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lisacetroni

Student Choice in the Classroom -- Join Michele & Lisa in this discussion... - 41 views

Have you been more conscious about choice since we discussed it at our last TLT? Have you tried to implement choice in either bold or subtle ways? Anything to share at our next TLT meeting? Mark...

Student choice TLT

lisacetroni

Understanding by Design: Essential Questions | huffenglish.com - 2 views

  • Our students need a curriculum that treats them more like potential performers than sideline observers
  • Essential questions “keep us focused on inquiry as opposed to just answers” (124).
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    This article speaks to me about EQ's. Do you feel the same?
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    I like the idea that there is no definitive answer to a well crafted essential question. That depending on where/when/whom it is asked, the answer will always be different.
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    I see there is a lot of confusion or disagreement about what a good essential question is.
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    The EQ reminds me how a curious learner might approach a topic or subject. As they learn more they can still ask the same question. It's not about mastery but about the joy of research, inquiry, thinking, deducing or inferring and all driven by the EQ.
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    As I read this article, I found that it connected project-based learning and EQ's together. It emphasized the importance of general questions that require inquiry, thought, and group discussions. It makes me want to look at my unit and come up with one-two over arching questions, and put them up in the classroom. Throughout the unit, I would reference the question and as we learned/discovered more about our topic of study, the students would be able to dig deeper and deeper into the EQ. (Just like project-based learning, where students are given problems and work to find a solution over time). By the way, I am pretty sure that I own the book that was referenced in this article. If anyone wants to borrow it, please let me know.
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    I find Wiggins and McTighe's views thought provoking. I've read some of their book...Understanding by Design. The framework they use is backwards. They recommend beginning with the essential questions which link to the understanding, then determine the assessment, and lastly develop your activities. I like this idea...it forces the designer to focus on the understandings and essential questions throughout the entire design process. I would like to keep my focus on my essential questions and what I want my students to truly understand.
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    I think this article reflects the importance of learning through inquiry and exploration that many of us value, especially as teachers of younger learners. The idea of an essential question being something pointed but allowing for a lifetime of thought or study is one that I'm sure many of us would hope our essential questions might capture. However, I struggle to visualize how this would look in a first grade classroom. When would we share these questions with our students, or would we not? Are these questions for us to build our lessons around or are they something we would like our students to attempt to answer in a concrete way at some point during a unit? Must they be subject specific or are there more general lines of inquiry that could be applied across the curriculum? I would be interested to read examples of effective essential questions that fall within this description that have been used with younger students, and what kind of learning this has led to.
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    Parts of the article made me want to reread dewey and eisner.....there is a great quote from eisner about viewing as curriculum not as something to be covered....makes me wonder what it would be like to have some large essential questions for the whole school..... And then more narrowed ones for each class..... Creating life long learners should be our goal.....i always find it disheartening when i ask students at the end of the unit of study what they are still wondering and they write "nothing"..., then i feel that i have not taught well.... But then maybe as the article states we feel that we shouldnt have questions at the end of a lesson....we have been "trained" to think that sitting through a lesson should answer all of our questions answered, when in fact the opposite is true. Sorry for the lack of punctuation and upper case letters, but i am wedding prep exhausted.
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    I like the concept that education "is not about learning the answer but about learning how to learn". I also like the idea of having the students try and personalize the questions, trying to relate the essential questions to their lives and experiences or ideas they have had.
lisacetroni

Essential Questions - 2 views

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    Interesting thoughts toward the end... Not so sure about the EQ's in the article. What do you think?
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    I like the way this article describes essential questions and the point of asking them. It says that essential questions touch our hearts and help us to define what it means to be human...this speaks to me. There are several examples given that relate to history, language arts, friendships, humanity that I like under intermediate EQs...I also like the analysis examples under primary EQs. Wondering how to write EQs for math curriculum?
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    I struggle to find good Reading essential questions. I do like the question, Is a "good read" always a great book? I also found an article with some very specific EQ's for our beginning readers. Here are a few examples: *How do letter patterns help me read words I do not know?"  and *How do letter sounds and patterns help me learn to spell?
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    I appreciated seeing specific examples of essential questions, or how to upgrade from a traditional question to an essential one. however, I assume there will be disagreement on the validiy of these questions!!
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    Also, interested in reading chapter 22 in this book, Learning to Question to Wonder to Learn, by Jamie McKenzie. Chapter 22 outlines how to go about creating essential questions. This article is out of chapter ten.
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    I like this quote: "The greatest novels, the greatest plays, the greatest songs and the greatest paintings all explore essential questions in some manner. Essential questions are at the heart of a search for Truth. Many of us believe that schools should devote more time to essential questions and less time to Trivial Pursuit." I believe this fully. I'm getting better at writing essential questions when I think about the deeper meanings about why we do what we do. Are the isolated facts enough? Don't we need to probe the "whys"? I think that I like exploring essential questions in my own life--so why do I balk at coming up with them for courses or units? Is it the ritual of filling them in? Is it my lack of skill in writing them. I think if I go back to the root of why they are important--I'll be more successful and hopefully more motivated.
Karen LeMaire

