An Overview of Problem Solving
Most of my classroom evaluation comments in the last couple of years have been to incorporate Bloom’s taxonomy in my lesson plan. For a long while I was unsure how to effectively use it since staff developments did not address it and supervisors were vague when I asked them to model a lesson using higher order thinking. I feel that I understand the concepts a little better now and diligently try to include it in my lesson plan. However, I must admit that my biggest challenge is effectively using higher order thinking with my learning challenged students. It can be frustrating and to add insult to injury my supervisors make unrealistic suggestions to address this problem.
I have discovered that when students have ownership of a task or project, it motivates them even more. I concur with Moursund that “ownership can crease the intrinsic motivation of students” (107). A good example of this involves my students credit card PBL based project. Using bloom’s taxonomy as a guideline, the task of each group was to research and synthesize a credit topic and create a lesson using technology to teach it to the class. They had to create a rubric and questions for evaluation based on the topic. Since this is my most challenging class, I was unsure of the outcome. I am happy to report that two of the groups took ownership of their task and did a great lesson. I experienced a lot of challenges with the other two groups. It was a definitely a positive learning experience for both the students and myself.
I believe that students are treated to a grave injustice with state tests and to an extent in classroom tests. The tests are structured to elicit responses from memory and do not leave room from creativity and higher order thinking. In the last three years in my school, emphasis has been placed on helping our students address the open ended component of the HSPA examinations. As business teachers, we have to try and structure our lessons in our academic discipline to include open ended questions to help the students practice. Therein lies the problem. A lot of teachers in non language disciplines are challenged since we must ensure that we are aware of the state requirements on grading open ended questions. I find that new teachers are cognizant of this fact only about 3-4 weeks before the state exam when stressed administrators relay their expectations for teachers.
The six strategies for problem solving by Moursund 109-110) is a great bit of information to post in the classroom for students and teachers alike and would address all genres. I feel that these ideas can be applied to PBL lessons and would have a greater impact on student learning and also provide authentic evaluation. I find myself preparing lesson and activities that allow students ownership of the lesson which in turn stimulates and encourages higher order thinking, writing skills, technology integration, and creativity and public speaking skills. My last few assessments have started to be more centered on project based evaluations. I am confident that I can incorporate this type of evaluation since I am responsible for creating the examinations for all my business classes. In my staff meeting at the end of March, we have to share effective learning strategies with our colleagues. I plan to introduce PBL lessons with samples of lessons and projects that I have implemented in my classroom. This is one way for me to introduce PBL learning in my school. I am very excited……..!
Chandrowtie Sue Fermin
Project Based Learning
Journal Entries Appendix B
Dr. Skeele/EDST 6306
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Journal Reflection: Goals for IT in Education Appendix A
I remembered my classroom days when I listened, made notes and had little interaction with my teacher. I often reflected on how this type of passive learning impacted the different types of learners. Today, with the emphasis on technology in the classroom, I strongly believe that this will provide greater access to all learner types in the classroom. Indeed, technology is changing the global landscape. From sending a resume online to a prospective employer to working in a company, in almost every job an employee must have at least basic computer skills for entry level jobs.
Students are challenged to learn to use and engage with the different forms of IT. As their technical skills develop, it will definitely transform learning inside and outside the classroom. I concur with Moursund that IT in schools empowers students (88).An IT assisted PBL can foster and promote higher order thinking if use properly. Having learned how to create blogs and use reflections at Seton Hall University, I incorporated it in my lesson. My students had to create a blog and post a reflection based on a school trip. It was challenging for some of the students, but in general, they enjoyed the empowerment of learning a new program.
I don’t believe that all teachers and parents are aware of the impact of technology in our world. The older teachers are technology challenged and have no inclination to embrace something new. However, they are forced to learn how to use computerized grade book, since this is standard in our district. Some parents in my school district have no idea how to turn on a computer. I think it is very important for the community as a whole to be provided with basic computer instruction so that they will be able to assist their children in home work or even to communicate with teachers. However, they must be willing to learn. One of my colleagues and I offered to stay late one day a week to conduct classes for parents of students that needed basic computer instruction. Needless to say, it was well intentioned but poorly attended by parents.
Technology should be integrated in all subject areas not as separate subject such as computer class since it involves accommodating different learning styles, engaging feedback and improving presentation of work. An example of the latter point was when my students did an international business project. The class evaluated their peer’s power point presentations after which the students made changes to their PP presentations for an improved grade in their summative evaluation. A lot of teachers in my school use technology only for projects and complain when other teachers are utilizing the lab frequently. Even though we have staff developments that encourage technology use, I believe it is not widely used by the staff. I integrate technology in all my lessons. My business finance and accounting students are required to create balance sheets and spreadsheets in the lab. In the classroom, my students have been required to research and teach a lesson using the smart board, PP or overhead. I have also been posting assignments, home work, projects etc on the district e-board to encourage students and parents to become familiar with it. When students complain that they do not have a computer at home to access the e board, I inform them that they can use their phones to access the website. Most of them have cell phones with internet access. No excuse!
