As an educator I believe student reflection is a very important factor in the learning process. At the end of a project I would have a session such as a lessons learned where the students would reflect on their learning experiences. As part of the lessons learned, I would have a listing of questions such as;
What did you do well? What worked?
What were the things that didn’t turn out so well?
What were some opportunities for improvement?
What would you different?
After specific projects I would include these sessions to help students improve on future projects. At the end of the school year I would have a “project closeout” celebration”. Something similar to what was discussed in chapter 10 regarding planning a celebration. The project celebration would be a great motivator for students to be innovative in their current projects so that they could “show off” at the end of the school year.
In making sure that the reflections re meaningful for the students, I would target the sessions to be student centered, and allow the students to put together their own ideas and thoughts about project improvement. The more they are involved, the more meaningful it should be to them. I would use storyboarding as a technology tool to incorporate and capture summative reflections. Blogs and Podcasts would be useful to reflect on the project throughout.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
Making Assessment Meaningful & Celebrating and Reflecting
Making Assessment Meaningful:
I would assume that between the role of consumer and producer, students are most familiar with being a consumer. My assumptions are based on how much I have observed the purchasing behavior of teens and children of today. Many of them are “sold” or marketed to by commercials, music, videos, etc. They feed their minds and ask their parents to go out and buy them what they have seen. It is rare that I hear of students developing their own products at their will. I believe the assumption is not only for students, but for many adults as well.
In measuring the distance a student has traveled as a learner I would use many methods. The major thing to do when measuring distance or growth is to establish baselines for the learner. I would use a combination of methods and strategies that would include the development of rubrics, and the use of a variety of assessment methods. In order to establish effective communication to the learners regarding their gains is establishing mutual expectations. I believe that it is important to obtain the students input on what they expect to learn as well as what the teacher expects of them. After a baseline has been established and the project or assignment is complete, I would include various methods such as peer grading, self-evaluation, as well as an evaluation from the teacher. I would conduct sessions such as lessons learned that would provide students the opportunity to reflect on what went wrong or opportunities for improvement. This method would be use preferably for group projects. In incorporating the lessons learned sessions, I would allow the students to use web 2.0 tools such as blogs and work spaces to make comments and recommendations for improvements on their projects. I would also suggest that students research similar projects or assignments to see the different methods that were used to accomplish similar tasks.
As an educator it’s important to convey the “why” for assignments and include the benefits for students while making it relative and realistic to everyday life. I believe this will help generate interest and allow them to have more a responsibility to be actively involved in their learning.
I would assume that between the role of consumer and producer, students are most familiar with being a consumer. My assumptions are based on how much I have observed the purchasing behavior of teens and children of today. Many of them are “sold” or marketed to by commercials, music, videos, etc. They feed their minds and ask their parents to go out and buy them what they have seen. It is rare that I hear of students developing their own products at their will. I believe the assumption is not only for students, but for many adults as well.
In measuring the distance a student has traveled as a learner I would use many methods. The major thing to do when measuring distance or growth is to establish baselines for the learner. I would use a combination of methods and strategies that would include the development of rubrics, and the use of a variety of assessment methods. In order to establish effective communication to the learners regarding their gains is establishing mutual expectations. I believe that it is important to obtain the students input on what they expect to learn as well as what the teacher expects of them. After a baseline has been established and the project or assignment is complete, I would include various methods such as peer grading, self-evaluation, as well as an evaluation from the teacher. I would conduct sessions such as lessons learned that would provide students the opportunity to reflect on what went wrong or opportunities for improvement. This method would be use preferably for group projects. In incorporating the lessons learned sessions, I would allow the students to use web 2.0 tools such as blogs and work spaces to make comments and recommendations for improvements on their projects. I would also suggest that students research similar projects or assignments to see the different methods that were used to accomplish similar tasks.
