Savannah Griffith Course 2 Blog Post 1

Chapter 2:

While reading chapter two, in table 2.1, I found it interesting how the authors stated that, "human brains are as unique as faces." This statement rings true throughout my classes. I am amazed at the different personalities, likes, dislikes, and everything in between that my students embody. My eight grade students are studying self-portraits and I explained to them how there is nobody in the world just like them. This chapter helped me understand how I must truly view my students as more than a group but as uniquely different minds and thoughts.

  Of all the five W's I would have to say that WHO I teach is by far the most important to me. I teach at a title one, primarily minority school. Many of these children come from difficult home lives, where some do not know when their next meal will be. I try to remember this at all times. Even when they are driving me crazy!

Chapter 3:

          If I could change my classroom to better gear it towards PBL I would first want a bigger classroom. I know most think my classroom is already very big compared to most but it would be nice to divide the room into large sections or centers to encourage student choice. I also would like some individual seating for students, because right now I only have large tables. It does work well for student collaboration, however some students may choose to work alone on certain steps and want their own space. I would like to have a reading/ research area that students could truly invest time in and have discovery on their own. I feel that if my classroom had space to walk around students would be less likely to wander around the room. I feel that these things would enhance the learning environment for students! I want to focus my learning environment, teaching, etc. around the best interests for my students! I truly enjoyed reading this chapter and reinforcing what I have learned so far in this course!

Sarah Kate Chatel Course 2 Blog Post 1

Chapter 2:
 Getting to know my students is one of my top priorities within each class I serve. The students within my resource classroom know that I dedicate the last five minutes of class on Fridays to touch base with each of  them through pows and wows. This activity is a time where the students share one good thing and one bad thing that has happened throughout their week. I love this opportunity to hear about all that is occurring in their lives and I try my best to check in with them if they mentioned weekend plans on the next Monday.
 I truly value my students and I want to know what is happening in their lives and what interests them. I try to incorporate their interests into my instruction, so it deepens the meaning of the math concepts I instruct. I find that as students deepen their investment to the content they also have deepened understanding of the content. I love seeing the light bulb moment within my students when they feel that they can finally apply the concepts to their life.
I believe that the five W's are crucial to crafting purposeful instruction. In order to teach you have to know who you are teaching. I am excited to execute my unit because it directly taps into the students interests and real the real world!

Chapter 3:
Immediately into the third chapter of Krauss and Boss's Thinking Through Project Based Learning, I was struck by the title "Making the World Safe for thinking." When I was a student I was terrified of making a mistake or saying the working answer that I became paralyzed at the thought of answering questions or reading out loud, because I didn't want to hear the disappointment in my teachers voice if I got something wrong or mispronounced a word. I still see that model of teaching today. I try very hard to make my class a safe place, where failing is acceptable just so long as students are putting forth effort. I want to make my classroom a place where risk taking is the normal.
 One aspect of being a co teacher that I love is the role, we as educators gets to be within this model. We become the conversation starters. I love asking questions to the teachers and digging deeper, or modeling thought process throughout co teaching or small group instruction. We as co teach teachers help one another put the pieces of  learning together with the students help. I think this is a wonderful way to make teaching and learning more enjoyable for everyone involved.
My main wish list item for my pbl unit is more space for learning. I am currently serving 13 students in all three grade levels in a small classroom built this summer. I would ideally be working with a smaller group within this space, or grow into a larger space. I cant wait to implement this unit when we are in the new building and have space! :)

Sarah Golightly

Chapter Two—

During these beginning days of school the students and I have had a great deal of communication.  My students are caring, inquisitive, alert, and ready to learn.  I have seen them make connections with stories and I know they will be able to make sense of the new information presented in the upcoming PBL. We have been reading Hatchet and the students have made connections with the heart attack by the pilot, the impact of divorce on a child, fear of being alone and dealing with wildlife.  Our school nurse will be talking to the students on Thursday about the heart and I am certain this will whet their imaginations for some time to come.  Even though the students will at times work alone, they will always have me and/or a peer to assist when questions arise.

