Final Concept Map

Reflection 11

Description of what occurs as a result of using the Project-based learning approach.
By using the project based learning approach, every student has had the chance to work individually and with their groups. They are able to use online resources and things to get their project to come together. By doing this, the project comes together and everything fits in comewhere. This is a great way to get and keep everyone involved in the project and the topic they are focused in on. Also, they feel accomplished when the final product is finished. Lastly, children are able to search for new resources to create from as well as learn how to create and use things, such as blogs, and creating their own websites.

Discussion on ways to “bring your project home”.
Bringing home your project is when your project is finally wrapped up and coming to an end. Now that are projects are coming to an end we can reflect back on what we did, and see the positive and negatives in our effort to get to the final part of or projects.

Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project.
The concepts in this chapter relate to my topic becasue we are at the final stage of wrapping it up and putting the final touches on our project. We are just about done with our project and getting our final things put in place. We are slso at the final project point and we can show where we came from and where we are going with our final project.

Reflection 11

Kyra Elston

2/13/14

Reflection #11

1. Description of what occurs as a result of using the Project-based learning approach.

Good projects don’t lead to a dead end. Instead, they open new doors and create connections that you can build into future project designs. If something didn’t work as planned, we need to learn from that and move on. That will inform my next project and make it even better.

2. Discussion on ways to “bring your project home”.

To “bring your project home” you must capitalize on your investment, critique your work, share your insights, become a resource for your colleagues, enter a contest, and most importantly enjoy the journey!

3. Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project.

The concepts in this chapter are great reminders for why we chose to do project-based learning in the first place and they will continue to be good reminders before, during, and after the future projects in our life.

Reflection 10

1. Discussion on the importance of setting aside time for reflection

It is important to set aside time for students to reflect on work that they have done. Students need this time so that they can rethink about everything that they have learned. If you just move from one project/activity to the next students don't get the opportunity to feel proud of their work. Students need to the chance to show case their abilities. When students have to share what they created, they have to teach it to others. This allows the material to really stick with the students.


2. Discussion on the reason students need to reflect and elaborate

Students need to reflect on positive learning experiences. Reflection time is also the perfect time for students to think about their growth in learning. This time also gives them a chance to think about negative things that happened during the course of their learning. This will help students be able to devise a plan, for if, they are faced with the same challenges again. Elaborate on their experience, ask multiple questions and allow students to share their insights/suggestions to the teacher on how to make the project/learning more beneficial.

3. Discussion on how schools build tradition and identity

Most schools identity is known through their traditions. Most schools have some kind of tie associated to them, that makes the school stick out, and everyone at the school is typically involved in it. The schools build identity by introducing something special, to the students, parents, and the community, that makes their school unique. When students grow up knowing specific things that maybe a teacher or class is known for doing, implants the beginning foundation to the tradition.

4. Discussion on the importance of celebrating a project

It's important for students not to just have a regular end of the year party, involving just treats and conversations. Instead, having a party that reminds students of all, of their work throughout the school year. This forces students to recall what they learned about various projects and activities. Allow students to comment on the positive and negative aspects of the project, this will be the teachers time to gain feedback from the students as well. This is meant to be a meaningful, fun experience for students, as well as a time to recall learned information.

5. Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your project


I think celebrating a project is something that's important for students. Often times students forget about a project or something that they have created. This time allows students to recapture their experiences, and learn from them. This also gives them good ideas of how to make each project/learning experience more affective each time. This relates to our project because students will have time to share what they learned and more aspects of their experience with their grandparents when they serve the food. Our project also gives our students a chance to show, what they learned about cooking, catering, working with others and being professional.

Digital story

reflection 10

Kyra Elston

2/13/14

Reflection #10

1. Discussion on the importance of setting aside time for reflection.

Taking time to reflect helps students feel good about their accomplishments, but more importantly, reflection can be the thing that makes learning really stick. When students create their own meaning, it’s important that they look at it from all sides while meaning is taking shape, and then view it from a distance as well.

2. Discussion on the reason students need to reflect and elaborate.

Setting aside time for conscious reflection helps students reveal things they might not otherwise think about: what they learned (and what they enjoyed about learning), their growth as learners, and what (and how) they want to learn in projects ahead.

3. Discussion on how schools build tradition and identity.

Many schools’ identities are tied to their traditions so when families, the community, and students coming up through the grades know what you are up to, you have a foundation for tradition. Imagine the readiness of young students who spend years anticipating the time when they get to be part of your class tradition.

4. Discussion on the importance celebrating a project.

When inviting others to celebrate a project with your classroom, you will make critical friends who will not only expect great things from your students, but will also step up to support you year after year.

5. Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project.

Classroom kitchen and catering will almost always involve other parties such as older/younger grades and the community. The final project is also almost always a celebration so these concepts re directly related to our topic of Classroom Kitchen and Catering.

reflection 9

Kyra Elston

1/28/14

Reflection #9

1. Description of a method of understanding prior-knowledge of students.

When we established readiness, you may have used an activity (such as K-W-L) to find out about your students’ prior understanding. Almost certainly, not all students were starting at the same place. Similarly, the distance they travel during a project will not be the same for each learner.

2. Discussion on the importance of establishing anchors for a project.

By establishing “anchors,” you gain a sense of where students are starting and how far they are going as they work to meet learning goals. You expand the opportunities to differentiate instruction and help all learners be successful.

3. Description of several ways to assess what students learned during the project.

A teacher might have one category about how well a student knows the content, another about written communication, another for critical thinking, and another for work ethic. Students, parents, and teachers all have access to this assessment data, creating opportunities for meaningful conversations about student achievement.

4. Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project.

Kitchen and catering really does not involve that much learning from students unless they are actively involved in preparing meals, making lunch menus, growing a garden, ect. For this reason it really does not relate to the topic but I would definitely like to be part of school that does have student learning relate to the foods they are consuming five days a week.

Reflection 10

Discussion on the importance of setting aside time for reflection.
It is important to set aside time for reflection becasue it helps students feel good about their accomplishments, but the reflections can be the thing that makes the learning actually stick in the kids heads and may be the thing that they remember most from the project, and assignments. It is also important for children so they can see their learning from all sides, and reflection brings that out in the children. This reflection time that is set aside may bring out things and thoughts that children never would have thought about before.


Discussion on the reason students need to reflect and elaborate.
Students need to reflect and elaborate because it allows them to think about whats next. It gets the students thinking about what they want to learn next about the topic that was discussed, and it also allows them to think about how they are going about learning and figuring out about it.


Discussion on how schools build tradition and identity.
It is important for schools to build tradition and identity because it feels nice for your school to be known for something. Maybe having an outstanding sports team, or a strong science club. These identities and traditions allow students to build awareness of the other students in the school and gain knowledge about who the students are. It also allows the staff in schools to begin to understand each and every child as their own.


Discussion on the importance celebrating a project.
It is important to celebrate a students work becasue it gives the child a confidence boost and allows them to feel accomplished. It also allows other students to learn from their peers projects. Students who have good work on display feel confident and excited about doing more good work so that can be displayed as well. Praise is wonderful for children when they do good work!


Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project.
The concepts in this chapter relate to my topic because we have to reflect on our previous work in order to accomplish our new work. Our project in class couldn't be completed with out reflecting on our work and our teams work to accomplish the next step in our lesson plans.

Reading reflection 8

Discussion of some ways to build connections and branch out beyond the classroom.

Using technology of course is a way to branch outside of the classroom. Allowing students to create blogs, and videos, and digital projects and share them with the world. No of course it doesn't take you outside, outside the classroom environment but it takes your learning outside the classroom. Having students create dialogues and share them with other students from around the world engages the students a lot more, it motivates them to do create something good and be proud of it. You can build connections with experts, when your students are doing research and they have a lot of questions to ask. This type of connection will facilitate students experience by helping them prepare to work with experts.

Discussion of the East initiative model.
The East initiative model - Environmental and Spatial Technologies.
Which is what students learn to master, certain tools and applications in context while solving community problems. These type of projects involve the students dealing with a significant project, and getting communities into helping support them with those projects. The model is built on four main ideas; student driven learning, authentic project based learning, technology as tools, and collaboration. All teachers must learn to become a facilitator when working with the students in the East initiative model.

Discussion on some reasons to let students lead their projects.
Students take charge when they are allowed to lead how they will structure a project. Students become more engaged and motivated when they can create or do some things that they are proud of. Students should lead projects and have their teacher only as support, and guidance. I think that many students get bored sometimes with having to much instruction and rules that they have to follow so this allows them to think for themselves on what they want to do. When we think about the project having a lifespan, it does die right after the project is complete, well usually. If students are allowed to think of something that enjoyed doing while learning they will be more apt to discover/learn that way again.

Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project.
I think branching outside the classroom relates to our project a lot. We allow our students time away from the actual classroom setting. They are taken to the computer and they also meet up with other classes to take surveys. This just takes learning out of the normal element and makes it a little more interesting for the students.