TLT Shares 3-20-2012 - 14 views

I, too, found the shares to be inspiring. I don't know exactly why but they seemed so much more do-able and relevant than technology shares from past years. I wished my students had created "Simp...

TLT

Michele Mathieson

Overarching Essential Questions.pdf (application/pdf Object) - 4 views

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    Sampling of Essential Questions - which do you like best?
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    This is a great resource! So many valuable questions that apply to what we teach. For example, a repetitive theme throughout second grade history is "whom do we believe?" and the kids begin to internalize this question. When it comes up in our Pocahontas at the end of the year, students often relate it to Greek myths at the beginning of the year.
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    My favorites were: "Whose story is it?" "What does it mean to make a living?" -Although this one is more specific to a unit discussion as opposed to an overarching question to keep asking... I also noticed one question was: " Can an individual make a difference?" I would encourage teachers to ask, " HOW does an individual make a difference."
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    I really like seeing these questions fleshed out like this. I have been struggling some with the foreign language essential questions when it comes to specific content. For culture and actual language learning parts of the curriculum, the essential questions are easier for me to formulate, but when it comes to "just plain translation" and learning content, I am not sure how to create relevant, thought provoking essential questions. This list helps give me some ideas.
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    Great questions! My favorites were: Can fiction reveal the truth? What would happen if people couldn't read? How can I make a positive difference? What is worth fighting for? How much should it cost? Who decides? Whose "story" is it?
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    I agree with Laura. It really helps to see a selection of questions to get brainstorming. I also like how Robin "spun" the last language of the last EQ she posted- just a tad - to make it more meaningful to the students. In the past, I've been wary of posting "blanket" EQ posters I'd seen hanging around my closet for reasons that were mentioned in this article. I'm looking forward to working together with my team to create EQs that follow a logical sequence, that are understood by all learners and resonate with the topics we are covering, in order to post them throughout the classroom to refer back to often. The EQ's listed here provide a thoughtful launching point. :)
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    There's so many great ones! Some of my favorite ones are What is power? Who holds it? Who am I? Can an individual make a difference?
lisacetroni

Store | PBL in the Elementary Grades Project Based Learning | BIE - 4 views

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    This is an ad for a book on PBL in the Elementary Grades. Scroll down to download the PDF of the intro. It provides a great overview and addresses some myths about PBL.
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    This is helpful. I love reading all of the sample projects... Especially the variety of culminating final presentations (definitely authentic and doable!). Also, thinking about how one question guides weeks of study makes me wonder how this would mesh with our spiraling Everyday Math curriculum.
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    I agree--I enjoyed looking at the different sample projects. I did a lot more PBL when I taught 5th and 6th grades, and I feel like I haven't been quite as successful with it in 1st grade, so it was great to see some of the types of things that might be really great for 1st graders. Caitlin, I love how you mentioned math as well. One idea I had wanted to try a few years ago was writing a complex problem that we could spend the year working on, one that in order to solve, the students would need to figure out what they needed to learn, but it would lead us to the topics and the basics that are part of the regular curriculum anyway--it would just be more student directed. I never actually tried it, though. Something like this, though, or trying to integrate math through PBL, means making some changes to the EM curriculum that we currently use.
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    I LOVE all of the ideas! The one about first graders exploring a suitcase from long ago to ask questions and create a video sounds like it could fit right in with our curriculum. As I mentioned in another post, I think we will need to be mindful of how we integrate PBL into our curriculum with the younger students, because their exposure can be quite different from one another. I feel some content introduction and base knowledge would need to happen before diving into these projects, but I fear it may become "dessert" rather than the main course.
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    To echo what Mary stated, our moon unit is a great example of project based learning in kindergarten. The framework is set but each year it changes quite a bit with each new group of students. The students and their specific interests in the moon and space guide our instruction. I think we will definitely use the ipads to enhance what we already do for this unit. I would like to try project based learning with more units of study.
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    Great ideas! Love to learn more about PBL projects Jill
Michele Mathieson

