Technology tools can encourage students to be
reflective and evaluate their own strengths. For example, blogs offer students
space so they can reflect what they have done over time. Online survey tools
can also be used to identify learning characteristics, interests, strength,
weaknesses, etc. There are specific tools such as SurveyMonkey and Zoomerang
which allows you to setup these online surveys. Therefore, students can see
their self-assessment.
There are several ways in which you can get students
minds ready for a project:
·
Assessing students prior knowledge
·
Give students time for imagination and
letting the ideas settle
·
Encourage students to explore
·
A guest speaker
·
Bring up the topic each day over the
course of time
Teaching the fundamentals first is important. You
want your students to understand the basic before moving onto something that is
more complex. According to Graham, “by teaching the fundamentals, I was sure my
students would be pointed in the right direction when they started the
project.” She explained that she didn’t want time wasted on learning and
researching the basic s on their own when she could do in a few lessons. It is
also important for students to build their skills gradually before moving on to
something that is more complicated.
Preparing students to use technology for a project
is important. It is important to:
·
Set up a technology playground-where
students can explore
·
Tap student expertise-set up stations,
have students that are confident help other students
·
Introduce project-management tools-log
or journal to track progress
·
Demonstrate-discuss tools and show
students how to use the specified technology
Ways to promote inquiry and deep learning:
·
Guide students as they begin to put
their plan into action
·
Help guide students to ask questions that
someone else would ask (for example: nurse, historian, researcher, etc.)
·
Guide students into skilled questioning
·
Good questions (Which one, how, what if,
should, and why)
Concepts in this chapter relates to my teams project
because when creating our project we want to make sure that the fundamentals
are taught first. We also want to make sure that deep learning occurs as one of
the outcomes.
I like the points you highlighted about building students background knowledge. It makes a lot of sense for the basics to be taught right away, so when they dive into the project they can actually get started right away. I think this would be more engaging for students because they wouldn't be tied down in the beginning, they could dive right into what they were interested in and be comfortable with it. I agree with how it relates to the projects we are doing in class as well, I definitely would want my students learning the fundamentals first.
ReplyDeleteI think you quoted a good point when you said "She explained that she didn’t want time wasted on learning and researching the basic on their own when she could do in a few lessons". I think it is also know students prior knowledge. Like the author implied our students grew up in a technology world and they often know more than we do and are quickly ready to experiment. We don't need to waste time on stuff they already know and we should take advantage of the fact that many of our students have these skills and they can help teach our others if we take the time to plan accordingly. ;-)
ReplyDeleteHi Kayleigh!
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you touched on how technology can help students evaluate their own strengths and weaknesses. I think so often that we feel as teachers, that WE have to do all of the evaluating when in fact, the students are often more than capable of self-assessment that can grow many areas of their learning upon reflection. Using technology tools like the KAHOOTS software that we learned about in lecture would be an excellent, fun and engaging way for students to check in with themselves to see how they are feeling about the content and how they could work toward their success.
Great job!
-Sabrina
Kayleigh, I enjoyed reading your post about chapter six. I agree with what you said about how blogs offer students space so they can reflect what they have done. I think by using this in the classroom would be useful because students could take time daily to write on their blog, which incorporates writing time and gives them time to reflect on what they have learned that day, connect it to what they have been learning/the larger picture and posting questions they still have. By posting it on a blog the teacher can respond back to them and that keeps communication open and learning going but allows the teacher to have instant feedback from the day. I think using blogs in the classroom can be a useful tool and is something teachers should make use of. You discussed a lot of other great things from the chapter it was great reading this chapter and learning more about the strategies they suggested, I can see myself using many of them.
ReplyDelete