Renzulli Learning Independent Project Management Ideas



Renzulli Learning™

Independent Learning Management Ideas

Here are some ideas for using Renzulli Learning as a resource to differentiate instruction and facilitate independent student learning. You may want to consider choosing some of these ideas as you scaffold instruction for independent, project-based learning with your students. The Open-Ended Questions and Self-Assessments are designed to help students articulate their thinking and identify ideas they may want to pursue. Those questions are included here for your reference.

1. Conduct mini-lessons with the whole class to teach students how to use the information in the resource descriptions to help them determine if the resource is one that they want to explore.

2. Spend time as a whole class going to specific sites and discussing the good and bad features of the site. Developing skills to critically evaluate web-based resources is important for the students to be successful when using technology.

3. Students can critique each of the sites or resources they explore in a session, including the categories below. Teachers may want to discuss evaluation criteria with students in a whole class mini-lesson. The type of criteria that students may want to consider are:

a. Can I read and understand this resource?

b. Do the graphics (pictures, illustrations, print characteristics) grab my attention and make me want to explore the site more?

c. Does this site have the type of information I thought it would?

d. Does this resource have the kind of information that I am looking for?

e. Is this resource something that will help me learn more about a topic or subject?

f. Does this resource teach me something new or help me practice something I already know?

g. Can I create a product (some type of work) on this site that I can share with others?

h. What type of site is this?

i. a game site,

ii. one with a lot of facts,

iii. one that teaches me a new skill,

iv. a site that lets me create something on it

As an extension, the students can take turns presenting their critiques to the rest of the class.

|Resource |Description |What’s Good About |What’s Not Good About |How It Connects to My |New Thinking or Ideas |

|Name | |It |It |Learning in School |it Gave Me |

| | | | | | |

| | | | | | |

4. After students have had the opportunity to explore many of the sites in their Enrichment Activities, have them go back and answer the Open-Ended Questions. Based on the student’s responses to the Open-Ended Questions, the student and teacher can discuss an area of interest that the student will pursue in more depth during the next time he/she uses Renzulli Learning. The student would then look for resources related to that interest and begin filling out a Wizard Project Maker™ form. The form is meant to be completed over time as the student learns more about the select topic and develops the project/product. This project does not have to be large in scale. Teachers may want to require students to produce a smaller piece of work the first time they pursue an idea. This can be done without completing the Wizard Project Maker™ form.

5. Have students do a Self-Assessment for the site they spent the most time on or the one that was the most useful during a particular session. Students can print the Self-Assessment and hand it in so that the teacher can review their work. The self-reflective nature of the Self-Assessments is designed to promote student thinking about their learning and possibly generate an idea for an independent project. The teacher can give the student feedback about their work, and provide direction for using Renzulli Learning during the next session.

6. Students can keep a hand-written log of the sites or resources they have visited or explored during a session and include a brief description of the site. After keeping track of these sites for a few days, the students should be able to select two or three that they would like to explore in more depth.

|Resource Name |Description |

| | |

| | |

7. The teacher can require each student to identify one area of interest, along with 2-3 sites that will give him/her information about that interest. Then students will create some type of product that demonstrates their learning. The idea here is not to create a big independent project, but to do something smaller in scale. It could be a written report with information from the site, a visual display of new information learned, printouts from a site that help the student create written work, demonstration of a critical thinking game a student learned, or a completed creativity training activity, etc..

8. The teacher can require each student to select one site to work on for an extended period of time during a session. The student would give the teacher a rationale for their use of the site (e.g. I want to learn more about horses and this site has a lot of information about horses; I want to get better at math so that I can learn about baseball stats; I found a site that teaches you how to think more creatively and it is helping me come up with new ideas).