Quick-edit Videography with iMovie for iPad « Moving at the Speed of Creativity - 1 views

  • 1. Start an iPad iMovie by clicking the “+” icon at the bottom of the screen.
  • 2. Click the video window to show available videos on the iPad. These are videos which have been saved to the Photo Roll. Click the arrow on a video to insert it into your project where the playhead (the red line) is positioned.
  • 3. Note as videos are inserted into a project, iMovie for iPad adds a yellow border around them in the video library. This makes them appear different from other videos so you can identify ones not yet imported into the project. (They won’t have a colored border around them.) Also notice the total time of the imported video is shown at the end of the last clip.
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  • 4. Click the settings icon (it looks like a gear) in the upper right corner to choose a theme for your project. My favorite is the CNN iReport theme, since it allows you to show your location as well as a project title at the start of your video.
  • 5. To “split” a clip into two parts, first drag the clip so the playhead (red line) is on the spot where you want it split. Think of a split like you are cutting the video into two pieces with a virtual knife. Click on the clip ONCE to select it. It should be highlighted in yellow when selected.
  • 6. Next, swipe your finger down, across the clip over the red playhead line. This will split the clip into two pieces.
  • 7. Double click a clip to make changes to the settings for it. These include setting a title, a location (used in the opening title of the iReport theme) and adjusting the clip’s audio level. Individual clips can also be deleted from this menu.
  • 8. Select the Title Style and choose the desired option. Color and formatting differences apply to different title styles. The iReport theme includes three styles for the opening, middle and ending of the video.
  • 9. Text can be entered for each title style by touching the “Title Text Here” area in the video preview window. Text will resize automatically to fit in the space provided.
  • 11. Click the MY PROJECTS tab at the top of the screen to return to the starting menu for iMovie for iPad. Click the title to change it as desired.
  • 12. Individual clips can be trimmed by clicking on them once to select them. This will reveal “trimming handles” which look like dots above the starting and ending points of a clip. Drag these trimming handles to the left or right to shorten or lengthen a clip as desired.
  • 13. Transitions are automatically inserted between different clips in your iMovie. Click on the transition icon between clips to modify it. By default a cross-dissolve transition is used.
  • 14. When you are finished editing and ready to publish your project, click the MY PROJECTS tab at the top to return to the home screen. Then click the publish icon at the bottom of the screen, which looks like a box with an arrow on it. Select the desired location for sharing.
  • 15. Enter the desired title, description, category and tags for your video. Additionally, choose the size to share (large is recommended) and the privacy settings.
  • 16. Click SHARE in the upper right corner. Your video will now EXPORT into a compressed format
  • 17. After your video is published, iMovie will display a screen with the option to TELL A FRIEND. If you select this option, you can email yourself the direct link to your video.
lisacetroni

Education Week: Proper Role of Ed-Tech in Pre-K a Rising Issue - 6 views

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    I like that this article is specific to Pre-K children. It's simple and straight-forward. It makes sense.
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    I like the line what do children need. It is a good article. We cant deny the technology is there and in many ways it has enriched our program...
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    Thanks for sharing, Kathy. I'd love to hear if there is a line or idea from the article that hits home with anyone else. I think the picture at the beginning defines "best practice" for appropriate use of technology with Pre-Schoolers. One of the links made me think about our responsibility to educate parents about appropriate use of technology outside of school. The iPad and iPhone seem to be equivalent to the television in the1950's.
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    Yes, this article hit home for me. Technology is here to stay and moving rapidly and as teachers we need to find the most effective and appropriate ways to use it to meet the needs of our students. With Pre-Schoolers, nothing can replace "hands on" experiences yet technology obviously has a place in the classroom. We just need to keep in mind the appropriate kind of screen time, the amount of time, the purpose and the specific child. I have my iPad at every morning meeting just in case some type of question or clarification arises.
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    So true, Dolly. It's great for children to learn how they can research or "look things up" if they can't figure something out for themselves. If you think about it, Google helps us all to become more independent learners. So, all the more need for collaboration, deep thinking and application of knowledge in the classroom.
lisacetroni

