Chapter 11 "Bring Your Project Home"

As a result of Project Base Learning, many things occur. The first thing that happens is that new doors are opened, for both students and teachers. They experience events that they wouldn't normally have had to them without the use of PBL. Another benefit is that they create connections and continue towards building the future project designs. The students also gain a better understanding towards project management. They develop more "big picture thinking" abilities. Meeting deadline realizations become more evident. Global audience becomes more real to the students and teachers. Lastly, students develop the importance towards being professional.

Some ways that the book recommended bringing the project home is through the use of identifying what they could have done better and what next steps could have been taken to benefit all involved. Both the students and teachers create a list of pros and cons of the project. They also critique their work, share insights, become resources to colleagues, and can even enter a contest.

This chapter related to my project through the use of critiquing work with other teachers. We do collaborative work that will only benfit us through the use of bouncing ideas and thoughts off of each other to get a better idea on how the project could work. We also publish our thoughts on our website that can be accessed through any computer connected to the Internet.

Chpt 11

Stephanie Hill
Chpt. 11
Bringing it home

        By using the project-based learning approach, much can be learned by both students and teacher.  The project-based learning approach allows a class to gain positive memories of working together with their peers and learning a great deal in the process.  When projects have succeed in teaching students, they do not just do the project and stop their learning; they continue to grow in the subject matter and use it in their futures.  Also, when students use project-based learning, they learn form their mistakes and understand what they need to improve on or change in their next project in order to master their learning.  It is also significant that when using project-based learning that students reflect upon their experience during the project.  This way, teachers can learn what they need to improve upon or what they can do to help their students down the road
   It is also significant to "bring your project home".  "Bringing your project home" can be done in a variety of ways.  One way to do this is to critique your work, which can be done by debriefing at the end of a project by asking your students "what has the project taught you about how your students think and learn?" Another way to "bring it home" is to share your insights.  You can share our insights by sharing your project with other teachers.  By sharing your project with other teachers, it gives you as the teacher time to verbally reflect how the project went and opportunity to share what worked and didn't work with other teachers.  Another idea is to create a project library so that others can see the plans and results of your project, allowing many to benefit from your work.  I really like the idea of entering your project in a contest because it allows your classroom to possibly gain exposure and future your projects success. 
  "Bringing it home" relates to my project because it I never really thought about the fact that when you do a project, you are never fully done because a successful project does not just end, it continues to build as children learn more throughout the year.

Ch. 11

Amber Hobson

Chapter 11

Bringing it Home

It is important that although a project ends that your own learning continues. You should always take time to reflect on what you have gained from a project. You should also share your insights with others. Always make the most of the project experience by building these insights into the next project. By the time a successful project comes to an end, you and your students will feel as if you have "been somewhere." Doing a project with a class is something that they will remember, it sticks with the students just like going on a trip. End of projects provide the class with ideas for the next learning adventure. When a project ends it opens the doors for creating a new project. You can learn so much from doing one project, for the next project just as what works and what doesn't work, how to structure a project, and how the class learns as a whole. 

As a teacher you should always reflect back on a project and recall what some of the engaging learning activities were, what really seemed to grab the students attention. You can see if things that worked in one project will cross over and work in another project. You should always critique your work, you want to make sure that there is evidence of your students understanding the material. What has the project taught you about how your students think and learn, this is important for a teacher to know about their students. 

Projects take a lot of thought and work, time and effort. You should try to find ways to share your project with others. You can do the same with other teachers, get ideas and use them for your classroom. There are many resources out there that you can go on and post your own, or view other lessons and projects.You can publish your project, or post in on the web. You could even submit your project to contests.  

Final Concept Map!

final concept map add-ons

Hey Amber!
So here is what we would like to add to the concept map:
Since you did the concept map under your account, do you mind adding to it so we don't have to create a whole new one?


under insects: under types:
ADD
- harmful to the garden
-non harmful to the garden


under locations: Where our class garden should be
 ADD
-inside locations
-outdoor locations

Under compost:
ADD
-positive aspects of compost
-negative aspects of compost

ADD new category:
Similarity of fruits, vegetables and plants 

Chapter 10

Amber Hobson

Chapter 10

Celebrating and Reflecting

Wrapping up a project is a very important step in the project. You should take the time to plan in advance what it is you plan to do when the project comes to an end. Students will want to know, so they have something to look forward too. Culminating activities celebrate the journey, reminding learners of where they have been and what they gained along the way. Having the end of a project be a meaningful experience for your students, is a great things for the students to plan for and look forward to celebrating their achievements.

