Wednesday, February 10, 2010
How do Projects fit into my curriculum?
As a former science teacher, I had many opportunities to incorporate projects. I started small, allowing students to create models of volcanoes or conducting experiments on topics we were studying. After I gained confidence, I began shifting more and more of the learning activities toward a more hands-on, student-centered style of instruction. Students were more motivated and interested in the topics and seemed to do just as well, or better, on end-of-unit tests. The process of becoming more of a facilitator than an instructor is a slow and sometimes painful process and I am still learning.
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well thought out and well written.
ReplyDeleteStarting small is good advice.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of incorporating projects into the secondary classroom, but when I taught high school English, I typically offered projects to advanced students only. I want to change that mindset as I work with preservice teachers. I'm excited about the possibilities.
ReplyDeleteI started trying project-based learning a few years ago. My students seemed to really enjoy it. I know that this process takes planning, but I am willing to take the extra time to be a more effective teacher. I hope to gain more knowledge in these next few workshops
ReplyDeleteI agree that it would be difficult to "let go of the reins" to the students. With us being OCD, it's hard to turn over control!
ReplyDeleteI believe students enjoy working on projects, but it has to be challenging to them. This gives them ownership and reward of accomplishment.
ReplyDeleteWe do big projects at least once a semester. I love the pbta method of teaching. Some observers in my classroom say "You don't teach" and in a way they are correct. Instead of giving information, I facilitate learning by allowing my students to create a product of what they are learning/have learned.
ReplyDeleteI feel comfortable with facilitating projects, but I need to incorporate more critical thinking and analysis with my project assignments. You are right. Students are usually more interested in a topic when they can make an original and creative project.
ReplyDeleteI started small, too. I had students create "movie trailers" in Power Point for a short story that we read. I used the project to assess their understanding of the plot and characters in the story. I think they had much more fun than taking a test or writing a paper.
ReplyDeleteIn my mathematics class, I try to do one small project a chapter (if possible, some content is harder than others). In the graphing chapter, students get in groups to create graphs and even come up with some form of assessment for those that are looking at the graph. Both their graph and their assessment is graded because it is easy to create a graph, but by making the assessment, you can actually see if they understand what they created.
ReplyDeleteGood insight.
ReplyDelete