9. The teacher can identify a site (or a few sites) for students to visit and define an activity to scaffold instruction on how students should be using the sites to enhance their learning. An example could be as follows:

a. Students are going to learn about mammals. In order to create a booklet that has different types of mammals, including pictures of the adult and baby of the species, description of their habitat, the food they eat and other facts, students will be required to locate and go to the sites listed below. The students could then be required to find one other resource within the Renzulli Learning Differentiation Database that has information about mammals, and use information from that site as well.

i. “How Scientific!” Becoming a Mammal Expert

ii. Mammals in the Woods

iii. About Marine Mammals

10. The teacher can define a task, like a game, to help direct student learning during a session. Suggestions include:

a. Find a web site that will help you in one of your subject areas in school (reading, writing, math, science, social studies). Locate five facts that you think will be new information for your teacher or classmates. Write those facts on a paper to share at the end of class.

b. Find a resource that you think would be the best one for your teacher to use with the whole class in a subject area (reading, writing, math, science, social studies). It has to connect with something you are doing in that class right now.

c. Go to the Search Enrichment Activities and type in the word “hot”. Search through the resources to locate the one that I wanted everyone to find. Here are some clues:

i. Hold on tight or you might loose this in the clouds!

ii. Some assembly required.

iii. You could make this at home!

iv. Six easy steps.

v. It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s …

(Note: the site is called “Make a Hot Air Balloon From Tissue Paper”)

d. Pretend that you are the teacher. Find one site that you think every student in your class should know about. Be prepared to tell why you think the students should know about it and what they will learn from it.

11. Have students create a visual representation of at least two favorite resources in each of the 14 enrichment categories. This could be in the form of a table or a 14-page booklet that lists the resource name, a picture from it, and a list of the things the student found to be interesting, valuable, thought provoking, etc.

The Open-Ended Questions and the Self-Assessment Questions

Open-Ended Questions

1. Rather than provide money for a class trip for all students, imagine that your school has the funds to pay for an individual trip for each student! Where would you go? List three (3) places you would visit and explain what you would do while visiting there. Why?

2. Imagine that you have written your first book and you are ready to submit it for publication. What is the title of your book and what is your book about?

3. Pretend that you are a photographer and you have one picture left to take on your roll of film or on your card. What will you take? Why?

4. Pretend that the kids in your community have been asked to prepare individual time capsules for future generations. You are allowed to include 10 personal possessions that are representative of you to include in your very own time capsule. What personal possessions would you include?

5. Imagine that you can be transported back in time to live in another time. To which time would you be transported? What persons would you want to meet while you were there?

6. If you could conduct an interview with a man you admire, past or present, who would you choose? What three (3) questions would you ask him?

7. If you could conduct an interview with a woman you admire, past or present, who would you choose? What three (3) questions would you ask her?

8. If you could be an exchange student in any other country for half a school year, what country would you like to visit as a student? Why?

9. Imagine a mentorship program was being arranged to allow you to work with a person in the community involved in a profession/occupation in which you are interested. List three (3) occupations you would like to explore in a mentorship.

10. List the titles/authors of your three (3) favorite books. What kind of book is your favorite (science fiction, poetry, nonfiction, etc.) and why?

11. Do you collect anything? Briefly describe your collection(s). What would you like to collect if you had the time and money?

Self-Assessment Questions for Each Enrichment Category

Student Virtual Field Trip Self Assessment

1. What makes a good virtual field trip for kids your age? Are some easier to navigate than others? Are some clearer than others?

2. What are some of the virtual field trips you visited today?

3. What was the most interesting?

4. What excited you most about this virtual field trip?

5. What are two things that you learned today while visiting this site that you did not know before?

6. Was there an activity that you completed on this tour? Did you visit another site or take another virtual tour while at this site?

7. Did this site give you an idea for a project you might want to do in connection with a class you are taking in school or about an independent study that you might want to pursue?

Student Field Trip Self Assessment

1. What would be a good field trip for kids your age? Are some easier to navigate than others? Are some clearer than others?

2. What are some of the field trips you would most like to take?

3. What was the most interesting place for you to visit?

4. Is there a virtual field trip you can take before you actually visit this site?

5. Does this site give you an idea for a project you might want to do in connection with a class you are taking in school or about an independent study that you might want to pursue?

Student Creativity Self Assessment

1. What creativity training activities did you complete?

2. What type of creative thinking did you do in the activity?

(for example, was it a fluency activity, asking you to come up with MANY ideas? Was it something that encouraged you to be more original, that is come up with unique ideas or solutions?)

3. What did you learn from the creative activity?

4. What did you enjoy most about doing this activity?

5. Would you want to try another activity

Student Critical Thinking Self Assessment

1. What critical training activities did you work on today?

(For example, did you work on analogies? dilemmas? probability? patterning?)

