Reading Reflection #6

1.) Technology tools can encourage students to be reflective and evaluate their own strengths. Some examples of technology tools:
--Blogs: Blogs provide students with a space to reflect on their work and what they're learning. This is a great place for students to talk to each other about any new concepts/ideas that they've learned.
--ProfilerPRO: This is a very useful online survey tool that allows you to identify the learning characteristics of an individual and also among members of a group. Some things that can be identified are strengths, weaknesses, and interests. This information can then be used to guide student learning. Students can reassess their profile over time to monitor the progress that they've made.
--SurveyMonkey/Zoomerang: These allow teachers to set up live online surveys. The results can be used to track trends as well as help students see how their self-assessment compares to the rest of the class.


2.) Before students begin a project, it's important that they get their minds ready. Teachers can prepare students' minds in the following ways: -By creating a K-W-L chart, -By getting students' attention and giving the idea time to settle in their imaginations, -By encouraging your students to explore and think about the topic, and to discuss their ideas with friends and perhaps even at the dinner table with family. Talking about your topic with others is a great way to discover new ideas that you never even thought of before.


3.) Before embarking on a project, it's important to think about teaching prerequisite knowledge or skills students need in order to work with a degree of independence on their project. In order to help set the stage for independent inquiry, you should begin your project with the K-W-L activity. This lets the students discuss what they already know about the topic, what they wonder about the topic, and what they want to learn about the topic. It's also important for teachers to share the assessment rubric with their students. This informs the students of the exact expectations for the project and gives them a roadmap toward great achievement. "The best rubrics even leave room for unanticipated brilliance!"


4.) The important steps in preparing students for using technology in their project are as follows:
--Set Up a Technology Playground: This is where you should provide the opportunity for students to explore the different types of technology that they can use for their project.
--Tap Student Expertise: This is where you should allow tech savvy students to teach other students about technology.
--Introduce Project-Management Tools: This is where a project log or a project journal help students track their progress toward certain goals. By encouraging students to write about their progress toward certain goals, you're able to gain insights as to why they're struggling/falling behind.
--Demonstrate: If you feel like you're comfortable with technology, go ahead and demonstrate to the children how certain technologies work. Be sure to mention the use of the tools within the context of the project. Also, it's important that you make your expectations very clear for the students.
--Rely on Your Technology Specialist: Collaborate with your technology specialist to match your learning objectives with proper technologies that will help students meet these objectives.

5.) In order to promote inquiry and deep learning, teachers should consider inquiry guiding question starters such as:
--"How" questions: These questions ask students to understand problems, to weigh options, and to propose solutions.
--"Which one" questions: These questions ask students to collect information and make informed decisions.
--"What if"/hypothetical questions: These questions ask students to use the knowledge they have to pose a hypothesis and consider options.
--"Why" questions: These questions ask students to understand cause and effect.
--"Should" questions: These questions ask students to make moral or practical decisions based on evidence.
All of these types of questions require the students to really put their brain to work when giving an answer. These five types of questions are all excellent ways to promote inquiry and deep learning.


6.) The information that was discussed in this chapter directly relates to our project. When deciding what lesson topics each person gets, we post on our blog. We also should consider implementing the K-W-L activity into our project because it's important to know what the students want to learn. Lastly, we want to ensure that our students are familiar and understand how to use the technology that they'll be working with to complete their project.