Reflect on the journey, taking the time to reflect helps students feel good about their accomplishments, but more importantly reflection can be the thing that makes learning really stick. Reflection is very important to students, it is the acknowledged as being an essential element in learning. It is always good to set aside time foe conscious reflection throughout the project, things like what have they learned and what they enjoyed learning, and also what they want to learn in projects to come.

Building tradition and identity is something great to have for a school. You can be able to say "We are the school where kids get to..." Having a school that is known for doing something special will make students feel special.  A lot of schools do many different things for their names to be known and what these schools share is a sense of tradition and an expectation of excellence.

There are so many ways that you can celebrate the end of a project with a class. You can display students work, put on some sort of event, create a blog, or even hold a party. Anyway you choose to celebrate learning, and build your schools identity as a place where students can get to learn through projects. When you are planning a celebration you will want to include an opportunity to look back one more time. Acknowledgment of how hard work and commitment contributed to the success of the project and a culture of excellence at your school. Appreciation for those who helped. A display of the learning, including both student creations and presentations. A look inside the learners with opportunities for them to talk about their processes and growth. Also an opportunity to showcase projects to colleagues,administrators, parents, and others in your larger learning community.

Chapter 10 p. 147-155

By setting aside time for reflection, students are able to feel good about their accomplishments that came from the hard work they put in to the project. The students are able to create meaning from what they learned in the past few weeks, through thinking critically about what they learned, what they enjoyed about learning, how they’ve grown as learners, and what (and how) they want to learn in the projects to come. When students are able to reflect on ideas such as how the project was important to them, how specific learning behaviors helped them, their skill development, how their collaborations improved, and their growth in learning dispositions (challenges, frustrations, joys, etc). 

Schools build tradition and identity by continuing to accomplish great things year after year. These great things could be anything from sport powerhouses to a school symphony. They bring pride to the school and create an expectation of excellence. When people in the community see the accomplishments being made at the school, they are more willing to help out to create even more opportunities to grow. When everyone is involved in these accomplishments at the school level, the entire community can feel pride and feel honored to have helped in the creation of the tradition. 

Celebrating a project allow students to: look back one more time on the project they just completed, acknowledgement of how hard work and commitment contributed to the success of the project and culture of excellence at your school, appreciate for those who helped, display of learning (both student creations and presentations), look inside the learners with opportunities for them talk about their processes and growth, and lastly an opportunity to showcase the projects to colleagues, administrators, parents, and others in the larger learning community. These celebrations help the students become more aware of what they actually learned. 

This chapter relates to my topic/project in the section where it discussed Starting a “Visual Conversation”. The blog that my group will be creating at the end of this semester is our way of presenting all of the different technologies we used to complete our assignments and the blog is the glue we are using to display it for everyone to see. 

Chapt 10 Reading Reflection

Chpt 10 Reading Reflection
Celebrating and Reflecting
Stephanie Hill

   After a difficult project or assignment, many teachers are so busy moving on to the next lesson, that they forget that it is important for your students to reflect on the journey.  Your students need to feel accomplished about their work, thus reflecting on one's work is one major way that this can occur.  Many times students just rush through projects but if they are asked to reflect on their work, they may actually benefit because they will realize that they did learn something.  If your students know that you care about their work then they are more likely to put effort into their reflection and gain understanding from their work.
   Students need to reflect and elaborate because it allows them to focus on the few things of a project that matter most.  When your students think about themselves as learners, they do not need to constantly ask you to tell them what they learned, they will understand and will think for themselves.  This chapter also notes that  asking your students too many questions could overwhelm them and cause them to hate the project instead of loving it.  I agree with this point because I know that many times students might feel like they are putting more work into a reflection than the project, which can be frustrating to children.
   When students elaborate, it will allow their knowledge to grow.  If students finish a project and never think about the topic/issue again, then the project was a waste of time.  Students need to elaborate because it springs the next cycle of learning, such as the example in the book about writing a grand proposal.  Elaboration also causes children to gain new interests and thus give you a new idea for a project or lesson.
   Schools can build tradition and identity in numerous ways.  When your principal, parents and guest walk into your school or classroom, you want them to feel like they are apart of something.  Without tradition an identity, your students will have a harder time understanding who you are as a teacher, your values and how you function.  If you have a project that children love-stick with it!  Many times, as mentioned in the books, younger siblings or grade levels will hear about a project/activity/routine that you did and expect and want to do it!  When you can get children in your classroom who are already excited about something they heard their older brother did (for example), then you have succeeded! By getting your parents and community involved, you also can build tradition and a bond with others.
  Celebrating your students work is another way to build tradition and identity.  By posting pictures of your students families, it shows that you care about your students.  When parents know that you truly care about their child and family-you are more likely to have more communication and feedback from them.  Also, when you post your students work, other students from different classrooms can see what type of teacher you are.
  This chapter relates to my project because it has shown me how important it is to build your classroom off of who you are as a person.  For example, for the classroom gardening project, I would want to take pictures of the garden to send home to families.  This way the parents feel apart of your classroom and see what their child is learning and doing while in your classroom.
 



