Project Based Learning Project #2

A Gardener's Dilemma By: Jamie Baxter, Thomas Leytham, and Colin Richard



Students will learn the following in this project:

1. Determine perimeter of geometric shapes.

2. Determine area of geometric shapes.

3. Use grids to record designs.

4. Use of ordering pairs to identify location.

5. Group Collaborative Skills




Lesson Plan - A Gardener's Dilemma Created by: Jamie Baxter, Thomas Leytham, and Colin Richard

What Can We Learn About Teaching and Learning From Randy Pausch?

This video is sad, first and foremost, but after watching, I can say, this man left a legacy. With that legacy, he left some wonderful advice. I want to focus on the advice that can be used by teachers everyday. How I write down that advice will be more or less points, not entire definitions or hyperboles. I have taken the advice for me, how you take the words is up to you, just like everything else in life. So, let's get started!

Let's start with fundamentals. If we don't don't have a foundation that is strong, it really does not matter what you try and build up around it. Rome was not built in a day, but the great foundations made it possible to see what was built for centuries later.

"Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want" says Professor Pausch. Outcomes, trial and error, the scientific method; each understand that there will be bumps in the road, but keep striving and never give up.

"Brick walls are there to show how much we want something." Love this quote by Randy Pausch. The more obsticles you face and conquer, the more work was needed and the better the satisfaction when done. Desire to be great and knock down whatever difficulties get in your way is what creates resolve and resolve creates determination and determination creates someone that will never settle. So, show who you are by actions, not words!

"Give em enough time and they will always impress you." I do not entirely agree with this as a whole, but, in a teaching situation, one has to go in believing in all your students. Each day is new and never expecting disappointment is key to success in handling every child.

"How you say something" is sometimes better than what you say. So, perception is key. Your kids should feel motivated, excited and eager to learn. The way you come across with each days lesson can determine each one of those emotions. So, be motivated, excited and eager yourself and your expression will probably instill those same feelings in your students.

Dreams! Never dim the light on anyone's dreams. On the contrary, add gas to it. No dream a child has is stupid because we can not see into the future and we never know what dream creates a future reality.

Having a sense of humor is another key not just for life, but for teaching. Let's face it, kids want to laugh and have fun and we are all kids at heart. So, be funny laugh a lot because a fun and happy class will produce learners well above an atypical classroom boring teacher setting.

"Do not have preconceived expectations." This is how teachers in so called terrible schools can have success where others have not. Go into every semester, every quarter, every month, every week and every day like your students are all prodogies and you will find there is a pearl in every oyster.

"Get students to be self reflective." Introspection will excite the mind and create growing minds towards their work. Is that not what we, as educators, desire? We can not be there 24/7, so let your students give their grades sometimes and let them figure out where they can improve.

"Head fake- having fun while learning something hard." Another brilliant way to give illusion to learning. If students are doing something that they feel a part of or they feel desire to do because it connects to them, they will learn when they do not even know they are doing so. This will give the largest gains in learning and knowledge over conventional methods any day of the week and twice on Sundays.

"Learn from students." Hey, just because we are teachers does not mean we can't still learn, especially from the people that see you everyday. Students are your ultimate teachers! So, listen to what they say, even when they do not talk and you will progress to new heights!

Lastly, Professor Pausch lets us know we need to have fun. Success is doing what you love! In the end, everything starts and ends with us. So, while we are there, we might as well have fun and therefore are kids will have fun. Learning can be fun, so let your students find that out by your example.

What can we learn about teaching and learning from these teachers?

Myself, Jamie Baxter and Thomas Leytham did a collaborative assignment where we watched three videos and critiqued or praised certain parts on each. So, we started with Back to the future Video. Once the video was finished, the first thought was, this is a great teacher. Obviously he cares on just about every aspect when it comes to his “kids”. He is very enthusiastic with all of his projects and gets real excited which gets the students involved.

The balloon project was particularly innovative and most definitely educational. The project helped develop the students’ knowledge and concept about pressure. Also, the students use critical thinking and creativity while writing from the perspective of the balloon. Most importantly, the project did all of this while being attention grabbing and fun. Jamie is going to save this project and use it in her future classroom because she really enjoyed how excited the students got while completing it.

When Mr. Cosby was describing what students learn from 21st century tools, it really caught our attention. This is a very helpful and useful part of the video for us as future teachers. He showed us a few examples, such as: learning how to collaborate, motivation, empowerment, and connection with others. Students will learn and practice all of these activities when using 21st century tools.

