I like the metaphor
Robison provides when he mentions that education needs to move from an
industrialized approach to an agricultural approach. He states that, “human
flourishing is not a mechanical process; it’s an organic process…” The analogy
he gives comparing teachers to farmers is PBL in a nutshell. Teachers are
facilitators that create an environment for students to flourish. Through PBL
students learn more about their strengths and weaknesses, how to grow and become
lifelong learners. Learning is customized and personalized; therefore, student’s
needs are met. In order to revolutionize education, we must break away from
conformity.
This challenge means
that I will continue to hold students accountable for their learning as well as
set and model high expectations. A PBL classroom should be rigorous, challenging,
authentic and meaningful. Students research and work to solve problems and/or
create a product while the teacher facilitates their learning. I will continue to implement PBL in my classroom. My greatest challenge is time in the classroom. ELA encompasses
many topics. The plus side to PBL is integrating, which can be a challenge in
itself. J
Taylor,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on the balancing act with time. The great thing about PBL is that you can still accomplish the standards that you need to teach but motivating the students to attempt avenues that are of interest to them at the same time which is something that can be a struggle at times. This methodology does allow us to break away from the conformity that education tends to become entrenched in. Students of today's world require a different approach to education which can be met by using this approach!
The metaphor of going from an industrialized model to a agricultural model really stood out to me as well. As teachers we get sucked into being the same way as all of peers. However, I believe in an agricultural model teachers need to be inovators and grow.
ReplyDeleteTaylor,
ReplyDeleteLike you Robinson's farming analogy resonated with me as well and it helps define how pbl is structured to promote student independence and ownership over their learning so individual growth can occur.
You identified holding students accountable and and modeling/setting high expectations as areas you wanted to target for growth. As you begin work on your unit plan today, keep these two areas in mind as you work to create your driving question, your culminating product(s), your need to knows, and most of all, the scaffolding and support your students will need to be successful.
Sincerely,
Dawn