Although the goals for IT use in education is ambitious, one must be realistic. A lot of classrooms do not have working computers, printers and even printing supplies. Sometimes it is frustrating for my students to be unable to print a brochure or other project in color. Also, we do not have enough technical support to assist faculty in the design, development, and use of technology in the teaching and learning process in the classroom. I also believe that before any student should use a school computer they should have a lesson an internet safety in order to ensure security. Students must know and use strategies to acknowledge, identify, and negotiate 21st century risks.
Having read this book, I feel pretty comfortable that most of my students are immersed in ‘second order effects’ like using electronic calculators for accounting, using the web for research and using other programs like podcasts, blogs and in the near future, digital story. However, the uses of IT in classrooms still have a lot of challenges to reach all these students in the different grades. There are some students in high school that have never used a computer prior to attending high school. But it is great that there is an emphasis to integrate IT in education and to be a major part of the curriculum.
Chandrowtie Sue Fermin
Project Based Learning
Journal Entries Appendix A
Dr. Skeele/EDST 6306
Students are challenged to learn to use and engage with the different forms of IT. As their technical skills develop, it will definitely transform learning inside and outside the classroom. I concur with Moursund that IT in schools empowers students (88).An IT assisted PBL can foster and promote higher order thinking if use properly. Having learned how to create blogs and use reflections at Seton Hall University, I incorporated it in my lesson. My students had to create a blog and post a reflection based on a school trip. It was challenging for some of the students, but in general, they enjoyed the empowerment of learning a new program.
I don’t believe that all teachers and parents are aware of the impact of technology in our world. The older teachers are technology challenged and have no inclination to embrace something new. However, they are forced to learn how to use computerized grade book, since this is standard in our district. Some parents in my school district have no idea how to turn on a computer. I think it is very important for the community as a whole to be provided with basic computer instruction so that they will be able to assist their children in home work or even to communicate with teachers. However, they must be willing to learn. One of my colleagues and I offered to stay late one day a week to conduct classes for parents of students that needed basic computer instruction. Needless to say, it was well intentioned but poorly attended by parents.
Technology should be integrated in all subject areas not as separate subject such as computer class since it involves accommodating different learning styles, engaging feedback and improving presentation of work. An example of the latter point was when my students did an international business project. The class evaluated their peer’s power point presentations after which the students made changes to their PP presentations for an improved grade in their summative evaluation. A lot of teachers in my school use technology only for projects and complain when other teachers are utilizing the lab frequently. Even though we have staff developments that encourage technology use, I believe it is not widely used by the staff. I integrate technology in all my lessons. My business finance and accounting students are required to create balance sheets and spreadsheets in the lab. In the classroom, my students have been required to research and teach a lesson using the smart board, PP or overhead. I have also been posting assignments, home work, projects etc on the district e-board to encourage students and parents to become familiar with it. When students complain that they do not have a computer at home to access the e board, I inform them that they can use their phones to access the website. Most of them have cell phones with internet access. No excuse!
Although the goals for IT use in education is ambitious, one must be realistic. A lot of classrooms do not have working computers, printers and even printing supplies. Sometimes it is frustrating for my students to be unable to print a brochure or other project in color. Also, we do not have enough technical support to assist faculty in the design, development, and use of technology in the teaching and learning process in the classroom. I also believe that before any student should use a school computer they should have a lesson an internet safety in order to ensure security. Students must know and use strategies to acknowledge, identify, and negotiate 21st century risks.
Having read this book, I feel pretty comfortable that most of my students are immersed in ‘second order effects’ like using electronic calculators for accounting, using the web for research and using other programs like podcasts, blogs and in the near future, digital story. However, the uses of IT in classrooms still have a lot of challenges to reach all these students in the different grades. There are some students in high school that have never used a computer prior to attending high school. But it is great that there is an emphasis to integrate IT in education and to be a major part of the curriculum.
Chandrowtie Sue Fermin
Project Based Learning
Journal Entries Appendix A
Dr. Skeele/EDST 6306
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Journal Entries: Chapters 7 & 8
Chapter 7: Assessment in IT-assisted PBL
In my school district, a lot of emphasis is placed on state tests that encourage teachers to teach to the test while depriving the student the benefit of many other types of evaluations. This is at a disadvantage to differentiated learners that assimilate information in a nontraditional way. I feel that on one hand learner differentiation is strongly emphasized, but in reality students are tested in a traditional way through state tests. One of our school’s objectives is for students to learn using bloom’s highest level of learning. I agree with higher level thinking, but many times in order for our students to be able to reach that stage, they must be able to handle the basic questions and then gravitate to the more advanced stage. Many times teachers are penalized by supervisors for not teaching to bloom’s taxonomy. I have requested my supervisor to model a lesson for me only to be told that “it is better said than done”. How can we teach that level if they have not mastered the basic level? On the bright side, I like the fact that evaluating an IT-Assisted PBL lesson is different from traditional testing since it will allow the students to develop life - long skills, develop at their own pace and have the benefit of many evaluations to guide them.
