I don't know if you noticed, but this blog is being posted on the same day as my "Tears of Our Forefathers" blog #1. So, I just want to say, even though I'm really struggling with collaboration and a cooperative classroom atmosphere, at the same time, I believe I have grown and gotten better in three areas: students developing the Need 2 Knows, assessing concepts learned throughout the process and project, and providing feedback to students (not necessarily students giving the feedback - see previous post - but me giving the feedback).
Something that stood out to me at JL Mann is that one of the math teachers said they had their students take the same tests that students not in the NewTech program take. This proves to the students and other teachers that these students are learning at least the same concepts as are taught in traditional classrooms. I love this idea and feel very validated when my students, now, take a similar quiz or test that students in other classes take. They may not do better, but they are performing at least on the same level as other students. However, they actually learn a lot more - as we all know. This has been a revelation to me. It has been as if the heavens opened up, a holy light shone down on my classroom, and the angels broke into the hallelujah chorus. And then, the Lord said, "Karen, PBL is awesome. No validation needed, but just in case, you're kids are rocking it in this area." Thank you, Lord. Amen. (I hope these last statements are not misconstrued. I am a God-fearing woman, but I do believe He has a sense of humor - I mean He created us. Also, when I conduct my class in a PBL fashion, I believe I am working as if for the Lord. We all are.)
Thursday, March 2, 2017
Scott Taylor Blog #2- JL Mann visit
I was very intrigued with the idea of a school within a school such as the one at JL Mann. The visit was great as we could see how other schools are implementing PBL in the classrooms. I have since talked with Dr. Smith and he is very excited about this idea at DFC for 18-19 school year. We have started the process of getting more teachers trained through this PBL class starting this summer. We brainstormed for about 20 minutes and now we have the ball rolling for training all next year. We set a tentative date of the end of October to have the plan complete before the course booklet goes to print. I am looking forward as we can have another avenue for students to be successful at DFC.
Class 3 - Blog #1
I was super excited after Dawn visited my class. I watched the videos and looked at all her pictures and thought, "Wow. My kids are working together better than I thought. There is evidence of collaboration!" However, my kids don't know Dawn very well - she was a visitor. And I believe this situation is much like the parent-child-outside person relationship. My biological kids have been known to be demons in the presence of just my husband and myself (not terrible as I do not put up with foolishness, but still), and experience a complete transformation to angels (halos and all) when they walk through a church or school classroom door. I know this is because they feel more comfortable with us, their parents. Just as my students feel more comfortable with just me, their teacher. They smiled and put their best foot forward, especially when being photographed or videoed by Dawn. I even had one group tell me, "We did you proud, Mrs. Crossley!" So, they were trying to impress Dawn themselves and for me. And I am really grateful for that, but I can't have visitors in my class every day so my students "play nice." I have students who have no problem telling anyone who will listen how much they hate another classmate. Is this my fault? Have I failed as their teacher in some way? Or, did this atmosphere come from previous experience and infect my classroom? If so, what is the antibiotic?
I was really interested, when we toured JL Mann, how collaboration is weaved into the grading. But, how do I do that? I was also interested in the games and activities they mentioned playing at the beginning of the year to promote collaboration. But, what are those games and can I do this mid-semester?
Today was not a good day in room A112. At least not in my view. Can you tell? Y'all please, my shame-o-meter is nonexistent right now. I need your help.
I was really interested, when we toured JL Mann, how collaboration is weaved into the grading. But, how do I do that? I was also interested in the games and activities they mentioned playing at the beginning of the year to promote collaboration. But, what are those games and can I do this mid-semester?
Today was not a good day in room A112. At least not in my view. Can you tell? Y'all please, my shame-o-meter is nonexistent right now. I need your help.
Blog Post #1: Oh Mann! It was SO good to see other teachers doing PBL.
No, that title is NOT a typo. Our PBL cohort had the opportunity to travel to a high school in a neighboring county: J. L. Mann High School. We have been developing our own PBL units without seeing it done (except what we could see from online videos). There is something about actually being there and getting to look and ask questions about the things that are impactful to me that seemed especially helpful.
