Reading Reflection #5

1. Before starting your project students and teachers will need to look at what materials must be used for the project. Will you use online resources, human resources with connections within the community? Will tools or supplies be needed for this project? It's important to look at all the different possibilities their are for your project so that you will know what is required in order to complete it. Another thing you will need to consider is how you will obtain all of these things. Say you are able to connect with someone from your community or a  neighboring community. How will you talk and connect with them? Will you meet up or exchange phone numbers? Should you both download Skype so that you can easily communicate?
2. It is essential that before or when the project is just getting started that you sit down with your students and write down on a class calendar when certain things should be done by. We are teaching our students how to manage their time and what exactly they should be working towards. By writing down milestones on a calendar of what should get done when we are teaching our students how to plan and organize your time. This gives the students something to work towards and something to be proud of once they have accomplished it.
3. Some of the technological applications that should be considered for each project are things that can be found online. Web-based resources are a great tool to use in the classroom because it is easily accessible and there a ton of websites out there that are kid friendly. Some useful websites for students to use during projects are blogs, Drupal, Textpattern, and Wiki. All of these websites hold the potential of finding great and helpful information. They are all similar to blogs which is a great way to reach our to people all around the world and connect with others to see what they are working on. By doing this the hope is that you will be able to share in similar stories and collaborate and work together to take each project to the next level.
4. All of this is useful for my own project because with each project that is done it is incredibly important to have a plan and a calendar set up so that everyone is on the same page of when things need to be finished by. It is also important to have a number of resources so before our project begins we need to think about this and make sure we have enough in order to accomplish what we are trying to do. Having websites that help foster this learning and using our resources is a great tool because it will be able to help students become more independent and find information on their own.