I am in week six of my GAME Plan. My district was on fall break so I was unable to work in my classrooms but it did allow me time to look at some more technology-based lessons. My professor posted a great website, http://www.bie.org/ that shows project-based learning in action using technology. I found it to be very helpful because it gave me a visual of how a classroom looks during this type of learning.
My plan is to become effective when integrating technology and content together for student learning. As I worked on a lesson plan this past week, I kept in mind the benefits and challenges of integrating technology into lessons. I made sure that I provided times for students to organize and reflect on their learning. It is through these opportunities that I will be able to assess student learning of content. I also had to remind myself that I need to provide scaffolds such as helpful websites and graphic organizers to support the learning process. I am excited about trying this lesson in a science class when they get to the specific chapter.
I am also considering how I might integrate “educational networking” (Laureate Education, 2009) into my classroom. Using technology to communicate and learn will tear down the walls of my classroom. I am facing some obstacles such as time, computer access and administrational support. These are challenges that I will seek solutions to during this upcoming week.
Jennifer P.
References
Bucks institute for education. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.bie.org
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas. Baltimore: Author.
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Jennifer,
ReplyDeleteYour excitement to integrate a PBL lesson into your curriculum is worthwhile and contagious. BIE also gives teachers the resources and examples to provide their students with PBL as well. Earlier today I was listening to KYW Newsradio (local AM radio newscast) and they mentioned how business owners, managers, and HR committees should be asking more in-depth, open ended questions during their hiring/interview process, instead of purely business-related questions. One of the questions was, "When have you taken on a problem and solved it? After solving the problem, how did you integrate the solution into your daily routine?" Another question was, "Describe a time when you and other coworkers had to solve a problem? How did you solve it?" These types of questions are becoming more prevalent during the interview process for companies everywhere. Using PBL will help students tackle questions that other students may not have the opportunity to answer and discover on their own. How are you going to generate questions for your problem-based lessons?
Kudos!
Josh
Joshua,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the support! That was an interesting radio talk show that you were listening to. The questions that interviewers are asking are higher-order thinking questions (take learned knowledge and apply it). At the beginning of the year, I interviewed for a coaching position in my county. The majority of the questions were related to how I would do something based on my experiences. By the way, I did get the job. Yeah!
This is another reason why we need to teach our students how to apply knowledge through inquiry-based learning. First, I would model how to develop good essential questions to drive learning. After modeling, I would work with my students to create good essential questions through brainstorming. Students would be able to choose which question that they would like to explore. My goal then would be to let them develop their own questions while I facilitate the lesson. Since my students work at different levels, some students may need more scaffolding during this process before mastery.
How do you develop essential questions?
Jennifer P.
Jennifer,
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the coaching position! I seem to generate essential questions in a similar format to the one you use. I tend to lean more toward the content when determining essential questions, but involving the students and considering their needs are equally important.
Since I have classes that are homogeneously groups, I can execute my instruction differently for each class. I teach the same content, but the way it is taught differs for each class. In turn, my essential questions, or, BIG questions are different for each of my four classes.
I appreciate your response!
Josh
You are welcome! I enjoyed our conversation as well.
ReplyDeleteJennifer P.