Blog Post #9 :What Can Teachers and Students Teach Us About Project Based Learning?

Seven Essentials For Project Based Learning- By John Larmer and John R. Mergendoller

This article lists the main points or essentials for a student or teacher to be successful in a project based learning assignment. They are listed below

1. A Need to Know- Have an assignment that will make the students feel like that they need to lean this material.

2. A Driving Question- What is the projects thesis statement? What is the main point of this project?

3. Student Voice and Choice- Make the topic of the project broad that way the students can choose what they want to do their project on from that topic. This helps the students feel that what they are doing is meaningful

4. 21st Century Skills- These include Critical Thinking, Communication, and The Use of Technology.

5. Inquiry and Innovation- This refers to a question that leads a trail of ideas, and an answer that is generated from those ideas. 

6. Feedback and Revision- The teacher should review the students work, but so should experts or others that can provide an outside opinion.

7. Publicly Presented Production- Have the students present their project to an audience in order to make their work more meaningful.

These steps can help make a students work feel more important than just doing a simple worksheet or studying for a test. These steps can help make a students work feel meaningful and allow their drive to learn more increase.


Project-Based Learning for Teachers By Tony Vincent

This video explains what project based learning is and how it differs from the Common Core Standards. In this video Tony says that the Common Core Standards are the WHAT. This includes: Rigorous Content, Aligned with College and Work Expectations, Clear and Understandable, and Evidenced Based. Then he goes on to say that Project Based Learning is the HOW. This includes: Inquiry Based, Open Ended, Problem Solving, and Personalized. This provides us as future educators to allow our future students to develop their own ideas while intriguing their interest in the class materials.

Project Based Learning in PE By Pflug's Blogs

I found this article to be quite fascinating. It talks about how high school students were challenged to come up with ideas for middle school physical education class and had to come up with a new challenge each day. These ideas were no only for school, but help improve the daily lives outside of school. The high schoolers used the six principles of current education to help them succeed in this project. It was interesting to read about other students taking over for coaches.



Project Based Learning and Physical Education By Andrew Miller

In this article by Andrew Miller he talks about how to mix PE and Project Based Learning. He talks about how in Project Based Learning one must learn to work and problem solve as a team and as an individual. He then goes on to give a PE project through the seven essentials for Project Based Learning (listed above).


Two students solve the case of the watery ketchup by designing a new cap By Lindsey Foat

In this video by Lindsey Foat she shows us how two students can solve a problem by using the methods of Project Based Learning. In this video two high school students, Richard and Thompson, use the mathods of Project Based Learning to solve how to stop the ketchup from being watery and also leaking. They eventually solve the problem and their teacher is pleased with the results. This video show us that we can use the methods of Project Based Learning for other task besides school.

Project# 9 Video Book Commentary

Blog Post # 8

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture
This is by far one of the best videos I have seen this semester. Though this video is only an hour long he covered several topics. I also enjoyed how well he presented each topic and idea to the audience. He mixed in the technology from his presentation and the his own body language in a way that clearly kept the audience interested.

There were also two major points in his presentation that really stood out to me the most. The first was the topic of either you're A Tigger or an Eeyore. Meaning that you do you show or present energy and enjoyment in what you do, or simply just go through the motions. As future educators we need to be more along the lines of Tiggers rather than Eeyores. If we show our students that we enjoy the materials then they in turn might take an interest in it as well. The second was the Brick Walls. Randy says "Brick walls aren't there to keep people out. They are there to show us how badly we want something." I found this to be quite interesting. As someone who has faced many brick walls in his life so far. I have also thought that they were  there to stop us and tell us to move on. But I really like Randy's point about pushing through the wall. One must push through in order to achieve.

C4T #2

Post: The Least Talked About Problem in EdTech
In this post by Dean Shareski, he talks about the issue of bandwidth (or lack thereof) in schools. Dean feels that the major problem with EdTech in todays school is that they lack the proper bandwidth. He even states in his post. "Imagine teaching English using books with half the pages ripped out. That’s essentially what it’s like for teachers trying to use devices with no bandwidth." Dean feels that in order for tech teachers, or any teachers for that matter, to properly educate their students to their optimum that schools need to add more bandwidth.

My Comment:
Hi Dean, I am Patrick Roane and I am currently enrolled at the University of South Alabama where I study secondary education in hopes of becoming a teacher myself. I am currently enrolled in a course called EDM 310 where we learn how to educate through technology, Like you yourself stated in your post I too am no expert on bandwidth. However I did enjoy reading your post mostly because I had no idea that this was a problem for most schools. It is nice to see that current educators, such as yourself, share this kind of information so we as future educators can understand and be prepared for this in the future.

 

 

 

Post: What's Your Unfair Advantage?

In this blog post, written by Dean Shareski, he talks about what he calls an unfair advantage. He first heard this phrase from a talk radio show call Start Up where the host ask a business man what is your unfair advantage. What this means is what do you have in order to succeed that others don't. Dean goes on to say that teachers need that unfair advantage and that you will remember the teacher that had the greatest impact on your life to have been unique.

 

 

My Comment:

 

Hi Dean,
I am Patrick Roane and I am a student in EDM310 at the University of South Alabama. I really love this blog post and completely agree with it. The teachers that I have had in my life and have had the greatest impact on my life certainly had their own "unfair advantages". The one I remember best is my old high school English teacher, Mr. Stanquist. His "unfair advantage" was that he was simply funny. He would crack jokes and often at the expense of some of the students, in an appropriate manner of course. This made his class fun being in as well as one that all of the students looked forward to.

 

 

 



 

Blog Post #7

Classroom instruction is at a constant change due to technology. As someone who is still considered to be a recent high school graduate, class of 2012, I have noticed that there has been an increase in the technology in schools. As a current college student and future educator it is pivotal that I understand what technology is being used in the school systems, and do all that I can do to be able to implement it in my future classes.

