Tuesday, June 27, 2017
Christi Coomes Blog #2
The main course project aligns with PBL in that it requires the learner to learn the material as the project is in progress. Also, they are alike in that both require open ended questions which fuel other questions and generate a desire to further investigate other concepts. As with PBL, main course dishes require critical thinking skills, problem solving, and collaboration.
To ensure that you are dishing up a main course and not a dessert, you must have open ended questions that naturally have students learn the curriculum content while in the process of answering the questions. The teacher cannot be the sage on the stage, teaching the lesson and giving tests, then letting the students do the project. If the projects are producing similar results, you may be serving a dessert.
Since I work in District 6 have the support of the administration to complete a PBL project. The District has greatly invested in this concept as way to prepare our students to meet the needs of the 21st century. I work on a block schedule, so I have 1.5 hours per day per class. This is conducive to allowing the students to work on the project in class and allows me as a teacher to help groups that are in need of guidance.
I have always incorporated projects which involve elements of PBL. Therefore, my colleagues and school leadership would probably not ask much about my intentions. They already know that I enjoy having students complete projects as way to learn the curriculum. I think that students learn more when they have ownership in their learning. I want them to figure out the algorithms and discover concepts on their own. We need to have students who can find solutions beyond the box. I believe in PBL and have used elements of it throughout my teaching.
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I like how you explained the difference between the main course and dessert. I also like how you get 1.5 hours. I am so jealous!
ReplyDeleteYour quote "sage on the stage" is priceless! By doing PBL, you definitely take a large load off of you as the teacher and place the responsibilty on the student. I find it way more enjoyable that carrying the workload that I would have done previously. Making my students the responsible parties in their learning has allowed me to be more of a guide. I can do more small group work and meet more needs where as I wouldn't have been able to in a whole group setting!
ReplyDeleteI am glad to hear that you enjoy using PBL. I think that there's often whispers of negativity sprinkled throughout the teaching community when a new methodology is introduced. It helps for the "believers" to spread the word, and help fuel the flames that initiate changes within a system that can be shown to be less effective in many cases that we have studied...or even practiced.
ReplyDeleteHi Christi,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that we need to promote innovation in our classrooms so that we are encouraging "out of the box" thinkers. I knew from my opportunities to observe you teach several years ago that you worked to create opportunities for inquiry based learning and for students to be engaged in relevant, real world problem solving. I am glad that what you've learned in the class about project based learning aligns with your current philosophy and your teaching practices.
Sincerely,
Dawn