes to the possibilities within a project. Encourage your students to explore and think about the topic of the project.

3. The elements of teaching fundamentals first according to the text are to set the stage for independent inquiry. Use the KWL process to figure out what the students know and wonder, this helps them generate what they want to learn. Also it's important to share the rubric with your students to give them a road map that leads to their achievement.

4. In order to prepare your students' for using technology in their project teachers can set the technology up as a playground for learning. They can use this idea to find their own ways of solving problems. Tap student expertise by allowing students to teach others. This can be done by setting up computer stations, each with one tool students will use in their project. You can also introduce project-management tools such as a log or journal to allow students' to track their progress during the project. if you're comfortable with the tools your students will use, you can also demonstrate their use. It's okay to rely on your technology specialist for collaboration ideas as well.

5. In order to promote inquiry and deep learning teachers need to understand there is a relationship between need and opportunity, and between scarcity and abundance. Consider certain question that students' might ask and figure out how you might guide your students' to solutions. Also guide students' toward questioning by imagining what practitioners or experts might ask. It's important that teachers are committed to shaping students' interests into real inquiry, so they guide them past the superficial and factual to more meaningful research.

6. This chapter relates to our topic, Staying Healthy because it gives us ways to organize our thoughts and gain a deeper learning about how to use our information we gain throughout the project. We can take information given in the chapter for catching students' attention to create our lesson plans.

Reflection #6 Project Launch -- Implementation Strategies, of Reinventing Project-Based Learning

1. Discuss how technology tools can encourage students to be reflective and evaluate their own strengths.
• blogs offer students space where they ca reflect over time about what they are learning.
• profilerPRO is an online survey tool that allows you to identify the learning characteristics of an individual and also among members of a group.
• SurveyMonkey and Zoomerang allow you to set up online surveys.
2. Describe several ways in which you can get students’ minds ready for a project.
• instill passion about a topic that you are able to give to them to be excited to create a project of that topic.
• encourage students to explore and think about the topic. have the students discuss the topic with friends over the week.
• use different media to help students imagine things about the topic such as movies, posters, preview clips, and so on.
3. Discuss the elements of teaching fundamentals first.
• Set the stage for independent inquiry: students use prior knowledge that helps guide them in their future learning projects. 
• share the assessment rubric: students work better when they have a map to guide them in the right direction. a rubric helps the students understand what you are looking for.
4. Describe the important steps in preparing students for using technology in project.
• set up a technology playground
• tap student expertise
• introduce project management tools
• demonstrate
• rely on your technology specialist
5. Discuss ways to promote inquiry and deep learning.
• guide students as they choose questions, plan investigations, and begin to put their plan into action. 
• challenge students to explore their own interests 
• guide students toward skilled questioning by imagining
• use question starters
6. Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project
• i like that students can be guided to help create ideas for a topic. in our topic there may be other subtopics that interest our students  more so than our original topics. that could help us challenge our students to explore further and give us their input on a survey base program like zoomerang or surveymonkey

assignment 4 Revise

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GixpPzbHzv_5XR0Bwlm_CrnvWJdMqdIJ4dS_oNiHdho/edit?usp=sharing

Reflection5

Before starting any project with students, teachers should consider these items before starting projects with their learners: • Background information about the learners, resources, and what the learners needs. • Project must have deadline then the students will work stimulate to finish their work. • Students must be organized in which way they should work such as working in team or individual. • Students’ performance assessment. • Giving Feedback. In fact, students and teachers have a project management needs that provide them with a specific strategies for the project. First of all, students’ projects management needs are: • System and tools provide help to manage the project time. • System helps them to control their work. • Tools provide collaboration. • Strategies that assist students work. • Feedback and teachers advice, which help the students to improve. Second, teachers’ management needs are: • Tools help the teachers to communicate with their students. • Tools that help the teachers to get resources for the students. • System helps of managing the teachers work. There are some technology tools can provide help for the teachers and students by organizing their work. The tools might be: • Blog • Google Doc • Flicker • RSS • ClustrMap In conclusion, reading this chapter give me a perfect ideas of how to design and do project. Also, it also give me a clear concept of how I can take care of my students need.