     

Ch. 9 Making Assessment Meaningful p. 139-145

I have always been a firm believer in journal responses for students to reflect on either their prior knowledge or their current understandings. I have used writing responses in a majority of my classes and I think they give more opportunities for students to reflect on what they want to reflect on. Like it said in the chapter, “almost certainly, not all students were starting at the same place” (p. 140). By not creating any boundaries for students to write about, they are able to reflect and expand on certain aspects that they feel is important. This also allows the reader of the reflections to see what some students are focusing on compared to others, as well as how broad their understanding is or how slim their knowledge base is. It is giving them a basic topic and letting them reflect on whatever they want to reflect on. 

Along with the quote about how not all students start at the same place, the distance they travel during a project is not going to be the same for each student. By establishing anchors, teachers are able to gain a sense of where the students are starting and how far they are going as they work to meet the learning goals. I believe in differentiated instruction because the overall goal of any lesson is to help all the students be successful... not just if they can pass the universal test written for the middle level students. 

I absolutely loved the assessment of the students’ work for Carmel Crane’s class(es). I thought it was an amazing idea to use her graphic and video gaming field friends a call to assess her students work! I completely agree that this experience would be inspiring for the students. I feel that these students would be able to see that these professionals would give them corrective criticism that would only better them and their work for the future. It is one thing to get feedback from teacher(s) and how they grade and critique work but it is a completely different thing to get feedback from actual professionals in that particular field of study, that the students may even be interested in. Such a great way to assess students’ work in real world ways!

I was able to make a connection with the iHistory Podcast Projects by David Fagg and how we were taught to make our own podcast(s) on our topic of choice and the combination of our reading reflections. I felt that this allowed the students to go back and replay podcasts whenever they felt they needed to, which goes along with our podcasts and digital stories, and then the reflective aspect with our reading responses on our blogs. Both of these assignments in our class help us build on to our ability to think constructively and take our learning experiences into our own hands. 

chpt 9 reading reflection

                                                                                                                                              Stephanie Hill
CHPT 9
Reading Reflection 9
Making Assessment Meaningful

      In the beginning of this chapter, it focuses on the significance of students knowing what their teacher expects and know what "success" looks like.  Likewise, it is important for students to have prior knowledge before they begin any assignment or project.  Students need to understand what they are being graded on, how they are being graded and what the gain objective they will be learning.  When students understand all of these aspects to a project, they are better able to focus in on what is important and how to complete the assignments correctly.  It is also important that students have an idea of what the meanings of certain topics are before they begin a project or assignment because they will further their learning, rather then only learning the basics.
     Anchors are also important for having students succeed at any project or assignment.  Anchors help teachers see where students are when they start the project and at the end, see how much they have learned.  I think that having anchors is very important because if a student is more advanced in a certain area and you find this out before starting the project, it will allow you to alter the project for them so it is more challenging.
    There are many ways that you can assess what students learning during the project.  One example is to create an online grade book.  Online grade books allow students more opportunities to succeed by having categories instead of harsh markdowns.  It is also very convenient for parents because they can see their child's grade and get a better sense of why their child did well or not so well on a project.  Also, online grade books show what students need to improve upon by giving them feedback and comments on their work. Another way to assess your students is to show them a film that relates to the top, for example a book that was made into a film.  I like this idea because when you read a book, you visualize what characters look like.   So, by showing the film, it is fun to see the children react to how the film depicts the characters and how they are different from what the students pictured in their heads.
     This chapter relates to my project because it pinpoints the fact that I need to make sure that my students have prior knowledge before they just dive into the project.  Also, having different ways to assess the students besides the standard and boring test, I could show a film and ask for their feedback.
 