I am trusting that this project will have such novelty to it that the students will be thrilled to enter the classroom and begin another learning adventure.  There will be a time limit, but this timeline will allow for flexibility when interruptions occur. 

Chapter Three

The only thing I desire for this PBL is multiple speakers who spend the day with the students and take them into their world of saving lives or surviving off of the land.  I could play nature sounds as the children work. Not only could the students experience the sounds, but they could experience the smells one might encounter in the wild.   Lots of vegetation could be added to the room during this PBL also.  A fishing video from YouTube could also run in the background while the children work.  These props will help the students experience the the trials of Brian Robeson vicariously.

Chapter 3 Blog PostChapter 3 blog post

Chapter 3 blog post

                As I read this chapter, the section “Physical Space for Thinkers” stood out to me. In my classroom, I really do not have any physical spaces to allow my students to work other than their desks. I would love to have more areas for students to work at in the future. I also do not have any student work on the walls. I do have a “Hey, Hey I have an A” wall where student’s names are posted if they get an A on a test. My wish list is to add other furniture and more student work in my classroom. I always strive to have a conversational classroom and allow students to present; I will continue to work on that. I will also like to have more audiences come in and speak with my students on their work and relay how it relates to real life.

Course 02 - Blog 01 - Smith, Robert

Chapter 02

Teachers already know what we have to teach through our state standards. Those guidelines are solid; those documents approved. Teachers know when we have to teach based on our schedules. We know what period we have to teach an advanced course, honors course, or college prepatary course. However, before we figure out how to teach our content we need to know who we are teaching to going beyond raw numbers like free lunch status or ethnicity. I believe that before I can teach a lesson, I need to understand as many of those students who sit before me as I can. I have to prove to them that I have an interest in and possess more than a passing understanding of their cultures, their religions, their politics, etc. before I can get them to devote their time to listening to me. Making connections with students is my greatest strength.

Chapter 03

If I could enhance my classrooms environment, I trade my one-piece desks in for two-piece desks. I am better able to use two-piece desks for interactive learning. I would add more desks and tables. I would bring in different types of chairs and couches. I would install a refrigerator for drinks. I hope that by providing the most relaxing environment that I can, I would allow learners to be able to concentrate completely on what they are doing and not where they are sitting.

Kim Trott Blog Post for Chapter 2 and Chapter 3

In chapter 2, The Inquiring Human Animal, knowing who you teach is critical for a successful PBL so that students do not pull away from the project if they feel overwhelmed by the material. Therefore, it is important to consider what types of learners you have in the classroom. Knowing that brain development doesn't really take place fully until age 25 has made me think differently even about my own 20 year old children.  I like the chart on executive skills.  Incorporating all of these in the classroom is a must.  Flexibility in the classroom is a must and it has always been one of my stronger traits with students.  Improvement on organization and time management is needed on my part as far as providing students with calendars to manage project time.  The ideas of modeling self control is a standard tool for most teachers.  Meta cognition is an area that can be expanded on. In the past when students have been asked about their performance on an assignment they are normally pretty honest and tell me they did not spend time on the assignment.  Using this as a tool to teach is considered an executive skill so in the classroom it would be wise to explore methods to have reflection before a final grade is assessed.

Knowing who my students are can really help me develop better material to be sure students of all abilities engage in quality research.  In the classroom I teach high level learners and low level learners.  The frustration for myself as a teacher is the lack of interest on the students part to find quality material that has been vetted for quality.  It is challenging to get students to go beyond assuming the first thing they read is the final authority on the material they assemble.

In the last class I realized I did not know my students.  I have 31 in each Honors class and am terrible with memorizing names.  This year I failed to play name games with the students and have now only just began to remember who each student is. The problem is that I feel bad about taking almost an entire class to get to know students.  I tend to be content driven and have difficulty allowing myself the leisure to play games at first to help me recall students.