Education World: Academic Choice Motivates Learning - 10 views

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    Responsive Classroom article ... What makes Academic Choice different from the daily choices children make in the classroom?
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    The authors seem to agree that limited choice is the best, with a driving question and a clear rubric for expectations. I enjoyed Rhee's article where she talked about her students wanting to be told what to do.
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    The perfect culminating quote: "When teachers use Academic Choice to structure lessons, children become purposeful learners who engage in an activity because they want to, not because the teacher told them to. They work with a sense of competence, autonomy, and satisfaction." The more we allow our students to have ownership in their learning, the more connected and invested they become. What a terrific way to support learning! Hooray for all of our academic choice at STAB. Consideration: "Let's be thoughtful in our math lessons next year, and work to continue to incorporate academic choice when possible."
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    I think a lot of these articles point out the need for a great deal of planning and structure to be present in order for the each student to succeed with his/her chosen project.
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    I especially liked the reflection questions mentioned in the article. "What helps you learn?" "How did your work change the way you think about the topic?"
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    I think Academic Choice is a great format to use and it allows students more options.
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    Thinking about this from the point of view of our "Assessment" CFG, I would be interested in how one could tie together these ideas for academic choice with self differentiation. I love the idea of choice being a motivator, especially when the choice being made is one that is challenging to the individual. However, sometime I worry that the choices being made are the "easy" option rather than the one that would be best suited for the chooser. On a completely different note, I liked the idea of having a set of math problems and giving students choices for the ways of solving. This could support those who are not sure what to do (especially with the option of manipulatives) but also gives those more able students the opportunity to be creative in their solving. I think setting an activity like this would also encourage students to really think about their methods of solving, and prepare them to vocalize their thought processes.
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    I agree with Karen- I think the reflection portion of this article is so important! Think of how much students can grow by participating in academic choice and following up with the metacognition piece. With this, each time we introduce a new set of academic choices to our students, the process should feel smoother and more beneficial for everyone involved!
Robin Albertson-Wren

