Clark H. Maxwell Blog1

1  1. I think that a PBL mindset would allow students to learn in their own way.  Not everybody learns the same way, or at the same rate.  Even though this is 100% different from the way I was taught, I can see the advantages.  If PBL gets kids to be successful at learning, to figure out what they are good at on their own, and to become productive members of society, I am all for it.  I think that it meshes well with our district’s “College or Career Ready” message well.  That is the ultimate goal, is it not, college or career after high school.  If it makes students take ownership of their learning, it will translate into other areas of their life.

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    2. The challenge for me personally is, How to do PBL with as little downtime as possible?  In PE, our goal is to keep them moving as much as possible since it is probably the only time the majority of students are physically active during the day.  My vision of a physical education PBL class would be students being active at the same time they are working on a project.  I think reflection and revision would be what I would use the most in my class.  I would say my greatest challenge to implementing PBL is probably due to me being stubborn, and not knowing enough about PBL in physical education.

Kristi H. Winslow Blog Post 1

Ken, expressed a climate crisis we face is a crisis of human resources and that we make poor use of our talents.  With the two types of groups Ken described, we as teachers need to change the majority of people that endure what they do rather than enjoying it and make that the minority.  As much as I enjoy my job as a teacher, I want to allow my students to enjoy what they are doing in my classroom, rather than just enduring it because they have to.  Through project base learning (PBL), students will have an opportunity to flourish and explore their talents and find out their passions.

Growing up, I use to say to myself, “when will I ever use this in the real-world.”  By using the teaching strategy of PBL, our students will be able to say, that they “can” use this in the real-world and not just for that moment in that class.  My vision of a PBL classroom will be one that is using real-world scenarios with challenges embedded for students to create solutions to, using their problem solving skills and have a chance to present their talents and what their passionate about to their group members to overcome the ultimate goal.  I will continue to teach my students the concepts that are essential for them to attain in to order to develop a deeper level of learning.  Where they may then take the knowledge, they have acquired and use it in future life events and situations.  The challenge in implementing PBL in my classroom this year will be retaining command of my classroom, while giving up control.  I will need to learn to let go of some control, not behavioral, but of how they may learn the content and the order, and just trust the process. I am very excited about incorporating PBL into my teaching strategies to serve better the needs of my students.  

Robert Smith - Post 01

Assignment 1A

The current American educational model has not been radically changed or altered in almost 200 years. Classrooms in the 21st century are still derived on a Prussian model brought to the United States by Horace Mann in 1843 (Rose, 2012) whereby all citizens are deserving of a free educational system. The result of his idea was a publicly-funded educational system, a rectangular-shaped classroom housing approximately 30 similarly-aged students, all led by a single teacher (Eide, 2012). This model became, and has remained, the primary template for public schooling in the United States.

One of the real challenges is to innovate fundamentally in education. Innovation is hard, because it means doing something that people don't find very easy, for the most part. It means challenging what we take for granted, things that we think are obvious. The great problem for reform or transformation is the tyranny of common sense. Things that people think, “It can't be done differently, that's how it's done.”

- Sir Ken Robinson

Meanwhile, technology has revolutionized society outside of the classroom (Prensky, 2008). Computers, and the Internet, have changed how human beings interact with one another, communicate with one another, and go about conducting everyday searchers and research (An & Reigeluth, 2011). The modern world has become always linked-in to some facet of the digital world. Whether through the cellular telephones people carry, or through the applications and conveniences of the modern computer, the world has become an interconnected place.

Robinson commented that “(e)very education system in the world is being reformed at the moment and it's not enough. Reform is no use anymore, because that's simply improving a broken model. What we need…is not evolution, but a revolution in education.” Unfortunately, as summarily argued by Rose (2012), while society has evolved and grown from the conventions of the mid-1800s, there has been little evidence to suggest that this growth has any significant impact on teaching in general, but specifically on learners’ academic performances. This non-result comes even though many school leaders have tried to modernize the old Industrial education model (Rose, 2012).

Regarding how Robinson’s comments may be used in conjunction with the development of a Project Based Learning (PBL) mindset for Spartanburg School District Six students, I believe that administrators, teachers, and learners, in that order, must all believe that: a) there is a real urgency for educational “revolution” and b) that PBL is that instrument of change.

