I can't believe that we are at the end of the project. While we were so immersed in it, it often felt like we would never finish it up. Everyday it seemed like there were more pieces that needed to be tweaked, added or replaced. However, I am quite pleased with the final result. I look forward to using it in my class next year.
I played the same role during the entire project. I was the big picture person. I brought us back to the standards and I kept us focused on all the components we needed to have to make the project complete at the end. I honestly believe that our group worked so well together because each of us had strengths that complimented each other. The group would not have been as effective as it was without each of the pieces. As the old saying goes, the group was more than the sum of it's parts. I believe that I would continue to play this role because I am good at it. I get muddled in details and feel overwhelmed. I prefer to work with what I am good at, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't be willing to play a different role in the future.
I am thrilled with the final product. I think it aligns well with good teaching and learning practices. Our lessons are engaging for students and will be fun to teach. I think in the future I might like to embed some videos into the project for kids to see some live action pieces. I also love the idea of them being able to create some games to reinforce the concepts taught. I believe this will be an ongoing work in progress as I teach it and learn what works and what doesn't.
I have several celebrations from this course. Most of them are in technology. I learned several new tools to try out and play with. Many of them will make my life easier, especially after the learning curve is gone. Almost all my professional work is done in groups and while they are not always my favorites I have learned to celebrate the success of them. For the rest of the summer I plan to practice what I have learned in here and continue to become more proficient in bringing technology into my classroom and to my students. I want them to learn like I do, by doing.
Friday, July 2, 2010
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Reflection #2
What a difference a day (or two) makes! I can't believe how much really great progress we have made in the past couple of days. First, Google Docs seems to have come out of hibernation and is now working well for us again. Thank goodness! Second, I really can see where all those great ideas of Jen and Sam were headed. I tend to get overwhelmed by the small details and they really understand them. Now that the entire project is really coming together I am so pleased with the results.
Today we did a mini-gallery walk. It was so fun to get to see the other group's work so far. I found that there really is a world of difference between the middle and high school teachers and those of us in elementary schools. For example, there isn't nearly the detail in the lesson plans necessary for the older students. They just bring in materials and give instructions and set their kids to work. We could never do that with the younger kids. I teach 3rd and our project is geared at 1st so even I had to adjust my frame of reference a bit to breakdown the instructions and plan for even a smaller chunk of information at a time. It was exciting to see all the different skill levels that each grade brings.
Another difference I noticed during the walk was the level of interactive websites for the older kids. I think those groups really have the web as a resource the kids will be using, while our website is more of a guide for the teacher and a place to post the projects for the kids. It is an interesting difference in the developmental process among the grades.
The next step for our group is to create the rubric and review the entire project to fine tune any outstanding issues. If time permits we would like to design the student sheets and put together a sample project. We will see what tomorrow brings. I am so pleased with how our team has functioned so smoothly. It has so exceeded my expectations.
Today we did a mini-gallery walk. It was so fun to get to see the other group's work so far. I found that there really is a world of difference between the middle and high school teachers and those of us in elementary schools. For example, there isn't nearly the detail in the lesson plans necessary for the older students. They just bring in materials and give instructions and set their kids to work. We could never do that with the younger kids. I teach 3rd and our project is geared at 1st so even I had to adjust my frame of reference a bit to breakdown the instructions and plan for even a smaller chunk of information at a time. It was exciting to see all the different skill levels that each grade brings.
Another difference I noticed during the walk was the level of interactive websites for the older kids. I think those groups really have the web as a resource the kids will be using, while our website is more of a guide for the teacher and a place to post the projects for the kids. It is an interesting difference in the developmental process among the grades.
The next step for our group is to create the rubric and review the entire project to fine tune any outstanding issues. If time permits we would like to design the student sheets and put together a sample project. We will see what tomorrow brings. I am so pleased with how our team has functioned so smoothly. It has so exceeded my expectations.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Reflection #1
I am a control freak by nature. I think there is a small piece of control freak in all of us teachers. It is what draws us to the profession. Ironically, I am also a huge fan of group work. Not for myself mind you, but rather for my students. So when I first learned that we would be working to design a unit of study for a project based learning opportunity for my students I was thrilled. Then came the dreaded "group" word.