I recently created a PBL lesson with my class using some of Moursund’s guidelines. The students were placed into groups to research and teach a lesson on credit cards. They gave themselves names like “credit card experts” etc, and each team member was assigned a specific task. They had to use any type of media to teach the lesson. Two groups chose power point and another chose slides. They also had to create three questions based on their lesson to evaluate the class. I also assigned the class the task of creating a rubric for their lesson to be evaluated by their classmates. Three of the groups are on task, responsible and working within the timeline. They have “milestones” to accomplish one step at a time. I think giving the students ownership of their education in a fun and interesting way creates “authentic teaching”. Nevertheless, I have to use different strategies to help motivate and encourage my last group that are having problems with team work. I must remember that we are not living in a perfect world!!
I really enjoy the fact that we have peer feedback to assist us in this final project at Seton Hall. The comments from my peers are very helpful in helping me to improve and stay on task. I usually ask students to instruct their peers how to use a technology skill that they have mastered. I have observed that students usually take pride to demonstrate their knowledge of any new technology to the class. I have to use more of this strategy (peer feedback) for my future IT-PBL class so that students are peer evaluated at each milestone so that they can continuously improve their final product.
I am guilty of not using the four common phases for an IT-PBL activity in its entirety. But then, the purpose of this class to guide me. I focus more on the summative evaluation and too little on the formative evaluation. I concur with Moursund that formal evaluation is crucial during the development of an IT-PBL project. I really like the idea of a portfolio evaluation. I think a business plan project (for my Business Finance Class) might do well in a portfolio since there are different milestones to accomplish before the business plan is ready. I have to figure out how I can use n electronic portfolio for Marketing and Computerized Accounting. This will be a challenge to me...but then I am confident that after this class, I will be fully equipped with all the tools and resources to guide me.
Chapter 8: The future of IT-assisted PBL
In my parent meeting tonight, the three year old sibling of my student asked to use the computer and proceeded to log on and play a game while I was talking with her parent. I was amazed! This is a far cry from a couple of years ago when only older students knew how to use the computer. Since taking all these technology courses at Seton Hall University, I am very excited to teach it to my students and include it in my lesson plan. But not everyone has kept up with the pace in my building. For example, I am unable to use podcasts since access to the required software is blocked. I believe I am the most technology savvy (I say that with pride) in our building. I have to talk with the VP to request the district to unblock some of these sites so that our students will keep up. It is difficult to persuade these people that our students are being left behind!! This makes me very frustrated, and Moursund correctly states” a culture is hard to change”(83).
Since technology is increasing at a rapid pace, I am very happy that I chose Instructional Technology at Seton Hall. It makes me feel very empowered to learn and impart this knowledge to my students and even to the faculty, at least those that are interested. What I am planning to do in the future? I have requested a meeting with the principal to allow me to teach the staff some for these technologies as a topic for professional development. I expect to get some resistance from some of the “old timers’, but I will persevere. I am bursting with excitement to make a difference to empower teachers to empower students in technology. I intend to incorporate IT-assisted PBL in all my projects, because my goal is for all my students to learn. As for the students, they are always interested and excited to work in the lab.
Chandrowtie Sue Fermin
Project Based Learning
Dr. Skeele/EDST 6306
In my school district, a lot of emphasis is placed on state tests that encourage teachers to teach to the test while depriving the student the benefit of many other types of evaluations. This is at a disadvantage to differentiated learners that assimilate information in a nontraditional way. I feel that on one hand learner differentiation is strongly emphasized, but in reality students are tested in a traditional way through state tests. One of our school’s objectives is for students to learn using bloom’s highest level of learning. I agree with higher level thinking, but many times in order for our students to be able to reach that stage, they must be able to handle the basic questions and then gravitate to the more advanced stage. Many times teachers are penalized by supervisors for not teaching to bloom’s taxonomy. I have requested my supervisor to model a lesson for me only to be told that “it is better said than done”. How can we teach that level if they have not mastered the basic level? On the bright side, I like the fact that evaluating an IT-Assisted PBL lesson is different from traditional testing since it will allow the students to develop life - long skills, develop at their own pace and have the benefit of many evaluations to guide them.
I recently created a PBL lesson with my class using some of Moursund’s guidelines. The students were placed into groups to research and teach a lesson on credit cards. They gave themselves names like “credit card experts” etc, and each team member was assigned a specific task. They had to use any type of media to teach the lesson. Two groups chose power point and another chose slides. They also had to create three questions based on their lesson to evaluate the class. I also assigned the class the task of creating a rubric for their lesson to be evaluated by their classmates. Three of the groups are on task, responsible and working within the timeline. They have “milestones” to accomplish one step at a time. I think giving the students ownership of their education in a fun and interesting way creates “authentic teaching”. Nevertheless, I have to use different strategies to help motivate and encourage my last group that are having problems with team work. I must remember that we are not living in a perfect world!!
I really enjoy the fact that we have peer feedback to assist us in this final project at Seton Hall. The comments from my peers are very helpful in helping me to improve and stay on task. I usually ask students to instruct their peers how to use a technology skill that they have mastered. I have observed that students usually take pride to demonstrate their knowledge of any new technology to the class. I have to use more of this strategy (peer feedback) for my future IT-PBL class so that students are peer evaluated at each milestone so that they can continuously improve their final product.