Respect and Responsive Classroom - 14 views

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    Dear Colleagues and Cohorts, Take a moment before our faculty meeting next Tuesday to read this post from Responsive Classroom and reflect about how these suggestions can connect to the building of our professional, adult community here in the Learning Village. Please comment below and post your personal/professional Hope and Dream for the year.
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    My personal Hope and Dream for our professional community is that we nurture an environment in which everyone feels safe in taking risks and supported along his/her professional path.
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    I would like to see our Critical Friends become just that ... colleagues with whom we take the journey toward knowledge, enlightenment, experimentation and professional growth.
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    My personal hope and dream for our professional community is that we will continue to have authentic conversations that foster and encourage curiosity/creativity. As a new teacher, advice or questions about classroom practices/routines help me to reevaluate and look at my own classroom from a new perspective (this is very helpful and inspiring).
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    My personal hope and dream for our community is two-fold. My first hope and dream is that we become comfortable having more questions than answers and nurture that curiosity in others. My second hope and dream is that we encourage each other to have compassion not only for others, but for ourselves, so that we are better able to handle the pressures of our personal and professional lives. I know that we tend as a group to be hard on ourselves and it is hard to learn to be compassionate towards yourself.
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    My personal hope and dream for myself is to really be present in every moment possible. I find myself thinking constantly about what is coming next instead of just "being in the moment". I think this idea can also present itself when I am having conversations with colleagues about their lives or their teaching. I hope to use the peaceful pause to help center myself and my class so that I can move forward with the lesson or issue at hand.
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    My personal hope & dream for our community is that we can all continue to be mindful of each other not only as colleagues, but also as the whole person--very much the way we look at the ""whole child"--and consider what else may be going on in each other's lives in the "rest" of our life, too, and how that affects our time here together. I would like to continue to support you all as professional colleagues while simultaneously giving space to and respecting what you might be working through outside of school.
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    My hope is for a faculty that is caring and respectful of each other...In fact this already characterizes us. But we can't take this for granted. As our lives get busier, and they seem to be getting busier by the day, I hope we are willing to take time for each other, be available to each other. One poet said, "All we take when we leave this earth, is the light in our eyes." My hope and dream is that we continue to see the light in each others' eyes.
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    My hope and dream for our professional community is that we foster a close, openhearted working relationship filled with respect to promote an academic setting conducive to student social, emotional and academic growth.
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    My personal Hope & Dream would be to connect with each person at some level about things not school related. Professionally, I hope that I can continue to take risks and try new ways of teaching and learning and work with others in trying and applying these new techniques.
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    My hope for this current school year is to trust more- in myself, my team, and my colleagues. :) Trusting myself- I am my own worst critic! I want to critically, yet positively, reflect upon previous years in order to help adapt, tweak, and bring forth what seems most valuable for my students and trust in those changes. (As teachers, we do this constantly, but it is important to continue this!) Trusting in my team- I am quite excited to be part of such a fresh, new trio! I appreciate the input and support they've already provided and I look forward to trusting them - as educators and friends - throughout our upcoming time together here. Trusting my colleagues- I hope that we continue to be participants of a nurturing group that is always being mindful of one another's needs-- personally or educationally-- and trusting that support is all around, if only you ask.
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    My personal hope and dream would be to take the time to stop and greet my colleagues when I see them in the hallway, ask questions about what they are teaching and offer suggestions and support when needed. I know this is not always possible during our busy days, but I think it will help me feel more connected since my workspace is so far away!
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    My professional hope and dream is to try new ways of teaching that can help the students who are really struggling, or at the opposite end, the students who need to be challenged. My personal hope and dream is that we continue to be the positive and supportive group that exists now.
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    My personal hope and dream for our professional community is to take the time to notice and be thankful for the little things that are so easily taken for granted.
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    My personal hope and dream is to create a learning environment in which I am meeting my students needs through differentiated lessons and creating a classroom community where students feel safe to challenge themselves and take risks.
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    I would like to borrow my personal hope and dream from the Responsive Classroom post: to pay attention. To make sure that I give each of my students my undivided attention at some small moment in the day, and to pay the same respect to my colleagues whenever possible. Our minds are always full of other important things, but it is important to make them stop and focus on what is being said and the person who is saying it.
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    My hope for the year is that I'll achieve a deepened sense of trust and teamwork both in the classroom and in my professional community. I also hope to create a classroom space where listening is as important as sharing.
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    My hope is to learn as much as I can this year- from my colleagues and our students. My other hope is to step a little bit out of my professional comfort zone.
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    My hope and dream for the year is to slow down! Take the time to listen to my students and my colleagues. And also to create a peaceful and respectful classroom environment.
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    My hope is that we will continue to have peaceful pauses at the beginning (or end) of meetings. I find these moments to be a powerful reminder about "being" rather than "doing".
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    My personal hope for the year is to be positive. I hope to find the good things in each student and lesson, every day. Also, I hope to reflect with my colleagues, my students and/or independently, on what is going well and how to overcome obstacles.
Michele Mathieson

Primary Preoccupation - 5 views

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    Interesting to hear about using a DS to encourage sharing and taking turns (excellent 21st century skills). I may need to check other resources, but I've never met a DS game that I would call "educational." I feel more led to teach and explore sharing and taking turns and rule building through sharing math supplies - like one set of coveted attribute blocks, or only 3 Lego people at the Lego table....
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    I love the experimental nature of this PBL activity. It doesn't matter what the materials are. The children were experiencing, experimenting and solving problems. What better way to teach young children about rules and responsibilities? Often we think of PBL in terms of lengthy projects. This activity shows that this is not necessarily the case. If I were the teacher, I'd spring a similar activity on the children with completely different materials at a later time to see if they could apply what they had learned.
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    I agree using a DS would never come to my mind as a tool for learning problem solve Ing skills and sharing but we all have many other materials in the classroom which could serve the same goal. In preschool we would really have to stretch the definition of PBL as they are still acquiring the most basic skills especially language. Preschool teachers still need to be center stage with our little ones under most circumstances.
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    This sounds like a great learning opportunity for young students. Would it really be considered PBL? (not sure what the DQ would be, or how rich the content is...or what authentic audience or final product there is) Certainly teaching social skills like these is highly valued! I'm just wondering if it's a nice example of cooperation and student leadership, or if we would call it PBL.
Michele Mathieson

