Group Contracts...Where Have You Been All My Life?

After our visit at J.L. Mann, I knew I wanted to try group contracts.  My social second graders thrive with group activities and collaboration, but often struggle with staying on task.  Before allowing students to pick their project groups, I presented the contract to the class, and we discussed the importance and components.  I was amazed at how students would NOT pick to work with their friends because they knew they would not be able to follow the rules.  One student said, “I can’t work with her because I just can’t control my talking when I am around her.” And another student said, “If I work with him he will want to do all the work and I want to have my input.”  My students GOT IT!  They understood the importance of working together and taking the contract seriously!  Fast forward to today—the day contracts were presented and rules had to be made.  Each group worked hard to generate rules that were important to them, and would help them be successful.  This one piece of paper allowed my students ownership and control, not just in how to present their information, but also in how they would work together!  I am so glad I decided to try these out and they will definitely be a part of my future project.          

Jonathan Terry Blog 1 - Grading Improvements This Time Around...

I started my second PBL this week.  When I started planning this unit back in December, one of my main goals was to improve how I grade students individually.  With my first PBL, I did not do a good job assessing the students individually.  Sure, I infused some formative assessments along the way, but I never took the time to assess each student's true understanding of the material.  I assumed that they must understand the content in order to complete the final group product.  When I gave my unit test, which included questions from our PBL, I was shocked at how many students missed those questions.

With this PBL, I wanted each student to show mastery of the content separate from the final group product.  I started out my PBL by discussing the "need-to-knows" with my students.  They will spend the first week working through assignments (some individual and some collaborative) to help them gather information on these "need-to-knows".  I also took care to make sure that my typical quizzes and tests are an integral part of the unit.  I want to make sure that each student shows mastery of the circulatory system before moving on the more exciting aspects of the project - building a mechanism to unblock an artery.

I hope this method will keep students more engaged, more accountable, and show more growth at the unit's conclusion.

Autonomy

Autonomy:

As I am finishing up Unit 2 I am looking forward to my PBL unit on Zombies.  I have hinted at this unit over the last couple of weeks and I think my students are more excited than I am.  However, at this point, these students have 0 autonomy.  For example, today during the density lab if I was at the table the students were diligently working and completing the assignment.  Then, once I left the work pace slowed down drastically.  The same holds true for classwork and is very evident to the lack of completion of the homework.  The PBL will be difficult for the students to complete if their autonomy level stays the same.  I will need to find and implement strategies that increase the autonomy level.  Some of the students do not necessarily care about the low grades they receive for not completing work but maybe I can increase that with this interesting and relevant topic on Zombies.