I am guilty of not using the four common phases for an IT-PBL activity in its entirety. But then, the purpose of this class to guide me. I focus more on the summative evaluation and too little on the formative evaluation. I concur with Moursund that formal evaluation is crucial during the development of an IT-PBL project. I really like the idea of a portfolio evaluation. I think a business plan project (for my Business Finance Class) might do well in a portfolio since there are different milestones to accomplish before the business plan is ready. I have to figure out how I can use n electronic portfolio for Marketing and Computerized Accounting. This will be a challenge to me...but then I am confident that after this class, I will be fully equipped with all the tools and resources to guide me.
Chapter 8: The future of IT-assisted PBL
In my parent meeting tonight, the three year old sibling of my student asked to use the computer and proceeded to log on and play a game while I was talking with her parent. I was amazed! This is a far cry from a couple of years ago when only older students knew how to use the computer. Since taking all these technology courses at Seton Hall University, I am very excited to teach it to my students and include it in my lesson plan. But not everyone has kept up with the pace in my building. For example, I am unable to use podcasts since access to the required software is blocked. I believe I am the most technology savvy (I say that with pride) in our building. I have to talk with the VP to request the district to unblock some of these sites so that our students will keep up. It is difficult to persuade these people that our students are being left behind!! This makes me very frustrated, and Moursund correctly states” a culture is hard to change”(83).
Since technology is increasing at a rapid pace, I am very happy that I chose Instructional Technology at Seton Hall. It makes me feel very empowered to learn and impart this knowledge to my students and even to the faculty, at least those that are interested. What I am planning to do in the future? I have requested a meeting with the principal to allow me to teach the staff some for these technologies as a topic for professional development. I expect to get some resistance from some of the “old timers’, but I will persevere. I am bursting with excitement to make a difference to empower teachers to empower students in technology. I intend to incorporate IT-assisted PBL in all my projects, because my goal is for all my students to learn. As for the students, they are always interested and excited to work in the lab.
Chandrowtie Sue Fermin
Project Based Learning
Dr. Skeele/EDST 6306
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Journal Entries Chapters 5 & 6
Chapter 5: Project Planning
For some of our students, the term “project” may suggest something that is “fun” or “long hard work”. For me as a student, it evoked “terror”! In the era and country that I grew up in (eons ago), I never worked on projects! My education followed a regimented schedule of academics in a didactic way. Therefore the first time in my life that I worked on a project was in a college in New Jersey. It was a new learning experience for me, scary and confusing, especially when I was unsure on how to plan and complete tasks to meet deadlines. From my experience, I am aware how very important it is for teachers to plan projects very carefully so that students will be able to meet deadlines and project requirements in a timely manner.
Moursund (2003) recommends that "a good starting point is to do a needs assessment to determine (students’) background and experience in doing projects” (47). Teachers can start small projects at the beginning of the school year to evaluate how much students know. For example, I would begin the year by assigning students to write an autobiography of themselves using power point. Because of different learning experiences, some students may be very adept with this technology while others may not have a clue on how to use power point. For the students that are comfortable with power point I would teach them to transfer their presentation to movie maker, while I would structure the lessons to teach PP to the students that need assistance. Having recently completed a Production 1 class at Seton Hall, I will introduce blogging to my students the first week of class to set the tone for the use of technology for the rest of the school year. I have been posting assignments and class happenings on a district e board for parents and students. I am looking forward to creating projects that include digital story and podcasts.
If projects are not planned properly, students will be “lost”. I have learnt that developing an outline of the tasks to be accomplished in an outline format is very beneficial and helpful to students. I have followed a similar task outline as described in page 49 for an International business project that I gave to my students recently. The students had a time line for each ‘milestone’ accomplished and worked very hard to reach each milestone since they were graded on it. I was able to revise this project many times after giving it to previous classes and noting the mistakes that I made. In the same way, for our current unit plan project at Seton Hall, we have defined tasks and deadlines to help us achieve our goal.
Chapter 6: Creating a PBL lesson plan
According to Moursund (57), “an initial decision to use PBL in an IT environment is a decision to stretch, to grow, to learn alongside one’s students”. Indeed there have been times that my students have taught me how to use technology for my lessons. A good example is when I just started learning how to use the smart boards. Many times students would come to the board and demonstrate to me how to use this technology. I also learned a lot about using power point from my students.
Since there are diverse students in the classroom, it is very important for teachers to structure the lessons to meet these students’ needs and to be authentic. In establishing milestones, teachers need to be flexible and make accommodations for unexpected events that may interfere with the deadlines like state testing etc. This is the first year that I have been experiencing great success with project implementation involving teams. I have teams creating and teaching lessons (team teaching), creating rubrics for projects and assessments and providing peer assessment as Moursund suggests on page 61. The students really enjoy this type of empowerment and they work hard since classmates are very harsh with their evaluations. In the beginning the students resented being evaluated by their peers, but now they receive the suggestions for improvement seriously and actually look forward to this type of assessment. I agree with Moursund that it is a great idea for team or students to develop a feedback form for students to improve on their projects (62). I will definitely be using this strategy in my next project.