We also loved the fact that the child with cancer was brought in through skype and became an active member of the classroom. This teaches communication, understanding, tolerance, compassion, and learning to change each others lives.

We would, because of his new teaching plan, love to know what the kids knew after his class compared to their first day. It seems like if you are advocating a certain plan of teaching, backing it up with statistical data would help the cause. On top of which, he already mentioned the parts that they didn’t know. So, it wouldn’t be difficult to show their progression.

The most important aspect of this video is the teacher and his passion for teaching which makes things work in the classroom, and is more than a video on how technology has turned around a low income student based classroom from not knowing to knowing, it is a video on how an empowered teacher with desire can do wonderful things.

Blended Learning Cycle video is next on the list.The first thing that struck us was how much we loved the tweet by Dr. Tae, “remember, it’s not fair to tell your students that grades are not important if you are ultimately giving your students grades.” True information for sure.

We noticed that in the beginning of the video he mentioned doing a TED talk about making the class a video game. He watched the TED talk video which made this video much more understandable. Essentially, making the class a video game was quite difficult. There were many problems that led to many parts failing and needing revisions. Thomas felt this is why his approach changed overall. Mr. Anderson definitely believes it is okay to fail and that we learn from failure. This is definitely true and teachers should learn to rework failure. It has such a terrible connotation when it shouldn’t be.

Anderson developed his “quivers” approach to teaching in response to his video game “failure”. Quivers seemed like a very good concept. We do not always like acronyms because they can detract from the actual concept, and people remember the acronym word and not what each part stands for. All Thomas could remember is Questions, Videos, and Summary quiz. I found the video aspect of "quivers" to be idiotic and a waste of time. Not having anything that could spontaneously happen or be asked by the teacher while talking. Sitting and watching a video, only calls for distraction and daydreaming. Jamie however, thought the video would be a good idea because some students learn from watching videos. Most children or young adults grow up watching television, so maybe the video will teach them something they missed while investigating. We think the review step of “quivers” is very important because this is the step where the teacher can make sure the student he is reviewing, learns everything that was intended to be taught. Thomas thinks that all students learn differently. So, having a video could be beneficial to some and not as beneficial to others. It would be important to have all of the knowledge learnable in different ways. Thomas is a kinesthetic and auditory learner. So, the video would probably be beneficial to him. But for a visual kinesthetic learner the video may not be.

Which picture looks more engaging?

We also found it interesting that he is teaching AP Biology. Good for him and his students, but what about students in a poverty ridden neighborhood at a state school with minimal funds, would this process still work? He says we should start with a question, well that would be ours for him.

We learned from this teacher a great concept to use for our future classrooms. Although we might change a couple of steps in the “quivers” approach, overall it is a good idea.

The last video we watched was “Making Thinking Visible” This video is pretty straight forward by having the kids watch a video, and then create a project that builds upon each weeks learning. We can learn from this video that critical thinking, analysis, and building upon what has already been learned is the fundamental building blocks to project based learning.

Interestingly enough, Mr. Church only uses a video as his technology. It seems teaching properly and engaging students really has to do with the teacher, not the technology. We believed the project had the right idea, but with a more opened mind and a greater use of technology, the kids would of benefited even greater.

In the end, we believe that each video offered us different things to think about when we become teachers. Most importantly, we know that to be great as a teacher, it takes hard work and dedication beyond Monday-Friday, 8-4, it takes a teacher that never stops learning or growing. The one thing I do not want to happen is we become disconnected from life.....or maybe we already have........

What Are 21st Century Learning and Communicating Tools

While we don't have this....

and we don't have this........

We do have.....

And that is the internet. A network of information that can guide anyone to a plethora of knowledge, communication and visual stimulation. So, with all that data, what should a teacher do? Well, for me, becoming a social studies teacher, I have found several spots on the web that I will most likely use in my teaching future.

The first is The Center for Teaching History with Technology. This site has so many links to items that are specifically designed to aid teaching history, I found it nearly impossible to find an era or specific event not included. From lessons and activities, to presentations and multimedia, as well as assessment and rubrics to use. Everything a starting teacher could go and get a proper foundation for the yearly, weekly and daily planner. This should prove to be a great starting place for my teaching career.