Spotting a Fake: Teaching Website Evaluation Skills | Education.com - 1 views

  • Test the wading pool. Younger students under grade six may not be ready to surf the vast “open Web,” warns Schrock. “They do not have the knowledge base to know if what they are finding is reliable, authoritative, and may not understand what bias is all about.” There is little authority on Wikipedia, she says, while a site such as BrainPOP, while colorful and interactive, doesn’t include citations. “I would rather see students use a juried directory such as www.homeworknyc.org for homework,” she says, which includes citations to information. Use kid-friendly search sites. An older student with training may be able to search the Web for a hobby – like skateboarding or a favorite young adult author – on search engines such as www.kidsclick.org, monitored by librarians though San Jose State University. Visit a fake site. Take a peek at www.allaboutexplorers.com, an intentionally fake research site in which the biographies of explorers are riddled with factual errors. Sir Francis Drake’s bio mentions artifacts like computer disks, while another page claims that Ferdinand Magellan’s expedition to the Spice Islands was financed by Bill Gates. Search for as many questionable facts as you can. Or, browse the stories at the mock site www.theonion.com and figure out which pieces of an article aren’t true. Detect bias. “One way to approach bias is to teach about advertisements and persuasion,” says Schrock. “Bias and persuasion seem to be closely linked.” Create a Web page about a topic you know well, and then use it to persuade others. For instance, your child may build a biased site that talks about why a Nintendo DS is better than a PSP. (He probably needs some media literacy training evaluating persuasive materials like commercials and magazine ads, says Schrock.) Be inquisitive. Always ask the question: “Who wrote this?” Click on the “About Us” page for more information. Find a “byline,” or the line attributing an article to an author. Scan the bottom of a website for a person or organization’s name, and then Google it. Look to experts. Brainstorm proven leaders in the subject you are researching and take note of their organization and affiliations they have. If you’re writing a report on gorillas, for instance, find out what organizations Jane Goodall has worked with. Check out their websites for further information and links to even more resources. Befriend your librarian. Use this free and friendly resource. “I suggest to parents that they talk to their local public librarian – students often can have home access to great subscription databases of information by using their library card number,” says Schrock. Beware of phony URLs. Check the URL and pay attention to fishy addresses. It’s not always effective to look at the domain – .com, .net, .org, .mil, .gov – as a way to determine bias or authenticity, warns Schrock. “Except for .mil and .gov and k12.us, anyone can have any domain.” Also, a site that asks for personal information to access a free, public site may not be legit. Check the copyright date. Most websites, especially frequently updated ones, display a “last updated” date or a year the site was created. If you see a date that’s a decade old (or more), it's wise to find a site with more recently written content (posted within the last several years). Create a shortlist. Over time, build a list of tried-and-true websites. Take note of the best websites on animals, history, sports, the environment, or current events, and return to this list when necessary. You will build your knowledge of the Internet, and learn which sites are reliable.              
Michele Mathieson

Liven Up Your Lessons by Giving Students Choices | Edutopia - 7 views

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    I like the list of suggestions in this article.
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    I agree, the list of suggestions here is great! We often provide students with activities just like these, but often my whole class completes the same project. The article reminds me that it is important to allow them to CHOOSE which activity is most appealing for them!
Michele Mathieson

Can a Silicon Valley start-up transform education? | PBS NewsHour - 0 views

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    David shared this link. Seems a bit like our FABLab!
Michele Mathieson

Right Question Institute - A Catalyst for Microdemocracy - 1 views

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    This looks like a very valuable site to join to encourage "The Art of Questioning".
Michele Mathieson

Main Course Not Dessert | FreeBIEs | Tools | Project Based Learning | BIE - 12 views

