RR # 7

1) There are three level of classroom discussion that can take place. These include teacher to teacher, student to student, and teacher to student.
Teacher to Teacher: Using your colleagues to help keep you accountable, especially in project management and design. When planning a new project, it is always helpful to have a second pair of eyes and ears to help you out.
Student to Student: It is important for students to keep in contact with each other while they are creating a project. This helps students keep their group mates accountable, and also helps one another stay organized. This process is also important because it allows students to challenge each other every day.
Teacher to Student: This holds a less significant role in a PBL classroom. In a PBL situation, students are the leaders of the discussion and questioning. Teachers become leaders from a far, and facilitate when needed.
2) When your students are actively engaged in PBL it is important to occasionally check in on them and help keep them on track. Popular questions include:
Procedural Questions: Are we in line with our goals? Are we on schedule?
Teamwork Questions: Are we working well as a team? Is everyone contributing productively?
Understanding Questions: Are we on task? Since that isn't working have you considered this?
Self-assessment: How do you feel the project is progressing?
3) There are many benefits for the students when technology is part of a project. Technology is successful when it helps a student reach the goals of a project, and doesn't become distracting. Technology is also helpful because it can seriously aid in the organization of a project. A final key to using technology is that it lets students broaden their horizons. Technology can help open doors to a student that they never knew where there.
4) There are two big 21st century skills that can make or break a project; troubleshooting and conflict management. When students and teachers are confronted with troubleshooting, effective project managers will take of the challenge. This is also a good chance for the teacher to explain to students that real world projects may come with real world challenges. Conflict management could be considered one of the deciding factors in the success of a project. Conflict management helps dictate teamwork.
5) One of the main concepts from this chapter that relates to my project is the questions for checking in portion. This would be a very important tool to use in a project like mine. Using these questions would help keep the children on task and concentrated on the end result of the project; the food celebration.