Sarah Garner; Blog Post 4

My final PBL for this course went very well. The project was called "How did you break that window?" The students were given the task of throwing a ball and video the path the ball took. They had to collect certain data.

• the height of the person throwing the ball
• the height of the person catching the ball (these students were the windows)
• the time it took for the ball to reach the person

Using this information, the students plugged in their data into the vertical motion model y=-16t^2+vt+h to solve for their initial velocity. Once the students found their initial velocity, the students used their information to create the function for the path of the ball. The students graphed their function into Desmos and graphed the path of their ball. This gave the students the ability to apply what they did in real life and see it as a mathematical model. Let's just say, it blew their minds. The students were able to see that the x axis represented their time, and that the time it took for the ball to reach the person was the same as on their graph. The students then wrote a letter to their grandma apologizing for breaking her window, explaining what happened, and the math behind it. This incorporated English into the project. The students became very creative with the explanation to how they broke the window. It was a lot of fun listening to the students read their letter because they all wanted to make theirs the funniest. The last component of the project was each group was to find two examples of quadratics in real life. They had to explain what the object or example was and how it represented a quadratic. I did learn that you could not take the videos in slow motion, but their time would be off and give the students a huge initial velocity. They thought they were the hulk. I will definitely do this project again. I feel that the students saw the connections between the real world and quadratics, and that was a hope.

Class #3- Blog Post #2 Work Contracts- Mandy Irick

Work Contracts

The first time that I had heard about work contracts was when Dawn Mitchell presented to us about them during both my PBL class and D6 Day. The concept of it seemed so simplistic and completely viable for both the teacher and the students when completing a PBL or learning in general. The first thing that I had to do was break down the concept and begin to build it in a way that was manageable for me. As always, I have to do the research part. Since Google is an integral part of my daily existence, I went searched for examples, research and why this was best practice. The more I learned about it, the more I felt that this was something that I could not only utilize with my students but sharing it with other teachers as well. The buzz words  in education are differentiation, scaffolding and personalized learning so this definitely would match all of these. I truly wanted my students to understand the big picture of the process of the PBL that they were undertaking. The work contract was a way to map out the course of the learning making the process extremely visual for them. For me, it helped to bring out the structure within the project. Accountability was placed on both myself and the students with this work contract. For my part, it allowed me to make sure that the process I was asking my students to go through with the tasks really helped to engage, promote collaboration, critical thinking and necessary to show mastery. I did not want to put something on their contracts that did not benefit the big picture or was just a way to get a grade. The tasks all connected to the big idea and reinforced their learning which in turn I hoped would promote mastery eventually. The contract enabled me to see how much flexible learning and student choice I provided with the options along with how much of the expectations were content heavy versus 21st learning skills. With the students, the goal was agency for themselves. They are able to guide their learning experience and make choices that they were proud of and reflected their needs and wants. The path of understanding the concept was given to them but they had to navigate it on their own choosing how and when they wanted to work on something. The students now have to be more effective in time management, collaboration and must importantly making decisions. Now with all of this, it does not mean we allow the students to fend for themselves. With anything, I had to provide direct instruction, small group instruction, tons of modeling and time for conversations. The contract was never just something that my students sat silently completing it like a checklist.

I was fortunate to try out my newest contract in a financial literacy classroom of 8th graders. The contract formed already had a driving question on it which was "How can high school students transition into successful freshman at college." From there, the contract was broken up into multiple parts based on the mini-lesson for the day. The first part was understanding their thoughts about what are the essentials for every new college freshman to have. So from the essentials it became about obtaining data, writing- formal emails, interviewing- how to interview and end product of how to answer the question. The data came from student google created surveys sent to actual Dorman High School students, emails and interviews from professors/students and research conducted on line. All of this data collected helped to inform students on the driving question. The next section was focused on writing formal emails. Students would receive mini-lessons and practice how to structure emails to send out to these colleges. After that, was interviewing. Students would learn about how to create interview questions and proper techniques. This would help with professors coming to speak to them and college students. The last section was tying it all together to create something that would answer the question and prepare to share their findings with students at Dorman. Although the contract is detailed, it did not take the place of regular classroom instruction. Students had structured mini-lessons where they learned the skills that would help them be successful with their PBL or task. Collaboration, discussing and sharing were a big part of this as well allowing students to talk out their thoughts and ideas while getting feedback. The contract just enhances the process but I never let it take the central focus of everything in the classroom. I still made sure direct instruction occurred and small groups.

Makisha Fowler-MIller Blog 3 Contracts

Contracts- 

Mrs. Mitchell introduced contracts to my class during our co-teach lesson. My students were very receptive of the contracts and most of them were reasonable about the rules in groups and how each member should be treated. I had to pause my PBL lesson to teach circles with the rest of my team but when it was time to resume our projects I had to pull the group contracts out to remind my students of the agreements that were made. I had one group that was ready to put a student out because he was making things more difficult than they had to be according to his group. I nicely reminded them about the contracts and had them read over what they agreed on again. The group quickly regrouped but not before they laid down some ground rules for my student who wanted to sell rat meat. Ugh, yes you read it correctly RAT MEAT! Now you know why they wanted to kick him out of the group. Thank God for contracts because my students were able to handle the situation well and quickly went back to work.

