Kimberly Trott Blog Post 5 What I Used to Think/But Now I
Know
When I
first heard about Project Based Learning, it was through a meeting at our
school in which other teachers were explaining Project Based Learning to fellow
teachers through departmental meetings.
It seemed very abstract and more of like, “I do that in my class now.” At that time, I did many projects in my class
but in actuality, they are nothing like what I have found out that PBL projects
entail. Normally in my honors class, I
assign the topic, or give them the option to pick between a couple of topics, and
then the students go home and make sure their rubric requirements were
met. I did the same for my CP courses
but we did the project in class.
What I
know now is that I still have a long way to go.
I have learned that student choice and voice is critical at all stages
of the project implementation. I am
working on trying to turn over what I deliver as instruction to the
students. Meaning that I do not have to
tell them every single thing they need to know in class. That through the investigation and project
development they should walk away with a sense that they have done their part
and are able to take a test without me having to give them everything needed to
receive a high grade; that a lot of the burden is on them now to actually read
and develop quality work that helps them understand the material. I also have learned that having a real world project,
which is authentic, and has a real audience, is important in order for the
project to be relevant in the real world.
Finally, I still need to work on real world soft skills with my
students. I hope to create a one-page
chart over the holidays for my desk that reminds me of key features of PBL that
I need to work on with my student just as part of the normal routine day. That from day one of class we need to be
working on the skills that makes PBL successful.
Hi Kim,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your thoughtful reflection of your pbl implementation this semester. You shared how you've learned that student choice and voice is critical throughout all stages. I have seen from my observation of your first pbl unit and with the student examples you shared with your Genius Hour implementation how your high school students were motivated by choice. You also shared that you've learned that in a true pbl unit, students have the responsibility for reading and writing, for problem solving, for designing and creating, and that through the involvement in this process, that is how students learn. I agree one hundred percent. I am glad the 8 essentials that have guided us throughout the planning of our units of study have proven to be helpful reminders of pbl that you are using to guide your instructional planning. I am looking forward to our spring semester of learning together.
Sincerely,
Dawn