Blog Post #9

What Can Teachers and Students Teach Us About Project Based Learning?

            After watching all of the videos on teaching using project based learning I feel that I have gained a lot of great and usable information. I believe that every classroom should be a fun yet educational place for children and teachers to learn. Bellow is the fun things I learned and plan on using in my future classroom.

What Motivated Students?

            In the clip “What Motivated Students?” it talked about how essential it is to motivate your students and some ways that you can implement it in your classroom. For most of us (educators/future educators) it seems like a silly thing to have to be reminded to give your students positive feedback. But, are you giving positive feedback enough or in the right ways? This video explains that it is extremely important to students to receive positive feedback from their teachers. They explain that it is the simplest things that mean the most to students for example just leaning over and telling a child that he/she is doing a great job while they are working independently or simply writing “Great work” on the top of their paper. These are the simple things that motivate students that teachers should always keep in mind. Because when students are motivated in their school work it rubs off on teachers and they become more motivated too. Another simple thing that teachers can do in their class is to help students create goals. This clip tells us that students who set goals are more motivated because they want to accomplish their personal goals. So having your class at the beginning of the week or even the year set some personal goals in the classroom could help boost the motivation throughout the classroom. One last thing that most educators use the most frequently as motivators are rewards but, depending on the grade level and age of your students can help you determine what the most suitable reward should be in your classroom. All in all I enjoyed this clip and found it very refreshing!

Project Based Learning for Teachers

            This clip was wonderful and very resourceful on the topic of project based learning. Throughout EDM 310 I feel that I have learned something new every week that I love about project based learning. I have learned the 7 most important things/guidelines for project based learning.

SEVEN ESSENTIALS FOR PROJECT BASED LEARNING

1.     Launch projects with an entry-event that engages the students' interest and raises questions 2.     Ask a driving question. This needs to be open-ended, complex, and linked to the core of what you want your students to learn 3.      Give the students a chance to show their voice and make choices for the projects. This could be in the form of them choosing how they want to present or providing them with a list of driving questions to choose from so they can choose the one they like best. (an example of how fun projects can be when you let students choose, watch: Two Students Solve the Problem of Watery Ketchup by Designing a New Cap) 4.     The process of doing the project should give them real-life skill practice such as collaboration, communication, critical thinking skills, and the use of technology.     - Read about Ten Sites Supporting Digital Classroom Collaboration in Project Based Learning 5.     The driving question should lead them to discover new questions and find new answers about the subjects as well. 6.     Provide the students with feedback. Students can critique each others' work using rubric's they made and the teacher can get experts or adult mentors to provide feedback as well as the teacher meeting with each group to make sure they are on the right track. 7.     Make it public and have a real audience. It is more fun and meaningful when a project isn't just another grade but instead to present a real problem and solution for a real audience.

After finishing the video on “Project Based Learning For Teachers” I have also learned that teachers should always have a purpose behind each and everything they are doing in the class and group students together. I feel that while I am in EDM 310 that just by being a student in the class where this type of learning is implemented it has truly shown me how wonderful and powerful this type of teaching and learning is!