Clark H. Maxwell Course 3 Post 2

Observation Reflection

    My observation took place March 13th during my 2nd period PE class.  We were doing a consensus protocol so I could find out what my students may have already known about our projects' subject matter.  The day before they chose their health condition that they were going to research.  On this day we divided into our groups and they spread out along the 10 foot lines of the volley ball court.  Last semester we did this and the groups were spread out all over the gym.  This worked much better because they were closer to me, but far enough away from other groups to not get distracted.  They had a large piece of paper with markers.  Every student had their own side of the paper to write on, and in the center they had a circle they would use later.  We went through a variety of questions about their chosen condition.  What is it?  What causes it?  What problems can their condition lead to?  The last thing we did was to combine any similarities they had in the center of the paper.  For each question they were given a time limit to write down as much as they could.  I used time limits because that is what they are use to in PE.  It also kept things moving smoothly.

     The consensus protocol went very well.  They were very receptive, with minimal redirecting.  I was surprised with how much information some of them gave.  Makes me wonder if some of their family or friends may have exactly what they chose.  This was the case with the diabetes group.  Overall, this went much better than last semester.  For one, it was with seventh grade and not sixth.  Two, the space was more controlled and not so spread out.  And three, this was not the first attempt at trying this.  I think that doing this last semester really helped with how things went this time around.

PBL Course 03 - Blog 04 - Smith, Robert

Reasons to Use Contracts in a PBL Classroom

I haven’t had a lot of questions about PBLs or Learning Contracts from other teachers. So, for the purposes of this blog, I brainstormed a couple of my own: a) when working in groups, how do you keep one student from taking over and b) how do you make sure students aren’t just doing nothing. These are completely legitimate questions that I have to answer before I design, or adapt, in some cases, a lesson. My answer is the template I created.

“Yeah, a template!” says the imaginary person to whom I am conversing.

“Hang on, there, Bob.” I’m going to go ahead and call my imaginary conversation partner Bob. “Hold up, Bob. Just because I’m using a template doesn’t mean that it’s one-size-fits-all.”

Bob looks at me incredulously and says, “But it looks good. I think I’ll just use it for everything anyway. Thanks!”

Bob, if it was only that easy! There aren’t any real one-size-fits-all templates. Or worksheets. Or lesson plans. Or toothpaste. Or shoelaces. Seriously. Those shoelaces come in different lengths. You really need to read the little numbers on the packages before you buy a whole lot of them. They aren’t really expensive, but who needs like seven packs of 24-inch shoelaces lying around the house?

Anyway, I digress. If using one sheet, form, etc. for everything, solved all of education’s problems, then I’m sure a famous scientist (looking at you, Robert J. Marzano) would have copyrighted it by now. But, group contracts, even those pre-fab ones you can just Google and print, are essential to the PBL environment. They set learner expectations and help to manage the students, or little people, who are learning how to be adults, or big people, in the world. Also, just like everything else in PBL, it’s about learning by doing. Or, learning through failure. Or, learning when you never imagined a situation arise in your planning and you have to adapt on the fly. It’s all about having three kids and no money when all you want is three money and no kids. (Thanks, Homer!) Seriously, though, it is really all about being student-centered, being responsive to your own little classroom community. Therefore, it is really rare when one-size ever fits-all.

Oh, look. Bob’s back. He’s sad. He tried to use a template and ended up catching his room on fire. I do not have any idea how that happened, I just know that I smelled fire and saw him with an extinguisher.

“Hey Bob. Why so glum?”

“Those templates you told me to use didn’t work.”

“I told you to use…what? Look, never mind. Here sit down, grab a bag of marshmallows, and listen up. Let’s look at the why we should use contracts. And, maybe a couple of ways to actually get them to work.”

Why Contracts?

1.       It’s real life. Real life. Contracts are a part of our daily world. Better get used to it.

2.       Using contracts helps students to learn and to understand those behaviors which advance a group. Also, they learn those behaviors that may hold it back.

3.       Contracts let students learn to become in charge of their own environment and set realistic expectations for themselves.

4.       Students get a taste of what contracts mean and what it means if you sign one that you don’t agree with, and what it means if you break a contract!

5.       Finally, they learn how to compromise for the sake of the group and the work.

“So, there you have it, Bob. Those reasons why we need contracts and why we need different contracts for different folks.”

Bob looks at me sullenly.

“You still don’t get it do you, pal?”

Bob nods, left-to-right.

“It’s okay, Bob. You probably need to go get that arm looked at. It’s still smouldering.”

PBL Course 03 - Blog 03 - Smith, Robert

Data/Evidence Analysis and Reflective Practice  (25 points)
5 points:  What revisions did you make to your PBL plan during implementation? Provide rationale.	When developing my PBL, I took care to incorporate all major PBL concepts discussed in class. My entry event was neat. We watched an episode of Kitchen Confidential. This piqued the learners’ interests in what was to come. At the beginning of the project, the idea of roadkill was gross to a lot of the class. To alleviate their fears, and to make searching for menu items easier, I changed the parameters to any animal that people can get a license to hunt. That helped learners find many more menu items, and alleviated the SECURE internet browser message many got when Googling “roadkill images.” Throughout the project, students had a choice in their menu items, their menu item descriptions, and where they would purchase their groceries, all while keeping in mind their need to make a profit at the restaurant. After their projects were completed, students had an opportunity to share their findings with me acting as a liaison for the restaurant owners.
5 points: Which criteria element(s) do you feel are strong?	The entry event I used during the PBL absolutely created authentic inquiry. The television show set the stage for the tasks they were about to undergo. I also feel like forcing the learners to find recipes and up-convert them to feed 30 people reinforced and allowed the practice of the target task, fraction conversions, in a way many people who cook use daily.
5 points:  Which criteria element(s) do you want to target for growth?	I was not happy with the dead time I had in this unit. It looked so daunting, on paper. However, when we actually got started, learners worked through the tasks rather quickly.
5 points:  If you could re-teach this unit, what would you do differently?	I would drop the last part of the project before presentations: interest rates. Learners, even in AP Pre-Algebra, just are not ready for simple and / or compound interest rates.
5 points:  How will this impact your planning for your next cross disciplinary PBL unit?	Reflecting on what worked (i.e. the entry event and the fraction conversions) and what did not work in the project, (i.e. the term “roadkill” and the interest rate section), I feel that the mathematical concepts on which I originally centered my PBL were spot-on. However, I need to take more time to ensure that all learners actually understand their computations and are not following a formula to get an answer. In my last reflection, I stated that PBLs must be rigorous in order to push learners. I still believe that statement. As designed, my PBL met the criteria I had established for of the former and the social component helped to avoid the latter.

