So, I've gone a little off the deep end with my PBL excitement. I'm shooting for THREE PBLs this semester! (Hence the zero to hero title....)
Because I am lucky enough to have a whole new group of kids second semester, I got to reteach my Pieces of Me identity unit, and it was AWESOME round two! The highlight was definitely getting to have our authentic audience.... parents and teachers came to each exhibit in a gallery walk, and kids got to be the curators and explain their pieces, and there was just so much more pride and agency this time around because they knew this was going to be REAL! I was able to get an audience in by having a set, more rigid schedule this time around, and there was no surprise of sex ed. Students reflections were thoughtful, and most shared that they really enjoyed the process and independence they got while working on the project. My plan was for this project to be independent, and then our following two projects are going to build.... a partner project next, then a small group project!
Starting next week, we're sort of doing a mini-PBL as part of a workshop/personalized learning pathway. We are studying growth mindset, and students are going to be charged with creating a prototype for a planner/agenda/journal for a specific group of middle schoolers of their choice.... Ex: kids who have a lot of extracurriculars, kids who have a hard time staying organized, kids who like daily inspiration, entrepreneur kids, etc. They will work with a partner to research what's currently available for teens, choose a "target market" group, design the planner, and then create a prototype of it. Throughout the process, students will get to give each other feedback and ask questions in a shark tank kind of way. To wrap up the project, the prototypes will be set up in our school lobby or a learning community, and other middle schoolers will be given tickets to visit and vote for their top three most desired journals based on appearance, practicality, and how useful the design is for them as middle schoolers. I think this will be a great tie to the real world of business and drive/growth mindset.
Our final PBL will be the one Dawn comes to see my implement that you guys know about... my "What's Going On?" social action project. We've started reading current events and will use the events we've learned about to get started with generating specific project ideas and finding mentors March Madness bracket style. I can't wait for all that's to come. I'm feeling high with the success of the Pieces of Me revamp, and looking forward to having the kids feed off that energy of authenticity!
Hope everyone is enjoying this time with their kids too! :)
Hi Rachael,
ReplyDeleteI am thrilled that you are implementing three pbl units this semester and I am thankful that you had the opportunity to do your "Pieces of Me" pbl from the fall semester a second time and with your reflective practice and tweaks experienced success. I know you are excited that students were able to have an audience come and provide feedback to students and you were able to have a consistent time for students to work without comprehensive health interrupting their inquiry time.
I appreciate your intentional varying of your pbl structures in order to provide students with opportunities to pbl individually, then with partners, and finally with small groups. That helps build capacity for the soft skills we've discussed all year such as agency and collaboration. I love the mini-PBL with growth mindset and would love to see your plans for that as I know it is one that would be applicable for many grade levels. If you can share pictures of student prototypes too I would love to see that as well. I am looking forward to your "What's Going On?" social action project and I can't wait to see where their choice takes them. Thank you for your continued passion and perseverance with pbl.
Sincerely,
Dawn
Go, Rachel!
ReplyDeleteI get inspired just reading your blog. :) I am so happy to hear that the second round of your original PBL went better than the first - I suspected that would be the case. It makes me want to come up with PBLs that I can use more than once, so I'll feel like it's worth the investment of planning and work in general.
Hopethe rest of the semester goes just as well!
Rachael, I have been so excited to see your "What's Going On?" project! This is something I feel so strongly about doing for our students of ALL ages: making the learning really matter to them. I can't wait to see what your students have done with this!
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