Your participation during Friday’s seminar contributed to a vibrant learning environment, one I hope will inspire you to take your own students out of your traditional classroom setting. As stated by Gregory Smith in Place-Based Education: Learning to Be Where We Are,
“teachers in such settings act as experienced guides, co-learners, and brokers of community resources and learning possibilities. Their expertise lies not so much in their stored knowledge – although this is important – as in their capacity to help students acquire the skills and dispositions of effective learners. (2002, p. 593).
To me this quote exemplifies how faculty can and should challenge their own teaching practices and venture outside of the classroom with students and seek to develop their student’s knowledge and desire to learn. To complete our place-based learning activity, reflection is most beneficial, and some, including me, argue necessary. To practice reflection, I ask that you provide two forms of reflection for Friday’s activity. First, one person from each group should post your stakeholder’s position on the proposed waterfront greenway along Second Avenue near Industry City, connecting Red Hook to Sunset Park and second, post your own personal reflection.
For the group reflection, log into the OpenLab and create a new post on our OpenLab site, choose the category “Industry City 2018” and provide the information that was asked during the activity (see below).
The name of the people in your group.
Your stakeholder.
Who benefits, who loses, what is won, what is lost, what is the cost?
State your stakeholder’s position.
For your own personal reflection, review Edutopia’s 40 Reflection Questions for the Classroom and choose two reflective questions. Log into the OpenLab and create a new post on our OpenLab site. Write the question you chose and then write your response. It would also be a beneficial practice to respond to another person’s post.
For more information about PBL in general or about the specific requirement to leave the classroom with City Tech students, take a look through the PBL page on the our OpenLab Site as well as the PBL page on the Faculty Commons Site.
I look forward to reading your reflections.