Assignment 1B

For me, Robinson’s challenge means that I do not stop carrying out my vision of education. For many years, I have used projects and interdisciplinary methods to teach. Projects usually begin in my classroom by the second week of school and are used throughout the year. Unfortunately, many times my assignments are projects for the sake of projects and not project-based learning. If I am going to become a true instrument of Robinson's educational revolution, then my vision of what a real PBL classroom is, what my classroom is, must change. I adopted the Wiggins and McTighe (1998) model of Understanding by Design many years ago. I have been integrating my lessons since before I truly understood what integration meant. However, that is not enough, per Robinson. Project-Based Learning should not only be my guiding pedagogical approach, but be the actual “framework for teaching skills and content” (Lenz, 2011).

I am not advocating for an abandonment of direct instruction. At times, especially in my discipline, mathematics, direct instruction is a necessity. However, I can control how much rigor and inquiry goes into my learners’ practice and personal knowledge construction. In other words, I may not be able to do the actual learning for my students, but I can make sure the practice and activities they use to acquire their knowledge is more rigorous, real-world based, and with true application opportunities than textbook problems provide. As far as my greatest challenge in implementing PBL in the upcoming school year, I cannot comment on this yet. As I already provide many opportunities for learners to engage in project-like, I will not commit to saying true project-based, yet, my greatest challenge may be how to do so in a more -based, not -like, approach.

Sarah Garner; Blog 1

Ken made a very interesting comparison between education and fast food. He stated that they were both standardized. As a nation, we want everything and everybody to be the same. Public education rarely allows students to explore their talents. However, through time and reform we are moving away from that thought process. Ken said that most students who leave the school system were not allowed to explore their talents and find their passion. As a nation, we need to move away from the fast food or industrial model, and go to what Ken called the agriculture model. We need to allow personalization and help our students find their passion and talents. This completely correlates to project based learning. Through different projects, the students are allowed to explore different career fields and experiences. They are able to find their talents and follow them. We need to lay the foundation to allow our students to grow and flourish. 

At first, Ken's revolution intimidated me because, like most people, change is scary. As a student, I was taught through steps and practice problems. I was unable to use what I learned in my math classes and apply it in the real world, or even give an example of how is used in the real world. It was not until college that I actually was able to apply my knowledge of mathematics. Being taught steps is not how students learn and retain knowledge. Project based learning will allow the students to make connections between multiple content areas and apply their knowledge to the real world. Project based learning will help me become a better teacher. I will become more of a facilitator. I will teach my students the knowledge that is essential and allow them to learn through exploring the topic. My greatest challenge will be discipline and student motivation. The students are so accustomed to learning steps and procedures, and then practicing with those steps. They are not able to think critically on their own. It will be a challenge for me to get the students thinking and coming up with solutions on their own.  I am excited to see how I grow through this experience.

Welcome To Our PBL Course Blog!

Welcome to our course blog! For those of you new to blogging, hopefully this experience will expand your ideas for online communication to use in your classroom or for personal use.

For you bloggers out there, please feel free to use options you are already familiar with such as adding links or other helpful media to your posts. Following each course meeting, you will be logging in and posting your thoughts and comments related to our course reading.

This is a place where you can share and discuss how what you are learning from your course readings, from our discussions in our meetings, and your interactions with your professional learning communities and your colleagues as you collaborate to find strategies and solutions to apply best practice strategies and structures for project based learning.

Please share successes and failures as you work to implement what you are learning into your classroom practice.  Most of all, reflect on your learning process. In order for us to extend our classroom community to an online setting with this blog, it is important that you also read and respond to the posts of your peers. After each course meetings, please post your thoughts and then also choose two of your colleagues to respond to as well. Please also feel free to share any questions, comments, or suggestions.

We look forward to the learning process that will occur from this online community.

Sincerely,

Dawn Mitchell

Blog #3: Growth of Soft Skills

When I think about soft skills development in my chemistry class (the class in which I am implementing PBL this year), my thoughts return to a former chemistry student that I now have in AP Physics.  This young man is quite intelligent (as his presence in an AP Physics class would suggest) but he has a lack of social intelligence.  He is smart enough to recognize this as a limitation and he attempts to work around it but the problem often comes out.  I recall a conversation that I was having with him that he chose to have in front of the other members of the class in which he accused me of lying.  If I did not know him well enough, I might have taken it as a more serious issue.  I tried to help him through the work-around skills that I knew that he had developed, but this was just one of those days and one of those interactions where nothing was working and things were just escalating.  In the end, I simply had to tell him (forcefully) that it was time for him to sit down and keep quiet.

I think about him because I wonder if more attention to soft skills in his time in K-12 might not have given him more tools to be able to work through these bumps in the road for him.  I worry that similar bumps in the future will become serious roadblocks.  I know that educators cannot dedicate all of our time and efforts helping one or two young people fix their deficiencies, but in working with student soft skills this year I realize that there are more than one or two that really would benefit from such skill building.