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    This is the article Lisa put in everyone's mailbox. Please comment here.
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    Love the idea of serving up the main course to our young learners! So important to recognize that so much out there may really just be dessert...
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    This article made me think of a project I did recently with fourth grade, in which they researched and produced a food web using their choice of iPad apps. Was it better than my previous food web activity (cutting and pasting pictures to a piece of construction paper)? Definitely. But, not surprisingly, it was immensely time-consuming, particularly when I only see my classes twice each week. A five-session project translated into 2 1/2 weeks of science time, and the quality of the students' work would have benefited from at least one more class period for revisions. How do we decide if the skills that students learn with a "main course" project are valuable enough to give up the consistent content base our students get from more traditional forms of classroom instruction?
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    I have tried to create quite a few pbl based projects over the years in both history and mathematics. I agree it takes a lot of time, but I do think the time spent is well worth it. The skills in collaboration, problems solving, critical thinking and research cannot not be duplicated through dessert projects. In younger grades, I do think some filling in of content needs to be done through other types of instruction, mainly because young children do not have as deep a pool of prior knowledge and skills. For example in the latest pbl I did, the kids had great enthusiasm, worked hard, gathered amazing information, but then lacked the skill to pull it all into as meaningful end results as I had hoped they would. Luckily I had Lisa there to videotape the lessons and I was able to see that my students need some mini lessons in how to figure out which content from their research is important to put into the end product. I do believe that they will remember the information gained much better than if i had simply presented it, let them read and then had them do a project at the end. Critical to the success of pbl is ample classroom time .... Flexibility in schedule, large chunks of time and not having large gaps between different sessions is critical. Too often we lose a class because of changes to the schedule and that further widens the gap between meetings. Discontinuity of schedule hinders the process.
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    I'm wondering if other teachers think PBL is a component of interdisciplinary studies with the addition of the leading, premise question. From this article, one would not think the arts would have a significant place in PBL. Hopefully, the arts are included in the teacher collaborations of PBL, as the arts help to facilitate the 21St century skills: collaboration, creative and critical thinking, emotional intelligence and various mediums of communication. (Eisner, Gardner, BrIce-Heath etc.) I think it would be great to include more PBL at St. Anne's with the requisite amount of collaborative, inter-departmental planning time. I tend to think of PBL as a comprehensive project. In my mind, the primary grades project discussed in "Primary Preoccupation" was an example of experiential learning, not necessarily PBL.
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    As I begin to think about creating this type of learning envirnoment, I am thinking... I need to be able to devise real "problems" or "situations" that my students can actually see as something that they need to solve. I am wondering, how can I create a problem that relates to Ancient Greece that my students believe really needs to be solved.
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    After reading Kathleen's comments above, I also wonder how my role as a second grade teacher fits into PBL. I am thinking, is it sufficient to begin to lay the foundation for PBL by teaching through student inquiry which includes student choice of what questions to ask and how to present the information? I believe that I may need to lay a foundation for children, a "prior knowledge" in the first several lessons of a unit in order for them to handle seeking out answers to new questions, developing a plan of action, and presenting a final work. I adapted a lesson in history today so that student partnerships had to gather information about Pocahontas in several different texts instead of me only reading aloud the information and then discussing as a class. I am at the point now where I need feedback about the changes I made in the lesson to see if I am moving in the right direction. I look forward to the opportunity to bounce ideas around.
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    I have a very similar train of thought as what Pam wrote above. I do a lot of PBL in the LS Spanish program in most grade levels, but especially in third and fourth, we will work on something that stretches over a few classes, or even sometimes a few weeks, when I only see them once or twice a week. With language learning, the repetition and focus on these kinds of projects reflects the students deepened understanding of the content targeted, which for me, makes the project more worthwhile than moving through a larger amount of content in the same time as a long project. The catch is that I feel that the curriculum has more content than I can cover if we do that "deepened" understanding through PBL...I would rather have less "topics" in my curriculum and more time to go more in depth with the time I do have with the kids.
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    The examples of schools using PBL were all at the high school level. I assume that students have had a chance to master the basics. A PBL experience for a younger student has to take more time in order to learn some basic skills such as research, pulling information together, figuring out the main idea and writing that makes sense. I see a huge value in PBL because the student has to take ownership and responsibility for their work. I liked the library of tested project ideas mentioned.
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    So far everything I have read or seen - in video presentations - about PBL has focused upon high school students/projects. They describe, in this article, that students need "to use higher-order thinking skills and learn to work as a team. They must listen to others and make their own ideas clear when speaking, be able to read a variety of material, write or otherwise express themselves in various modes, and make effective presentations." These are the skills that are needed in order to begin answering a driving question. I believe in projects - pourquoi stories, Ancient China museums, etc. - but I also think that our job, as elementary school teachers, is to teach these basic skills so that they can then be used for PBL in middle and upper school. These are my preliminary thoughts, as I begin to learn about this type of learning.
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    I wonder how to adapt this to elementary level work. I think that the teacher who came from November Learning (the Canadian woman who teaches first grade) could be a good resourse. And of course Kathleen can probably demystify us as she has been doing some of this. I also think that it would be hugely helpful to collaborate as grade level teams to come up with ideas for PBL - maybe just one per gl- that we can try and then regroup and tweak. Making it truly "main course" is going to require some thinking. But it sounds exciting. At the end of the article the author lists certain conditions that make this type of learning/teaching/curriculum feasable. We have some work to do to meet those benchmarks. What are your thoughts on developing project libraries? How will we create time for teachers to "meet with colleagues, plan projects, critique and fine tune lessons and gather and share resources" ?
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    Any effort to promote greater reflection and opportunities for revision is important. This appears to be an important feature of PBL--as it should be. I also like the focus on open-ended DQ(Dairy Queens or Driving Questions).
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    Lisa K. -- the projects I remember were probably a hybrid. I don't recall any driving questions, but sometimes, I was researching ... Teaching myself something that hadn't been taught in the classroom. I learned only very basic critical skills, but that was the age of the encyclopedia. I learned to consider the background and education of the author. To me, the key is applying the information thoughtfully and creatively. I think a good starting point is taking the projects we're already doing and taking a closer look. How can they be more meaningful for our students? How can we use projects to teach Lucas' basic skills? TLT time can be used for planning.
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    I enjoy the idea of a Driving Question. I also appreciate the aspect of small group and independent work this type of learning seems to facilitate. I am curious about how to involve a public audience in more ways than the typical end of drama presentation.
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    In the PBL introductory handbook, from BIE, I'm glad they acknowledged the findings of Dewey and what he initiated. It reminded me of the importance of student engagement. My wife, Maureen, and I did our masters in teacher education at George Mason and one of the crucial findings was that engagement is imperative in learning. PBL seems to recognize the importance of this engagement.
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    When I think about the kindergarten moon unit, I realize we really do PBL. This unit is student driven (they decide what they want to know) and a learning adventure. Enhanced by technology... we research using books, drawings, e-video clips, internet books and websites (NASA.gov) Children connect and problem solve and end up teaching each other with words, posters, drawings etc.
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    This is Leo: PBL really excites me. This type of learning puts the focus on the student. The teacher then acts as a guide, rather than the sole knowledge provider. Students in turn take pride and ownership over their area of focus. I would love to add more types of PBL into my teaching, but need to find creative ways to incorporate this into our busy schedule.
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    I value a lot of the ideas (choice, authentic audience, 21st Century skills) presented in PBL. I just don't know how to incorporate it or totally revise my classroom to make it work. I'm interested in hearing how to make this work with elementary classrooms.
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    I have similar feelings as Kathleen, in that often the excitement is there, but the means to culminate a final project is difficult with younger students. I find PBL quite interesting, but I do feel that starting smaller and working up to larger, more in-depth projects may be 'safer' as it is new for our students as well as many of us. We can find how it would work with our age groups, content, and specific classrooms then scaffold from there.
Michele Mathieson

