Before I begin my PBL, it is essential for me to know several things about my students. First, I need to know where they are in their understanding and application of math in a real-world situation. The majority of the students in my classes are working significantly below grade level and often get frustrated and "shut down" during instruction or practice. Second, it is important to know the learning modalities of the students in my PBL class. Understanding their preferred method of showing what they have learned will help me decide on the options for the final piece. Next, I need to know which students work well together and motivate others. Out of the 90 studnets that I see in a day, 35 have IEP's and 15 are ESOL, with nine of those below level three on the WIDA test. Among these students, there are those who motivate and push the others to do their best, but there are also those who will let others take over and do all of the work. Finally, I will need to differentiate and provide scaffolding support for many of the students during the process. My goal is to cause my students to think and look at situations differently than they have in the past. Table 2.1 shows how research connects PBL to changing the brain, and that is very exciting when you work with underperforming students.
Chapter 3:
Classroom environment has a great effect on student learning. In preparation for this project, I changed my classroom from desks to tables. Since this will be a non-traditional situation for my students, I felt like they needed to get used to the environment in which they would be working before that time comes. Since we have been working in this environment for several weeks, I realize that I will also need to purchase risers so that students can stand and work at the tables. Many of the special education students in my room need to stand to complete assignments, but they are bending over to write on the tables. I have also occupied a horseshoe table where I can conference with students.
Hi Angie,
ReplyDeleteI knew this summer from our conversations in our first pbl course that you taught a diverse group of students, but knowing your numbers from this blog post really puts your class demographics into perspective. Knowing that roughly one third of your students receive support services either for IEPs/504s and/or for ESOL makes the case chapter 2 is presenting to us as educators the importance of differentiation relevant and compelling. I am glad that the table in chapter 2 is encouraging for you as you seek to provide students with non traditional, inquiry based learning opportunities that develop their brains in ways that "sit and get" does not.
Angie, you also shared how you have already worked to improve your classroom environment so that it is conducive to student learning in a pbl framework. I love the way a simple change from desks to tables promotes collaboration and communication. I also like the idea of risers for students to have the option of standing up. One easy purchase for me was goodwill/thrift store chair cushions/place mats/ and carpet squares. When students needed/wanted to work individually or in partners I found that having a stack of those in the back of the room allowed them to quickly grab a seat and find a place to work. Once that "seat" was put down on the floor it instantly became "their" learning spot.
Thanks,
Dawn