Jessica Barwick Final Reflection

More Meat in the Main Course

            Project-based learning is a term that has been circulating for a little while now in education, and on the surface, it sounds like a difficult concept.  Students learn only from doing projects?  What does the teacher do?  How can they possibly work independently enough?  What about standardized testing?  How do the students “cover” all the standards through these projects?  What do they look like?  At least these are some of the questions I had before taking this course and deciding to change my vision of my classroom.

            I was fortunate to gain experience as a gifted and talented teacher for a year before I came to District 6, and it was here that I saw my first examples of project-based learning.  The unit I remember most is one in which the students built a model house.  They integrated every single discipline, and each day was spent building, researching, or writing.  I left that position thinking how wonderful the gifted and talented program in that district was and hoping I would get a chance to do something like that in my own classroom one day.  Unfortunately, at the time I had the mindset that this type of learning could only occur in a classroom where all students were identified as G/T.  I see now that all students are capable of this type of project-based learning, but I need to be purposeful in my planning and guidance to ensure that standards are being met (since we will not have the flexibility of a G/T classroom that does not have specific tested content standards). 

            In order to do what I want, I have to adopt the mindset of a PBL teacher.  The article that helped to get me there the fastest was ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­“The Main Course, Not Dessert.”  Larmer and Mergendoller helped me to realize that maybe I was overthinking PBL planning.  If I shift my thinking and turn “dessert” projects into “meat for the main course,” I am already halfway to where I need to be in terms of planning the unit.  Project-based learning is an inquiry-based approach to teaching and learning that puts more responsibility and accountability on the student and forces them to think more critically and creatively.  It must have the essential elements of standards-based knowledge, a driving question, sustained inquiry, authenticity, student voice and choice, reflection, critique and revision, and a product for an authentic, public audience.  These elements lend themselves directly to the profile of the South Carolina graduate, which focuses on rigor, creativity, problem solving, collaboration, communication, and technology.  More important, in my opinion, than all of these, is the skill of “knowing how to learn.”  Through PBL, even young elementary students begin learning “how to learn,” which is not practiced in a “sit and get” classroom.  While students are working on their projects, asking questions, and creating, they are gaining the “life and career characteristics” on the profile of good work ethic, perseverance, and self-direction.  By working with others on projects or critique, they are gaining interpersonal skills, and many projects can help students learn to appreciate other countries and cultures, so they are developing a global perspective as well.  The profile of the SC graduate should also be the profile of a productive citizen in our country, so PBL is one method that can help to prepare our future leaders!

            Going through the process in class this week helped me to gain a deeper understanding of what it will be like for our students.  Many of us were a little confused in the beginning and didn’t know what questions to ask until we got started trying to write our PBL unit.  I’m sure our students will feel that same confusion and frustration in the beginning.  However, through focused mini-lessons and models, we worked on our “project” piece by piece, researching and learning as we went.  Collaborating with others and receiving feedback through the Gallery Walk protocol was so helpful as our ideas started evolving, and this experience helped me realize that my students will truly value critique from their peers, not just me.  We also were able to stretch our creativity muscles not only through planning our unit, but by helping our peers with fun ideas during the Critical Friends protocol.  Finally, by presenting our unit with the pressure of an authentic audience, we were able to, again, put ourselves in our future students’ shoes.  Even though it was not easy, learning this way helped me to become a better educator.  It will be the same for my students:  it will be more difficult for them to work independently and self-directed, but they will gain far greater skills and knowledge by doing so.

            I have already shifted my thinking in terms of how I want my classroom to look this year.  I have been thinking nonstop about projects I can incorporate into other units as the “meat” of the unit instead of the “dessert.”  I want my students to build models of pioneers climbing mountains and crossing rivers while we write our westward expansion journals, and I want students to be innovators and create an invention when we study famous inventors.  I know there will be many obstacles (some I can foresee and others I can’t) when I begin these units with actual ten-year-olds in the fall, but I’m up for the challenge because I know that PBL is worth the risk!