Sarah Kate Higgins Course #3 Blog #2

Coaching Reflection

Working within a Co teach classroom, I was nervous about branching out to incorporate PBL with such a large group within a space and class that is not completely mine. Previously I implemented PBL in my resource classroom with a small group that I had complete control over. Going into the initial coaching session I was worried that I was not prepared enough and that I would not have a complete say in what we do with PBL throughout this unit. Another concern was maintaining student interest and focus during the independent work times. Throughout my meeting with Dawn I felt more confident in the PBL project itself, and the supports I created with my Co teacher. We decided that within the co teach classroom the students needed additional time in order to complete the project as well as graphic organizers for the variety of tasks and group work. These graphic organizers allowed the students to have an organized way of designing their instructional videos while continuing to provide a lot of choice within the project itself. The math instructional videos needed to have some examples as well as students explaining the process. We created a two-column chart that divided up “what I say” and “what I do,” that way students could think through both portions of the project. Throughout the implementation of the PBL unit I saw students grow in their ability to work independently and build their stamina due to the guidance and accountability we incorporated during the initial planning session. I gained confidence throughout the coaching session and I felt much better about my project as a whole after the initial coaching session.

Emily Waddill Course 3 Blog 4

Update on my classroom management problems with fourth period. It’s been about a week and a half since I started implementing a group points system. At first, it took a bit for everyone to get used to the routine (myself included) and sometimes at the end of the class when we’re rushing to pack up I almost forget to write down how many points the group earned. This past week was the first for keeping track of the points all week long and getting rewarded on Friday. I think that some students lost motivation to earn points as the week went on because they weren’t getting a daily reward of candy for being the group with the most. So I may sporadically give candy to the group that earns the most or does a great job that day to keep them motivated. 
This week, my fourth period was actually one of my better classes. However, they have become very competitive with keeping track of the points and one group in particular is very aware of how many points the other groups have. I need to get better about jotting down the points on my promethean board during class and keeping track of how many points they have so that arguments don’t start to happen. A couple students in my first period just don’t seem to care about earning points no matter what the reward is, so I’m working on finding a solution to get those students motivated to behave. Overall though, I have noticed improvements in general with how students are behaving so fingers crossed that it continues!

Emily Waddill Course 3 Blog Post 3

From reading the blog on “Scaffolding Student Thinking in Projects” my eyes have been opened to this very important skill that we need to be addressing with our students. I guess I just never really thought that thinking skills needed to be scaffolded with our students. However, now I know that planning specific ways for students to share and grow in their thinking should be happening daily. Starting with clarifying the goal is a great way to focus in on what you want your students to be able to express. I want students to be able to explain the steps they take when solving problems, answer questions in complete sentences and describe their thinking process when analyzing how a problem should be solved to name a few. I went to the visible thinking website and browsed through the different thinking strategies. There are many simple routines and procedures to get students expressing their thinking in meaningful ways such as think-pair-share, 3-2-1, and question starts. I really like the idea of using question starts to engage students at the beginning of a lesson and making connections to prior knowledge about the topic. I have gotten some good strategies that I will use in the classroom to help foster students critical thinking skills.

Blog 5 Kimberly Trott  PBL Presentations and Reflections

My students just finished the PBL on Greece from last fall.  Next week we will begin to implement the spring semester class PBL.  Going through the Greece PBL again was so hard but helpful.  I learned just a little bit more on what it takes to make sure the PBL is effective. 

I spent more time on soft skills and discussion on team work.  I also gave the students more time in class to research the material.  Thirdly, I gave them less structure to see if they could handle more of the research.  Overall the projects turned out similar to 1st semesters but a bit more creative.  I'm not sure why but students took liberties this semester like adding extra images to the museum artifact and exhibit label project.  I'm not sure if this is good or bad but it was confusing to grade so next year I will have to set strict rules on the one image limit.  It's like they were looking at the rubric but thought it's OK to add all this extra stuff. 

The hardest thing for me to deal with is the lack of drive some students have and some groups have.  I always find disinterested students hard to deal with on many levels.  One it makes you feel like you failed and secondly, it's hard to find a way to motivate them. 

The second PBL gave me practice and now I can go in and finish up my spring PBL unit plan.  I think the biggest stress with PBL I feel is that I always feel in a rush.  They take so long to do and I feel guilty not getting to all of the units I normally do. 

On the bright side I did have a student on the verge of tears Thursday because she couldn't find the answer she was looking for online.  She told me she was typing in the research topic and couldn't find an answer to the question.  I told her it isn't that simple.  It then occurred to me that this is what a PBL question is supposed to do, frustrate students so that they can't just type in the research topic and get an answer that fully develops their project.  That they must have done adequate research to see the bigger picture. 