Looking at student Test View data was helpful because a couple of students tend to fall in the lower ranges on several of the components and when placed in groups may need to be placed appropriately with students who may be able to help but not leave them out of the group process. I was also surprised about several of the students with the higher scores as well.

Chapter 3
Display learning is a great tool because students love to see other students projects.  Movement in the classroom is great but with 31 students it must be controlled in order for there to be an environment where learning can take place.  Because of my class sizes using the library tables is a great alternative to the normal classroom environment.  Grouping desks into teams is an effective strategy for my class.

I like the idea of reimagining who the stuff belongs to in the classroom.  I never thought of it that way.  The idea that the stuff in the room is the students is a great way for me to see my classroom as a tool for learning.  I always like my room to have a particular feng shui, so now it is my goal to make sure I let the students know this is their room. My room is not arranged in the traditional manner.  I like students facing one another and in a circle as much as possible.

Also the use of compare and contrast, cause and effect, and using graphic organizers and thinking maps to teach and reinforce these skills is a nice insight.  I use them but not a lot, and I do want to incorporate them more.

Emily Waddill Course 2 Post 1

Chapter 2:
Knowing who you teach is the first step in being able to plan a lesson or a project for the class. Getting to know your students on a personal level and learning about their interests means that you can use topics that interest your students and incorporate those topics into projects. Another important thing to keep in mind are ways to differentiate your teaching based on student needs. Looking at the baseline data and trends on assessments from previous years as well as assessments given in class can help to determine how much time to spend on topics and it can also influence how you group students for group work.


Chapter 3:
My wish list for creating a classroom where PBL can take place includes a class set of white boards and dry erase markers, construction paper, large chart paper, colored pencils, and tennis balls. I really like the idea of having cardboard dividers set up for students who are working independently. When everyone in the classroom is doing different things, having dividers will help students to stay focused. As far as the physical space of the classroom, I want to be able to move desks around for group work so using tennis balls to eliminate the noise of moving desks would help. I also want to incorporate movement in my classroom through stations or using rubber bands around the legs of the chair for students to fidget with.

Julianna Lux Course 2 Post 1

Knowing who you teach greatly impacts what and how you teach. (I believe I just resorted to my “how to create a good topic sentence from a writing prompt” technique I teach my students.)  Thinking back on my years of teaching, I’ve found the years I’ve been most successful with my students are the years I’ve encouraged them to allow their talents to shine during the semester’s assignments. Some students enjoy music or theatre or sports or building stuff more than they enjoy sitting in a classroom, so if I can tap into those interests, I find they focus better and participate more during class and make more of an effort on assignments.  Knowing those students who believe they cannot be successful because they have rarely found academic success is also important because I know I need to find as many opportunities to encourage those students and provide them with the realization they can achieve their goals. 

The class who will be completing my PBL is as diverse as I’ve ever taught. I have a football player, a basketball player, some track runners, a shy girl who thinks she shouldn’t be made to come to school because it means she has to interact with people, a sweet Hispanic girl who is working so hard to learn the English language, a young man who was just moved to my class from a higher level (and I can only imagine how this is making him feel), a farmer (who claims he’s Elvis), a transfer student from another Spartanburg district who is still trying to find his place, a few young men who would rather be in computer or art class, and a couple more who still remain enigmas to me (not due to lack of trying).  As to their abilities, I have one learning English (and taking long strides every day); five who excel at everything I give them; five who work hard to do well, but it may take them a little while; two who I know can do well if they wouldn’t give up before they even started; and three who will need a good bit of assistance to be successful in my class, but they haven’t given up yet. 

