The Madness Behind
Second Semester PBL 2015
The madness behind
I had the privilege to attend the High Tech High Residency; I experienced a collection of strategies working together like cogs on a well-oiled machine. The HTH core concepts: Project Based Learning, personalization, common intellectual mission, adult connection, teacher as a designer, and also student collaboration is something that I am passionate about. I also had the pleasure to participate in a training at the Apple Campus where I learned about the SAMR Model. Since then, I being looking for a way to take my students work, technology projects, to the to top level according to the SAMR Model and apply some of the HTH core concepts in my practice.
I have 4 major projects every semester. We create these projects with a mindset to teach science concepts to students at the elementary level. Since my students' science projects have now being lifted to a new arena, it is no longer just a grade in Mr. Magallanes’ classroom. These projects will now transcend to have an authentic audience and a noble meaningful purpose; therefore, I am anticipating that the quality of the students’ work will rise to the expectation. My students’ projects will follow the NGSS standards as well as the CCSS standards. More importantly, my students will be teaching younger students the same standards. When my students go to the elementary environment, their role will be to facilitate the learning with the tools created by them. These tools will be created using Google Apps, iMovie, Morfo App, other presentation apps, Explain Everything App and maybe iBook or Book Creator. My students will also generate a worksheet for the elementary students to take notes.
Mrs. De Lira, my resource teacher, and I took 35 9th graders to Dool Elementary and It was great. All my students were excellent at roleplaying the teacher part. Even the elementary teachers who took their classes were actively participating. They were looking in the microscopes and were asking questions. Its was a very rewarding experience for all of us, students and teachers. Mrs. De Lira and I will be working on making improvements for next year. I hope that next year I can do this twice. At the end of the school year
Second Semester PBL 2015
35 of my students went to the elementary school and used their science projects to teach science.
I selected the best projects that my students made. Out of all my classes, 40 groups, I invited only 7 groups. A few students decided to improve their project for me to invite them. I was not going regrade their projects,. All of a sudden my students willing to to invest their lunch and after school time in my class to enhance their project just because they wanted to be part of this event so much. I was impressed and in disbelief. I had being trying all this time to motivate my students. I had integrated technology and i had done hands on experiences etc. but something was missing to motivate them. I am going to be honest not everybody bought into the idea but I had a bigger captive audience and they were producing better quality projects.
Once students accepted my invitation, we had about 6 lunch meetings. Students selected a few leaders to have tittles such as, president, vice-presidents, secretary, time keeper, and treasurer. We then brain stormed on:
How to help the elementary students make notes.?
What did they value the most about science as students and how were we going to make sure to replicate those valuable experiences?
What was the optimal layout for us to set up our groups in the classroom?
How to organize the elementary students to rotate once in the classroom?
I could have just tell them what to do but that wasn't the point. They plan the layout, the set up, and crated a booklet for students to make notes. They had an set idea of the work flow.
It was a very rewarding experience!
35 of my students went to the elementary school and used their science projects to teach science.
I selected the best projects that my students made. Out of all my classes, 40 groups, I invited only 7 groups. A few students decided to improve their project for me to invite them. I was not going regrade their projects,. All of a sudden my students willing to to invest their lunch and after school time in my class to enhance their project just because they wanted to be part of this event so much. I was impressed and in disbelief. I had being trying all this time to motivate my students. I had integrated technology and i had done hands on experiences etc. but something was missing to motivate them. I am going to be honest not everybody bought into the idea but I had a bigger captive audience and they were producing better quality projects.
Once students accepted my invitation, we had about 6 lunch meetings. Students selected a few leaders to have tittles such as, president, vice-presidents, secretary, time keeper, and treasurer. We then brain stormed on:
How to help the elementary students make notes.?
What did they value the most about science as students and how were we going to make sure to replicate those valuable experiences?
What was the optimal layout for us to set up our groups in the classroom?
How to organize the elementary students to rotate once in the classroom?
I could have just tell them what to do but that wasn't the point. They plan the layout, the set up, and crated a booklet for students to make notes. They had an set idea of the work flow.
It was a very rewarding experience!