Kimberly Trott Blog 4

Reflection on Dawn's visit and co teaching. 
For class that day the focus was on developing a task to help students with self assessments. A Google document was created to help student evaluate group work.  The students with the help of Dawn created a rubric to self assess their work and another's group.  The students developed the rubric to determine what they thought was adequate representation of well conducted research.  So once the students evaluated the other groups projects, they worked on the last remaining five topic for about a week before creating their project.  I took up the research papers after they completed their projects and looked through them to see if they had improved on the quality of their research.  I felt like the students work fell into two categories, those that actually improved and those that actually wrote less I believe, because they got lazy as time went on in the project and chose to do less.

I actually found that the students have a harder time researching the material this time because I just gave them topics and no parameters. Last time I gave them "ideas" within the topic.  I believe that ninth graders need more structure.  I'm actually going to switch up the research process a third time when I do this PBL next year.  I'm going to give them only their specific projects to research and require a more detailed research component 

Kristi Winslow Blog Post 4 Course 3

Scaffolding Student Thinking in Projects

            As teachers, we need to be fostering our student’s skills, they will be required to possess in the future.  There are three ways in which we can scaffold to ensure our students thinking skills and knowledge are progressing to the next level. 

1.      Clarify the learning goal: It is important for our students and us as teachers to begin with the end in mind.  “What do we want them to accomplish?”  We must be clear in what it is we want them to learn and practice.

2.      Formatively assess and provide guided practice: We first need to identify our student’s current skill level.  This can be done through formative assessments; classroom discussions, writing opportunities, and teacher observation.  Through these assessments, students can learn from each other’s thinking and reasoning skills.  It allows the teacher to see within student thinking and promotes teacher action in where our students need support and guidance.

3.      Create space for thinking about thinking: The refers to the process used to plan, monitor, and assess one’s understanding.  Students will gain and sense of their strengths and weaknesses as learners, writers, readers, group members, and test-takers. 

            Through PBL, our students increase their capacity to think in complex ways.  They are able to take a challenging task and solve it using their advanced solving, reasoning, and thinking skills.

Taylor Thomas - Course 3: Blog Post 6

5 Strategies for Making Project Work Time More Productive https://www.bie.org/blog/5_strategies_for_making_project_work_time_more_productive

This blog is very helpful in how to facilitate students to being productive on project work days. Through PBL students are responsible for their learning although they may collaborate with others. This prepares students for real world experiences. The steps provided take time modeling and teaching, but are well worth the results. Work contracts would fit seamlessly into the five steps Kristyn Kamps provids us as well as the five strategies James Fester suggests for fostering collaborative culture in a PBL classroom. This is a great resource to share with teachers at my school that are ready to implement PBL in their classroom.

Taylor Thomas - Course 3: Blog Post 5

5 Strategies for Fostering Collaborative Culture in a PBL Classroom - https://www.bie.org/blog/5_strategies_for_fostering_culture_in_a_pbl_classroom

This is a great blog, especially for teachers that are just beginning to implement PBL in their classrooms. James Fester’s possible approaches to creating a PBL culture are clear and simple. My biggest take-away from this article is from the last paragraph.

Creating a culture of independent learning, like the planting of a garden, is something that takes time and constant attention. Don’t expect to see results immediately. Don’t expect everything you try to work immediately the first time. But if you’re willing to put in the time and commit consistent effort, the rewards will be evident in time.

For PBL to be most effective, there needs to be a compete shift in school culture, not just classroom. Fester discusses methods that effective teachers use on a daily basis. Reading about them in a PBL way will help teachers understand they are not giving up control; they are guiding students to take control of their learning to prepare them to be independent thinkers in the real world. The PBL method to teaching is quite structured. It requires much planning and preparation, yielding meaningful results.

Taylor Thomas - Course 3: Blog Post 4

Scaffolding Student Thinking in Projects

Blog:  http://www.bie.org/blog/scaffolding_student_thinking_in_projects

I enjoyed reading Sarah Field’s blog post on PBL. She makes great points and suggestions for scaffolding student thinking for projects. I specifically like the way she states that PBL structure provides fertile soil for critical thinking, however it is up to us make sure our projects incorporate critical thinking as a goal. The steps she provides are beneficial in assuring you develop a meaningful, authentic and challenging learning experience through scaffolding student thinking. I like her suggestions of creating a space for thinking about thinking. This sounds like a good first step to get students actively thinking and engaged in how they are accountable for their learning. Field’s provides simple, yet purposeful ideas on creating critical thinkers. I think many teachers would benefit from reading this blog, especially those willing to delve in to PBL, but just aren’t quite sure how to begin the process with their students.

Julianna Lux Blog Post #4 JL Mann visit reflection

February 27--JL Mann PBL School in a School visit

I recently had the privilege of visiting another school implementing PBL in the classrooms; however, this visit provided a different look at PBL as the school has implemented the New Tech Innovative School Model, ultimately creating a school-within-a-school at J.L. Mann in Greenville, South Carolina. I am impressed at the level of agency, student voice, participation, and productivity at the school. I witnessed students (freshman, even!!!) creating group contracts using respectful discussion and collaboration. I saw evidence of other amazing projects previously completed, such as a renaissance fair put on by the students for the students. I learned about and observed co-teaching with other subject areas to bring more cohesiveness to the subject areas, primarily English in conjunction with history (blurbs from other subject areas later). I sat amazed at the self-awareness of freshmen students delivering their advisory presentations to Dr. Cindy Alsip, the director of New Tech Mann. And I remain amazed and encouraged by the passion these teachers have for PBL and the success of their students.

