PBL 6

Teacher as Facilitator

Beginning PBL in the classroom changes the role of the teacher dramatically when compared to the traditional sage on the stage guide we have known for many years.  The teacher becomes a facilitator of learning, not the deliverer of instruction.  

An effective facilitator is able to motivate students and has strong communication and questioning skills.  These skills will benefit both the teacher and students.  The facilitator is responsible for moving students through the process of learning.  It may be tempting to point students toward the correct answer, but instead the facilitator should support students to find the correct answer for themselves.  

In my own classroom I can see some very big changes taking place as I implement PBL.  Guiding students through the project will be somewhat familiar to me.  Last year I began genius hour in my classroom which is based on the Google 20% time.  During this time, students were free to create their own project reflecting their own interests.  It was a difficult transition supporting the students while letting them explore and make their own mistakes.  The change that will be the biggest challenge for me this year will be developing questioning skills that will guide students but not directly to the answers.  

I believe the way the PBL lesson is created will influence how I teach this year.  Using activities that guide students through the process is important.  I believe it will change how I teach for every lesson, not just PBL units.  Setting students up for success by giving them appropriate activities that allow them to learn through their own discovery allows the teacher to transition to a facilitator role much more easily.  I am looking forward to the PBL transition.

PBL into Week 5

Scaffolding in PBL
As an elementary teacher, I am very familiar with the concept of scaffolding.  It is a very important aspect of delivering instruction and a popular topic at many staff development workshops I've attended.  For those of you not familiar with scaffolding, it's breaking up learning into little lessons, creating little steps of acquired skills and understanding, each one building upon the next to ensure the success of the learner.  But how does this apply to project based learning?
Scaffolding is a necessity in PBL.  It's key in creating a successful project.  As I began with my driving question and performances in my project, planning how students would accomplish the performance without wasted time along the way required scaffolding, or supporting the students from one step to the next.  As I began to add in support for my students I realized these steps not only helped my students, but the process became easier for myself as well.
Scaffolding in my unit was applied in several areas.  By using rubrics to define the clear expectations of students, the guesswork is taken out of the task.  Students know what is expected and can see a clear path for getting there.  Research is streamlined by previewing articles and offering a collection that will lead students to quality, on topic information.  The area in which I have had the most revision is the area which the students will need the most guidance.  Scaffolding the activities and challenges that students will create for the teams really brought my project together, allowing students to make choices but with limits that make them successful.  With every lesson building on the next, students are more focused and more productive.

Week 4...PBL

As a teacher who has been in the classroom for quite a while, sometimes it's hard to change your habits, or create new ones.  I have struggled with stating my objective for a while now.  It's not natural for me.  I can do it consistently for a short period of time but then I drop off again.  That's not to say that I don't believe in it, or don't see it as important, I just forget.  I jump right in to the lesson and get going.  I have even tried a contest between the students and myself to see who can remember to say the objective first.  That's not to say students don't know the objective, there are other ways I get that point across, it's just not always first.  For the students, stating the objective is important.  It clues them in to important information and tells them the expectation at the end of the lesson.
I hadn't really looked at assessment in the same light, until now.
If students know the expectations of the assessments in PBL, they have a clear sense of what is needed to be successful.
Four key principles in assessment used by an organization called What Kids Can Do are:

• Assessment is for students.
• Assessment is faithful to the work students actually do.
• Assessment is public.
• Assessment promotes ongoing self-reflection and critical inquiry.

These principles of assessment describe many of the important factors in PBL as well.  Project based learning is for the students.  The assessments given to them should be for them.  Knowing the expectations and working towards them for success is important.  If students are graded on what they actually do, learn, accomplish, create then the assessment has meaning.  The assessments are not meaningful when they do not apply to what and how the students have learned.  Public assessment brings the real to the assignment.  Real world projects need real world assessment.  Assessment by peers inside the classroom and people outside the classroom give projects purpose.   Self reflection and critical thinking can allow for change and growth whether it be for the project or the students themselves. 

See Key Principles of Assessment at work in PBL lessons on the What Kids Can Do (WKCD) website.

PBL, Week 3

It's amazing how quickly I can move from working at warp speed to speed bump!  I'm finding that more and more, PBL really encompasses my teaching style.  With that said, I hit a SPEED BUMP!  Or really, more like gridlock!
In response to my project in which I have the students creating an activity, a classmate asked what I had in mind for the activity.  Great question!  In my head, the student groups would each be responsible for their own activity.  Using what they have learned about relationships and communication, to build their own activity that would be presented to students at our school.  After using 20% time in my classroom, I've witnessed first hand what students can create when boundaries are removed.  The open ended activity is what I wanted for my product of my PBL project as well.  I was bound and determined to make it work!
Fast forward days later, I realized I was getting in my own way.  The activity needed to really show what the students had learned from their project and the project didn't need to span over months.  White flag, I surrender!
Back to the drawing board.  What did I really have in mind for students to present for activities?  After bouncing ideas off of others and making a list, I could really narrow activities down to a couple of areas.  Also, I realized that mentors or peer leaders had to use the skills needed to build relationships and effective communication.  Combining the two together, I was able to create a product that fit my needs.
I have to say, in the beginning I was pretty adamant that giving the students a specific task for my project would limit their creativity.  Now, I feel like my project will use their creativity along with their personal strengths.  A great combination!  Students will be allowed the choice of their outcome, but with some limits, I feel like they will be more successful within a smaller time frame.  Win-Win!
My personal learning lesson for the week:  Don't let yourself sit in gridlock, while the carpool lane is wide open.  Ask for help, reevaluate your ideas, focus on your needs, and remember the design process requires revisiting and revision to be successful.