I stole some great ideas! Well, I borrowed with permission (but stole just sounds so much more impactful). Some I put into practice within days of that "field trip."
Group student generated social contracts was one of those. Students in my classes often say that they hate group work because there is always one person who gets credit for their hard word when they don't do very much work. This gives students a mechanism for enforcing behavior and for firing a student who isn't doing their fair share of the work. A student who is fired will either earn a grade of zereo OR they will complete a project by themselves. You should have heard the classroom gasp when I explained that part of the contract system to them!
Others ideas, I put into practice in the weeks that followed. There was great bulletin board that a teacher had in her classroom about changing the way that students things about school work. I adapted that for a bulletin board that went up in the hallway for the entire wing of my school (see image below).
Still others I have on my future implementation list.
The most important thing that I was able to observe, however, was just how teachers managed a classroom when the class was doing projects AND learning content. It was good to see these management techniques in practice and these teachers monitor and adjust to class needs in real time.
This field trip has left me feeling a lot less stressed about making PBL work in my classroom.
I stole some great ideas! Well, I borrowed with permission (but stole just sounds so much more impactful). Some I put into practice within days of that "field trip."
Group student generated social contracts was one of those. Students in my classes often say that they hate group work because there is always one person who gets credit for their hard word when they don't do very much work. This gives students a mechanism for enforcing behavior and for firing a student who isn't doing their fair share of the work. A student who is fired will either earn a grade of zereo OR they will complete a project by themselves. You should have heard the classroom gasp when I explained that part of the contract system to them!
Others ideas, I put into practice in the weeks that followed. There was great bulletin board that a teacher had in her classroom about changing the way that students things about school work. I adapted that for a bulletin board that went up in the hallway for the entire wing of my school (see image below).
Still others I have on my future implementation list.
The most important thing that I was able to observe, however, was just how teachers managed a classroom when the class was doing projects AND learning content. It was good to see these management techniques in practice and these teachers monitor and adjust to class needs in real time.
This field trip has left me feeling a lot less stressed about making PBL work in my classroom.
Jeneane Allgood--Blog post 1
My reflection on visiting the New Tech program at JL Mann:
I chose to do this for my first blog post because I haven't implemented my spring PBL yet, and I found myself thinking about the New Tech program and its pros and cons on many occasions since our February 16th visit.
After being slightly overwhelmed by implementing my first PBL unit in the fall, I was a little intimidated at how these teachers were able to teach (and assess) using this format--day in and day out---and still get the necessary content across. I was impressed at how most students were on task and very few were distracted or using their cell phones. Students seemed very comfortable with the whole process, from explaining how their group contracts worked to explaining (to us) what they were working on at the time. I was glad to hear that the teachers still give paper and pencil tests, which they called "benchmarks".
Pros--All (or at least most) students seemed actively engaged in their learning. Students are able to truly learn about a given topic and experience it instead of just being told about it. Group contracts helped to ensure that students are an active contributor to their group. New Tech teachers have a common planning time to evaluate PBL units and projects that they are working on with their students.
Concerns---As an AP Biology teacher, I found myself wondering how they could possibly "cover" the amount of material needed in this format, and the New Tech director did confirm that they were having a little trouble doing some AP courses in this format. I also wondered how I would feel about teaching an entire class using the PBL format with very little direct instruction. I feel like the longer I teach, the more PBL I will try to add in to my classes, but I'm not sure how I feel about using PBL to teach everything.
So, I'm curious what the rest of you thought about what you saw and what you took away from it? Maybe it works because students CHOOSE to be a part of the program and aren't forced into it? In other words, they are "buying into it" at the front end. Share your thoughts with me!
I chose to do this for my first blog post because I haven't implemented my spring PBL yet, and I found myself thinking about the New Tech program and its pros and cons on many occasions since our February 16th visit.
