When we are designing our
projects and incorporating other peoples work, we must try to look past the “window
dressing” of the project that appeals to us and pay attention to the quality of
the student experience (Boss
and Kross, 2007). We should be aware of four potential pitfalls in project
design. One pitfall is if a project is
busy and long but reaches lower order of thinking. The second pitfalls are
having students research a topic and then present an electronic project. The third is falling into thematic units that do
not elevate or connect the learning. The fourth potential pitfall is a project
that is overly scripted with too many steps attached. I think the bottom line
to avoid all these pitfalls is to be reflective practitioner. This flows
directly into the features of a good project. We can all create a fun project
but if there is not room for inquiry and ways that they make a deeper
connection to the content then really what is the point. The features of a good
project center on a driving question, capture students interest, loosely
deigned, constructs meaning, crosses multiple disciplines, student centered and
hands-on. I think what’s scary to me is that we know inquiry is the best
approach for students yet most of the classroom teacher manuals are generic and
don’t use this approach. Creating inquiry lessons takes a great deal of time
not only for the teacher but also for the students. I think it is so important for
the teachers to collaborate on lessons and be there for support.
This chapter talks about where the inspiration for project
ideas can come from. This ranges from irritants in a classroom to websites of
other project plans. They mentioned that one project could lead to another project
and that is the connection I am making with our butterfly garden. It made me
think of all the material we could cover relating to plants. Are seeds alive?
Do stems only carry water? What does road salt do to our plants? Now my issue
is how to incorporate technology with these ideas? I get the hands on part but still scared over
technology.
The steps to design a project include revisiting your
framework to finalize the learning objectives, decide on specific 21st
century skills we want to address, identify learning dispositions we want to
foster, establish how students will provide evidence of their earning, think
about the inquiry question, and plan the entrée (67-68). I think once I take the time
to go over the steps suggested to design my project, I will have will have a
better understanding of what I should do.
I like your point about a lot of teacher preparation materials not including the inquiry approach. It makes it feel like we would have to go into the planning blind, figuring it out along the way. This makes collaboration even more important because with collaboration there would be someone else to bounce ideas off, and figure things out with. I like that your project is already giving you a lot of ideas for other things it could lead too, it shows its a good project. I also understand with what you are saying about how to fit technology in. There are so many things that are supposed to go into a project it can be hard to try to think of how they are seamlessly go together.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that a good project should include inquiry and not just be fun, but I also think that it is important that there is a healthy relationship between the fun and the inquiry. The fun factor is important because it will keep the students captivated by the project which is crucial when the project will last all year long. I think as the teacher we can take a concept that the students will need to learn and find ways to make it fun so that the students are really learning. If you do it right the student will never really know their being educated
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post April. I like that you brought up that the way to avoid all the pitfalls that could occur from planning is to be a reflective practitioner, which flows directly into the features of a good project. The points you brought up about what makes a project good were all great points and things I think teachers designing a project need to keep in mind. Collaboration is key for so many things and is a term that continually comes up but is an important thing for designing projects because teachers can collaborate to create new ideas and even when working through a project. It is very cool that you were able to make connections to your project and were able to get more ideas. I think developing the hands on part of a project/lesson is easier than trying to incorporate technology into it because with technology there is so much more to think about and consider but it is still important to use because of the society we are in students need to have the understanding of it. I like the points you brought up and your summary of the chapter, the points you made were detailed and got me thinking more about the project my group is creating.
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