10/19/17
I have begun my PBL unit with my grade 10 Honors class. This is a somewhat scary proposition for me: this is a different way to thinking and teaching. But I am REALLY excited about this!
Before I begin, let me give a bit of background information on myself. I have been teaching for 24 years; I have taught at a Catholic elementary school (ELA, computers), grades k - 8, a middle school (ELA) , and for the last 17 years, at a high school (ELA). I consider myself a forward thinker, yet in some ways, I am still mired in "old" practices. I am innovative, and a tech guru (I was using blogs with kids before they became the "thing" to do). I am always searching for better ways to bring skills into my classroom.
For my professional development in the last couple of years, I began flipping and blending my classroom. That led, naturally, to project based learning -which is my professional goal for this year. I have spent hours talking to other educators about all of these methods of teaching and learning, and so I decided to just "jump in."
I began by reading the book Setting the Standard for Project Based Learning by John Larmer, John Mergendoller, and Suzie Boss. You should see all the notes I took! I also persuaded a colleague to invest in the same professional development, and he and I spend a lot of time talking.
So, I decided that since I only have one grade 10 class, this is where I should begin. I spent about 5 days setting up this unit. I spent one class period outlining what PBL is, and why I wanted to invest the time into creating real-world connections. We spent two class periods in the library, looking at how to evaluate websites. We spend time going over expectations and rubrics. We spent time discussing, questioning and answering. Thinking.
I had to decide what I wanted my students to learn from this. The first thing I want them to learn is research skills. Since we are not writing an essay or research paper as our project, I had to discuss with them exactly what I am looking for: evaluation. Isn't that what research is? Finding and evaluating information? THAT is the skill I want to work on, and that is the skill I am assessing.
I also want them to learn how to work collaboratively. They need to be able to work together, delegate tasks, and create a product that the entire group has contributed to and is proud of.
I want them to apply critical thinking skills. This will be assessed by me via group and whole class discussions. It will also be assessed in their final product.
You may be asking what exactly my students are researching. Well, they are going to answer the following question: How can we increase tolerance (a practical plan) in our school? Our community? Our country? Our world? Their ultimate goal is to create a product that will demonstrate how we can increase tolerance.
We are also working with students in Portugal - another exciting venture! Due to the time difference, this is a bit problematic, but we are coping.
We have just begun this journey. I have created checkpoints that will assess students along the way. They seem to be really excited, and so am I!