My initial reaction comes from my past experience working with groups. I have not had good collaborative experiences. My experience has always been someone telling me what to do and me doing it. I tend to be a good worker bee. I don't speak up much and I tend to blend into the background. Corin already noticed that when she said I was "watching" my group. Ironically, I felt like this is the one group I have been involved in that I really feel like we are working in a collaborative group and I actually feel part of this team.
Jen, Sam and I work together very well. For one thing, we all seemed to have a similar vision for what our project would be and a solid grasp of the standards that would apply. The initial planning of the project has gone very well. Jen has an amazing ability to just jump right into a new program and go for it. If it doesn't work the first time, she is more than willing to do what it takes. On the few times we have actually gotten stuck, we are all happy to ask for help from some other expert in the room. It is the type of relationship that I hope my students have when they do group work.
Sam has this incredible ability to see the fine details. She can dive right into a lesson and tell you what it will look like and what you need to make it happen. I'm more of a big picture girl. I'm the one keeping us remembering things like formative and summative assessments as well as reminders that we have to make a rubric and what about the prior knowledge piece. I think we all have strengths that compliment each other well. When we have conflict, we talk it out and look at each person's views. In fact this is the first group I have been comfortable enough to speak out in. It is a refreshing change. We have created mutual respect and a safe place to talk openly.
As far as any problems we have encountered thus far, I would say that our only problems have been related to technology and time. There is nothing we can do about the time piece. There are only so many hours in a day and so many days in a short summer institute. But the technology piece has been frustrating. While all the tools we are using are great resources and I know that I will utilize them in the future, technology does come with the "bugs" we have all come to accept and expect. Today Jen and I nearly pulled our hair out waiting for "Google Docs" to type out our lesson objectives. Literally it slowed down to a snail pace, entering our commands in some alternative universe time where one character at a time would come up with a space of about 30 seconds in between. I don't know why this happened. It just did. That is where the frustration is in our group. Working within the limited resources our tools have to offer.
All in all I think it is going so much better than I have expected and I am so happy to have a much better frame of reference for the next time I hear the words "group work."
My initial reaction comes from my past experience working with groups. I have not had good collaborative experiences. My experience has always been someone telling me what to do and me doing it. I tend to be a good worker bee. I don't speak up much and I tend to blend into the background. Corin already noticed that when she said I was "watching" my group. Ironically, I felt like this is the one group I have been involved in that I really feel like we are working in a collaborative group and I actually feel part of this team.
Jen, Sam and I work together very well. For one thing, we all seemed to have a similar vision for what our project would be and a solid grasp of the standards that would apply. The initial planning of the project has gone very well. Jen has an amazing ability to just jump right into a new program and go for it. If it doesn't work the first time, she is more than willing to do what it takes. On the few times we have actually gotten stuck, we are all happy to ask for help from some other expert in the room. It is the type of relationship that I hope my students have when they do group work.
Sam has this incredible ability to see the fine details. She can dive right into a lesson and tell you what it will look like and what you need to make it happen. I'm more of a big picture girl. I'm the one keeping us remembering things like formative and summative assessments as well as reminders that we have to make a rubric and what about the prior knowledge piece. I think we all have strengths that compliment each other well. When we have conflict, we talk it out and look at each person's views. In fact this is the first group I have been comfortable enough to speak out in. It is a refreshing change. We have created mutual respect and a safe place to talk openly.
As far as any problems we have encountered thus far, I would say that our only problems have been related to technology and time. There is nothing we can do about the time piece. There are only so many hours in a day and so many days in a short summer institute. But the technology piece has been frustrating. While all the tools we are using are great resources and I know that I will utilize them in the future, technology does come with the "bugs" we have all come to accept and expect. Today Jen and I nearly pulled our hair out waiting for "Google Docs" to type out our lesson objectives. Literally it slowed down to a snail pace, entering our commands in some alternative universe time where one character at a time would come up with a space of about 30 seconds in between. I don't know why this happened. It just did. That is where the frustration is in our group. Working within the limited resources our tools have to offer.
All in all I think it is going so much better than I have expected and I am so happy to have a much better frame of reference for the next time I hear the words "group work."
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