We All Become Better Learners- I really enjoyed because it shows us that teachers can still be students as well. In the video Ms. Michele Bennett talks about how a student taught her about the camera on an iPad. Ms. Bennett was a student in that moment. This shows us that even teachers must still be willing to learn.

Using iMovie and the Alabama Virtual Library in Kindergarten - In this video it is said that kindergarten students are using iMovie to create book trailers on books that have also read. While my College level class just recently learned how to use the same technology. This is an indication that my generation of student is currently behind the up and coming one, as far as using technology in classes and how to use it properly. What really caught my attention was when Ms. Bennett mentioned that students where actually editing their own work. I found this fascinating because it shows that kindergarteners are able to find and correct their mistakes at an early age.

iPads in the Classroom- This video shows us that educators are taking advantage of new technologies in their schools. What really stood out to me in this video was what the narrator said. I believe he said something along the lines of "Teachers need to learn how to use the technology in todays classrooms, or the schools will find another teacher either willing to learn or one that already knows how." As shown in this video, teachers are certain using technology for more than showing videos and we as educators need to take advantage of that.

Top 10 Reasons to Use Technology in Education: iPad, Tablet, Computer, Listening Centers-This video explains why we use technology in education. Here are the 10 reasons listed below.

1. Students Love It

2. Engages the 4 Key Components to Learning

3. Professional Development

4. Makes Life Easier For Teachers

5. Improves Test Scores

6. Helps Students With Low Attention Spans

7. Learn From the Experts

8. Encourages Completion of Homework

9. Saves Money

10. Removes Obstacles

 

The two that stood out to me were numbers 3 and 6. Professional development is extremely important, and I believe that it should be taught at an earl age so that is more natural when the students become older. In the professional world today businesses use all kinds of technology. So it would be very beneficial for students to learn and understand that as soon as possible. I also believe that it does indeed help students with low attention spans. As someone who has ADHD there are times that find myself day-dreaming or just find that my mind has wondered off. With certain learning activities such as recordings or computer games, it does help students with those disabilities understand materials.   

Project #13

                                      




The Timeline Leading up to The Declaration of Independence

Students will be taught about the events leading up to the signing of the Declaration of Independence. From there the students will divided into groups based off one the topics we have discussed in class. They will then create a presentation on that event to present to the rest of the class. After all the presentations are done one student of each of the groups will sign on a copy of the Declaration of Independence.



Here are the links to our projects materials:


Individual Evaluation Rubrics

PBL Essential Elements Checklists

PBL Group Evaluation Rubrics

Project Calendar

Project Overview

C4K Summary for February

 

 

February 7th  

 

SHOOTING STARS- THE STORY OF LEBRON JAMES

By Beau B. on Feb 2, 2015

Shooting stars is a 5 star book about Lebron James and his high school career. It's about Him, Lil' Dru, Willie, Sian, Lebron, and Romeo. In this book the athletes never give up o there dreams, after falling short in the AAU finals, they decide to go to the same high school so they could keep playing together because they were the best of friends, and teammates. I think this book is a great book but they get cocky i there Junior year and....... Sorry can't say, read the book to find out. Check out my blog by clicking on my name Beau B. on Mr. Boylens links on the right side of his page if you scroll down.

My Comment

I had no idea that there was a book LeBron during his time in high school. Sounds like a good book that I'm going to have to read soon.

Feb 7, 2015, 11:05pm

 

 

 

 

February 14th 

Post

The First American in Space

                        

By Joe D. on Dec 15, 2014

The first American in space was Alan B. Shepard. He did a solo fifteen minute sub-orbital flight, in NASA's Freedom7 capsule. He was also an astronaut in the Apolo 14 Mission.

 

 

Comment#2:

Joe,
My name is Patrick and I am a student at South Alabama. I had absolutely no idea that Alan B. Shepard was the first American to travel in space. I had always believed that it was Armstrong.

February 21st

Post #3

Lifted Research Group

 LRG is a clothing brand that encourages creativity and uncovers talent from ordinary people. LRG stands for “Lifted Research Group”. This company was created in 1999, so it is a relatively new company compared to the other popular clothing companies. They manufacture a broad range of things from shoes and socks to jeans and shirts studded with real diamonds. This brand is based out of Orange county California. LRG is continuing to grow at an astonishing rate grossing an annual 200 million dollars every year. In 2011, the company suffered a huge lost, when at age 33, the co-founder of the brand died. His name was Jonas Bevacqua and he was considered the father of LRG.  




Comment #3

Patrick Roane (Guest) Your comment is awaiting moderation.

February 19, 2015 at 7:13 PM

Luke,
I’m Patrick and I am a student at the University of South Alabama. I had no idea that LGR even existed and I was born before it was created. I like that this company encourages original ideas as well as get their ideas from ordinary people. Very glad to see that this company has managed to succeed despite the loss of their “father” at such an early age.


     

March 2nd

 Post #4

THE JORDAN RULES

By Beau B. on Jan 23, 2015

The Jordan Rules-The Jordan Rules is a book about Michael Jordan and the 1991 Chicago Bulls. They had an amazing season and finally got passed the Detroit Pistons for the first time in the play-offs. They went on to  face the L.A. Lakers who they would eventually beat. The book talks about the troubles and Triumphs of the Chicago Bulls- not Just Michael Jordan- which makes it more interesting. This is a good book and I give it five stars! ***** I would definitely recommend this book to a sports or basketball person.

Comment #4

Hi Beau,
I'm Patrick and I am a student in EDM310 at the University of South Alabama. I have read many books on the Bulls and Michael Jordan but I have never heard of this one. It appears that I might I have to give a try though.