New Tech at Mann began in 2014 in an effort to provide students with “project-based learning, student-led culture, and one-on-one technology.” Students earn core credit classes, often in cross-disciplinary courses, which means science and math courses and history and English classes are paired. In order to take the courses, students must apply to the program, but according to Dr. Alsip, students have not been turned away yet. Students are assessed on their progress in five areas--knowledge and thinking, written communication/presentation, oral communication/presentation, collaboration, and agency. At some point in the second semester, students present their progress in those five areas to Dr. Alsip in an advisory presentation, preparing them to advocate for themselves as they apply to college and for jobs. The focus of this program is to reach those middle-of-the-road students who often fall through the cracks because they aren’t high fliers or struggling. Students access daily agendas via ECHO, which appears to be a New Tech learning management system, and now benefit from a facility built with PBL in mind--classrooms with numerous dry-erase surfaces, including windows, walls, and boards attached to desks; extra-large rooms for the cross-disciplinary courses; and common areas to encourage brainstorming and workshopping.

The most impressive aspect of this visit were the advisory presentations given by three freshmen students. Each student had prepared a PowerPoint exploring their journey this year, explaining where they had started and how far they had grown during their experiences with New Tech. My students rarely articulate to me what they have learned from week to week, but these students have been given instructions on how to and encouraged to reflect on their own learning in a way that they see that growth and their individual needs when it comes to continuing that growth. One freshman continually emphasized his ease of communication because of his extrovertedness has sometimes limited his success in group settings because he monopolizes the conversation, but he is working toward listening more than communicating. Another freshman demonstrated agency by exploring other means to learn what she needed (through a club called Toastmasters) to become a better speaker, and has transferred that knowledge to her classroom learning. A third freshman showed increasing confidence in public speaking, evident by Dr. Alsip’s response to his presentation to her. New Tech and PBL are working for these students, preparing them to be self-advocates for college and career.

A couple of the classrooms I visited were engaged in some form of group contract dialogue--establishing group norms in the English II class and writing the full contract in the English III class. The English II class was more vocal in the process, and I was amazed at the mature dialogue I overheard as I walked around the classroom, including one young man who noted a norm should read “‘listen’ to all ideas” instead of “‘accept’ all ideas” and students recognizing the important of group selection (one student commented he would have been the only student in a group had he been with his friends who were going on a JROTC field trip the next day). After discussing the norms and recording them on their contracts, the teacher led them to share their best norms with the class, and others needed to add what they liked. The very last group had an important norm all groups needed to add: when finished, students should check with the other group members to determine what else needed to be completed. I loved that the students were able to share out their great ideas and the teacher emphasized an extremely important responsibility of students during group work. He wrapped up the sharing with a statement I’m sure he’s reiterated constantly--Row the boat (#RtB)...if the student isn’t rowing, throw them overboard. Group contracts also include warnings and punishments; when students don’t behave according to the group’s established norms, students can receive two warnings before being kicked out of the group, which requires them to start the project over and complete the grade entirely on their own. I am very impressed with the New Tech model for group contracts as it encourages the students to become explicitly aware of their roles and responsibilities in the group and have a portion of control of the outcome when someone isn’t performing as expected.

I could easily go on and on about some of the exciting projects the students are completing and the amazing facilities of J.L. Mann, but I don’t want to detract from the excitement of the process and outcomes of the PBL innovative school model. These students are demonstrating growth in both maturity and knowledge as they complete the projects at J.L. Mann. One thing is clear, though, the abundant success of these students and projects comes from the consistency they experience by participating in New Tech at Mann.

Julianna Lux Blog Post #3 2nd Coaching Observation

March 12--(In)Visibility Project
A few weeks ago, Dawn visited my classroom to co-teach a collaboration mini-PBL and guide my students through the creation of a contract. We were still in the middle of our Learning from the Past PBL, which required little interaction with other students at the project level. They enjoyed sharing their findings with each other, but they didn’t need to work together to create a final product. I knew that was coming, and I wanted to prepare them for that with a few different activities. The Torn Paper Art challenge was what I’d hoped would be one of a few different group challenges during the next few weeks leading up to the (In)Visibility Project, but I discovered my students needed more time in class to complete the Learning from the Past booklets, and collaboration mini-lessons moved to the back burner.

Fast-forward to March 6th. Time to move on. We’ve spent almost every day in class working on the booklets, and I feel like we’re spinning our wheels going nowhere. I’m becoming frustrated. That’s a reflection for a different blog post; I digress. My students are tired of working by themselves and want to work with other students, which really is a good bit of PBL--working with other students to accomplish a common goal.


TEAM CONTRACTS

The (In)Visibility Project will give them the opportunity to collaborate with other students, research a majority-voted topic (student choice), and create technology-based product for for an authentic audience (their fellow classmates with an extension to the entire school community). We began discussing those aspects of the project from the very beginning, and for the most part, they seem to be joining me on the journey so far.

We revisited the team contract concept again this past Thursday. This time, the contract would be sticking with them much longer than 45 minutes, and they could quickly find themselves kicked out of a group for not following through with the expectations laid out by the group. I liked the original contract my students completed during the mini-PBL (page 3 of this lesson plan), I wanted something heftier and more in-depth that allowed my students to fully grasp the gravity of signing the contract and the expectations their groupmates and I had for them during this process. I really liked the New Tech contracts I saw at J.L. Mann, but I couldn’t find any examples of those online (probably copyrighted), so I sought other examples online and found a college project contract to tweak for my students.

