The last time I felt this overwhelmed was my first year doing National Certification (it took 2). That year, National Certifications was the only thing that I did. I made the mistake this year of doing way too many things...some my own doing and some imposed on me. Imposed on me was all the times that I was sick this year. Never have I been sick so long and so often. Here near to the close, I feel that I have--in a similar way--accomplished something important. I am trying, nevertheless, to avoid as much as possible doing anything new next that I don't have to do. My effort will be to consolidate and polish my PBL lessons and maybe insert more elements in other units.
As has been the case so many times in my life, I trust that I will not realize all that I have learned and learned to do until next year and the year after. When I am in the midst of learning something new and trying to apply it, that is my focus and I have difficulty recognizing from whence I came.
From the beginning of this class, I recognized early on that this PBL method had a lot of similarities to things that I had done in the past. I could see the benefits and many of my students saw the benefits particularly after they found that they were more successful in college than were many of their peers. But the negative response and lack of support by administration was very disheartening and I fell back to the safe position of --for the most part-- traditional teaching. What is shocking is how this still impacts my implementation of PBL. I am constantly second guessing myself and holding back as I--often subconsciously--avoid the negatives that I experienced.
I have grown far to slowly in my embrace of this process. I struggled to see where I have grown. I am focused on where I am going and find a mental block in looking back.
I have built skills and refined my application of the methods and techniques. I know a great deal about how to have students use a Consensus Protocol to compare and value the ideas of all group members. I know a great deal about how to encourage effective peer feedback. These are not small things. Let me break these down to explain.
When students get together to begin a group project, they have learned to seek the easiest way out. They follow the lead of whatever student in the group sounds as though they know what they are doing, that is know for having high grades, or has the strongest personality. Valuable input by students with insightful ideas are overlooked and devalued. The consensus protocol requires that all students, at minimum, read and consider all suggestions, recommendation, or ideas. Each time I observe the process being used, I learn more about getting students to value all ideas
When students have given peer feedback in the past (prior to used PBL protocols), I have noted that students give "attaboys" rather than giving any feedback that might hurt the feelings of their peers. As a result, the peer feedback did not serve to improve the product produced by students. I developed a method of providing feedback that uses some of the recommended PBL techniques and my own method of using technology to have students give feedback that is anonymous to their peers but not anonymous to me. This technique also allows me to grade feedback for effectiveness.
Here is how all this impacts me and my instruction. As a result of this PBL learning experience, I am a more effective deliverer and I expect and plan to be even more so. And my PBL learning experience continues.
Ray, as always your reflections are thoughtful and sincere. This blog post is really two in one. You reflected on both your students growth with soft skills, specifically collaboration and their experiences with critique and revision, but also you reflected holistically on your own experiences and growth with project based learning. Throughout our cohort I have appreciated how you have embraced the tenets of pbl and have assimilated them into prior beliefs and experiences that connected with this approach. You shared how your fall unit was received with some skepticism by your building and while I hate that, I do appreciate your continued work towards improving your practice and trying out different methodologies within pbl. I really feel like once we visited J.L. Mann and you were able to see several high school teachers implementing this approach you gained some momentum as well as some practical strategies such as the Group Contracts, the Need to Knows, the Growth Mindset visuals, etc. that helped enhance your application and also provide support for your practice. I am glad we had this opportunity to learn together and I welcome future opportunities to support your pbl work with students.
ReplyDeleteSincerely,
Dawn