Chapter 9

Amber Hobson

Chapter 9 

Making Assessment Meaningful

Projects open the door for rigorous learning experiences, as students not only master new content but have opportunities to apply what they have learned. Projects usually take much longer than a normal lesson would so as teachers you want to make sure that you are assessing the students adequately.  As a teacher you need to make sure that your students are not falling behind and you not even realize it. Through out the project there should be many different ways of assessment. Assessing your students project work requires deliberate strategies to take stock not only of what they have created, but also the teamwork, effort, and creativity that went into the project. 

One important part of assessment is knowing where to start assessing them, and when to stop, and all the spots in between. One way of doing this is establishing anchors. By doing this you can really know where the student is starting with the project, and if they are on track of the goal by the endpoint. In a project-based classroom all students may not be starting with the same thing so it is important to know where each of the students is starting. There will be times when you work with groups, and individually.

There is much more to assessment than just a multiple choice test at the end, projects are not the same as a regular lesson so you need to make sure that you are grading what really matters. There are many ways to do this, you can create rubrics at the beginning, and have the students involved with this so they know exactly what the goal is for the project. There are also many opportunities for using technology.  Also you should always have discussion throughout the project, always ask students to report to each other, and ask students what did you learn? Students can share their work in many different ways to the class and receive feedback on their projects. 

A great way to incorporate all of the information the students learned in a project, is to have them create a new lesson on what they have just learned. They can use what they learned during the project and apply it to a new context. Also having students get feedback from professionals is something that is a good assessment for students because students will really listen closely to their opinions. Then you can also have your students take it a step further by encouraging students to submit their best work to a competition or enter for publication. These are very motivating opportunities for students who are ready for the challenge of real world assessment.

CHPT 8-Building Connections and Branching Out

                                                                                                                                           Stephanie Hill
Chapter 8 Reading Reflection

          There are several ways to build connections and branch out beyond your classroom. Chapter 8 begins by discussing the use of digital tools in the classroom because they make it easier for students to share their work and exchange ideas with diverse audiences.  I agree that having an audience can be a motivator for students because when we did our digital story videos. I felt motivated because I knew that my peers would be watching it.  It is also very beneficial for students to practice using their voice and are used to being filmed and watched by others.  This is a skill that can be used in real life situations such as job interviews, meeting new friends and many other situations. In addition, your students can communicate with students all around the world-allowing their diversity to be heightened   I wish that when I was in elementary, middle school or high school that I was given the opportunity to interact with people form different states or even different countries!  Also, having students blog about their personal responses to projects or experiences on a podcast expands their knowledge and experience.
     The EAST Initiative Model, which stands for the Environmental and Spatial Technologies, is all about using technology for real use, making it suitable for real life situations and allowing the community to improve.    Sophistication of geospatial technologies, gives EAST students the advantage to real life situations in both their communities and in their futures.  One project that the EAST students have completed is creating maps of the Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas.  The EAST students created this using GIS, GPS, CAD and other applications.   EAST includes more than 260 in seven states and has even made its way to elementary schools.  This is very impressive to me because these students are really using their time and effort to branch out from assignments given in school and trying to using their knowledge of technology in real-life situations.
   Student involvement in their own learning is a very crucial skill for students to acquire.  When students are able to be in charge/ "lead" their own learning/teaching, they can figure out with they are passionate about.  When given choices, students are more motivated to make the best out of a project because they actually care what they are doing!  Also, this chapter gave the example of a student in the class who had dyslexia on how people with dyslexia "hates to write but loves to blog", Sarah was able to make a connection with Jeff Utecht and this allows students to learn about their peers, which allows them to grow as learners.
This chapter gave me confidence that my lesson plan II would in fact allow my students to branch out and make connections.  Having other students watch their cooking videos allows them to make connections to each other, practice being in front of a camera and learn how to make a script.  All of these benefits gives students the opportunity to teach/"lead" their students, instead of me teach them.  
 

Chapter 8

Amber Hobson

Chapter 8.

Building Connections and Branching Out

           Extending the learning experience beyond the classroom becomes a goal of many 21st century projects.  Digital tools make it easy for students to share their work and exchange ideas with diverse audiences, including family members and peers, local community members, and even the much wider world. This is very important to give your students these opportunities in the classroom of skills they will use for the rest of their lives. Projects give students so many experiences to learn important information that they will remember for a long time, and also it provides them with many tools that they will use through out their school careers, and their work careers, things like looking up information, learning to use programs on the computer, how to research, working with others, making choices. Making these connections are so important for students. 