We spent almost the entire class period Thursday working on the group contracts with varied success. We popcorned a few good answers now and then; I made some suggestions now and then to guide them towards some expectations that would hopefully lead to success. Mostly, they worked diligently and successfully to create a team contract they could agree upon. Were the contracts perfect? No, but it was their first time with such an in-depth contract and second time creating a contract at all. Did they seem to appreciate the contract process? For the most part, yes. Some of them balked at providing their contact information. Others had no clue how to contribute because they seemed to have limited group work experience. Could the process have gone better? Yes. We were continuously refocusing attention away from a student who really didn’t want to be there that day (long story that is hopefully turning into a happy ending), and we didn’t get to where I wanted us to be (story of this class, it seems like). Was it better than the first time? Yes! I noticed very few un-answered questions when I reviewed the contract, and I worked with that particular group to fix those issues before they signed the contract. They appear to grasp the importance of the contracts, and I expect the importance will continue to be realized as the roles they selected are utilized in coming tasks.

One decision every group made was to have no peer evaluation at the conclusion of the unit; all students would receive the same grade on the assignment, no matter what. I fully explained to them that this meant if one student didn’t pull his weight, all students would be penalized. Even after meeting with every group individually and discussing this, they all chose no peer evaluation. Perhaps it is because of my experience to always have so much of the project to do that I would never choose no peer evaluation. I’m hoping they don’t regret this.


PROJECT PROPOSALS--COACHING OBSERVATION

• Project Proposal Lesson Outline
• Project Proposal Student Document

Now that teams have signed their group contracts and selected their topics, they need to focus their research and determine initial research tasks. In order to accomplish this, as well as give the students the opportunity to begin practicing peer feedback. I have discovered I am somewhat unrealistic with the amount of time I expect a task to take. Our initial “Breaking Down the Topic” brainstorming, discussion, and sharing took almost 40 minutes, and the students needed to be re-instructed on multiple occasions to help them accomplish what I wanted them to do. Looking back, it’s possible these issues could stem from confusing instructions, distracted students (they are facing each other, as opposed to straight forward), or student apathy (which was the case for at least two of the students, especially by the end of the class period).

I hoped “Considering the Audience” would allow us to pick up the pace some, but they struggled with grasping how the issues of bullying, social media, school safety, and depression could impact groups differently.

By the end of the class period, the students, for the most part, completed their proposals. One group stopped working on it, but I believe that was because I was going too fast for them, and they became frustrated. We barely had time for the daily journals, though, and we definitely didn’t have time to present the proposals for feedback. I believe that will need to happen at the beginning of class tomorrow before we begin learning how to find the answers to our research questions.

One thing I really like about the students working in groups: Instead of monitoring the progress of 14 different students in this class, I am monitoring the progress of 4 different groups. At times, my students will be working on different tasks, but they will be able to ask their peers for assistance, and I will be able to work with those students who are really struggling. While the assistance isn’t necessarily one-on-one, it’s more focused than the whole-class instruction and less time-consuming than individual instruction. I found myself able to sit down and talk to all the students about their research questions multiple times, and I know that would not have been the case had the students been completing individual assignments. My hope is that they are gaining the same, if not more, knowledge about research from this group project. Only time will tell...hopefully I can gauge that timing correctly.

Kristi Winslow - Blog Post 4

5 Strategies for Fostering a Collaborative Culture in a PBL Classroom

            Throughout this school year, my students have experiences either PBL or STEAM with each unit we study in 7^th grade science.  With each project being so different, I find it difficult every time to let go and allow my students to take control of their learning and their progress.  The group of students I teach are diverse in their development, demographic status, culture backgrounds, and learning abilities, which makes it difficult, because they all require unique accommodations or instruction to learn a concept.  I have to adjust my projects for each individual student to allow them to become independent in their discoveries in the best way they know how.  This article provides five strategies in order for each group member to be accountable for their learning and role in their teams. 

Strategy 1: Make sure team members know what is expected of them

            Ensure each student is presented with a clear goal and expectation of his or her assigned task in the group.

Strategy 2: Create norms and roles where appropriate

            When students have designated roles and tasks to complete within the group, it helps to keep students on task, when knowing their group members are counting on them to be successful in their role or job.  Groups are given rules and guidelines they must follow.  Students are becoming more accountable for their actions.

Strategy 3: Monitor progress constantly

            Check-in regularly with teams to ensure they are progressing each day. 

Strategy 4: Celebrate even little successes

            Positive feedback should be given consistently throughout the project to encourage students to keep progressing and not become disengaged and know their hard work is noticed and is appreciated.  It also could encourage students that are less engaged to become more involved and care more about their work. 

Strategy 5: Give students ways to informally develop cohesion

            Allow opportunities to interact with one another.  Provide them with more hands-on learning experiences.

Kristi Winslow - Blog Post 3

5 Strategies for Making Project Work Time More Productive

            I always find it difficult when timing out my PBL’s, for my students work time.  The span of time allotted usually depends on the student engagement and interest in the project.  Often times I dread workdays on their projects.  Students already have a difficult time with their time management skills, and expecting them to use their time efficiently and effectively when completing a project, can become stressful.  Therefore, I found this article to be useful in trying these five strategies below to adjust the time management for my students. 

Strategy 1: Prepare students for working in teams

            Teach students how to communicate and collaborate with one another.  Conduct lessons on peer mediation and conflict resolution to improve their problem solving skills.

Strategy 2: Use team leaders as liaisons

            Team leaders are responsible for guiding team meetings and facilitating group discussions.  They report to the teacher on group members, good or bad.

Strategy 3: Train team leaders

Strategy 4: Structure team meetings with agendas

            This will give students structure within their groups.  “Why is the group coming together, what needs to be accomplished during the meeting, and how the meeting will be structured?”