After being slightly overwhelmed by implementing my first PBL unit in the fall, I was a little intimidated at how these teachers were able to teach (and assess) using this format--day in and day out---and still get the necessary content across. I was impressed at how most students were on task and very few were distracted or using their cell phones. Students seemed very comfortable with the whole process, from explaining how their group contracts worked to explaining (to us) what they were working on at the time. I was glad to hear that the teachers still give paper and pencil tests, which they called "benchmarks".
Pros--All (or at least most) students seemed actively engaged in their learning. Students are able to truly learn about a given topic and experience it instead of just being told about it. Group contracts helped to ensure that students are an active contributor to their group. New Tech teachers have a common planning time to evaluate PBL units and projects that they are working on with their students.
Concerns---As an AP Biology teacher, I found myself wondering how they could possibly "cover" the amount of material needed in this format, and the New Tech director did confirm that they were having a little trouble doing some AP courses in this format. I also wondered how I would feel about teaching an entire class using the PBL format with very little direct instruction. I feel like the longer I teach, the more PBL I will try to add in to my classes, but I'm not sure how I feel about using PBL to teach everything.
So, I'm curious what the rest of you thought about what you saw and what you took away from it? Maybe it works because students CHOOSE to be a part of the program and aren't forced into it? In other words, they are "buying into it" at the front end. Share your thoughts with me!
Jonathan Terry Blog 2 - Implementation Observation
One of the main goals of my second PBL is to improve collaboration between students. I not only want them to provide meaningful feedback within their groups, but also make sure that students are sharing the workload when creating their final products. After visiting J.L. Mann, I was amazed at how students were able to collaborate through the use of Google Docs and Google Drive. I loved how the technology allowed groups to simultaneously work on the same document. I decided to use Google Drive as a major component of collaboration during this most recent PBL.
I first made students evenly divide up the workload of the project, writing their name beside the sections they agreed to complete. This made the students accountable to their group members, but also made them accountable to me, as I could make sure each member was on task at any moment. Students were then given access to a poster template that I created. With the use of Google Drive, students could log into their group's poster and all work on the same document at the same time.
After the initial frustration of getting every student logged in to their district Google accounts, I experienced great success. I was pleasantly surprised to see students help each other, both in working the technology and refining the sections they were creating. Much of the collaboration was initiated by the students without input for me. I hope to continue to use technology as an anchor for student collaboration as I implement more PBL experiences in the future.
Helen Reed - Blog Post 1 - 1st Observation
For my observed PBL lesson, I introduced what the students were going to be researching that day through the use of a focus question. Their questions for the day were: ‘What is pitch?’ and ‘How does our ear perceive pitch?’ These questions were part of the students’ “need to knows”, in order for them to be able to produce different pitches on their instrument they would create. By researching these things before, when the students do begin making their instruments, they will already know what they need to include in order to demonstrate different pitches on their instrument. Student began independently researching using the Symbaloo page I created with different websites, while I began to circulate around the classroom fielding questions and refocusing students.
One thing which did not work so well with this was having so many sources. There was really only one website which was geared towards their question on pitch for the day, so many students spent so much time looking through all the resources before they found one with what they were actually looking for. The other websites in the Symbaloo were geared towards topics of later research. For the future, I will spend a few minutes before the research time talking about how we can figure out the best source for our research for the day (as Dawn did during the student’s research time) in order to help them spend more time gathering information and less time searching for the best website.
From viewing the photos and video recordings, I learned that many of my students did not yet know, or understand, what they were doing the research for. From two of the student interviews, both hinted that they would be making an instrument, but weren’t 100% positive. One thought that I would be bringing in instruments for them to play, which he said ‘I don’t know how that would be helpful.” Thinking back, I guess I did not make it very clear to the students what their project would be. In our last PBL project, the students had the choice of what kind of project they would create (a poster, video broadcast, audio PSA), so I wonder if because I didn’t give them this choice they were not as certain. Or, I perhaps just wasn’t clear when explain it to them. Either way, the students did eventually get it and enjoyed creating their instruments when the time came around.
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