Chapter 5 Reflection: Project Management Strategies for Teachers & Learners

1. There are many things that should be considered before starting a project with students. It's important to figure out what materials are needed for the project at hand and figure out whether or not those materials are accessible. Remember, the community is a great place to look for outside help if the materials aren't accessible in school. Whether the students will need technology for their project is also very important to make note of before starting. Lastly, figure out if students will need to access experts to answer questions in the project and figure out how you will work that out. Will they meet face to face to collaborate or will it be through the use of technology for distance reasons. Overall make sure you make best use of your time and the students' time when starting a project.

2. In any project teaching students to be managers of their own time should be a primary goal to reach because having this skill helps them not only throughout their education but even further.  Project management needs for teachers include tools for communicating with students and others about the project. By using this tool they can create milestones for students which help them stay on task and get chunks of their project done on time. This also shows them when changes in the information on the project have changed. Teachers can also use project management for methods for getting resources to students, using systems for managing work products, a way to engage students and ensure they're productive, and use assessment tools and strategies. As for the students project management needs they use a variety of different collaboration tools, a way of seeking methods of assistance, ways to get feedback on their work whether that's from other students or the teacher.

3. There is a variety of different technology applications that can be considered for the use of a project. In the text they mention Wiki, Drupal & Textpattern, and blogs. Wiki can be used to collaborate and write/edit together from anywhere and learn as information on their project changes. The use of a blog is less of a free for all than Wiki. And Drupal and Texpattern is more sophisticated. Students can also create their own website for their project as well.

4. This chapter relates to our topic/project because we too are using a type of technology to collaborate and learn. In our project we are using Blogger to post concept maps, reflections, and more about Staying Healthy. This technology application is useful because it's accessible anywhere and we can post and edit when others in our group are as well.

Reflection 4

Engaging the students in the learning process might be hard but it is impossible if you know the how to do it. Sometimes confusing can be the best idea to make the students work further to find the best solutions. However, if the confusion give the students a wrong impression, the teachers might have done more damages. There are a few potential pitfall you might noticed in your classroom and you must avoid to do as a teacher:

·      *   Long on activity and short on learning outcomes.

·      *   Technology layered over traditional practice.

·      *   Trivial thematic units

·       *  Scripted with many steps.

As a teacher, you must turn your classroom effectively by providing the students with the best sources to have a successful project. Project should have some important features, then you can call it “Best Project”. Project should help the students to understand different learning path that constructs the students’ critical thinking. Moreover, effective project must have a driving question that captured the students’ attention. As a result because the projects is realistic, it might help the students to understand the core meaning of the subjects. Also, project should be organized, which helps the students to understand the project and explain to each other. Also, teachers must have the students to learn by doing and practice the project. Finally, students need to cooperate and use technology in order to understand the project.

If you a good plan, you will have a successful project. As a result, one successful project, led you to have another successful project. The author presented some examples that shows where the project idea come from. Suzi and Jane provided some example about project “News stories, contemporary issues, students’ questions or interests, a classroom irritant put to educational use and a mashup of a great idea and new tool.” However, the project need to be design and there are some steps to design the project:

·        * Having a final list of the learning objective.

·        * Finding out the evidence of understanding the project.

·        * What the students need to do for creating the project.

·       *  How to get the students attention.

In conclusion, this chapter provide me with a great ideas that help me of having my students’ attention. Moreover, it provides me with of how I can make the project work effectively in my classroom. As a teacher, I would follow the writers instructions in order to have a great project.  

Assignment #4

Our students are third graders that are right here in Michigan! Because we have the Great Lakes to help supply most of our water, we never have to want for water. The students want to learn more about other areas that do not have the luxury of the Great Lakes. So the students will communicate with other students in Phoenix, Arizona at Sunrise Elementary school. First, we will gather information about the area and find similarities and differences. We will talk about water and why it is important to our health and figure out what the benefits are to having unlimited water usage. what other things do we do with water here and are they different from the students in Arizona? As a whole group, the student can come up with questions they think are important to learn about from their friends in Arizona. After communicating with the other students, we can make comparison charts to show the differences and similarities from each area. Then groups can make posters based on the similarities, differences, information learned from research, and samples of their letters.