2. What kind of critical thinking did you complete in the activity?

(For example, was it a synthesis activity, asking you to summarize important ideas? Was it something that encouraged you to be use your skills at comparing and contrasting differing points of view? Did you have to analyze the best web site on particular topic?)

3. What did you learn from this critical thinking activity?

4. What did you enjoy most about doing this activity?

5. Would you want to try another activity like this or would you want to try a different type of critical training activity?

Student Evaluation of Independent Project

1. What did you enjoy about working on your project?

2. What did you learn as you were completing your project?

3. Were you satisfied with the final product? In what ways?

4. What could you have done to improve your final project?

5. How were you helped with your project? What resources helped you the most?

6. Do you think you might like to do another project in the future? Do you have any ideas about the content area of your next project?

Student Self-Assessment about Contests and Competitions

1. Did you read about a contest or a competition that you might want to enter or learn more about?

2. Which of these contests excited you the most?

3. What do you think that competing in one of these contests might teach you about yourself?

4. What steps do you have to complete to be able to enter the contest you have selected? What would you have to do first?

5. If you could design the perfect contest or competition for yourself, what might it involve? What would the task be that you would have to complete?

Student Web Site Self-Assessment

1. What makes a great web site for kid your age?

2. What are some of the web sites you visited today?

3. What was your favorite?

4. What excited you most about this web site?

5. What are two things that you learned today while visiting this site that you did not know before?

6. Was there an activity that you completed at the web site? Did you visit another site or take a virtual tour while at this site?

7. Did this site make you more interested in a topic or project that you might want to pursue?

Student Self-Assessment of Fiction Books

1. What types of fiction books did you see on your personal list of Enrichment Activities? Were they historical fiction or other types of fiction, such as science fiction?

2. When do you like to read? Do you read every day? Does reading make you happy?

3. What other types of fiction books might interest you?

4. What book title interested you the most?

5. Which fiction book would you want to read first? Why or why not?

Student Self-Assessment of Non-Fiction Books

1. What types of non-fiction books did you see on your personal list of Enrichment Activities? Were they biographies, autobiographies, historical, or scientific?

2. What other types of non-fiction books might interest you?

3. What book title interested you the most?

4. Which non-fiction book would you want to read first? Why or why not?

Student Self-check on “How-to” books

1. What how-to books did you read about today?

2. Did you get any ideas about projects you want to complete or activities you want to try after reading some of the descriptions of these how-to books?

3. Which skill that was described in a how-to book is one you would want to master?

4. If you could check out any of the how-to books from the library, which one would you choose first?

Summer Program questions for parents to assess whether this summer program is right for a student.

1. What is the program's philosophy?

2. What is the director's and teaching staff background and experience?

3. How long has the program been in operation? * What are the procedures for medical routines and emergencies? For specific information, ask about the last medical emergency and how it was handled.

4. What is the student to teacher and student-to-counselor ratio?

5. How are counselors selected? Are counselors hired for specific talents or expertise in an activity?

6. Where are the students and counselors from?

7. Ask for the names of students and counselors that you may contact. A former student can provide a kid's perspective on the program.

Student On-line Activities Self Assessment

1. What is a good on-line activity for kids your age? Are some activities easier to use than others?

2. What are some of the activities that you tried today?

3. Which were the most interesting?

4. What excited you most about this activity?

5. What are two things that you learned while doing the activities that you did not know before?

6. Did this site give you an idea for a project you might want to do in connection with a class you are taking in school or about an independent study that you might want to pursue?

Student Self-Assessment on Research

1. What questions do you have for research you may want to conduct? What questions about things in which you are interested?

2. Did you get any ideas about research projects you want to complete or activities you want to try after reading some of the descriptions of research that you can do?

3. Which research skills were described in one or more of the research sites that you visited?

4. If you could find a how-to book described in Renzulli Learning to help you do some research, which one would you choose?

Student Self-Check on videos and DVD’s.

1. What videos and/or DVD’s did you read about today?

2. Did you get any ideas about projects you want to complete or activities you want to try after reading some of the descriptions of these videos and DVD’s?

3. What new idea did you get from watching one of these?

4. If you could check out any of the videos or DVD’s from the library, which one would you choose first?

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