K-2 Presentation Rubric | FreeBIEs | Tools | Project Based Learning | BIE - 4 views

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    Rubric for PBL for k-2
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    Very cute rubric. I liked it
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    This rubric is quick, user-friendly and adaptable to other applications. I like that the first face is neutral and says, "still learning.". I think I'll use it. It may be a good time to implement this tool to help my students focus on the way that they present.
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    It is cute and user firendly. Self evaluations are a critical part of the process and can be done with any age.
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    I would not call the WHO AM I presentations that Don's RLA and my RLA do PBL- but I have always wanted to build more self evaluation into that experience. While this rubric isn't quite right, it is getting me thinking. This is very cute however for younger children and I may find a way to use it with my first graders.
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    Nice rubric! Would be easy to adapt for a variety of projects in any subject. Saved it in iBooks :)
Michele Mathieson

How to Write Effective Driving Questions for Project-Based Learning | Edutopia - 4 views

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    Hmmmm... Do you think a Tubric will help you write Driving Questions? Check it out; you can make one. Watch the video on this link, then go to BIE to download the 2 pages you'll need to make it. If you make one, bring it to our next TLT meeting on February 14th.
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    I don't know.... I might try one, although the construction looks frustrating..... But there may be another way to achieve the same thing...... It's got me thinking....
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    I don't know if the tubric would help- I don't think 3 x5 cards would be unmanageable. Not sure though... What makes a good story? Or... What makes a story good?
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    Agreed. The Tubric is just a tool. I get excited about using DQ's as a springboard for projects. I think they improve the focus.
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    I'm interested to know that her PBL lesson included direct instruction and in-class practice. Was it considered PBL because it was answering a DQ, involving a real-life situation?
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    Also, I think the Tubric seems cool! Makes the task of creating DQs seem more fun and likely to be successful, compared to sitting down with a blank piece of paper. I would like to put our heads together and come up with some DQs we could use... Ooh, starting to get excited about the possibilities!
Michele Mathieson

1st grade websites - 2 views

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    K, 1 & 2 teachers might like this list of websites.
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    Some really cute games on those websites... the keyboard game and alphabetic order ones in particular.
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