Tuesday, July 26, 2016
Helen Reed - Day 2
In keeping with the food trend, a "main course" project is so much more fulfilling than simply a dessert. Just like when you choose between fast food and a three course meal restaurant, we all know which one will be better. In order to make sure that PBL is the main course in my classroom, I plan to spend a lot of my time focusing on planning. For me, once I have the big picture vision, I feel that I am able to guide my students in that PBL direction. I liked how the article mentioned that with PBL students are learning through a project, not in order to complete a project. When my students have completed a project 'after' the teaching has occurred, many times they are less engaged and just want to get the project finished. Other times, if they do not know the material, they spend the majority of their time relearning the material for themselves and then struggle to meet the deadline for the project. By focusing on PBL in the classroom, students know from the beginning that they are going to be learning while working, with support and guidance from the teacher along the way.
When people have asked me about PBL, I have responded over enthusiastically. My school administration is very supportive and I am confident that they will encourage my ideas. My team is also very supportive. I know that trying new things is scary, but my team has that 'I'll give it a try' attitude. We collaborate and share ideas with one another, so I know they will be a great backboard to bounce ideas and plans off of and great people to get critiques from. While we all put our own twist on things, no PBL classroom, or project, will look the same. Even when I share my plans with my team, we are all going to change it to fit our students, which is what should happen anyway. I'm lucky to work in a supportive environment with people who will not only encourage me, but also challenge me. To colleagues that are hesitate or wondering about PBL, I am confident that through the examples of students' work, they can be persuaded.
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I love your comments about the difficulties with giving a project "as the dessert". Just like you mentioned, I too have given my students what I thought was a fun and exciting project, only for the majority to groan and complain about the work. After the first few days of this class, I finally see why! By giving a project as the "dessert" many students lose interest because they are asked to restate all the same information they've already learned. By making the project the "main course", students are truly responsible for their own learning and can establish more ownership for the work they create.
ReplyDeletePBL doesn't seem so scary if you have support. It is so good to have colleauges and administraton who supports you. Luckily, our school's initiative includes PBL so we have 100% support.
ReplyDeleteYou bring up some great points about projects and the importance of incorporating them during the learning and not at the end. You are so right about students trying to rapidly teach themselves material during the project so that they can complete the project, only to miss the deadline. I think those are important points to keep in mind when introducing the project and providing scaffolding throughout the learning so the project can be completed. I had not thought about the reasons kids miss deadlines until I read your thoughts.
ReplyDeleteHelen,
ReplyDeleteI love the point you made about how in authentic pbl, students learn through a project, rather than just doing a project. Your focus on intentional planning for this sustained inquiry and support of student work is crucial for this distinction to be made.
I agree with you that you are fortunate to have a school culture that supports inquiry based learning and a group of colleagues that are willing to try it out in flexible ways. I am looking forward to seeing what will happen at FES with pbl this year.