Blog Post 6 - What I Used to Know / What I Know Now

So after 3 grad classes on PBL, I definitely feel like I learned a lot. I started doing PBL before I even knew it was a thing; it just seemed like the right way to teach my subjects. However, after nearly a year of focused study on the topic, I realize A) I was on the right track and B) I have a long way to go. PBL fits me; I can stand up and lecture, but that's not engaging for the students, and it's definitely tiring for the teacher. PBL is a lot of work...like a lot of work. But, it's not exhausting in that it leads to some really great progress in the classroom. 
I'm not much of an educational buzz word kind of person, so I didn't really have any expectations going into the class about what PBL was. I saw the email announcing it and thought, "Huh, that sounds like what I already do," and "Oh! Dawn is teaching it. I'm in!" After the first course, I decided to go all-in on PBL and redesign my entire program around a PBL model. I think it's been a good thing. It's been a lot of work (so, so much work), and I'm pretty sure I haven't done this much lesson planning in a long time (and I typically do a lot of lesson planning), but I've felt energized, and I've felt excited to see what the kids can do with the projects.

Here's a quick breakdown (in no particular order) of things I've learned during my time spent going all-in with PBL (in which I include  the digital curriculum as a part of it, since they're fully integrated in my classroom). 

My experience with a digital curriculum

-There's a tremendous amount of front-loading. This is unavoidable. 

-Students fall into 3 groups, the ones that get really into it, the ones that realize they actually have to work and get on the ball, and the kind that have no intrinsic motivation (and were incorrectly placed into a class like this). One and two are easy; grades and their own personalities motivate them. I haven't quite figured out the third group yet. 

-Produces content/skill masters

-Very flexible/adaptable for differentiation. It scales well (e.g. I can make it easy for those who need it easy, and very complex for those who need it to be complex).

-Dead links are the worst

-Internet outages are also the worst

-No more scrambling to assemble makeup work; "Everything is on the website...and has been since the beginning of the semester. Along with dates!" 

-Once you build the curriculum, you can focus on tweaking, augmenting, and streamlining your content. It’s a big trade-off; you spend a ton of time building stuff, but if you do it well, you don’t spend a lot of time maintaining, freeing you up to actually teach/grade/etc.

-It’s easy to show your kids’ progress off

-It’s very authentic.

-You have to teach a lot of computer skills.

-Kids will lose files/break computers constantly. They will also install a lot of crap on your computers.

-It’s amazing how bad students are at internet research and/or using computers in general

-Kids do not understand the concept of backing their files up. This is bad and must be fixed because sooner or later, one of them is going to lose all of their work for the year. 

My experience with PBL

-Authentic, real-world projects make the best PBL Projects

-Good PBL development takes times/revision

-Good PBL has lots of student choice, but it's not completely nebulous

-Your first implementation of PBL will probably suck

-Your second implementation of PBL will also probably suck

-Repeated implementations of PBL will suck less as you get a better idea of just how much guidance/oversight your kids need. 

-PBL is a commitment; you have to really throw down to make a good PBL project

-PBL starts with a question and end goal in mind…you build it backwards

-PBL is very much like real-world learning/on-the-job training

-It teaches responsibility; it’s a lot like college and a it frustrates some students, but it excites and inspires others

-PBL is a lot of work; it’s very rewarding, but you absolutely will spend a ton of time building/tweaking/thinking about your projects/classes/curriculum. You think about your lessons more, and you get more excited to build, implement, and tweak them. 

-PBL projects that build on themselves lead to better results (e.g. building a portfolio/website/etc.)

-PBL that puts kids in a little over their heads is great for learning.

-Formal, constructive, but public critiques work wonders

-Kids need to present more

-Kids need more practice collaborating

-You wind up with lots of opportunities to teach soft skills

-PBL rocks

I hope some of you found this useful and/or interesting. It's been a great journey diving into this educational model, and I feel this is only the beginning for a lot of us!