Professor Jair sent the following message
Thanks for writing. Good to hear from you. Yes, I'll give you a call soon. Aren't you using Skype for while?
The fact of the matter is, I am planning to definitely using projects with my school students next semester. But in addition to the high school students, I also teach ESP (English as a special-purpose) we call post-high school technical courses, such as the meteorology course I was teaching last semester.
When students finish their high school integrated course they they apply for an entrance examination (we call Vestibular) to either go to a post-high school technical course or a technological course. The latter is a college-level. We say integrated course because as I told you before I teach in a federal vocational school. This is a big vocational school and very renowned in Brazil. As a result, it's integrated course because it combines the traditional high school subjects with subjects from various technical courses such as, electricity, electronics, building, sanitation and chemistry.
I teach for both levels. Therefore, I was wondering if I could implement the kind of projects you have been developing for these levels. So I'd love to hear from you on that.
I'm a little concerned because I'm going to give too many classes next semester. I'm not interested in doing too much talking, though. And I couldn't agree more on that issue that the the less you talk the better.
I believe that teachers must do a lot of talking on the very first contact with the students because they need to explain them step-by-step what's going to be done throughout the semester. But after that, the talking should be gradually diminished.
In addition to the classroom projects, I would appreciate to hear what you and your colleagues do to assess student's performance.
Thanks for your time and attention.
All the best,
Jair
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REPLY
Professor Jair,
I have four gurus about projects and one excellent book
(1) Dennis Yuzenas dyuzenas@oapb.org
(2) Mario Llorente mariopatriot2013@yahoo.com
(3) Matt Blazek bibpenpals@yahoo.com
(4) Omar Vasile visualandactive@gmail.com
I am publishing their email addresses with the aim of inviting you (and other readers) to contact them as well as me with your questions.
See the sample of projects at Matt Blazek's collection of projects
(SAMPLE): DOWNLOAD
The book: Personalizing the High School Curriculum by deMartino
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| Here is the link |
Look at Dennis when he starts his typical class (a short "pep" talk to focus the students)
Then he invites them to work and he circulates.
Jamie MacKenzie describes this type of teaching as follows:
"... THE TEACHER IS CIRCULATING, REDIRECTING, DISCIPLINING, QUESTIONING, ASSESSING, GUIDING, DIRECTING, FASCINATING, VALIDATING, FACILITATING, MOVING, MONITORING, CHALLENGING, MOTIVATING, WATCHING, MODERATING, DIAGNOSING, TROUBLE-SHOOTING, OBSERVING,
ENCOURAGING, SUGGESTING, WATCHING, MODELING AND CLARIFYING.
...THE TEACHER IS ON THE MOVE, CHECKING OVER SHOULDERS, ASKING QUESTIONS AND TEACHING MINI-LESSONS FOR INDIVIDUALS AND GROUPS WHO NEED A PARTICULAR SKILL. SUPPORT IS CUSTOMIZED AND INDIVIDUALIZED. THE GUIDE ON THE SIDE SETS CLEAR EXPECTATIONS, PROVIDES EXPLICIT DIRECTIONS, AND KEEPS THE LEARNING WELL STRUCTURED AND PRODUCTIVE.”
JAMIE MCKENZIE
(from page 18-19 in Dr. Fischler's ebook www.Transform-Education.com)
Building More Responsive Schools by Abraham S. Fischler
Let's look at several points by Professor Jair:
I was wondering if I could implement the kind of projects you have been developing for these levels. So I'd love to hear from you on that.
I'm a little concerned because I'm going to give too many classes next semester. I'm not interested in doing too much talking, though. And I couldn't agree more on that issue that the the less you talk, the better.
COMMENT: Excellent: You will create a culture of "learning through projects and cooperation," and that shift in the mindset takes time.
COMMENT: Excellent: You will create a culture of "learning through projects and cooperation," and that shift in the mindset takes time.
I believe that teachers must do a lot of talking on the very first contact with the students because they need to explain them step-by-step what's going to be done throughout the semester. But after that, the talking should be gradually diminished.
COMMENT: Ask students to watch a video and tell you during the next class "This is what you told us." The first homework is an EMAIL MESSAGE from the students to you explaining what they understand.
In addition to the classroom projects, I would appreciate to hear what you and your colleagues do to assess student's performance.
COMMENT: Ask the students to build a PORTFOLIO of their work. The idea is that TIME IS A VARIABLE, so the student can come to you when the student feels ready to be assessed.
(A) Begin with the end in mind.
(B) Ask students to develop personal learning plans
(C) Then ask students to create projects that fit their personal learning plan.
(D) The completed projects go into a portfolio (physical and/or digital)
(E) Allow students to perform their understanding. Assessment can include spoken as well as written exhibitions. See Dennis Littky, pp. 154-166 The Big Picture
To avoid repeating yourself, consider using the Flipped Classroom and making videos.
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