In this semester far more than last (when I first implemented this form of PBL), I have seen real growth in soft skills. As a teacher of "hard science," I have been thinking about developing a metric by which to measure this development.  I have done qualitative research and I realize that there are limitations and pitfalls of relying strictly on qualitative without quantitative research to provide a foundation on which to apply it.  To be fair, when studying human behavior, quantitative research without qualitative to provide context also has pitfalls and serious limitations.

One of the most important additions that I added to my PBL methodology was behavior contracts.  It pushed my students to think in advance about those expectations of their peers and gave group members a constructive way to deal with the frustration that many had in the past with the "slackers" in their groups.  Before starting or in the early stages of starting the first PBL project with a class, I have students answer 2 questions: 1) what are the positive aspects and 2) what are the negative aspects of doing group projects.  Inevitably, the group members who don't do their fair share of work is at the top of the negative list.  I do this as a hook for getting students to develop a social contract.  Even when the requirements of the contract don't meet the needs, students learn to plan for effectively for the future.  I am convinced that in future group work, they will have skills for developing a set of group expectations and requirements that will help them more effectively negotiate group and team work.  They have learned that keeping their peers "on task" is not just the teacher's responsibility and they have learned to take group responsibility for group success.

This is just one example.  As the Apostle John wrote in the closing verse of his gospel, "If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written."  OK, so that bit a bit of an exaggeration, but I hope that you get my point.

Additionally, as I improve and refine my implementation of PBL teaching and learning the manner in which I approach and help students build soft skills will also improve.  In the future when my students have the opportunity to use those heightened soft skills and their success is also heightened, I doubt that many will realize where those improved skills were developed.  A few will.  I will hear from them.  And all the stress of the complaining and resistance to doing things "Mr. Tedder's way" will have been worth it.      

Blog #2: Area of PBL Growth

The last time I felt this overwhelmed was my first year doing National Certification (it took 2).  That year, National Certifications was the only thing that I did.  I made the mistake this year of doing way too many things...some my own doing and some imposed on me.  Imposed on me was all the times that I was sick this year.  Never have I been sick so long and so often.  Here near to the close, I feel that I have--in a similar way--accomplished something important.  I am trying, nevertheless, to avoid as much as possible doing anything new next that I don't have to do.  My effort will be to consolidate and polish my PBL lessons and maybe insert more elements in other units.

As has been the case so many times in my life, I trust that I will not realize all that I have learned and learned to do until next year and the year after.  When I am in the midst of learning something new and trying to apply it, that is my focus and I have difficulty recognizing from whence I came.

From the beginning of this class, I recognized early on that this PBL method had a lot of similarities to things that I had done in the past.  I could see the benefits and many of my students saw the benefits particularly after they found that they were more successful in college than were many of their peers.  But the negative response and lack of support by administration was very disheartening and I fell back to the safe position of --for the most part-- traditional teaching.  What is shocking is how this still impacts my implementation of PBL.  I am constantly second guessing myself and holding back as I--often subconsciously--avoid the negatives that I experienced.

I have grown far to slowly in my embrace of this process.  I struggled to see where I have grown.  I am focused on where I am going and find a mental block in looking back.

I have built skills and refined my application of the methods and techniques.  I know a great deal about how to have students use a Consensus Protocol to compare and value the ideas of all group members.  I know a great deal about how to encourage effective peer feedback.  These are not small things.  Let me break these down to explain.

When students get together to begin a group project, they have learned to seek the easiest way out.  They follow the lead of whatever student in the group sounds as though they know what they are doing, that is know for having high grades, or has the strongest personality.  Valuable input by students with insightful ideas are overlooked and devalued.  The consensus protocol requires that all students, at minimum, read and consider all suggestions, recommendation, or ideas.  Each time I observe the process being used, I learn more about getting students to value all ideas

When students have given peer feedback in the past (prior to used PBL protocols), I have noted that students give "attaboys" rather than giving any feedback that might hurt the feelings of their peers.  As a result, the peer feedback did not serve to improve the product produced by students.  I developed a method of providing feedback that uses some of the recommended PBL techniques and my own method of using technology to have students give feedback that is anonymous to their peers but not anonymous to me.  This technique also allows me to grade feedback for effectiveness.

Here is how all this impacts me and my instruction.  As a result of this PBL learning experience, I am a more effective deliverer and I expect and plan to be even more so.   And my PBL learning experience continues.