Mandy Irick- Class 3- Blog Post #6- What I have learned

PBL has been a trial and error process that at my school began last year. From its infancy, I knew that it was going to eventually have a profound impact on our students. The type of learners that we have entering in the classroom are vastly different from those in the past. They learn, think, process and communicate differently than ever before. It is difficult to rely on previous structures that were utilized in the past to inundate curriculum into our students' minds. The change needed to be made to reach our students but trying to understand the inter-workings of PBL and how to apply it to our curriculum and classroom. This concept was going to change our school culture but I had a very limited knowledge at what true PBL really was which I believe is common of most. Before taking the class and doing research reading as much materials as possible, I never understood that PBL was more of the process than the outcome. I was focused more trying to create an unbelievable and yet tangible task/project at the conclusion to showcase the entirety of the driving question. Now I am more focused on the process than the end product. When creating a project, I create meaningful tasks to help the students develop an understanding of the material they need to derive an answer to their driving question. Another thing that I learned through this process is assessment needs to be embedded into the PBL so that you can accurately assess their grasp of the material. Before, assessment pieces were given at the end with formative checks along the way. I realized you don't have to abandon previous quizzes in order to make the the learning authentic. In fact it is something very necessary to gather and gauge where misconceptions are occurring and confirming when students are understanding the material. The assessment mapping was a really neat to do this that Dawn shared with me. Time was definitely something that I hadn't factored in when it came to students' stamina. In my skewed perception, I thought that students could maintain this level of rigor and engagement on the PBL throughout the weeks it was assigned. It was once I started working on one that I realized students' DO NOT have the stamina to maintain this. The schedule for implementation became more flexible building in a day of pause or something providing tons of movement to change up the pace and structure of what they were use to. Students just need a break and I found that although some times reviewing was necessary, it helped to reinvigorate the students to start back on the PBL. The last thing that I learned was how student choice/voice and authenticity really went hand in hand. It wasn't just enough to bring in topics or concepts that were something they can relate to but helping them to understand how they impact them is another thing. Just like I mentioned in a previous blog, a student felt like he was doing the work for high school students which to him was ridiculous. He felt they should be doing the work. It wasn't until we talked about what are some essentials that he needed to work on that the learning felt more personal. The other part to this is that finding an audience that could relate was key. By having people who understand the concept, they can provide so much insight and feedback that will help the learners by taking it seriously. I have enjoyed the journey so far and look forward to learning more.