Strategy 5: Plan for frequent opportunities for feedback

            Feedback that is gathered only at the end of a project tends to be invaluable and gives little chance for revision and improvement.  Weekly check-ins should be experienced throughout the project to provide support and feedback to each group and student.

Taylor Thomas - Course 3: Blog 3

Post Observation of class visit on 2-13-18

During this coaching cycle, Dawn observed my students researching and completing their final products on a global issue they chose to investigate. I met with students individually to give praise and feedback using “I Like, I Wonder.” Overall, students did a great job researching and thoroughly covering each topic required. A common component left out of student’s final products was a works cited. I also learned that students are still not paraphrasing information gleaned from research as they should be. Students want to copy and paste information rather than put it in their own words. We worked the following day on citing information as well as paraphrasing. Students also practiced presenting to peers to get comfortable with their information. One of my goals for students to accomplish during this PBL experience was to present their information, not just read from their presentation. Some students really excelled in this, others will get there in time – maybe. J

Sarah Garner; Blog 3

My coaching cycle went wonderfully. I had this lesson that I thought was good, but Dawn made it great. My students have been learning about quadratics, the characteristics of quadratics and how to graph them. The activity that my coaching cycle was on was transformations of quadratics. They will discover what happens when you add, subtract, or multiply a quadratic by a constant. I was just going to have the students get in groups and discuss what they see when they graph the two different quadratics. However, Dawn gave the suggestion of using a silent debate. I LOVED THAT IDEA! It helped me make sure that each student was involved in the activity. I gave each group about 3 mins to graph each quadratic and describe what happened to the function. Then I have them about 2 mins to come together and come up with one statement describing what happened to the function. What I wanted my coaching cycle to help me with was making sure that each student was involved, and it helped a lot. Also, after the lesson I gave the students 10 minutes to work on their classwork assignment, practicing what they just learning. If they had at least 5 problems done and the 10 minutes was up, they had 3 options. They could either work with a partner, work on their own, or come to me and I reteach the information. The students liked the variety of options they could chose from.

Blog #2 Co teach reflection

On February 21, I had the honor of co-teaching with Mrs. Mitchell. It was amazing! My students were able to come to an agreement within their groups. They signed contracts and gave thoughtful ideas on how their groups should work together and how disagreements should be handled. I feel that I am finally understanding how math fits in Project Base Learning. I realized that I was moving in the right direction but with a simple change of a lesson from flowers to cupcakes made my lesson so much more beneficial.

I was also able to video Mrs. Mitchell during our co-teach experience. My math team was able to review this video and loved how the mini lesson brought relevance to our PBL project. Now we are working together to come up with other ideas that will make our PBL projects stand out to our students so they are able to realize that learning can be beneficial and fun.

Blog Post 2; Sarah Garner

The DFC family had the opportunity to go and visit JL Mann's school within a school, New Tech. If I could sum up the visit in a few words, it decreased my worries. I got to speak with several math teachers and ask them a million questions. It was amazing getting to see a school just implementing PBL. Obviosuly I saw things that I thought were amazing, but there were some negatives.

I was talking to the math teacher and she gave me some great advice. With math, especially algebra, it is hard to create projects that last two or more weeks and cover the standards that we are required to cover. She told me she does a lot of problem based learning. Each unit she starts with a question and by the end they are able to answer the question. She does use some big projects throughout the year, but she focuses on more problem based. That relieved a lot of anxiety because at DFC we are looking at incorporating a school within a school, and it stressed beyond belief thinking how will I create a project for every standard. Also, they co-taught a lot of classes. For example, the science and algebra classes were taught together and the geometry and engineering were taught together. The only down fall is that there are almost 40 kids in a class together. YIKES! However, you do have another teacher in there with you.

Some of the things I saw that I felt needed some attention was that the students and teacher at New Tech were segregated from the other students of JL Mann. The teachers were telling me that the students of New Tech get very little interaction with the other students of JL Mann and the teachers do not really speak to the other teachers. However, the principal did say that they are working on that issue and bringing the whole school together more often.

Emily Waddill Course 3 Blog 2

I have been working on giving students more choice and freedom with how they are learning the content. I have been making learning plans that correlate with the topic for that day. Some of the learning plans have included games, task cards, puzzles, mazes and technology. The students have really enjoyed playing the games and having some other options besides just worksheets. They are still responsible for completing a certain number of problems until they can get a reward like playing a game. This has been working very well for me and I'm planning on continuing this next year and working up to week long plans.

I have also been working on classroom management specifically with my fourth period. That period is right after lunch and are with me for an hour and a half. They are a particularly rambunctious group and I've had a hard time finding something that will work with this class to get them paying attention. I met with Dawn this week and we discussed how to incorporate earning points for individual groups as well as points for the whole class. I implemented this yesterday and it was a night and day difference from one day to the next. They were quiet, respectful and completed their work to earn points for their group. I can't believe how much different the class was and I'm hoping that it will continue for the rest of the year. I'm going to be updating one of my bulletin boards to use as a visual point tracker to give students motivation to earn more points. I'm very excited that everything seems to be going well and I appreciate the help that I've been given to accomplish this.

PBL Course 03 - Blog 02 - Smith, Robert

Standards-Based Assessment in PBL

I have really been looking at assessments lately. I am supposed to be engaging my learners in these engaging, energetic, real-world experiences that require them to apply what they have learned and prepare them for their futures. Unfortunately, after almost two decades in the business, creating and aligning these types of learning experiences with the prescribed, standards-based grading scale is tough. And time consuming.