Reading reflection 9

Discussion of a method of understanding prior-knowledge of students.
One method you can use to see if students are understanding prior knowledge is by formative assessment. This type of assessment helps the teacher be able to see if the project needs to be altered any .The end of project assessment will clearly give you insight on whether your students made any gains toward learning. The way that you asses the end project is very important. A multiple choice test might not be sufficient enough because you can assess team work, effort, or creativity that way.

Discussion on the importance of establishing anchors for a project.
Establishing anchors, to me is very important. As a teacher you must gain some insight on where your students are on the learning spectrum, then be able to determine where and what that student is capable of accomplishing. When teachers differentiate instruction it helps all learners be successful.

Discussion of several ways to assess what students learned during the project.
Ask your students many questions. Provide good feedback to the students during the creation of the project.
Allow peer editing amongst the students, this is allowing the students to teach and learn from one another. You can also have students create a additional project using what they have learned and assess them on it.

Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project.
The discussion on anchors relates to our project because it is a little tricky for students to create menus, and crossword puzzle using certain software that they may have never used before. We must remember to allow enough time for everyone to complete the project using technology that they may have never seen before. This is where we as teachers will have to have some prior background knowledge of our students, and be able to determine how long they will need to successfully complete the project.

reflection 9

Description of a method of understanding prior-knowledge of students.
You need to come up with an assessment for the students so you can know if they received the proper information that was being taught. For example, come up with group work. The students will be able to work toward a standard with their group, community, family, and peers to accomplish what they need to accomplish. This will allow them to work toward a standard and be more creative while doing it. Also this will be more challenging for them rather than just doing a standardized test that may go in one ear and out the other.

  Discussion on the importance of establishing anchors for a project.
By establishing anchors you gain a sense of where students are starting and how far they are going as they work to meet learning goals. In a project based classroom, you expand the opportunities to differentiate instruction and help all learners be successful.

Description of several ways to assess what students learned during the project.
The students can be asked by the teacher what they learned, this will give the teacher an idea of how productive their lesson was, and how interested and willing students were when doing the projects. You can also have the students create something new and create a final project with the old information that was turned into something new.
 
Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project.
This relates to our topic becasue we are taking our information and topic and constantly turning it into something new. We are making lesson plans, movies, and other things with our one little topic. This is showing that we know what we are talking about and we know what we are doing. I also think this relates because this class is strictly project based.

Concept Map 2 revised

I couldn't redo the actual concept map because my computer wont allow me to download the software to recreate it. We need to basically revise the whole concept map because we have things on our concept map that wont work for researching and using technology. The center of our concept map should have said grandparents day brunch. That will be our final presentation for the class. The students will present everything to their grandparents. Each bubble is in bold and then I wrote the sub topics off of each one of those since I couldn't put it on the map. This revised map is more detailed then our first map and more structured to our students researching  and creating things. Our first lesson plans were all the same and that's probably because our concept map wasn't fully correct.

Menu design( using microsoft)-menu styles-food-ingredients
catering-serving food-design the  table placement of silverware (using microsoft office)- etiquette-seating chart
cooking-serving students favorite foods (charts made with microsoft excel)-measurements-kitchen appliances-kitchen safety

Students will present themselves professionally for grandparents, proving they learned proper etiquette. Students will present the creative design of their menus for grandparents to select food from. Students will cook food, learning how to professionally present and serve food to guest.

Reflection 8

Description of some ways to build connections and branch out beyond the classroom.
There are so many ways to branch out beyond the classroom for example, you can use blogs just like we use in this class. Teachers, parents, students can all communicate and use them everyday. All different people can access and communicate by using blogs and stay up to date on current classroom information.

Description of the EAST Initiative Model.
EAST stands for Environmental And Special Technologies. These things allows students to use technology outside of the classroom and in the real world rather than inside the classroom. This is hard for them to understand and grasp onto because they are so used to using the technology resources that they have in the classroom. Students are able to work with others, and get the community involved so they can see their progress and the projects that they have created, as well as becoming involved in the projects.

Discussion on some reasons to let students “lead” their projects.
Students can take their own responsibilities and learning in their own hands. We as teachers can support and help them if needed, but letting them lead their own projects, they can learn things that seem important to them. They can also think on their own, and manage their time appropriately. Having the students lead their projects is a huge benefit. Once they are familiar with the technology they are using, they are fully capable of creating and doing their own projects.

  Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project
This relates to our topic because we are creating a project that is led by us who are students, and we are reaching out the community to be involved, and join us in our final project. I mostly think it relates to the fact that we have created it and it is completely student based when coming up with ideas and project planning.

Reflection 8

Kyra Elston
3/18/14
Reflection #8


1. Description of some ways to build connections and branch out beyond the classroom.
Technology builds connections in the family, classroom, community, and the whole world! Blogs are a modern technology tool that is used by teachers, moms, construction workers, bakers, ect! The list is endless. It creates a communication medium between all sorts of people. It also offers opportunities for students to branch out into the community for further research for our projects we are working on now.

