Project Based Learning

Do School Differently, From Day One

In late May, I was able to attend Project Based Learning training by the Buck Institute for Education.   The facilitator was an expert in the field, and modeled not only how to develop a project, but gave us lots of classroom management ideas for PBL as well.

She mentioned three rules of lesson planning:
1.  Curiosity comes first (questions can be windows to great instruction)
2.  Embrace the mess
3.  Practice reflection

Our district's third, fourth, and fifth grade teachers worked in grade level teams to design PBL units to implement in the fall.  In the image below, we were doing a Silent Gallery Walk and providing feedback on sticky notes via an "I like" and "I wonder" protocol.  When using this protocol with your students, remind them that the "I like" feedback needs to be specific.  Simply saying, "I like your project" isn't helpful.  The "I wonders" truly help us get deeper.

We also watched a powerful video about teaching children how to critique.  Ron Berger models a lesson with children, giving feedback about Austin's butterfly.  This is a great video to share with students as a model of how to give constructive peer feedback.

Critique and Feedback - 

The Story of Austin's Butterfly - Ron Berger

The Buck Institute offers amazing Resources for download on their website.  During training, it was helpful for me to walk through PBLs that other educators had completed with their classes.  Be sure to check out the Project Search page to learn more.  It is free to sign up, and you can access documents like the Project Planner and a variety of Planning Forms.  Join their G+ Community or other Social Media Connections to build your PLN.

I love to collect "Gems" - Some from this PBL training:

* Hunches need to collide - ideas take time to develop

* Your classroom should be a place where ideas could mingle, and swap, and create new ideas

* Find the people who have the missing pieces, and that could be used to build and improve your own ideas

* Student questions are the seeds of real learning

* Embrace the messy process of trial and error

* Success is sweet, but failure is good food

* As a teacher, you should constantly be taking the temperature of the room.  Who gets it?  Who doesn't?

And... "This is our class, we can solve it!"