Well it is late and I am going to start this blog but will probably have to add to it tomorrow. I'm afraid I will forget some of the things that I read and watched. I loved the blog that I read about motivating students because most of the people agreed that a lot of it is in forming relationships to each student. This can be hard with 30 students in a class but if you take the time it will pay off. Sometimes it is as simple as knowing what sport they play or a hobby that they like and asking them about it. I am very lucky because I teach a reading intervention and I have my students for at least two years and maybe three, so I really know them well. Some of the bloggers mentioned a peer reward where some students were asked to sit back and watch the class and give rewards to deserving students. This sounded like a great idea. It might even work in the high school setting, I would just have to tweak it slightly.
The video I watched was about project based learning. They talked about throwing away curriculum maps and using the projects to drive curriculum. It was an interesting idea and I do like projects for students and working in groups is good for them. All of the projects they showed on the video were related to real world experiences. They said that it is easier for students to learn in the real world theatre than in the abstract of a classroom. This is interesting and I believe I will use a lot of what they talked about next year as we are starting a new class for students who still struggle with reading and are probably not headed to college. We want this class to be based on real world experiences that students will encounter when they leave high school. We thought about resumes and having students do community based projects with local businesses that will help them with finding jobs when they graduate.
Well I'm not finished but I will be back tomorrow night.
I'm back. The video about project base learning deepens my the interest in my domain by showing high expectations for learning. Students doing the projects were engaged in what they were doing and all in the group were working hard together. Students knew that the outcome of their learning was very important. This is the area that I want to focus for my inquiry plan. I want to show a culture for learning, a classroom where students have high expectations and know that the outcome of their learning is important. I also plan to show the environment of respect and rapport through my interactions with my students. I'm not sure how I will show this but I have time to think about it yet. If you have any ideas they would be greatly appreciated.
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I saw the articles or videos for the project based learning. I was going to click on them but I was pulled toward Fred Jones. I am glad you did this and it is something I would love to try. Even though my school is using common assessments, the project learning approach may still work. You may want to have your students develop a rubric for a project and hold them to it when the project is complete.
ReplyDeleteNice post- sounds like you found some interesting resources. I think your ideas for an inquiry are shaping up. I think working on developing a culture that establishes high expectations and respects each other and learning is a powerful goal. I really like the pat about peer rewards- I wonder if you could build that into your inquiry? I also like the idea by Amy- develop a task and have them help you develop the rubric and maybe then assess each other (the whole peer thing). I think you are on the right track.
ReplyDeleteI also like the idea of project learning. It would go right along with using something like connected math. In CM, student work in groups to solve real-world problems to learn the mathematics concepts required in the curriculum for any given year. I think this would be extremely benefical, especially in a subject like math. I can't tell you how many times I am asked "Why do I need to know this?" By solving real-world problems, they would be able to answer their own question.
ReplyDeleteHey Mindy!
ReplyDeleteI also read a little about project based learning and also think it is such a great idea. I think all students, especially ours being in special education love to do projects and learn with projects and especially when they relate to real world issues. In my blog I discussed this some, in saying that I think my students really enjoy doing work that they can relate to their lives. I think all content can be realted to a real world issue and I try to do this as much as possible to help increse student learning. Project based learning seems to be something that would really benefit stduents and I think Iw ould really like to watch the same video that you watched to see more about it. I look forward to talking more in our domain and looking more into these issues and classroom ideas.