Next up is Diigo This is more a google chrome for your specific needs. With such special additions like the ability to highlight, add sticky notes, and an easy sharing network, this sight is perfect for History. History is so reading based that having these specialties would come in handy for sure.

Lastly, I wanted to mention somethings that I found very interesting if my classes have the ability to use Ipads. poll everywhere and Qwizdom First, poll everywhere seems perfect for nameless and faceless polling. This can be useful for projects, presentations, readings and written assignments. By letting the kids poll on everyone without fear, hopefully real feedback can be achieved from their peers. The second is Qwizdom which, by using there Ipads, we could have realtime testing, quizzes, or history based knowledge games. This creates a 100 percent participation scenario that every teacher looks for.

In the end, I will use whatever I can to make the best, most fun, most creative, clever, engaging environment for my students to learn I possibly can. So, whatever it is, be it with technology, old school classic methods or anything in between, I will look for it, research it and use that approach. I am a teacher, so that makes me the most active learner out there. I am here for my students and whatever effort I put in will only give back to my kids ten fold. So, if you are an educator now or in the future, give me a high five and let's make it happen!

Comments for Teachers Summary

My teacher comments have pleasurably gone to Sharon Davison. She is a kindergarten teacher in Vermont with 25 plus years of teaching experience. From everything I have read, she has taken learning beyond just the normal teaching strategies, she has taken it to the 21st century through a great use of technology.





My first comment went to the blog post entitled, How I Begin To Explore Becoming A Digital Citizen In Kindergarten! This post had several aspects that basically prepared both students and teachers that they are entering not only a technological classroom, but one that cares and respects privacy. The premise had all the kids with name tags, but when photos would be taken that would go up on the web, the kids would cover their names. A great concept that teaches at an early age how difficult it is to have privacy in this modern era, however, one must always do the most you can in order to take out everything that is controllable. I commented as to how well she presents her kids to technology from day one. I also commented as to how I have a six year old daughter who had just left kindergarten and how I would of loved her teacher to of given her the same throughout her first learning year experience. Lastly, I commented as to how well she seems to implement technology based teaching in her classroom and how I looked forward to finding out more with later postings.

My other comment for Sharon Davison's blog came with the post entitled Connecting With Parents: Value of Conversations. I was particularly impressed by several important elements where key internet websites and information is shared with every parent. Sharon also created an internet form for the parents to read, give thoughts and answer questions in regards to their kids participating in many parts on the internet for learning purposes. I commented how her words and actions in class were very insightful, caring and smart. “The interaction is always focused on their learning and is meaningful in regards to what we feel is important to what we discover” I said was wonderful to read. By making sure that everything begins and ends with “their” learning can be lost when it comes to using technology as a learning medium, so that was refreshing. Also, I love all the information that parents have at all times. She seems to make a revolving door for interactions between herself, her kids and the parents. I believe it is very important that parents know what their kids are doing as well as knowing they can come to you with questions, concerns and compliments at any time.

I personally believe that everything begins and ends with the parents. Sharon Davison really makes it a point to involve the parents and give them a voice as well as an outlet for any thoughts or questions. When parents feel they are important to the teacher, they in turn become engaged and an engaged parent is an active parent and active parents produce kids that behave better and have a desire to learn. Overall, I believe Sharon has her kids moving towards a great direction.

Personal Learning Network

There have been several items I have found that not only did I not know about, but I find them very useful now and I am sure as a teacher.

The first would be Symbaloo. A strange name, but a useful resource for anyone in the teaching field. Below is a link to an example of the one I would use in my social studies teachings.

European History Symbaloo

As you can see, there are many icons with different places to which you can extract pertinent information to the desired historical element.

Another resource would have to be Icurio.

Just as this picture suggests, I can use this resource to find anything I or my kids need and do it how I want it. Also, because this site has been researched ahead of time, I do not have to worry about accidently getting a porn site after typing in the Virgin Queen. Plus, my students can make there own files to save in folders so they never lose vital places they have been.

Lastly, Discovery Ed. I love the fact I can make a book come alive to students. This website gives the visual aid that many students appreciate. It enhances the ability to remember certain facts by mentally conceptualizing every form of information that has been attained on a particular question.

Bottom line, I want to provide my students with everything I deem fit to help them excel in every facet I teach. I want every sense to be used, whenever possible, in order to make the best learning environment I can make. So, basically, whatever is out there, be it old school or new, I want to research it and if I feel it will help my classroom, then that is good enough for me!

