Reading Reflection #7

1.) Classroom discussions are a key component to every classroom. It's important that teachers focus on making the discussions in their classroom productive. Asking good questions is a great way to ensure that your classroom discussions are productive. Below are the three levels of classroom discussion with descriptions of each.
---Teacher to teacher: Teacher conversations will likely touch on everything from procedural to formative assessment. For example: teachers might talk about things like "What's our game plan for tomorrow?" or "From what I overheard today, some students are still confused about the key concept. How about planning a mini-lesson?" If for some reason teachers aren't able to communicate face-to-face, they should make use of blogs or wikis to keep in contact with each other.
---Student to student: Students should be talking about their learning experiences with their group and with other groups as they happen. Talking to other students about their learning experiences gives the students a chance to learn from others. The teacher's role is to be a facilitator; spend plenty of time listening to conversations among the students.
---Teacher to student: Teach whole-group lessons or have whole-group discussions together. This helps to get everyone to be involved and interact with the material. A teacher's job is to circulate, observe, and talk with smaller groups of students.


2.) When working on a class project, it's inevitable that different groups will work at different paces. As a teacher, it's important that you ask questions that will help you discover how fast/slow each group is moving. Based on these results, you might have to makes some adjustments to the project to keep it moving at an appropriate pace. Below are the four questions for "checking in" with a brief description of each.
---Procedural: These are questions such as "Are we staying on schedule?", "Do we have the right materials available?", and "When's the best time to schedule a field trip, expert visitor, or other activity?"
---Teamwork: These are questions such as "How are team members getting along?", "Is one students carrying too much of the load for the whole team?", and "Are students able to manage conflict themselves, or do they need my help?"
---Understanding: These are questions such as "Have you thought about looking for information on Discovery Kids' website?", and "Have you considered researching the average life span of a turtle?"
---Self-assessment: These are questions that are asked to find out what students are thinking about the project. Teachers should ask questions that encourage self-assessment and reflection on the part of the students.


3.) Incorporating technology into a project will most likely spark the interests of the students. Allowing the students to use technologies like laptops, iPads, and their cells phones will greatly benefit them in the long run. The long term benefits of using technologies such as these is that they will be better prepared for life after school. When they get out into the real world and look for a job, they'll definitely need to understand how to operate various forms of technology. Another benefit of using technology in projects is that, if the right internet sites/apps are used, the students can develop solid communication and collaboration skills. These skills are important because they're skills that they'll use for the rest of their lives.


4.) Troubleshooting and teamwork are two 21st-century skills that can make or break a project. Troubleshooting is a 21st-century skill that distinguishes effective project managers. Teachers should help students learn from setbacks and fine-tune their strategies for getting a project back on track. Teachers should also helps students understand the fact that real-world projects come with real-world challenges. Teamwork is a 21st-century skill that helps to promote collaboration. Teachers should always pay close attention to team dynamics. If you detect an issues, jump right in and help students learn to manage their own team conflicts. Conflict resolution is a real-life skill that will truly benefit them in the future!


5.) This chapter, like all the other chapters, directly relates to the group project that we're currently working on. In my opinion, the thing that relates the most to our lesson is the section on "questions for checking in." The reason why this is so important is because, as teachers, it's crucial that we ensure that all groups are staying on pace to completing the project on time. Also, the section on optimizing technology was very useful. We're planning on having our students communicate with another class of students in Sochi, Russia. So, we're doing a good job of utilizing technology into our project (by using Skype on a laptop). Overall, this chapter is a very useful tool to help us develop our project.


References

• Boss, Suzie, and Jane Krauss. Reinventing Project-based Learning: Your Field Guide to Real-world Projects in the Digital Age. Eugene, Or.: International Society for Technology in Education, 2007. Print.