Reading Reflection 7

Classroom discussions take place on several levels during project implementation. One level is teacher to teacher. Teacher conversations will likely touch on everything from the procedural to formative assessment. Another level is student to student. Students should be talking about their learning experiences as they unfold. Good communication skills are part of effective teamwork and will help keep their team organized and on track. Teachers should listen in to students’ conversations. Model how to give effective feedback and then give the students opportunities to practice with their peers. The last level is teacher to student. At this level, you as the teacher may decide to lead a whole-group lesson to introduce a new concept or demonstrate a skill that all students need to understand to move their projects forward. As the teacher you may decide to use a whole-class discussion to check in on student understanding or wrap up a certain phase of the project with some class reflection. However, most likely, you are circulating, observing, and talking with smaller groups of students which is ideal for practicing your own listening skills and asking questions that push students toward higher-order thinking. Student teams are likely to be going in many directions and working at different speeds. Frame your questions to get at the information you want to discover, and use the right tools to help keep projects moving. You may want to ask questions regarding procedure, teamwork, understanding, and self-assessment. Procedural questions you the teacher can ask are: “Are we staying on schedule? Do we have the right materials available? When’s the best time to schedule a field trip, expert visitor, or other activity?” Questions regarding teamwork are: “How are team members getting along? Is one student carrying too much of the load for the whole team? Are students able to manage conflict themselves, or do they need my help?” For understanding, spend time observing teams at work, listening to student conversations, and asking probing questions. If you see students going way off task or basing their decisions on faulty information, ask questions or suggest resources to redirect them. If you see opportunities for students to go beyond expectations, encourage them to push themselves. For self-assessment, ask questions that encourage self-assessment and reflection. Project journals or blogs offer space for students to describe challenges or frustrations, to ask questions that may not feel comfortable asking in class, or to share their excitement about a project. Before using technology in the classroom, you need to consider some questions that may help you maximize the potential of technology during a project. Some of these questions are: Is technology helping students reach learning goals, or is it leading them on side trips? Is technology helping students stay organized? Are students taking advantage of available tools to help them organize their research? Are students able to use technology to expand their horizons by connecting to outside experts or a boarder community? Do students have ready access to the technologies they need? With optimum use of technology, you may find students gaining benefits you did not envision at the beginning of the project. One benefit students may gain is new insight into how to communicate with a culturally diverse audience. Troubleshooting is a 21st century skill that distinguishes effective project managers. Help students understand that real-world projects come with real-world challenges, and help them learn from setbacks and fine-tune their strategies for getting a project back on track. Teamwork is another 21st century skill that can make or break a project. If you detect trouble, help students learn to manage their own team conflicts. It’s a real-life skill that will serve them well for years to come. By making teamwork a focus of formal assessment, you help emphasize the importance of this 21st century skill. You can ask students to evaluate their peers on a teamwork-scoring rubric or you might ask students to reflect on teamwork in their project journals. The concepts in this chapter relate to my topic/project because conflict will happen. Students and teachers alike need to know how to manage conflict and work around it. We are all humans and we all make mistakes. We then have the opportunity to learn from our mistakes and make adjustments. That is what learning is about. The levels of classroom discussion also relates to our project on the student to student level because we want students to communicate with each other to create their project using good communication and teamwork skills.