Reflections

Reflections on 2003 Project

Things that went well:

Overall, the unit went very smoothly and it was well planned out.
All nine of the teachers on our team bought into this project, which was essential to this project being successful.
Our driving question was relevant to our students lives, which contributed to their high interest in the unit.
The belief statement activity generated a lot of discussion and was a good springboard into the research phase of the project.
We gave our students more guidance than perhaps a "true PBL". We felt this was essential to the success of the project.
It allowed our students to think independently, with the teacher as the facilitator and the student as the active learner.
This project reinforces cooperative group learning.
Using the "What I need to do, what I did, what I will do tomorrow," sheet worked well for the students.
Using time to conference with each group each day helped the overall success of the project.
Keeping the student website updated made it easier for students to find essential web materials in a short amount of time.
Students continued to improve their organization skills through the use of note cards and outlines.
Groups left materials in classroom each day so that, groups could continue to work in the event of group member absence.

Ways to improve:

Finding the ideal time frame is often difficult; this year we found keeping this project together extremely difficult; our school time schedule was not conducive to this type of learning. Hopefully, our new block schedule will remedy this problem.
Students still struggle with the concept of persuasiveness. We will try to introduce a few more persuasive activities in our room before tackling this unit
Students who cannot function in group setting or need to work alone currently have a project to do; I feel this project could be better developed for those students.

Page created by Tuttle Middle School 6th Grade Team. Last updated 06/13/03.