        Having students integrate technology into projects helps students reach an authentic audience. Knowing others could be reading, watching, listening, and commenting can be a powerful motivator for the students. They know they will have a audience will increase their drive for the project. 

Students become more competent and confident as readers and writers. 

       Also in addition to connecting students with a real audience, digital-age projects offer almost unlimited opportunities for branching out from the classroom. As a teacher you can design projects so that your students can communicate with fellow learners, maybe from a different classroom maybe from down the pass, or around the world. A lot of times projects need research that helps communities address an issue or solve a problem and your students become the experts. Or they have the opportunities for a different class to be the experts. You can also have grade level projects where more than one class is working on a project and you can have video meetings for your students to check in with how the project is going for each class and they have the chance to make sure they know what their goals are and the other classes goals.

Chapter 8: Building Connections and Branching Out

Through the use of digital tools, it is easier for students to share their wok and exchange ideas with diverse audiences, such as family members, peers, local community members, and the rest of the world. Students are able to reach an authentic audience through technology. It motivates them because they know others will be reading, watching, listening, and commenting on their work. Technology allows students to communicate with fellow learners-from the classroom down the hallway or around the globe. They will also be able to connect with the experts in their field of study to gain important information and specific responses from valuable people in their desired subject.

The EAST Initiative Model includes four different aspects: 1. Student-driven learning: students need to be responsible for their own learning; 2. Authentic project-based learning: Students should be engaged in solving real problems in their communities; 3. Technology as tools: Students need access to the relevant technologies that professionals use to solve real problems; lastly, collaboration: when students collaborate in teams to pursue authentic projects, they accomplish more than any one person can do in isolation. 

By letting students “lead” their projects, they are able to express what topics and subject(s) they are interested in. They also become deeply engaged in working on solutions, as they see how their projects will help create a better future. Students will take more pride in their work, as well and teaches them how to find their own information without being spoon-fed the information. The things they learn from their experts will aid in more engaging conversation inside the classroom, improving their overall understanding of the subject(s) main points. 

This chapter highlighted a few main points that related to my group’s topic: 1. communicating with students and classrooms around the world, increase conversation inside the classroom, and blogging to create confident and competent writers. In our Virtual Penpal project, our students communicated with other classrooms in the US to discuss the similarities and differences between the environment on their school grounds and the school grounds in other school/state areas. We also blog, clearly, and that does help me feel more confident in my ability to write more persuasively and show my comprehension of the given section. 

Chapter 7: A Guiding Hand- Keeping a Project Moving p. 113-125

        There are three levels of classroom discussions: Teacher to teacher, student to student, and teacher to student. In teacher to teacher, the teachers focus on how to implement procedural to formative assessments. This would be asking questions as to how to improve lessons for students to better understand the given concepts to their perspective on students’ current understanding. In student to student, the students explain their thinking and gives them the opportunities to learn from and challenge each other through discussion. Lastly, in teacher to student, this would include introducing a new concept or demonstrating a skill that all students need to understand. These three different types of classroom discussions aid in the ability for students and teachers to understand each other effectively. 

        There are four levels of questions for “checking in” on students during a project: procedural, teamwork, understandings, and self-assessment. During procedural questions, the types of questions would be anywhere from “are we staying on schedule?” to “when’s the best time to schedule a field trip?” This is used to track progress and remind students of project logs and checklists. In teamwork questions, these are used to assess team dynamics, such as through questions like “are students able to manage conflict themselves, or do they need help?” to “how are team members getting along?” In understanding questions, teachers spend time observing teams at work, listening to students conversations and asking probing questions. These types of questions include: “Have you thought about...” and “have you considered this research?” Lastly, during self assessment questions, teachers find out what students are thinking about the project and encourage self-assessment and reflection. They are encouraged to describe any current challenges or frustrations through the use of project journals or blogs. 

        The overall goal of incorporating technology is to help students reach new learning goals. Students are able to build on technology experiences from the beginning when they first learn and take along with them on their educational journey. When asking the students which types of technology they like, they are able to follow their interests instead of being limited to using a particular technology- as long as they meet their intended learning goals. 

        A skill that can make or break a project is the dynamics of the teams. This is a real life skill that will serve them for the years to come. The idea of a “ team contract” could be implemented to make the team members work together more. This leads to self assessments that will only benefit the students after the project on how to evaluate their choice of teammates and describe the skills they have to offer a team for future experiences. They also can allow students to learn from setbacks and fine-tune their strategies for getting a project, or team, back on track and learning from the experience by making correct adjustments for the future. 