Chandrowtie Sue Fermin
Project Based Learning
Journal Entries Chapters 5 & 6
Dr. Skeele/EDST 6306
For some of our students, the term “project” may suggest something that is “fun” or “long hard work”. For me as a student, it evoked “terror”! In the era and country that I grew up in (eons ago), I never worked on projects! My education followed a regimented schedule of academics in a didactic way. Therefore the first time in my life that I worked on a project was in a college in New Jersey. It was a new learning experience for me, scary and confusing, especially when I was unsure on how to plan and complete tasks to meet deadlines. From my experience, I am aware how very important it is for teachers to plan projects very carefully so that students will be able to meet deadlines and project requirements in a timely manner.
Moursund (2003) recommends that "a good starting point is to do a needs assessment to determine (students’) background and experience in doing projects” (47). Teachers can start small projects at the beginning of the school year to evaluate how much students know. For example, I would begin the year by assigning students to write an autobiography of themselves using power point. Because of different learning experiences, some students may be very adept with this technology while others may not have a clue on how to use power point. For the students that are comfortable with power point I would teach them to transfer their presentation to movie maker, while I would structure the lessons to teach PP to the students that need assistance. Having recently completed a Production 1 class at Seton Hall, I will introduce blogging to my students the first week of class to set the tone for the use of technology for the rest of the school year. I have been posting assignments and class happenings on a district e board for parents and students. I am looking forward to creating projects that include digital story and podcasts.
If projects are not planned properly, students will be “lost”. I have learnt that developing an outline of the tasks to be accomplished in an outline format is very beneficial and helpful to students. I have followed a similar task outline as described in page 49 for an International business project that I gave to my students recently. The students had a time line for each ‘milestone’ accomplished and worked very hard to reach each milestone since they were graded on it. I was able to revise this project many times after giving it to previous classes and noting the mistakes that I made. In the same way, for our current unit plan project at Seton Hall, we have defined tasks and deadlines to help us achieve our goal.
Chapter 6: Creating a PBL lesson plan
According to Moursund (57), “an initial decision to use PBL in an IT environment is a decision to stretch, to grow, to learn alongside one’s students”. Indeed there have been times that my students have taught me how to use technology for my lessons. A good example is when I just started learning how to use the smart boards. Many times students would come to the board and demonstrate to me how to use this technology. I also learned a lot about using power point from my students.
Since there are diverse students in the classroom, it is very important for teachers to structure the lessons to meet these students’ needs and to be authentic. In establishing milestones, teachers need to be flexible and make accommodations for unexpected events that may interfere with the deadlines like state testing etc. This is the first year that I have been experiencing great success with project implementation involving teams. I have teams creating and teaching lessons (team teaching), creating rubrics for projects and assessments and providing peer assessment as Moursund suggests on page 61. The students really enjoy this type of empowerment and they work hard since classmates are very harsh with their evaluations. In the beginning the students resented being evaluated by their peers, but now they receive the suggestions for improvement seriously and actually look forward to this type of assessment. I agree with Moursund that it is a great idea for team or students to develop a feedback form for students to improve on their projects (62). I will definitely be using this strategy in my next project.
Chandrowtie Sue Fermin
Project Based Learning
Journal Entries Chapters 5 & 6
Dr. Skeele/EDST 6306
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Journal Reflection Chpts.3 and 4
Chapter 3: Introduction and a PBL example
As a neophyte business teacher, I often felt frustrated that I was unable to locate teacher resources that covered teaching business in high school, including lesson plans and projects Then again, I believe that this challenge have made me into an innovative and creative teacher since I have to think “outside the box” everyday to stimulate and motivate my students to see the importance of business studies in their lives. I have to create projects that correlate with student’s lives or they would not be interested.
The first time that I assigned a project based learning assignment, my students had no interest or passion for completing the project, since it was teacher assigned…and in retrospect I must add unexciting! Having that experience, I created an international business project for students to explore business customs and culture when conducting business in a foreign country. I directed them to websites to explore business etiquette in different countries and then select a country that they may like to visit or explore for business purposes. The project was a total success since they had to take ownership of the project and teach the class about their country. They also had to compare the business etiquette from their researched country with doing business in North America. They enjoyed exploring the recommended websites and locating new ones and sharing information with their classmates. It was a learning experience for everyone involved, as Moursund (30) aptly stated “IT –assisted PBL lesson “is to create an environment in which the teacher will learn together with the students”.
As stated on page 31, I believe that Web Searched engines should be actively used to research scholarly projects. In my school, students Google everything as their primary source of information for any research. If teachers guide students to explore and evaluate different search engines for accuracy and scholarly information and stress why plagiarism is wrong, then students would be equipped with correct skills for future scholastic career. I was amazed how many of my students used information from the web without citing the source. If they do not cite resource/search engine for any IT-PBL in my class, they would be heavily penalized. I also use citation as part of my rubric for them to get used to it. I do not think that teachers in my school stress this too much, so as a business teacher, I talk about ethics and hope that the students will demonstrate the learning from my class to use as a model in other classes.
