Reading Reflection Chapter Ten

Chapter ten is all about celebrating and reflecting. This chapter discussed the importance of setting aside time for reflection, which is important because it helps students to make connections and pull everything together. Students can reflect in a variety of ways from getting a grade, grading themselves through self-evaluations, answering questions, or verbally discussing what they learned, what they liked, and other basic questions. By having students answer and reflect, it not only helps the student but the teacher because they can see what worked well and what should be changed for the future. If time is not set aside then it might not happen. Students need to reflect and elaborate on the project because it can help them to gain more understanding and can clear up misconceptions they have but can also get them to a higher level of understanding. Asking students things like “what does this get you wondering about next? What do you want to learn now, and how do you want to go about it?” (Page 149) are great questions to ask. Something that also came from page 149 and stood out to me was “be sure to ask your learners where they want to go. Their answers might yield a more ambitious project that you would imagine”. I think that stands out and ties in to the rest of the book and to the concept of project-based learning because it gives them more control of what they are learning and the project they are completing. Schools build tradition and identity because the “school’s identities are tied to their traditions” (page 150).  Building traditions with in the school occur when things and projects become exemplary projects and because of what happens and goes well it stands out and becomes something that the school is possibly known for and because of that is something that is continued. The elementary school I went to had a school garden that my third grade class was the group to start and I have continued to help maintain that garden but it became a tradition because of how powerful of a teaching tool it is, every year the school and I work together to plan out what is going to be growing in it and then we connect it to what the students are learning in the classroom, for instance the kindergartners plant flowers because it connects to their learning and then students are able to see the growth and see what they planted and how it is growing and changing. It is a powerful thing and always fun to see the students enjoy it and the outcome as it changes from year to year. It took time to build the tradition but it is still occurring and because of it, I learned the importance of it and connecting it to what is being learned in the classroom. It is important to celebrate a project that students completed and worked so hard on because it shows them that what they are doing is important and has an outcome. In my case the garden the school started back when I was a third grader has the outcome of the students being able to eat the fresh food in class or during the summer and they get to see the plants as seeds and then as they grow. We celebrate the project and student work by taking what is grown in the garden and producing something for the students to enjoy showing them the importance of it. Students feel the importance of their work and the more it is displayed the more they get that feeling and with that feeling of importance is what also helps to build the tradition and to keep the project building from year to year. I found this chapter very interesting and easy to connect to our group project because we have reflections set into our lessons, and we celebrate the outcome because students get to show off their work and the healthy eating recipes they have created. This chapter was interesting and after reading it, I was able to make more connections to my learning and what I have been learning.