Blog #5: I used to think..../ Now I know...

I used to think:

• I knew what PBL was, and was using it regularly in my classroom. 
• PBL was best suited for higher achieving students only.
• PBL would be easier to incorporate in elementary school because all subjects are integrated. 
• PBL is much easier for the teacher than planning day-by-day lessons and activities.

Now I know:

• I was assuming that my end of unit projects was considered PBL. During the last school year, I wrote what I believed to be a PBL on rates, ratios, and proportions that turned out to be more along the lines of independent learning.  There were some of the PBL required criteria such as collaboration, conferencing, and reflection, but it was not a true PBL experience. Now I know PBL is learning through completing the project.
• PBL is effective with low-income students if you build stamina and agency within the students prior to the PBL experience. Offering inquiry-based experiences in small chunks helps to build the stamina needed to complete a full experience. Low-income students are quick to give up, so it is important to build the stamina along the way.
• PBL is just as easy to incorporate in middle school if you have a cooperative team who will help you. I do not understand all of the science, social studies, and language arts standards, but my teammates are very willing to help me understand what the standards are and how I can incorporate them into the math class.
• PBL is much harder than I anticipated! I spent much more time planning the PBL experience than I have on my other units. It is definitely not the "easy way out" of lecturing. The planning is much more complex and the outcome is much greater. 

Blog #3 - Student Agency

I have incorporated the "Power of Yet" into my classroom for several years. Title I schools contain a large population of students who believe you must be born smart and not that hard work and perseverance will foster intelligence, especially in math.  There are many ways in which a teacher can promote agency in her students. One way is to allow students to productively struggle in their work. Many times, especially in Title I schools, teachers and paraprofessionals will "hold the students' hand" through difficult tasks and problems which does not allow student agency to begin developing. When these students get to middle school, they are conditioned to ask for help before trying. When the teachers try to let the students "productively struggle", the students give up because they do not know where to begin. Productive struggle is a must for students to build stamina and to develop a growth mindset.

Another strategy is to provide academic feedback. If students understand where their mistakes and misconceptions are, they will be more willing to take another look. The only assignments I do not allow corrections on are unit assessments. My students are allowed to make corrections on all other assignments. Giving them this opportunity causes them to look back at their work and find their own errors and misconceptions, make that correction and learn from their mistakes. I am very confident in these two strategies and utilize them daily to build as much student agency as possible.