Reflection #4

1. Discuss the potential pitfalls in project design.
• try not to make projects long or busy
• make sure projects uses significant research to have the best results for learning
• thematic units are not always the best for projects, make sure it is worth while for the students' learning
• make sure students are not overthinking their projects
2. Discuss the features of a good project.
• loosely designed
• generative
• centered on driving questions
• realistic
• reach beyond school
• have rich data
• HAVE STUDENTS LEARN BY DOING
3. Discuss where project ideas come from.
• students' questions
• classroom irritant put to educational use
• contemporary issues
• new stories
• project plans developed by other teachers
4. Discuss the steps to design a project.
• revisit the framework
• look at learning objectives
• what 21st century skills needed or wanted
• learning dispositions wanted for students
• Establish evidence of understanding
• what do the students know or what information can they find
• plan the theme or challenge
• what would the students inquire about, do, and create.
• plan entree into the project
• what will get the students excited about?
5. Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project.
• our project is for the students and is created to help students learn about being healthy in their everyday lives. I feel that our project has potential to have the students asking questions and learning beyond.

Chapter 4 Reflection: Strategies for Discovery

1. There are many potential pitfalls in project design, in fact the text mentions four of them (p. 60-61). 

• Having a long activity, may have a short on learning outcomes. For example, if students can learn just as much through a small lecture on the topic, then the project idea may fall short.
• Having technology layered over traditional practice. Creating a great projects is more than just researching information on the Internet and regurgitating it into a presentation. Students need to work on projects that have significant learning outcomes for themselves. 
• Having trivial thematic units. It's important as teachers to find ways that a theme elevates and connects students learning. In the text they use the example of the symbol of apples used in learning during the fall. Some teachers will use them to paint and count, where as some teachers structure the idea differently and use apples to teach children about commerce, agriculture, and transportation. 
• Having overly scripted with many, many steps. This leads to limited and predictable results, or even project that are much too complicated. It's important that teachers look into the learning objectives and student outcomes of projects before committing to it. 

2. The features of a good project include the following(p.65):

• flexibly designed with the opportunity of different learning paths for students
• usually generative, causing students to construct meaning
• they create a driving question or are otherwise structured for inquiry
• they capture students interested by compelling real-life situations
• they're realistic, they use multiple disciplines 
• they reach beyond school to involve others
• tap rich data or primary sources
• collaboration among students in their groups
• students working as inquiring experts
• 21st century skills and literacies
• important learning dispositions
• students are hands-on, learn by doing

3. Project ideas can come from a variety of different places. They can come from teachers, news stories, real-life situations, students, Internet, the list goes on. The text also gives us places where we can find ideas in books. 

4. According to the text the steps to design a project include the following (p.67-68):

1. Revisit the framework - make a final list of learning objectives, decide on specifics you want to address, and identify learning dispositions you want to foster.
2. Establish evidence of understanding - what would your students know after completing the project, how would they be different as learners and individuals. 
3. Plan the theme - what would students inquire about, do, create?
4. Plan entree into the project experience - what will you do to captivate your students attention, what will keep them interested in the project at hand?

5. Concepts in this chapter relate to our topic because together we are finding ways that will capture students interests by creating a health fair. With different hands on activities in each place of the fair students will have the opportunity to learn by doing and observing. As for the classroom students will be working in groups to collaborate ideas on staying healthy.In creating these lesson plans, my group will work collaboratively to create beneficial ideas. 

Chapter 3 Reflection: Imagining the Possibilities

1. When considering the "big idea" for any project it's important that students will be able to learn something from it. Finding ideas that capture their attention may get them more engage in the big idea at hand. This can be done by using idea that are based off real life things. Using collaboration among colleagues may be important for the teacher as well to bounce ideas between each other on key points of the big idea before assigning it to students.

2. The 21st century skills are based off five things which include, analyzing, evaluating, and creating based off Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. These are a high-order of objects rather than lower-order of objectives. Without using this skills the big idea of a project may not go as far as the teacher thought it might.

3. As for the 21st century literacies they go in hand with skills. But literacies goes far past just the ability for read and write according to the text. Literacy in the 21st century is simply learning to be independent, aware, and productive. "What students can learn from this is how to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate, and compute, using printed and written materials associated with varying contexts (p.49)".This allows students to get a sense of the world and for educators to accomplish their educational goals.

