Final Assignment

“What I Used To Think/But Now I Know” 

Austin Baker

After participating in the Introduction to Project-Based Learning course, I realized that although many of the things I have been doing in my classroom are reminiscent of PBL, I still have a long way to go in creating a course that is truly rooted in PBL.  

I used to think that if the students were working independently to solve problems, then I was pretty much set on PBL. While that is a major component of PBL, what I have learned is that even though they do need to be doing this, it needs to be part of sustained inquiry. I guess I kind of had that going on, because the goal of the class is how to become a better photographer. After having learned more about PBL though, I have restructured and refocused my class to answer specific questions (that all tie-in together) that carry on throughout the duration of the course. I have tried to lay out the questions and assignments in such a way that the skills & concepts learned through the assignments all lead to a natural progression that answers the sustained questions laid out through the course. 

On top of that, I have tried to focus the assignments to have less of me disseminating information, and instead, creating lessons that are structured in such a way that I facilitate the students' learning by guiding them where I want them to go, but letting them discover the information on their own, mainly through research, trial and error, and practice. I realized that I spent too much time demoing and lecturing about the information I wanted them to get, instead of showing why the information was needed and then letting them learn the information on their own (after being guided to it).  

Another area that I changed dramatically after participating in the course is feedback. I realized after the class that too much of the feedback was from me to them; there was some between them but it was definitely focused on me critiquing them way more than them critiquing each other. I have since restructured my assignments to include weekly peer-to-peer feedback through various protocols such as critical friends and digital version of a graffiti wall (since the class is paperless). One of the points I'm going to hit hard earlier in the semester than I have in the past, is how to think and discuss their own as well as other's work with constructive criticism. In my own experiences, I have found that students feel critique is a negative thing, and I'm going to establish very early on that it is not negative but it is essential.  

A final thing I change in my curriculum is a larger focus on revision. Students have always been free to go back and revise their work before turning it in after having a constructive criticism session with me, but by including assignments that promote sustained inquiry and tie-in the various skills learned into a bigger picture, I am afforded an opportunity to incorporate a sustained project that spans the entire duration of the semester and allows for constant revision.  By shifting the focus of my website assignment from a "dessert" style project to a "main course" style PBL project, students not only are encouraged, but also directed to make revisions and updates to their project as their skill and understanding grows over the course of the semester. I believe most of them will learn the benefits of constantly critiquing and revising their own work after having done it on a long-term project that ties in all of the other learning they have been doing throughout the course of the semester.  

From here, I think the biggest challenge will not be the large amount of work I need to do in order to restructure the rest of my classes (three levels of photography and four of video), but will be incorporating PBL into my lone English class. Photo and video naturally lend themselves to PBL, and I know that PBL can be seamlessly integrated into the learning experience for those classes, as I've tried to have that mindset with those classes for seven years, but I realize now that I'm still stuck in the old, lecture-based mindset for my English class. I naturally started to break out of it a little bit last year by having students work through a couple of how-to texts about reading, analyzing, and discussing literature, but I'm going to have to work to find a way to make the work more meaning and relevant, other than just "this'll show you have to better appreciate literature in all its forms."  

Marie Darstein - Day 5

I had trouble including math in this text space and will save my file in it's learning (working portfolio) and on GoogleDrive

September Bennett-Cook - Final Reflection

Please click below or copy and paste the link to access my (very first) Prezi: PBL Final Reflection

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Teelah Harris Final Reflection

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Brittany Daly - Final Reflection

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Jessica Barwick Final Reflection

More Meat in the Main Course

            Project-based learning is a term that has been circulating for a little while now in education, and on the surface, it sounds like a difficult concept.  Students learn only from doing projects?  What does the teacher do?  How can they possibly work independently enough?  What about standardized testing?  How do the students “cover” all the standards through these projects?  What do they look like?  At least these are some of the questions I had before taking this course and deciding to change my vision of my classroom.

            I was fortunate to gain experience as a gifted and talented teacher for a year before I came to District 6, and it was here that I saw my first examples of project-based learning.  The unit I remember most is one in which the students built a model house.  They integrated every single discipline, and each day was spent building, researching, or writing.  I left that position thinking how wonderful the gifted and talented program in that district was and hoping I would get a chance to do something like that in my own classroom one day.  Unfortunately, at the time I had the mindset that this type of learning could only occur in a classroom where all students were identified as G/T.  I see now that all students are capable of this type of project-based learning, but I need to be purposeful in my planning and guidance to ensure that standards are being met (since we will not have the flexibility of a G/T classroom that does not have specific tested content standards). 