Knowing who my students are will help me plan the pace, requirements, and opportunities for choice in my PBL units. My current unit is an “All About Me” webzine. The students have written a segment about their names, a short op-ed paragraph about any topic they wished (from a list of 400, which may have been too many, if I’m being honest), and generated two Top Five lists on any categories they wanted. I originally gave them these choices: movies, TV shows, music, and books. They stared blankly at the board and then looked at me and asked if they had to choose one of those categories. I asked them what they wanted to do, and we now have favorite lists of shoes, video games, belts, designers, places, and more.  Not only have they been given a choice (which ensured the completion of the task), but they also have helped me understand them more.  Next week, they will be interviewing group members before turning their works into group Me-Zines.

By knowing what my students can already do, I can make those required elements to increase likelihoods of success. Segments where they’ve struggled some can be required as well. I can then provide some choice in the challenging aspects of the project that will encourage academic growth. Now that I know how quickly (or not so quickly) my students work, I can gauge how long each task will take to complete. I know that I will need to provide some additional activities for a few of my students who will complete their work far quicker than others, and I will need to bring some students back to me during CAVS for additional assistance getting some of the assignments completed by the deadlines.

My PBL wish list is to have smaller tables in my classroom to increase space. I already use tables instead of desks because I enjoy bringing my students together for collaboration opportunities and the tables provides more space to spread out; however, my tables are just too big.  I also want a computer program allowing me to monitor my students’ activities on the computer at all times.  In the past couple of weeks, I’ve allowed my students to use the computers to complete a variety of assignments, project and non-project related.  I’ve needed to work one-on-one with a few of them in order to aid in their success. To do this means I cannot be watching every student’s computer activities or be up and moving around; also, I do not have my room arranged in a way that allows me to see what everyone is doing at once. After holding one student back to discuss his misuse of the computer (he’d finished his assignment, was bored, and decided he was going to flip the screen and the turn the laptop on its side), he told me other students were visiting game sites and searching things that had nothing to do with the assignment. I spent close to an hour looking at every student’s internet history.  If I could pull up everyone’s screens on my computer and project them, I could watch what they are doing. This has multiple benefits: 1) I can ensure my students are only going where I’ve told them to go; 2) I can monitor their progress and make sure they aren’t stalling; 3) I can identify those students who are struggling and not asking for assistance; 4) I can quickly give feedback from where I’m standing (especially beneficial when someone has completed a task successfully; I typically have to be standing over their shoulder or have them tell me they’ve had success); and 5) I can use what a student is doing correctly as a model for the other students.  I have asked before, and I’ve been told we must set up our rooms in a way to monitor all student computers at one time (unrealistic); I’ve looked for my own programs and found a few inexpensive and free programs, but I’ve hit a brick wall when I was told I could not load those to our computers because of the first reason.  I use GoogleDocs/Slides to show students how to collaborate on assignments, but I can’t see what other sites they are visiting; I can only see what they are doing on the document.  When we begin researching various topics, it’s important for the students to choose reliable sources, and being able to see all of their results up on the board at once will allow me to quickly address issues as opposed to missing something and having a student spend a lengthy amount of time doing something wrong just to need to go back and fix it later.  This is my biggest roadblock when it comes to the PBL assignments I want to do with my students.

Clark H. Maxwell Course 2 post 1

Chapter 2

     I think that knowing your students in PE is important, but I go about it in a slightly different way.  I tend to observe the way they carry themselves, do they talk to anyone while we are warming up, they way they walk,  they way they run, their posture, etc.  This comes from years of coaching and evaluating players.  It helps me to recognize who I may need to give extra attention to.  I have been doing this a long time, so I am starting to teach some of the kids of students I have taught in the past.  The few that I don't know, I talk to them.  Students will tell you things if you just listen.  For a good many of mine, no one does.  So me just listening allows them to open up and eventually trust me.  The data I've collected so far helps me to plan what exercises will be most beneficial for my students to improve their scores.


Chapter 3

     Well, my classroom is pretty much set up for one thing, basketball.  Fortunately, we have two gyms, so space is not an issue.  If anything, I wish we had more heavy ropes, mats, and medicine balls.  But just those 2 are fairly expensive, so I make do with what we have.  I use station work to keep things organized, and to keep the chaos going in one direction.

