Chapter 10 discusses the importance of reflecting on and
celebrating the projects your students have completed. If any of you have read
my blogs, you know I am already a huge fan of reflection. I think it is important
that teachers make time for their students to reflect upon what they just
learned before jumping into another project. Reflection helps you make
connections that you may not have thought of before…it really makes the
learning stick! When students reflect and elaborate it provides them awareness
and insight of their growth as a learner. When we prompt the students with rich
meaningful questions, it helps the students reveal strategies that worked for
them and possible ways in which they should have done things differently. The
skills they develop in the process they will use throughout their lifetime.
Another great reason for reflection and elaboration is it
can lead into other projects. They become aware of things they were excited
about and things that made it frustrating. I loved that the students who were enthusiastic
about multimedia but frustrated about their schools technology were able to
organize a grant proposal. In writing this grant, they covered most all content
areas and were able to make a difference in their learning and the future of
their school. Imagine the confidence and pride these students must feel!
As for building schools tradition and identity I think once
you have come up with an awesome project that gets students excited, and is celebrated
with their community it will easily have a trickling effect. It is sweet to
hear students excited about their projects and their siblings wanting the
teacher because of it.
I never really thought before on using the end of the year
to celebrate all of your student’s projects. I think this a great way for the students
to look back on all of their hard work and accomplishments! I love the idea of student’s
designing the party themselves and creating silly awards. If you can include parents/
guardians in this party it will be much easier for your students to bring their
projects back home safely and clean up your classroom for the next year.
What relates most to my projects so far for me has been the
reflection process. Knowing the importance of it, I hope when I have my own
classroom that even in my busiest days I will always make time at the end to
reflect on the lessons. Doing so then will give me insight on what I need to
tweak on it and things I need to address. It will bring more effective teaching
and smoother lessons.
I agree that students need to reflect on what they have learned before learning a new topic. When students reflect they can think about what worked for them and what didn’t (what was easy and what was hard). I agree that projects students are excited about will have an effect. I remember in high school I wanted to have some of the teachers my older brother had because of the fun projects he did in those classes. It’s a great idea to have a party at the end to celebrate accomplishments!
ReplyDeleteI agree that its really important for teachers to include reflection in their lesson plans before they move on to different projects. I think it helps that students realize what their strengths and weaknesses are and then they can improve on those. It makes them better students and better people in the long run. Also it gives the teacher time to evaluate themselves and improve on how they taught the lesson so it is better for future students
ReplyDeleteApril, I enjoyed reading your post on chapter ten. I also am a strong believer in having students reflect on the project/topic being learned before moving on to a new topic. There are many different ways they can reflect which can make it individual to each student. I also like what you said about traditions. My brother is a few years older than me and as I followed him through the years, I remember seeing what he was doing in classes and the projects the different teachers were doing and thinking that I wanted that teacher because the project was so cool, which is the same as what you said. I think creating traditions is not a hard thing to do just takes time to get it to the way you want it to be and making it lasting and memorable, with a celebration after it is completed to give students the finale they deserve. Great Post!
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