Betty’s Intel Blog

1. Respect one another.

2. Keep  hands, feet, object to self.

How can I facilitate a student-centered learning?

A good teacher clearly states the learning objectives and plans how he/she will carry out these learning objectives.  We begin by finding out what the student’s prior knowlege is.  From then we can facilitate student interactions through lots of questioning providing oportunities for higher order thinking.  These opportunities would hopefully lead to more in depth thinking on the part of the students and therefore producing a project that shows a deep understanding of the topic or objective.  The teacher also allows students to work using their learning styles therefore allowing the students to produce a “higher quality” product because it is likely that the student was more engaged in his/her project.

How can I use technology to support my instructional practice?

First of all, the teacher allows the students to choose the technology tools that they would like to use to carry out their project.  The teacher provides guidelines for using those tools, for example, I chose a poster to use so that the students can ask before printing something out or before doing Internet searches, etc. I can also use some for of technology ex. power point or newsletters to explain the guidelines for a student project.

How can I help my students to become self-directed learners?

The goal for every classroom teacher is to have students working independently at their instructional level with some teacher guidance along the way.  The concept of self directed learning is very challenging with the younger students.  We begin by discussing what we are learning or about to embark upon on with a new unit.   In project base learning we  show them student samples and checklists for what they will need to include in their projects.  We can give them student templates to help “walk them” through the different parts of their  project.   We try to supply all the necessary tools so that a student can become self-directed learners.  Through conferencing we can check on students to see if they are completing their tasks for project based learning.

How can I support the diverse needs of learners?

We must  make accommodations for all of our students in all subject areas.   We must modify for our resource students based on their IEP’s.  Such accomodations may be reduced assignments, extra time, peer tutor or more frequent conferences with teacher.  For our Bilingual students I would have to help them alot with searches on the Internet.  There are some websites from Spanish speaking countries but they used English speaking websites for the most part.  The GT student would really love to do project based learning.  I can see where alot of the GT students would thrive.  They can also help monitor some of the work on the computers or help others to research.   For the GT students we can ask more challenging questions or have them make power point presentations to the class.

How do I assess student learning?

I assess at the beginning by doing a KWL chart to see what they already know, this can be a class or individual KWL chart.  I take anectdotal notes as the project progresses by closely monitoring  the students to see what they have learned and what they still need.  This also helps me to reteach or work with students individually or in small group.  At the end of the project I follow a rubric to see if the student how well a student learned the objectives and completed the assignment.

How do involve students in the assessment process?

The class generates possible topics that we would like to learn/write about. Before an assignment begins students are given the guidelines/rubric to follow. Their peers can also give them feedback to check that they are following the guidelines/rubric of the assignment.  They themselves or peers can fill out a checklist.

How can technology be used most effectively to support and assess student learning?

At the beginning of the school year the parents are asked to sign if they give permission  if their child can use the Internet or if we may photograph them or publish their name on the  Internet.  Usually I use anything like that specifically for my classroom use.  When the students are using the Internet I “hope” that the district fire walls will prevent them from getting into any inappropriate sites  but I know that this is not always the case. When we do searches in class I am very close to them monitoring where they are at and showing my Second graders how to do the searches.  I am also  helping them with the English spelling of words in order to search a topic.  The  student sample will be a poster about Community Workers, their  skills and characteristics, services/goods provided and how these workers affect our community and the student personally.  They will need to research the worker on the Internet, books, and through interviews to get much of this information.  They may take pictures and also do graphic organizers and word documents to make their final presentation board.

How can I use the Internet to support my teaching and students’ learning?

In the lower grades we like to use United Streaming to support many of the stories or units that we are studying.  I’ve also used search engines like Google or Yahooligans to get more information for specific authors or units that we study.  I am tagging the websites that are on the Intel CD rom that are more specific to the classroom.  Those will be of great use doing searches.  We use websites on the internet to reinforce reading skills that will help them with their phonics, fluency and comprehension. 

How can I ensure responsible and appropriate use of the internet?

I myself, cannot use information that I got from the internet and claim it as my own.  If I use it, I neet to document what resource/website I got it from. I have spoken to my Second graders and explained that the Internet is also like a book written by an author, we don’t copy the words and claim it as our own because that information belongs to the person who wrote it originally.

How can Curriculum-Framing Questions help support my student’s learning?

The questions will help to maintain the focus during their projects.  These questions are derived from the TEKS being assessed during the project.  Essential questions are very broad and open-ended, Unit questions are more focused on the project, and Content questions are facts learned during the project.

How can I plan ongoing student-centered assessment?

The teacher should set guidelines/rubric for the projects/learning logs/conferences

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How can projects help my students meet standards and develop 21st century skills?

The students will be able to create a project based on their own interests and using their creativity.  They will need to be accountable to complete the project based on the teacher’s guidelines.

It will be really great exposing myself and my students to all that I will learn in my Intel class.  Students in my 2nd grade class can work on their own self directed projects with teacher assistance.