Last Friday I had students create a plan their PBL assessment time for the next two weeks for both in-class work and homework--and it was clear that most students don't plan well. Since this is a learned skill for most of us, I talked a little today about what makes for good planning. My suggestion is that for homework tonight students start listing the search parameters for the images they want to include; they can also begin drafting text for the presentation. We looked at the student Prezi example and counted the number of text boxes (27!) and images (20!), just to get an idea of how much work is necessary.
This is also a good time to mention vocabulary. Students are clearly not planning and doing their vocab independently. Self-selecting vocabulary is a best practice that should prove beneficial to students of all levels. Kids choose 5-10 words they don't know from Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday's reading. They define the word and copy the sentence from the source. The "quiz" consisted of students copying down 1 word from their Writer's Notebook for each of 4 weeks + definition + sentence and adding an original sentence. Many students had only one or two words to fill in from a possible of 40. Disappointing, to say the least, and an assessment grade at that. I continue to encourage students to stay on top of their work and use class time wisely.
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