As an educator it’s important to convey the “why” for assignments and include the benefits for students while making it relative and realistic to everyday life. I believe this will help generate interest and allow them to have more a responsibility to be actively involved in their learning.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Blog Week 6 - Project Launch & Guiding Hands
Project Launch \A Guiding hand-
Since I have not been in the classroom, I don't have any direct experience with developing rubrics for students. However in theory, I would utilize criteria bases on the SCANS identified for the lesson or project. I do believe that it would be a good idea to allow the students to have some input on what they should be evaluated on just to give them a sense of ownership of their work. In an approach to generate creativity I believe that postponing a K-W-L (Know, Wonder, and Learn) process would be the right step to take. I believe the K-W-L session would limit their ideas and steer them towards searching deeper into the known instead of discovery of something new. In building students' foundations skills so that they can be successful with project my approach would be to have students complete self assessments and allow them to group according to the results of their assessments so that their groups are dynamic. I would also teach them the core of project management, which will include identification of roles and responsibilities, time management, identifying the scope of their task so they that remain focused. I would also allow them to use technology to measure and document their progress though tools like Excel, Access, and Word. The students will be allowed to seek external resources for research purposes. I would also have project meetings, which would allow students to address progress, issues and concerns that occur during the course of their project execution.
“The Art of Teaching” – The art of teaching means that teaching is an art form with a set of basic guidelines and principles established, but utilizing creativity to achieve the goal of transiting information to the learner. The art of teaching includes a dynamic portfolio of tools to be used in the learning experience and “the art” means having the ability to effectively use current tools while integrating the latest and greatest. Strategies that I would use to make classroom discourse more productive would be to integrate the issues and concerns in a format for students to develop ideas to resolve their own issues. This session could be a rap session to discuss possible risks to the project due to discourse. In student to student dialogue I learn what they value most as well as observe their responses to each other. To see them engage in conversation reveals their level of commitment to learning the material. To ensure that students are comfortable in sharing their challenges or setbacks I would establish an environment that is non-critical, but own that is sharing in looking for ways and opportunities to improve the project or current situation. I would make it an inclusive session so that they help collaboration as consultants for the projects as it would occur in a real world situation.
Since I have not been in the classroom, I don't have any direct experience with developing rubrics for students. However in theory, I would utilize criteria bases on the SCANS identified for the lesson or project. I do believe that it would be a good idea to allow the students to have some input on what they should be evaluated on just to give them a sense of ownership of their work. In an approach to generate creativity I believe that postponing a K-W-L (Know, Wonder, and Learn) process would be the right step to take. I believe the K-W-L session would limit their ideas and steer them towards searching deeper into the known instead of discovery of something new. In building students' foundations skills so that they can be successful with project my approach would be to have students complete self assessments and allow them to group according to the results of their assessments so that their groups are dynamic. I would also teach them the core of project management, which will include identification of roles and responsibilities, time management, identifying the scope of their task so they that remain focused. I would also allow them to use technology to measure and document their progress though tools like Excel, Access, and Word. The students will be allowed to seek external resources for research purposes. I would also have project meetings, which would allow students to address progress, issues and concerns that occur during the course of their project execution.
“The Art of Teaching” – The art of teaching means that teaching is an art form with a set of basic guidelines and principles established, but utilizing creativity to achieve the goal of transiting information to the learner. The art of teaching includes a dynamic portfolio of tools to be used in the learning experience and “the art” means having the ability to effectively use current tools while integrating the latest and greatest. Strategies that I would use to make classroom discourse more productive would be to integrate the issues and concerns in a format for students to develop ideas to resolve their own issues. This session could be a rap session to discuss possible risks to the project due to discourse. In student to student dialogue I learn what they value most as well as observe their responses to each other. To see them engage in conversation reveals their level of commitment to learning the material. To ensure that students are comfortable in sharing their challenges or setbacks I would establish an environment that is non-critical, but own that is sharing in looking for ways and opportunities to improve the project or current situation. I would make it an inclusive session so that they help collaboration as consultants for the projects as it would occur in a real world situation.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