After all...........

when done right

Comments for Kids Summary

I have made comments to four kids blogs during the month of September. I have a summary of what I read and what I wrote, but I must admit, some were more interesting to do than others.

First, and to me, the most interesting, was Tisha. Her blog was based on the subject, "This I believe". Her belief was piercings. The blog told the freedom that she felt by having her four piercings. The blog also went on to explain why she feels people should be left to express themselves the way they feel comfortable. No matter what you have on your body, do not judge people by their looks alone. I commented to how in many ways, expression by tattoos or piercings, suits and ties, skirts and pants or hair style/color etc. is one’s first form of communication to others. It is up to these others as to how they want to perceive you. The subject matter for me was just unusual, therefore, interesting. I also left questions as to some comments Tisha made in regards to definitions to certain piercing words.

The second comment I left was to Sang Jun. His blog was about a humorous event involving his soccer training. His training had some goal work where his header got chalk all over his body and grass in his mouth. Sang found the event very funny. I commented a thank you first for giving me a smile and that it was great that he had a sense of humor. Since his blog was full of grammatical errors (which I did not mention) I focused on his recollection of the event as well as his comic relief of a bad situation was wonderful.

The third blog I commented on was Hosannah's video involving hexagonal learning. The video was done with enthusiasm and a great sense of interest in his project. The video was almost impossible to hear because of all the kids in the background, but one can get where Hosannah was going. I bragged at how well he demonstrated his knowledge in the video and how his project was done with attention to detail. I also gave a bit of humor by telling him he needed to tell everyone to keep quiet next time because he was a master at work!

The last kids blog I commented on was Rose. Her topic was the government shutdown and she wrote about her opinion on the matter. She eluded to her lack of real knowledge on the subject, but her opinion was that the world looks down on the U.S. because we are a country divided. I responded by agreeing with her first and foremost and how the subject is so important to have knowledge in. I then told her that if she kept doing research she might one day be the one to put the U.S. into a harmonious nation.

In summary, I have tried to justify doing these comments. I can not find how this helps myself or them. If what we say is forced because we can only be positive or we would never read them under normal circumstances, then what are they learning? That people will lie just to make you feel good about yourself? I can't answer for sure, but the simple fact that none of the four commented on my comments shows me how they are doing this because they have to, not because this is such a wonderful form of communication and they can't wait to see what others thought. Seemingly, especially considering how poor each one's blog was written, my regard against jumping into the deep end of technology while abandoning reading and writing (with a pen or pencil) is justified.

Blog Post 7

As with many things in life, you are only as strong as your weakest link. Since this was supposed to be a collaborative assignment and everyone in my group has dropped the class, I have decided the group will be a collaboration of me, myself and I! With that, we will critique four videos and individually critique three others.

The first video is Project Based Learning Part 1. After watching this many times (as we did for all videos), we decided there were several positive applications mentioned that for sure needed to be discussed. So, Anthony Capps, a third grade teacher gives us some insight into how project based learning is so advantageous, as well as certain aspects that create the motivated learner . Involvement of the children's community into what they were learning was the first thing we noticed that was intriguing. We thought this approach would bring personal experiences to play. Using their opinions then basing them on facts in another project was also wonderful.

Some complaints though, why did some kids not finish their writings for the project? Comments by Anthony, such as,"Means to get them to learn something" or "Authentic audience..rewarded and motivated to do good work" seemed like fluff over substance. How about the mention of the kid that called out Anthony and was proven right, however, we found it was glossed over the fact she failed third grade and was repeating it. Why? Also, everything mentioned could of been done without PBL as the foundation.

We now move to Project Based Learning Part 2 which is just a continuation from the previous video. Once again, we saw positives and negatives with what was being discussed. The positives seemed fewer to pick out in this segment. The one thing we can for sure observe is Anthony cares for his students and puts a great deal of effort and time into making the best instructional environment he can. Also, giving choice to children, we agree, is such an important aspect in developing a sense of commitment,responsibility and understanding decision making processes. One of the most honest parts was when Dr. Strange said he was biased when it came to PBL.