2. Description of the EAST Initiative Model.
  East Initiative Model stands for Environmental and Spacial Technologies. They work to make technology usable in the outside world which is a hard thing for students to grasp when they are so use to doing it in the classroom. Students being professional when handling tools and application in context while solving community problems that interest them. Technology is a hook that attracts children to contribute more into their communities.

3. Discussion on some reasons to let students “lead” their projects.
  Students leading student projects are a great tool to help them develop leadership skills. They get to learn how to interact with different audiences which is an important standard for Michigan's Education system. Everyone has a part in a project and students can find their own place when they take the lead in a project they love.

4. Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project.
I feel like there is only so much you can do in the class with kitchen and catering so having technological programs that allow the students to branch out and experience, grow and learn in different ways with the connections they can make in other places; even as far as across the world!

Reflection 7

1.Description of the levels of classroom discussions :

Teacher to teacher. This is how teachers plan to work together to plan projects. Asking questions and getting good feedback from colleagues about the project. Teachers that can communicate face to face are also using technology (blogs, wiki and etc) to stay connected and continue collaborating.

Student to student. Students are communicating with other students about what they are learning. Must remind students how important communication among their peers are and good team work. When students are able to explain themselves it challenges other students thinking and gives them all the opportunity to learn from one another.

Teacher to student. As a teacher you may decide to lead whole group lesson to introduce a new concept or demonstrate a skill. Or you could lead a class discussion to see where students are at on their projects or to understanding of the assignment. You are most likely observing students at this stage and working closely with smaller groups. This ideal for practicing your listening skills. You will want to ask questions that promote higher learning.

2. Discussion on the questions for "checking in"on students during a project

procedural: This is when you as a teacher check and make sure that students are spending their time wisely and that they are learning. You help keep students guided in the right direction to finishing their project and check to make sure that they have things available to them that they need to complete the project.

teamwork: This is when you as the teacher asses team dynamics. You circulate and make sure that everyone on the team is playing a part in completing the project.

understanding: Teachers should be listening to student comments and making sure that they are making good progress. Make sure you as a teacher can understand where the students are headed with their line of thinking.
self-assessment: Ask student questions that encourage them to re think about a issue and reflect on their topic. Allow areas where students can express their concerns.


3.Discussion on the benefits for students when optimizing the use of technology
Students enjoy using the podcast to match their learning because they didn't have to ask the teacher to repeat information that they had already went over. Technology benefits the students because it engages them more than the regular style of learning probably would have. Many students already have prior knowledge working with technology so its a great way to keep them connected with developing software and programs.

4. Discussion on the 21st century skills that can make or break a project
Conflict can surely make or break a group project. As a teacher we must pay close attention to team dynamics. Haviing students write up a contract on their role and responsibility for a project is a great way to make a project work and encourage all students in the group to participate somehow. Incorporating team work as a part of the groups assessment help emphasize the importance of the 21st century skills.

5.Discussion on how concepts from this chapter relate to your project
Well, I think that all of the levels of classroom discussions are neccassary and important to our group in order for us to complete projects. I think its crucial that we learn to ask god questions to our group members and our teacher. I think our team may need to communicate a little more and ask better questions then we do.

Reflection 7

Kyra Elston

2/13/14

Reflection #7

1. Description of the levels of classroom discussions.

Keeping a project moving requires teachers to support students on their learning journey. You need to be able to think on your feet when unexpected situation arise or when you want to keep them moving toward important learning goals. This requires you to be curious and observant about what students are understanding and also notice where they are struggling.

2. Discussion on the questions for “checking in” on students during a project.

The types of questions for checking in are procedural, teamwork, understanding, and self-assessment. These things are similar to bloom’s taxonomy but I believe they should incorporate more of that wheel.

3. Discussion on the benefits to students when optimizing the use of technology.

When optimizing technology, students gain new insights to communicate with a culturally diverse audience. In addition, students can critique their peers for including additional aspects to the projects.

4. Discussion on the 21st-century skills that can make or break a project.

Podcasting is a 21^st century skill that can be effectively harnessed for learning, giving students new uses for computing devices that many already carry everywhere. I do not see how a podcast could really make or break a project.

5. Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project.

This chapter is about keeping a project moving and cooking can easily be stretched across a couple of days or even a couple of weeks. There are always new things to learn and new things to try and “keeping it moving” is not really an issue for this topic but I appreciated learning about the helpful tips that I could use for other topics and projects aside from this one.