4. The essential learning functions contains eight parts. 1) Ubiquity: Learning Inside and Outside the Classroom, and All the Time - tools that help students become more mobile and learn on the go. 2) Deep Learning - go beyond "filtered" information and use higher-order thinking to engage students. 3) Making Things Visible and Discussable - showing rather than telling, allow students to see the big picture. 4) Expressing Ourselves, Sharing Ideas, Building Community - turn information mediums into social mediums for example Facebook. 5) Collaboration-Teaching and Learning with Others - learn together, plan together. 6) Research - using the web for research and citation help. 7) Project Management: Planning and Organization - helps students manage time, work, sources, feedback from others, drafts, and products during projects. 8) Reflection and Iteration - examine ideas from multiple point of view. Edit if needed.

5. After reading this chapter I know we can use the essential learning functions for a way of organizing and expanding our thoughts on staying healthy. We can use collaboration through making things visible and discussable, expressing ourselves, sharing ideas, and building a community among our groups, collaborating, and project management.

Reflection #3: Imagining the Possibilities

Why We Use a Wiki

• web resource
• users can add and edit content
• useful for planning projects
• ease of use and accessibility - helpful too

When creating a project, we need to facilitate what is needed in the 21st-century skills. these terms will later help create questions that help students improving their skills!

• Analyze:examine, explain, investigate, characterize, classify, compare, deduce, differentiate, discriminate, illustrate, prioritize
• Evaluate: judge, select, decide, justify, verify, improve, defend, debate, convince, recommend, assess
• Create: adapt, anticipate, combine, compose, invent, design, imagine, propose, theorize, formulate

Essential Learning Functions

• Ubiquity: learning inside and outside the classroom, and all the time
• deep learning
• making things visible and discussable
• expressing ourselves, sharing ideas, building community
• collaboration
• research
• project management- planning and organizing
• reflection and iteration

When keeping all these things in mind, we can successfully lead our students in the right way to a project that means something to them and have them learn along the way. It is important to keep the students interested and have them learn through the research. Suggest questions in order to help plan and organize their work and also help share ideas to help build a better project! The use of Wiki can help build a community for the students to share ideas or information. Also, the Wiki can be used outside and inside the classroom to make it easier for the students.

Reflection:Chapter 3

Essentially, wiki is a web page consider as an open- editing system. The tools in wiki are collaborated to provide the most effective system to the instructors and the students. Usually in the classroom, instructors provide the students with courses content. However, when the learners deal with wiki, they will have the chance to create more of the course content. To illustrate, students move from the consumer of the rules and the facts to the creators of the knowledge due to the using of wiki. As a teachers, I help my learners to develop their critical thinking skills, learn from different sources, and improve their ability of working as a group.

As an instructor, since wiki is perfect for group projects, which emphasize editing and collaboration works, I would prefer my students to use it in:

• Using wiki for doing research project.
• Summarized and critiqued about what the students read.
• Compiling knowledge related to the course concept.
• Maintaining the relationship where the students and the teachers can comments, post and classify links related to the course subject.
• Online course repository is built where the students and teachers are able to post a relevant documents.
• E-portfolios can be created of the students’ works.

My other thought of wiki would be in business. In fact, to run your business more effectively, I suggest you to use wiki. Due to the flexibility part of wiki, there are some reasons why you should use wiki in your business:

• Managing projects.

Wiki can provide you with some tools that organize client data, files, and task lists.

• Archiving files.

Common use of wiki in the business are is wiki can be repository for the files, meeting notes, events information, calendar and everything can be related to the business. As a result, you will have one database that can be easy accessible by the business staff.

• Support.

Wiki can be used as an open or closed source.

• Collaboration.

Wiki can be a place that develop and support that ideas, where can all the authors publish, discuss and collaborate as a group.

• Notebook.

For your individual needs, you can use wiki as your workspace that you can brainstorm, generate knowledge, collect link and make your own lists.

     There are some amazing benefits of using wiki:

• Wiki is white sheet of paper, where you can write, arrange, edit, format, you can organize in the way you like.
• Easy to use.
• Wiki can be a central place for all the important information and data related to your work.
• Wiki promotes collaboration.
• Wiki reduces version issues.
• Wiki is for free or if you decide to enjoy more features of wiki, you can get them for a very low cost.