Chapter 7

Amber Hobson
Chapter 7
A guiding hand- Keeping a Project Moving


Keeping a project moving requires teachers to support students on their learning journey. Teaching a lesson, may never turn out the way you expect. Even if you have done it many of times before. Things will always be different with a different group of students.  But, this is what teaching is all about. As a teacher you need to be able to adapt to what ever happens, even if you were not expecting things to go that way. You need to be quick and make things work. You always want to keep your students moving to the goal, even if you end up going a different route.

Discussion is something that is very important in a classroom. Wether it is between teacher to teacher, student to student, or teacher to student. When working on any type of project it is always good to take opportunities to work together, and have set goals, and have a game plan, so working together between teacher to teacher discussion is always good to make sure you are on the same page, or to solve problems. Two brains are always better than one! I think that student to student discussion is something that is very important, especially while doing any sort of project. Students should be communicating with each other, they can really help to resolve a problem, or to help each other out. If someone is not understanding it is very important that they can talk to one of their fellow classmates so they can really understand. This helps them also to get things done by communicating with one another when they do something with in the project. It helps them build communication skills. They can give feedback to one another, you could model how yo give effective feedback so they can give students opportunities to practice these important communication skills with their classmates. Then one of the most important discussions is between teacher to student. This is where you can communicate with the class as a whole  to ask questions, both from the teacher to the student and from the student to the teacher. This is where the teacher can teach new lessons and demonstrate things to the class.

There are many questions that there will be for checking in to see how everything is going. Some of these questions could be Procedural- to track progress toward milestones and deadlines. Teamwork- How well the team is working, if everyone is pulling their weight. Understanding- Are they really understanding what they are doing, encourage students to push themselves. And Self-assessment- You can find out what your students really thing about the project, have them reflect on the project  ask them to demonstrate what they have learned.

chpt 7 reading reflection

Chapter 7 discusses "keeping a project moving" in a variety of aspects.  To begin, there are three levels of a classroom discussion.  The first level-teacher to teacher, talks about how teachers need to make it a priority to meeting with each other, ask each other questions, concerns, ideas, strengths and weakness of project thus far and changes they would like to make.  I agree with this highly because it is important to keep each other up to date and solve issues as soon as they occur.  The second level is student to student, which allows students to learn to work in groups, stare their thoughts with their peers and learn how to listen to one another's ideas.  Students working with each other is a crucial skill that they need to have in their future.  The third level is teacher to student, this is idea for practicing your own listening skills and working in small groups to get a better feeling and understanding of your students work. 

"checking in" refers to four main topics- procedural, teamwork, understanding and self-assessment.  Each of these are equally important and cause children to succeed if done correctly.  Procedural deals with making sure that everything is going smoothly and on-time, and if the overall "check-list" of the project is being completed.  Next is the teamwork, this "check-in" makes sure that everyone in the group is working well with each other, listening to each other and making sure to ask for help when need be.  The third is understanding, which involves "spying" as I like to say on your students.  This means that you are making sure that your students are on-task, listening to their conversations and ideas.  The final "check-in" is self-assessment, encourage your students to reflect on their effort(s) throughout the project, what they could have done differently and what they would do next time.

          The benefits that students have when the optimize technology is that your students can gain new insight into how to communicate with culturally diverse audiences  this is done using podcast.  Also, students can learn new skills, able to be flexible with new ideas and are able to listen to their peers ideas more effectively.

          There are several 21^st skills that can make or break a project.  Questions for inquiry allow students to challenge themselves by giving them the responsibility of the expert. Students need to be confident in what they are explaining to their peers and able to ask specific questions to the given subject.  If students do not fully understand something or are unable to prove their ideas, they will be unable to convince their peers or use the technology correctly. Also, troubleshooting is another 21^st skill.  This shows students that problems/conflicts happen when working on a project and it is your job to fix it and be successful.  If a student does not know to be an effective project manager, they will have many issues while using technology or when conflicts arise.  Lastly, managing conflict is very important.  When students learn to work together, they are able to be successful and learn from one another.  However, if their are bad group dynamics, an entire project could fall apart simply because members of the group could not get along.

          This chapter relates to my project in various ways.  I liked the example of the “check in” because it reminded me that I cannot forget the small details, such as being the “spy” when children are working in their groups and encouraging students to talk with one another and think by themselves what they would do differently next project.