Chapter 4: The case for PBL.
According to Moursund, constructivism is when students create their own knowledge in the context of their own experience (35).My favorite teaching experience is when I serve as a facilitator or guide to my students in my business classes. I had the students choose, research and create a lesson on any credit card topic. They then had to teach it to the class using PP or any type of presentation format with guided questions for the class. I recalled that the students enjoyed the experience, were actively engaged and employed team collaboration to gain improved social and academic team skills. This can also be compared to cooperative learning as Moursund discussed. This type of learning works very well in my Business Finance class. Off course this does not work with students in my other classes since they resist being in a team and create all types of problems. One of my challenges as a teacher is to create lessons and projects that encourage students to use higher order thinking skills, since my classes consist of a varied student population with differentiated skills. I believe that using project based learning can address this problem since I could incorporate different learning strategies to meet each student’s skill set.
I can identify with Howard Gardner that people have a variety of different intelligences. In schools teachers have to create lessons that will address and stimulate these students that learn in different ways. This is a very challenging and exhausting task for me since my total class population for five classes’ total seventy five students. But this is a great way to pre evaluate students and also for students to get an insight on their strengths to assist them with future career goals. As for me, I fulfilled three of Gardner’s intelligences which direct me to teaching. I am relieved!
Since my students live in an urban environment and have a high level of “street smarts” pertaining to survival, I try to create PBL projects to hone this type of intelligence. I have observed ‘street smarts’ students actually doing well on projects that relate to their personal interests as Sternberg (43) suggested. This is a work in progress for me since I am still learning how to create the best PBL lessons to help these students develop in these areas and I am also learning about these students and their living environment. I give my students a lot of choices with projects so that they can utilize their skills and enjoy learning. I am really looking forward to using more IT-PBL projects in my lesson with all this new knowledge and strategies from Moursund.
Chandrowtie Susan Fermin
Project Based Learniing
Dr. Skeele/EDST 6306
As a neophyte business teacher, I often felt frustrated that I was unable to locate teacher resources that covered teaching business in high school, including lesson plans and projects Then again, I believe that this challenge have made me into an innovative and creative teacher since I have to think “outside the box” everyday to stimulate and motivate my students to see the importance of business studies in their lives. I have to create projects that correlate with student’s lives or they would not be interested.
The first time that I assigned a project based learning assignment, my students had no interest or passion for completing the project, since it was teacher assigned…and in retrospect I must add unexciting! Having that experience, I created an international business project for students to explore business customs and culture when conducting business in a foreign country. I directed them to websites to explore business etiquette in different countries and then select a country that they may like to visit or explore for business purposes. The project was a total success since they had to take ownership of the project and teach the class about their country. They also had to compare the business etiquette from their researched country with doing business in North America. They enjoyed exploring the recommended websites and locating new ones and sharing information with their classmates. It was a learning experience for everyone involved, as Moursund (30) aptly stated “IT –assisted PBL lesson “is to create an environment in which the teacher will learn together with the students”.
As stated on page 31, I believe that Web Searched engines should be actively used to research scholarly projects. In my school, students Google everything as their primary source of information for any research. If teachers guide students to explore and evaluate different search engines for accuracy and scholarly information and stress why plagiarism is wrong, then students would be equipped with correct skills for future scholastic career. I was amazed how many of my students used information from the web without citing the source. If they do not cite resource/search engine for any IT-PBL in my class, they would be heavily penalized. I also use citation as part of my rubric for them to get used to it. I do not think that teachers in my school stress this too much, so as a business teacher, I talk about ethics and hope that the students will demonstrate the learning from my class to use as a model in other classes.
Chapter 4: The case for PBL.
According to Moursund, constructivism is when students create their own knowledge in the context of their own experience (35).My favorite teaching experience is when I serve as a facilitator or guide to my students in my business classes. I had the students choose, research and create a lesson on any credit card topic. They then had to teach it to the class using PP or any type of presentation format with guided questions for the class. I recalled that the students enjoyed the experience, were actively engaged and employed team collaboration to gain improved social and academic team skills. This can also be compared to cooperative learning as Moursund discussed. This type of learning works very well in my Business Finance class. Off course this does not work with students in my other classes since they resist being in a team and create all types of problems. One of my challenges as a teacher is to create lessons and projects that encourage students to use higher order thinking skills, since my classes consist of a varied student population with differentiated skills. I believe that using project based learning can address this problem since I could incorporate different learning strategies to meet each student’s skill set.
I can identify with Howard Gardner that people have a variety of different intelligences. In schools teachers have to create lessons that will address and stimulate these students that learn in different ways. This is a very challenging and exhausting task for me since my total class population for five classes’ total seventy five students. But this is a great way to pre evaluate students and also for students to get an insight on their strengths to assist them with future career goals. As for me, I fulfilled three of Gardner’s intelligences which direct me to teaching. I am relieved!
