Blog Post #4 (Barwick)

I recently met with Dawn to discuss an idea for a new PBL unit for next year.  I actually wrote most of it for this spring but realized I would probably not be able to implement it because I have a full time student teacher right now and also wanted more time to flesh ideas out.  So, next year, I will be implementing a wax museum of historical figures as an end of the year project.  Dawn helped me decide on how to give the students as much choice as possible while still making it align with the standards.  At first, I wanted to let students choose any person they wanted (past or present) and represent them through  a wax museum, but in order to keep it standards-based, we decided it might be better to have students choose a figure from any decade we have studied in fifth grade (1860s through present), but the figure must have been influential in some way.  My plan is to integrate this social studies review with ELA, especially informational writing, poetry, and point of view.  Students will write a biography on their chosen person, write a poem written from the point of view of that person, and create an informational board that includes these written pieces along with pictures, a timeline, and anything else they want to share.  They will dress as their chosen person, and when a person pushes their "button" at their station, they will recite a short speech they have memorized that gives some details about their life.  Dawn also introduced emaze to me as a way to present information, so students could conduct their own mini genius hour in order to figure out how to use emaze as a way to present pictures, information, etc. Their laptop could be set up at their station for the audience to view as they walk around.  We also discussed collaborating with the art teacher to create a representation of their person using a medium they are studying in art.  I'm very excited about this unit, and I'm glad that it is already mostly planned so that there will be less stress when it's time to implement next year!

I also wanted to briefly talk about soft skills with my students because my next blog post will be on our peer presentation.  I think in some ways my PBL units helped with collaboration, creativity, communication, and technology skills.  I also have many collaborative activities in my classroom, so I think being in small groups constantly and working on things like book groups, Lego activities, etc. with other people in combination with the PBL units have increased these skills overall.  That being said, sometimes my students still struggle with effectively communicating in positive ways with each other.  There is always room for growth in these areas, and we conduct bullying meetings and morning meetings to try and work through some of these issues.  Creatively, I think students have grown tremendously.  They took more ownership of their work during the PBL units and most of them really pulled through and impressed me with their products.  For example, one of my students who generally doesn't care about school at all took his time outside of school to create a cool video showcasing animals that are extinct.  My kids that led the Peace Club group created a cool PowerPoint to share and they included pictures from their club and an imbedded video from Kid President.  As difficult as teaching through PBL can be, I can definitely see the benefits that go beyond learning the standards.  They are learning and practicing skills that will last into adulthood.