The creativity and passion that I have witnessed all of you putting into your PBL units has set the bar for what I think a PBL should look like. And that bar is HIGH!!!
We have learned the 'basics' of a PBL and as I research projects I see those basic elements BUT I rarely see the creativity or feel the passion I see and feel in the projects that come from this cohort. Someone put each of your names on the list for this class and those folks really nailed it. I am encouraged that our children are able to experience each of you in the classroom. My dream school is a school where every teacher has the commitment, creativity, and courage to teach at full speed like each of you have demonstrated.
We have learned the 'basics' of a PBL and as I research projects I see those basic elements BUT I rarely see the creativity or feel the passion I see and feel in the projects that come from this cohort. Someone put each of your names on the list for this class and those folks really nailed it. I am encouraged that our children are able to experience each of you in the classroom. My dream school is a school where every teacher has the commitment, creativity, and courage to teach at full speed like each of you have demonstrated.
Thanks for all you have taught me - I am inspired and honored to have learned from some of District Six's BEST!
I love this blog! Wow, as educators I don't think we take the time often enough to sing each other's praises. All too often we hear what we could do better or feel competition within our schools. A spontaneous and genuine compliment is a breath of fresh air!
ReplyDeleteI'm going to need an offering plate to pass around! Amen! Thank you for this, friend. I agree wholeheartedly with you and Shanna. And, I'm so glad I have all of you as support - a true safety net. This semester has been harder for me than the fall semester and things have not gone as swimmingly as I had dreamed they would after teaching one semester in a PBL fashion. But, all of you are so good at your job and such wonderful people and friends! I know all I need to do after I've bitten off more than I can chew (like I so often do) is come to our blog or to our class to be refreshed. Y'all really help me reflect and revise without thinking my PBL boat is sinking like the Titanic. Many thanks and much love to you and our whole class!
ReplyDeleteMarie,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your words of encouragement to our cohort. It is validating and appreciated. Shanna is right, many times we do not take time to reflect on what is working or to pause and consider what we are doing well based on what we've learned. We are do-ers and servers and so we typically focus on what isn't working so we can fix and we focus on which students aren't getting it so we can support. Thank you for reminding all of us that it is beneficial that we take time to count what we have learned and to see what we are doing that is working. You continue to be a breath of fresh air and I appreciate that we in this togehter! Karen is right - we are each other's safety net. Sincerely, Dawn
I couldn't have said it better than all of you! We celebrate each others success and help pick each other up after that not so good lesson. I learned so much from watching and listening to all of you and thankful for this experience.
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting this! I really love our PBL cohort. I like that it includes people who teach at all different grade levels. Seeing the creativity and the effort that each and every one of you puts into your PBLs inspires me to do better and not to "settle". Even when things don't go exactly as planned, we have a support system that can help us talk through it and offer suggestions for how to fix it or make it better for next time. I truly hope that we can all keep in touch after this class is over, and continue to support and help one another.
ReplyDeleteI definitely think there needs to be come kind of follow up to the cohort. This is an endeavor that benefits greatly from bouncing ideas, and also having some peer review in order to refine your projects/implementation.
ReplyDeleteThat's probably my biggest gripe with education in general (and I know this is by no means the first time it's happened). Teachers need reinforcement and refinement just like students, but all too often in the education world we get excited about something, dump a lot of resources into it, then slowly ignore it until it dies. I can think of at least half a dozen large initiatives in the past few years that have happened this one, and another large one looming on the horizon that I'm sure will play out exactly the same way.
So yeah, we need a PBL support group or something; that would be awesome.