Since my students live in an urban environment and have a high level of “street smarts” pertaining to survival, I try to create PBL projects to hone this type of intelligence. I have observed ‘street smarts’ students actually doing well on projects that relate to their personal interests as Sternberg (43) suggested. This is a work in progress for me since I am still learning how to create the best PBL lessons to help these students develop in these areas and I am also learning about these students and their living environment. I give my students a lot of choices with projects so that they can utilize their skills and enjoy learning. I am really looking forward to using more IT-PBL projects in my lesson with all this new knowledge and strategies from Moursund.
Chandrowtie Susan Fermin
Project Based Learniing
Dr. Skeele/EDST 6306
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Journal Reflection Chpts.1 and 2
Chapter 1: Introduction and a PBL example
A s soon as I began reading Project Based Learning (PBL) by Moursund, I became intrigued. PBL’s goals that encourages higher order thinking and is learner centered resonates and supports curriculum standards for our district .Naturally I was very curious to see how Moursund would demonstrate these goals in a tangible and realistic manner. The lesson that he presented exceeded my expectations since it included effective team effort and differentiated instruction. Infusing PBL in lesson plans would truly create an awesome learning experience for all learners.
As a student in high school, I never had the benefit of using technology for projects. The teacher was in total control of the learning environment and as such most learners were passive, good listeners and great note takers. As a teacher, I agree that classrooms should be student centered to encourage high order thinking. In my years as a novice teacher, I usually tried to infuse technology in my lessons whether through the use of computer based projects or overheads etc. However, I must admit that I became more empowered as a teacher to confidently incorporate technology in my classes after taking classes at Seton Hall and also taking advantage of technology workshops. I use the Smart board every day and incorporate the use of technology in every lesson plan.
According to Moursund (6) “By doing a project, students often gain a high level of expertise within the specific area they are studying”. I think it is very important for teachers to empower students so that they assume responsibility for their learning. For example, my students had to choose and research the customs and business etiquette of a country and then prepare a power point or use movie maker to teach this lesson to their classmates. Since they each had to choose a different country, they became experts in their research and used all their technology skills to present a professional presentation. Even the students that were specially challenged created great power point presentations.
PBL is student centered. “Students have a significant voice in selecting the content areas and nature of the projects they do….and the method of assessment. (Moursund 7). Students are blatantly honest, and they will tell you if the topic you are teaching is boring! Sometimes as a teacher it is painful to hear the truth. I have learnt through the years and having observed bored faces to change the method of instruction in all my lessons. For example, when I taught consumer credit, I organized students into groups to choose and research any credit card topic and then teach it to the class using any type of presentation format. The class created the rubric and evaluated groups according to the rubric. They also had to prepare 3-4 questions on their topic to test for understanding. I then collected all the questions and included in their assessments. I must add they were tough evaluators. They all presented lesson using some type of technology format and really enjoyed the lesson.
Finally, in my district and my school to be specific, the older teachers are technologically challenged and as a result they use it as an excuse as Moursund correctly implies to avoid incorporating technology in their lessons. What I have experienced is that it is a learning process and my students have taught me how to create pamphlets and even assisted me with some power point effects. They really enjoyed being empowered.
Chapter 2: An overview of IT -assisted PBL
Since PBL focuses on doing something and is action oriented, students are always actively engaged since they have to produce or present a product. I enjoy listening to my students collaborate and solve team problems. My classroom is always arranged for students to sit in groups since I encourage and require team work for a lot of activities. An example of team work occurred when my marketing students had to create a 30 second pitch for a product they were marketing. After I modeled a pitch for them and reviewed the rubric, they organized themselves into groups, asked to practice in the hallway, did research on the computer and collaborated as a team to market their product. It was a resounding success, especially since they infused their pitch with creativity, great body language, and appropriate facial expressions in order to convince their investors (classmates) to invest in their product. Their classmates evaluated them based on the rubric and had to make comments and give suggestions for improvement if needed. Peer feedback provided a rich learning environment that assisted the students in their growth.
I have made a lot of errors as a teacher and as I noted earlier, teaching is a learning experience. I have learnt that my role as a facilitator challenges the students to their fullest potential and also encourages them to think “outside the box”. For example, we have a block reserved every week for “advisory”, where students can discuss any problems, concerns etc both academic and social that may be hindering them from realizing their academic and personal goals. I usually assign different students to conduct this session or encourage students to volunteer. They research, discuss, debate and conduct a rich discussion about the topics presented and generally take charge of the class. The topics (example tattoos, gangs, social network etc), all interest them and they usually have a lot of fun. They use the smart boards, chalk board etc to facilitate discussion and become more self sufficient learners.
I always try to relate my lessons to “real world tasks” (Moursund 15) to make it interesting, realistic and to engage them so that they can relate it to their own lives. For example, in my marketing class, I always use Newark as the city students have to market a product or establish a business. They can quickly share the demographics, target market, problems they may encounter to market their product and suggest solutions for various problems that may face an entrepreneur. Since they live in the environment, they provide a wealth of information that serves as a learning experience for me as well. I have also encouraged them to reflect and share their reasons why so many teenagers get tattoos on their bodies. We had a debate on this topic and the students were very passionate in their discussions since tattoos are part of this urban teenage culture. They learnt how to work well as part of a team, even though there were squabbles intermittently. They had a lot to share, had fun and it also helped me to understand their environment. There were a lot of “teachable moments” for me!