Course 2 Post 1

 Chapter 2- The Inquiring Human Animal

Knowing my students helps me to jump start their learning and motivate them by incorporating things that they are interested in into my lessons. Knowing my students also helps me to make lessons more relevant to the students everyday life. It allows me to form a bond with my students which helps me gain their trust and allows me to look deeper into their lives so I can present them with opportunities that may be beneficial to their learning.

Chapter 3- Making the World Safe for Thinking

If I could enhance my classrooms physical environment, there is so much that I would do. I would add more space for interactive learning. I would add more individual desk that can be arranged in a variety of ways. I would put different types of seats (like stability balls and chairs with pedals) in my class that would help my students who have a hard time staying still focus. There would also be desk for students who like to stand while learning so everyone in the class can be comfortable while learning. Doing all of this will give the students more flexibility over how they learn, hopefully creating a warm and inviting classroom environment full of exploring while learning.

Taylor Thomas Course 2 Unit 1

Chapter 2

Knowing your students likes, dislikes, and ability levels is essential in creating successful learning experiences for your students. When you know where your students are academically, you meet them there and progress forward. Knowing the interests of your students allows you to make learning meaningful and relevant. You also create relationships with your students as well as a safe and comfortable learning environment. Awareness of these components provides the most influential and successful educational opportunities for all students.

Creating and implementing a PBL unit provides a common experience for all students. Knowing the five W’s of your students allows you to create units tailored to your class. This includes differentiating where necessary, providing cross disciplinary components, and modifying along the way to best enhance your PBL instruction.

Chapter 3

Ways to enhance:

• ·         Create stations around the room
• ·         Student work will be displayed
• ·         Theme based decorations (fun and functional)
• ·         Non-fiction books and information displayed

·          

Wish list:

• ·         More time
• ·         Tables instead of desks (I make groups by moving desks together, students can also move desks as needed for partner or group work)
• ·         Money for supplies

Sarah Garner, Chapter 2

Chapter 2 blog post

                On the first day of school I had my students fill out a get to know me sheet. A student then proceeded to tell me, “You are probably not going to read these.” I told that student that I was going to read each one. Like most teachers, I really did intend to read every single get to know me sheet. However, it kept falling to the end of each “to do” list and I eventually forgot all about them. Through the activity deep data at a glance that we did in class, I realized how little I knew about my students. At that moment, it felt like I was being hit in the stomach with a stack of bricks. Without knowing information about my students, I am unable to make connections in my project to student interests. I am unable to discuss with them the things they like or dislike. It is important to know how each student feels they learn best, and learn the areas they feel they struggle in. With this information, you are able to place them in groups that focus on their strengths and are able to get help with their weaknesses. After class I decided to go through each get to know me sheet and document what the students like, what they do not like, their strengths, and weaknesses. I realized that many of my students like to draw. Therefore, I am going to allow my students to draw their floor plan out on a poster board. I also learned that many students struggled with fractions (I mean, who did not struggle with fractions in 9^th grade). Because of this, I will now give mini lessons throughout the course on fractions. This will allow my students to practice and become more comfortable working with fractions.

Kristi Winslow Post #1 - Course 2

Chapter 2

                Knowing “who” you teach allows for the opportunity of differentiation among PBL experiences.  Knowing student ability levels, interests, backgrounds, and demographics helps to present students with opportunities that will not just serve them in school, but also in life.  I can plan projects that will be meaningful and relatable to their lives. 

Chapter 3

                The wish list I have for my classroom is to see a space that is functional, for lots of movement and opportunity.  It would have sounds of a variety of student voices with excitement, interest, and individual ideas and input.  There would be a class full of students collaborating on a specific idea.  The students would be engaged in what they are studying, designing, and creating for a certain experience.  The classroom will be filled with student designs, show casing evidence of the progress that is completed.