            In order to do what I want, I have to adopt the mindset of a PBL teacher.  The article that helped to get me there the fastest was ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­“The Main Course, Not Dessert.”  Larmer and Mergendoller helped me to realize that maybe I was overthinking PBL planning.  If I shift my thinking and turn “dessert” projects into “meat for the main course,” I am already halfway to where I need to be in terms of planning the unit.  Project-based learning is an inquiry-based approach to teaching and learning that puts more responsibility and accountability on the student and forces them to think more critically and creatively.  It must have the essential elements of standards-based knowledge, a driving question, sustained inquiry, authenticity, student voice and choice, reflection, critique and revision, and a product for an authentic, public audience.  These elements lend themselves directly to the profile of the South Carolina graduate, which focuses on rigor, creativity, problem solving, collaboration, communication, and technology.  More important, in my opinion, than all of these, is the skill of “knowing how to learn.”  Through PBL, even young elementary students begin learning “how to learn,” which is not practiced in a “sit and get” classroom.  While students are working on their projects, asking questions, and creating, they are gaining the “life and career characteristics” on the profile of good work ethic, perseverance, and self-direction.  By working with others on projects or critique, they are gaining interpersonal skills, and many projects can help students learn to appreciate other countries and cultures, so they are developing a global perspective as well.  The profile of the SC graduate should also be the profile of a productive citizen in our country, so PBL is one method that can help to prepare our future leaders!

            Going through the process in class this week helped me to gain a deeper understanding of what it will be like for our students.  Many of us were a little confused in the beginning and didn’t know what questions to ask until we got started trying to write our PBL unit.  I’m sure our students will feel that same confusion and frustration in the beginning.  However, through focused mini-lessons and models, we worked on our “project” piece by piece, researching and learning as we went.  Collaborating with others and receiving feedback through the Gallery Walk protocol was so helpful as our ideas started evolving, and this experience helped me realize that my students will truly value critique from their peers, not just me.  We also were able to stretch our creativity muscles not only through planning our unit, but by helping our peers with fun ideas during the Critical Friends protocol.  Finally, by presenting our unit with the pressure of an authentic audience, we were able to, again, put ourselves in our future students’ shoes.  Even though it was not easy, learning this way helped me to become a better educator.  It will be the same for my students:  it will be more difficult for them to work independently and self-directed, but they will gain far greater skills and knowledge by doing so.

            I have already shifted my thinking in terms of how I want my classroom to look this year.  I have been thinking nonstop about projects I can incorporate into other units as the “meat” of the unit instead of the “dessert.”  I want my students to build models of pioneers climbing mountains and crossing rivers while we write our westward expansion journals, and I want students to be innovators and create an invention when we study famous inventors.  I know there will be many obstacles (some I can foresee and others I can’t) when I begin these units with actual ten-year-olds in the fall, but I’m up for the challenge because I know that PBL is worth the risk!      

Jonathan Terry - Final Reflection

Over the course of this week, my thoughts and ideas on the validity of project-based learning has shifted dramatically.  To be completely honest, I thought project-based learning was just a set a buzz words to describe one way of teaching.  This week I’ve learned that project-based learning is not a new teaching fad that will fade away in the next few years.  PBL is what the scope of education is moving towards and, in a way, is what society is demanding.  Project-based learning is taking a project and making it the main focus of a unit of study.  Within this unit, students must constantly use inquiry to discover and answer their own questions.  The products and how they are presented create student ownership in the educational process.  As our students graduate and move into the business world, they will be more prepared to be successful independent thinkers.

There has been a huge paradigm shift for me as a classroom teacher.  I no longer want to depend on lecture, or “sit and get”, as my main way of presenting new information.  Inquiry cannot be something done once or twice a week, but constantly as students look to create new meaning from the world around them.  I’ve also shifted my view on the rigor that needs to be a part of my course.  Too many times I’ve given an assignment with the notion that “this is all they can do.”  From now on I will come into the classroom with the mindset that my students can perform far beyond what I expect and I should not be crippling their creativity.

My participation has expanded my expectations on the power of PBL and for what my students can truly accomplish in the classroom.  I loved the fact that class itself was structured as PBL so that I walked away with personal experience.  One of the most powerful things we can give students is the ability to collaborate and communication their feelings with peers.  This is not always easy in the middle school classroom and I know I will have to spend a lot of time teaching my 7^th graders how to properly critique each other.  Just like real scientists, critique and revision will become an essential cornerstone in my classroom, even if it is not necessarily a PBL unit.  I’m so appreciative of the opportunity to take this class and I cannot wait to share my enthusiasm for project-based learning with my colleagues.