Reflections on PBL

Project-Based Learning, or PBL, is the concept that students learn material by completing an extended, in-depth project.  This project, at its gold standard, must stem from key knowledge and standards, require critical thinking and problem solving, answer a driving question, sustain inquiry, be authentic in nature, have opportunity for reflection, critique, and revision, and have a final public product that is relevant to the student or the world in which they live.  Though I had heard of this teaching method before, I didn’t know much about the process or how effective it could be. More importantly I had no idea how to implement this in an orchestra setting. To be quite honest, I needed some graduate hours for my 18+ level and this class would perfectly fulfill that need.

 In short, I came in with the expectation of checking a series of classes off a list and moving on with my life.  But I could not have been more misunderstood about PBL.  It took less than a day in class to realize the benefits of teaching and facilitating using PBL.  By completing a PBL Unit in class, I was immediately drawn to the method.  I can stand in front of a classroom and deliver information with great accuracy and excitement on my own part, but to get students involved in what they are learning and make it relevant to their own lives will make the experience much more organic and meaningful.  Not only that, but it breaks up the monotony of a lecture style teaching method that I have been using for years.  By stepping out of my comfort zone, I am embracing the fear of the unknown and having faith that I can succeed.

Because orchestra is a performing arts class, it can sometimes be difficult to justify its existence to parents, board members, or administrators.  Luckily my district is always supportive, but having previously taken a STEAM course and learning more about how the arts contribute to 21st Century skills, PBL now ties my class right back in with the Profile of a SC Graduate.  I realize now that many of my lessons and performance preparations bordered on PBL but may have lacked some key elements.  Fostering reflection, critique, and revision will create an environment where I can encourage performance and correct mistakes made by my musicians.  More importantly, they start to recognize quality work in themselves.  This will carry over to their practice time, their performances, and by nature of repetition, to their school work and lives in general.

Looking back, I do consider it a blessing, however ignorant, to have come to the class with the mindset of completion instead of revelation.  How many of our students show up to our classes excited to learn every single day?  Do we not reach out to the most stubborn of students in an attempt to get them involved and excited about their education?  I know now that using PBL in my classroom will not only change the way my students learn, but the way that I teach.  No longer do I feel the need to spoon-feed information to every student in an attempt to get it “right” faster.  I can see now that by changing my approach to teaching and allowing them to discover, make mistakes, fail, and learn from doing, that not only will the material be more relevant to them, but it will stay with them for much longer and hopefully have a profound effect on their lives.