After doing a lot of academic research, reading of other educators’ blog posts, and my personal anecdotal experiences, I have compiled a list of tips for other people who, like me, want to provide these great learning opportunities for their students, but sometimes get stuck.

TIP 1: Make your learning scale straight from the standards.

In my school, I have a lot of creative freedom. Actually, in every school I have been in, I have had a lot of academic freedom. Sometimes, that did not work out really well. But, most of the time, I am able to pull off some incredible classes. However, the lessons that I teach, stories that I tell, and projects that I write are based off my curricular standards. I use them like a check list. Then, I ask myself how learners’ performances match up with the requirements of my standards. It takes a lot of practice, but I can read the results much better. I am not advocating reinventing anything, by the way. If you use premade assessments, and many of us do, then go through the assessments first and align them with the specific standards. Maintain a check-off list with the standard and the student. You can accomplish the same thing.

TIP 2: Level your assessments based on you learning scale.

Whether or not you use premade assessments or write your own, you can still level them based on learning goals. For instance, many teachers assign point totals to the questions on their assessments. Harder questions are worth more points. The same concept applies to leveling your assessments. Tougher questions require deeper understanding of the material. We would normally weight these questions higher, so we should have them leveled higher as well.

TIP 3: Level your assessments to accommodate PBL requirements.

Since PBL is still new to me, this has been tough. However, I have found out that I should not lump individual assessments with a group grade. Those assessments intended for an individual grade should be separated from group projects. Learners need to be made aware of this difference before beginning the project. This will (hopefully) help those who like to sit back and coast to become more aware of their individual responsibilities to their grade. For group grades, I have boiled them down to a “Yes” or “No” grade. The work was either completed, and on time, or it was not. In other words, students must still do and present all parts of the project, but it does not count for or against their grade. If projects are not completed on time, they are still required to present what they were able to complete.

In conclusion, all of my grades are completely leveled to learning goals and standards. I do use premade assessments, but I level them first. When it comes to projects, learners receive general group grades but the majority of their assessments are designed to be completed on their own so that I can get a good picture of what they know and understand and where I need to focus for future assignments.

J.L. Mann"s New Tech Visit Reflection

On Tuesday February 27, we visited J.L. Mann's New Tech school within a school.  I really enjoyed the visit and would like to share some of my thoughts on the program.

First, the school is beautiful.  I love the open concept, that is really me.  I love windows! I thought it could possibly be a problem with students attention in class, possibly always looking out to see who is in the building (I didn't think to ask if this was an issue).  Also, the lack of wall space to display student work I did not like.  Safety could be an issue and also the teachers mentioned it was hard to get use to having their materials on a cart going from room to room.  Maybe that will change for them over the years since this is their first year in the new building. 

The next comment is on the team teaching or double classes.  I don't mind team teaching but I personally don't like the large number of students (52, I do believe she told me) in one double class.  I may like it; who knows, but it did not seem very personal. 

I did notice student behavior issues ant the teacher explained to me how the program worked.  The students in a group and/or the teacher can issue a behavior warning.  The student gets three warnings then removal from the group and they must redo ALL work in the class from the beginning.  They start with a 0.  So this led me to realize that the student contract must be detailed and evidence must be provided for a student warning.  I also liked how administration was also on board with the consequences.

I like how all the teachers used the same student contract forms.  I think consistency in some areas is great because it saves time for content.  Teachers also use the same grading rubric, but can choose what areas they focus on in the grading. 

I loved the ASK 3 Before Me, meaning before you ask the teacher for help you need to have exhausted three other resources first.

I do like the idea of workshops if a students is having difficult with a concept.  I'm not sure how fast these occur but it seems they would need to be that day or the next in order for the student to be able to progress at a quick pace. 

Lastly, I loved the faculty meeting in which all teachers discussed new PBL's and offered advice to their fellow teachers. 

Kimberly Trott Blog 2 New Tech, Matt Bertasso, are we teaching students to fish for a lifetime article.

When I first started teaching World History fourteen years ago I was not very knowledgeable on ancient history and I guess looking back on the experience I learned the material the way that PBL suggests.  It just took several years though.  That is what is hard for me to get my head around.  If it took me that long how could a student possibly get it all down from one project.  I do realize they don't need to know everything I studied but I will say that the process I went through to learn the material is how I actually became very proficient in the material.  I read, read some more, investigated things I needed to clarify, and saw patterns in the material; then I created lessons from what I had learned and then I presented what I had learned to the students in my class, my real world audience.

Starting at the top of Bloom's sounds like a great idea but it still makes me think there is no way that the majority of students left alone will fill in all the pieces.  They will get an end result but it is hard for me to believe it will be as complete as I would give them.  It is hard to not think this way because in the past it just seems that students look up a project topic and answer it as fast as they can without really investigating the topic.  This is even when I gave them a choice on topics and project development.  Some students did fantastic projects while others barely grasped the assignment.  Maybe there is no golden apple for every student.  They must find value in what they are doing, my value was my job so I need to somehow find a way to convey the importance of history to them.

I do realize that in a PBL if I hold the students accountable then better results should be seen.  I think the issue I have is the amount of time it takes to implement the PBL and have students do the work to get the material.  I still haven't turned an entire chapter over to them.  It seems hard to imagine coming up with one PBL topic that will answer all of the material in a single unit of study.  I have also come to realize that I can teach some of the unit and guide them through a project that lets them develop a solution or concept from the material.  I have to see PBL as a tool to engage students and make them active participants in their learning.  It's really probably more of a personal problem.  I do tend to be someone who like control over everything in my life.  So PBL is a big challenge for me.