Chandrowtie Fermin
EDST 6306
A s soon as I began reading Project Based Learning (PBL) by Moursund, I became intrigued. PBL’s goals that encourages higher order thinking and is learner centered resonates and supports curriculum standards for our district .Naturally I was very curious to see how Moursund would demonstrate these goals in a tangible and realistic manner. The lesson that he presented exceeded my expectations since it included effective team effort and differentiated instruction. Infusing PBL in lesson plans would truly create an awesome learning experience for all learners.
As a student in high school, I never had the benefit of using technology for projects. The teacher was in total control of the learning environment and as such most learners were passive, good listeners and great note takers. As a teacher, I agree that classrooms should be student centered to encourage high order thinking. In my years as a novice teacher, I usually tried to infuse technology in my lessons whether through the use of computer based projects or overheads etc. However, I must admit that I became more empowered as a teacher to confidently incorporate technology in my classes after taking classes at Seton Hall and also taking advantage of technology workshops. I use the Smart board every day and incorporate the use of technology in every lesson plan.
According to Moursund (6) “By doing a project, students often gain a high level of expertise within the specific area they are studying”. I think it is very important for teachers to empower students so that they assume responsibility for their learning. For example, my students had to choose and research the customs and business etiquette of a country and then prepare a power point or use movie maker to teach this lesson to their classmates. Since they each had to choose a different country, they became experts in their research and used all their technology skills to present a professional presentation. Even the students that were specially challenged created great power point presentations.
PBL is student centered. “Students have a significant voice in selecting the content areas and nature of the projects they do….and the method of assessment. (Moursund 7). Students are blatantly honest, and they will tell you if the topic you are teaching is boring! Sometimes as a teacher it is painful to hear the truth. I have learnt through the years and having observed bored faces to change the method of instruction in all my lessons. For example, when I taught consumer credit, I organized students into groups to choose and research any credit card topic and then teach it to the class using any type of presentation format. The class created the rubric and evaluated groups according to the rubric. They also had to prepare 3-4 questions on their topic to test for understanding. I then collected all the questions and included in their assessments. I must add they were tough evaluators. They all presented lesson using some type of technology format and really enjoyed the lesson.
Finally, in my district and my school to be specific, the older teachers are technologically challenged and as a result they use it as an excuse as Moursund correctly implies to avoid incorporating technology in their lessons. What I have experienced is that it is a learning process and my students have taught me how to create pamphlets and even assisted me with some power point effects. They really enjoyed being empowered.
Chapter 2: An overview of IT -assisted PBL
Since PBL focuses on doing something and is action oriented, students are always actively engaged since they have to produce or present a product. I enjoy listening to my students collaborate and solve team problems. My classroom is always arranged for students to sit in groups since I encourage and require team work for a lot of activities. An example of team work occurred when my marketing students had to create a 30 second pitch for a product they were marketing. After I modeled a pitch for them and reviewed the rubric, they organized themselves into groups, asked to practice in the hallway, did research on the computer and collaborated as a team to market their product. It was a resounding success, especially since they infused their pitch with creativity, great body language, and appropriate facial expressions in order to convince their investors (classmates) to invest in their product. Their classmates evaluated them based on the rubric and had to make comments and give suggestions for improvement if needed. Peer feedback provided a rich learning environment that assisted the students in their growth.
I have made a lot of errors as a teacher and as I noted earlier, teaching is a learning experience. I have learnt that my role as a facilitator challenges the students to their fullest potential and also encourages them to think “outside the box”. For example, we have a block reserved every week for “advisory”, where students can discuss any problems, concerns etc both academic and social that may be hindering them from realizing their academic and personal goals. I usually assign different students to conduct this session or encourage students to volunteer. They research, discuss, debate and conduct a rich discussion about the topics presented and generally take charge of the class. The topics (example tattoos, gangs, social network etc), all interest them and they usually have a lot of fun. They use the smart boards, chalk board etc to facilitate discussion and become more self sufficient learners.
I always try to relate my lessons to “real world tasks” (Moursund 15) to make it interesting, realistic and to engage them so that they can relate it to their own lives. For example, in my marketing class, I always use Newark as the city students have to market a product or establish a business. They can quickly share the demographics, target market, problems they may encounter to market their product and suggest solutions for various problems that may face an entrepreneur. Since they live in the environment, they provide a wealth of information that serves as a learning experience for me as well. I have also encouraged them to reflect and share their reasons why so many teenagers get tattoos on their bodies. We had a debate on this topic and the students were very passionate in their discussions since tattoos are part of this urban teenage culture. They learnt how to work well as part of a team, even though there were squabbles intermittently. They had a lot to share, had fun and it also helped me to understand their environment. There were a lot of “teachable moments” for me!
Chandrowtie Fermin
EDST 6306
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