Blog Post #9

What can Teachers and Students teach us about Project Learning?

Seven Essentials to Project Base Learning

Teachers can teach project learning effectively using the seven elements of Project Base Learning. Here is the list of seven elements of project learning:a need to know, a driving question, student voice and choice, 21 Century Skills, inquiry and innovation, and feedback and revision, and a publicly presented product.  It's important to assign a student a project with a meaningful purpose. A need to know is an entry event , a live discussion, field trip experience, and a guest speaker. Students project learning should include open and ended questions, links, problem solving and compelling language.  Teachers should allow students to create and present their project. "Project Base Learning is more voice than choice is better".  Teachers can limit the menu options a students can pick from design their own personal projects which fits their personality.  I like project base learning because it reflects the real injury by driving questions, leading to research resources and discovery of answers which teachers can generate a list of new questions.  Students can predict, make inferences, and draw conclusions on the research.  Teachers provide explicit teaching using project base learning.  Teachers give students many opportunities to be innovative to assess themselves. Students value the creativity of learning, engaging, and connecting with entry events. When students meet with mentors or other classmates feedback can emphasize creating better quality of work.  Students can foster making a projects meaningful.

Project Based Learning For Teachers by Tony Vincent
There are common standards teachers use to impact and improve students learning to meet understanding in the application of knowledge, finding evidence, exploring inquiry, problem solving, and making project base learning personal.

Tony Vincent says project base learning must have a purpose. Students should be able to express their person project to an authentic audience.  Students and teachers should use a driving question to gain understanding of the project.  Teachers and students can use a rubric to assess testing ideas.  Students should obtain group activities, braining storming, and refining the end product. I liked how Tony used Albert Einstein message : I never teach pupils".  I believe students are going as good as the tools they are given to discovery opportunities to identify using cognitive and critical thinking skills.  Students can explore and examine the project base learning strategies as they work in collaborative groups to find meaning of an assignment.   

Ten Sites Supporting Digital Classroom Collaboration in Project Based Learning
The digital classroom provides students and teachers a way to connect, engage, and discover virtual learning. Teachers must teach students the ethical laws of using the internet.  Students must be familiar with good digital citizenship and responsible using online services. Teachers must guide students to interact and network while in immerse project base learning. I visited many websites offered and found www.linoit.com very helpful in the classroom.  There are websites students and teachers can explore for collaboration and communication like www.todaysmeet.com, www.wallwisher.com(padlet), and other tools like google docs.

What Motivates Students?
I can motivate students by listening to their expectations in life after school.   Some ways of I  can motivate my students is on behavior and academics is having accountability chart, giving stickers, "thinking suckers", extra incentives to buy something from a school store, compliment students work to provide students what a great job their doing in the classroom.   Classroom management and behavior charts in place give  student self esteem to stay in boundaries of getting classwork, free time, and motivates self confidence they can be anyone they want.