Chapter 9 RR

1.) Method for understanding the prior knowledge of students:

One method for understanding the prior knowledge of a student is to do a KWL chart. KWL charts allow the teacher to evaluate what the students already know, what they want to know and what they have learned in the project. The students need to be actively involved in the learning process and have an idea of what success looks like to them individually.

2.) Importance of establishing anchors for a project:

When anchors are established, the teacher has an idea of  where students are at and where they are heading in order to meet their learning objectives.Project based learning provides oppurtunities to learn different ways and to meet multiple needs of individual students.


3.) Description of ways to assess students during a learning project:

One teacher established an online grade book that assessed multiple categories of a project and measured different levels of progress for students. In a typical classroom there are only a few parts of a project a student gets graded on, that is mainly academic. In project based learning there are so many components and skills the students are acquiring and therefore can earn credit for, rather than just one or two aspects. Being creative with the assessments so the students dont feel like they are being assessed is a productive strategy. Teachers can have students communicate with eachother about the project and listen to their conversations.

Another assessment tool is to conduct interview with students at the end of the project, making it so they become the professional  on the project and the teacher becomes the learner. Another strategy was having students create something new to show their knowledge gained. One teacher had students create a comic book, and another teacher had a student write a short story that summed up the project. This put a creative spin on what could have been a potentially mundane "write a paper that summarizes what you have learned" assessment.

Connecting the project to the community and real world situations gives the project meaning and substance. Its important for students to know that what they are doing in the classroom will strengthen other skills that need to be used outside of the classroom. Making the information relevant and real will help students take pride in their work.

4.) How this chapter relates to our project:

This chapter has motivated me to think of ways to creatively assess my students. Our students are going to be creating a movie which will not only assess their knowledge on the colonial period but also their knowledge on how to create a digital movie. Creating a movie requires good writing skills, communication skills, managing of time and people and being creative.