The negatives, as we perceived, were numerous. Taking stabs at ideas without backing them up with facts is something that (speaking of) third graders do. Two people that are in 100 percent agreement with whatever the other says is not anything you learn from. One could listen to two people that agree the Holocaust did not happen and from an uneducated person on the matter listening, it might sound 100 percent like the truth. The question was presented as to comparing Anthony's third grade writing to EDM 310 writings and the response was predictable. However, are 8-9 year olds doing the same quality work as college students? Probably, but why? The constant reminder that PBL seems to be the end all know all is fundamentally a flawed perception. PBL templates to push other teachers to use this method of teaching seems to be the opposite of what PBL is supposed to represent:self motivated thinking. If the teacher is good, that individual will find what is right and proper for their kids. We believe it is better to think outside the box, not live inside it.

Icurio was the third film on the list. We acknowledge that Icurio is a great tool to use. As Anthony stated, the fact it has been screened and is just educational information, be it text or video, is a wonderful resource for teachers. We feel like it is Google for kids with strict educational context. So, this was a quick video and we thought there were nothing but positives that came out of it. We all agree that we would use Icurio in each others classrooms.

The last video which "we" collaboratively watched and will critique was Discovery Ed. This is similar to Icurio in the fact it is a web based source of screened information, however, it is more video based. We agree that visual aid increases the likelihood of that person retaining the information. We also agree that this should be used for mainly adding to something, not being the sole basis for understanding. We also agreed with Dr. Strange on the point that kids today are visual/listeners, not readers/writers. Of course, we believe this is a serious flaw in our state of education and one that needs to be fixed. We are not saying get rid of technology, on the contrary, we just want a happy medium between both old and new school. Taking the best of two is better than total exclusion of one.

Anthony - Strange Tips for Teachers Part 1. Reviewed by Me

"If you're not a learner, you will not be a successful educator" so says Dr. Strange. I agree beyond a shadow of a doubt, but I find it sad to believe this point has to be stated. How can anyone want to teach and have no desire to learn? "Let your work become a fun experience" states Anthony Capps. Well, I always believed that success is doing what you love, so this statement falls right into my sentiments. When you love what you do, you never have to label your job work. Digging a ditch is work to me. Educating others on subjects I have a passion for is like being payed for something I would do freely anyway. Dr. Strange follows with the third advice for new teachers and that is flexibility. I agree so much with that! Most things in life, if we never budge we eventually break. I teach and study Aikido and I have always said that you need to act like water because water always finds a way. I take that same thought into teaching. Flowing with the day is much easier than forcing the day to happen. A fourth tip was reflection. Reflection is a great step as long as we get the points of view of others. Sometimes we can fall into our own wonder and believe that we have it right and they have it wrong, but by taking others opinions we can collectively make sensible and educated choices moving forward. So, maybe a tip would be to leave one's ego at the door when it comes to being a teacher. The video was meant to be helpful and I believe it did just that. Any new or stagnant teacher would do well to take these tips into account everyday and grow into something more.

Use Tech Don't Teach It reviewed by Myself

Anthony and Dr. Strange are discussing the need for technology or rather that it is here, so go with it. Yes, it is here and there are many many aspects about technology I happen to find wonderful. I believe it has made finding information easy and in just about any medium you could desire. However, like anything that a teacher is teaching, the key to me is having the kids learn things without them even knowing they are really learning. "Slipping" in, if you will, other pertinent items that the kids should know, but having it done while engaged in another project. I believe Anthony, in his own way, is trying to incorporate this principle in his teaching too. I do, on the other hand, disagree with Anthony saying, for instance, Imovie, being better than coloring and paints because of clean up. Technically speaking yes, but I would argue that a mind is more at work, being more creative painting than someone putting a movie together on the web. The end of the video is the statement, questions are more important than the answers. Another point I agree with. Questions are always the beginning to finding any answer and the answer is never the final solution, but the importance is the desire to never settle.

Additional Thought About Lessons reviewed by I

So, this video mainly discusses the onion that is lesson plans. Yearly map goals is first. Then the unit and how it will unfold throughout the year. Third is the week and devising a plan of attack each day. Last is the daily plan and how you deliver content. These four parts create the entire lesson plan and explains how each part creates the whole and neither can do without the other. My basic thought after watching this is ok; sounds good. Now the biggest thing will be how to overcome the adversity, which will happen, when what was planned does not come to fruition. Adapting and overcoming is essential to one's yearly, weekly, daily and hourly lesson plan. Several things we said in BUD/S comes to mind when I think about teaching. One was, proper prior planning prevents painfully poor performance. Two is, the only easy day was yesterday. Each saying gives credence to the nature of teaching and the obstacles one faces every day. One creates who we are is how we manage these obstacles. Will you be a doer or a follower?