Reflection on My PBL Course Experience

Project Based Learning - Final Reflection

Backyard Nature

(1)

Project Based Learning (PBL) involves a very complex and time intensive planning process on the teacher's part. Having said that, the benefits of learning in an authentic environment and having students learn using real world problems will create a more exciting and meaningful experience for them. In order for teachers to be able to implement PBL in their classroom, support is needed from administration in the form of professional development, adequate planning time, and community backing. Without administrative support PBLs will probably not become the norm in a school.

Teacher planning, preparation, and organization prior to beginning the PBL project is key to the success of the project. The BIE Project Planner that was available throughout the course provided a good platform for designing my own PBL. Following the steps in the planner helped to make sense of the project design and made it possible to create my own PBL. Having such a thorough guide to work with, was a great example of how to use templates to guide inquiry. Without it I would have had no clue how to proceed.

Teachers need to be able to step back and give up some of their control in order to let the students learn independently and direct their own learning path. Because teachers are used to being in the role of leaders and information suppliers, it is a real challenge to do more coaching and observing. In PBLs, the majority of traditional teaching will be done when training students in the PBL process prior to beginning the project, which is extremely important to the success of the project. Mini-lessons in things such as Internet safety, research techniques, and other skills necessary to help the students be successful in the PBL will also require some teaching moments. Students will be in control of their own learning for most of the project, with the teacher taking on the role as consultant and adviser. 

In order for Project Based Learning to be effective, it needs to be done across the curriculum and vertically throughout the grade levels. Students will not develop the skills necessary to be successful in a PBL environment unless they are immersed in the process throughout their education. Whole school participation would provide the greatest benefit to the students. This is why it is so important for administrations to be supportive and willing to provide the necessary professional development for all teachers.

What I understand least is how Project Based Learning will fit into the standardized testing environment of public education. Teachers are going to be hesitant to stray away from the traditional classroom teaching methods for fear of test scores going down. Another thing that I haven't quite figured out is how teaching with PBLs will prepare students for High School and College. Will they be prepared when they are put back into an environment where PBLs may not be used? How will SPED support have to change in order to ensure students reach their educational goals? Project Based Learning is going to require many changes throughout the the school. It needs to become the teaching norm in the school so that there is consistency in educational practices and expectations.

In this course I expected to learn about teaching through projects. I had no idea how involved Project Based Learning really was. This course helped me to understand how to make PBL a success in the classroom and the knowledge that I've gained has made me more comfortable in talking to people about integrating their curriculum into projects and pushing more toward a Project Based Learning environment. I also learned the steps in designing and organizing a PBL. This will help me to coach others in the process. As the Technology Integrator, I'm hoping that someone will team teach with me and that we can put together projects in each grade. Showcasing the projects, involving other teachers,  and showing how engaged and excited the students are will help to bring other teachers on board with the concept of Project Based Learning.

Work Cited:

1. Retrieved from http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/pictures/30000/nahled/a-reflection-of-nature.jpg.

PBL Debrief

Debriefing the PBL

Post-project debriefing is important to students, teachers and the PBL as a whole. Students, teachers, administration, parents, and community members would all be involved in the debrief. Reflecting on the project after it is complete will help the students to look back on the entire process and recognize aspects of the process that could have been done in a different way. Involving other teachers, administration and community members will help gain support and generate excitement for the use of PBLs in the classroom. As stated in an Edutopia article titled Why Teach with Project-Based Learning?: Providing Students With a Well-Rounded Classroom Experience, "Project-based learning helps students apply what they learn to real-life experiences and provides an all-around enriching education." (1)

Students
Students will fill out a debrief form (2) after the culminating event. The information gained from the student debrief will give insight into what students had learned, whether they liked the format of the PBL, and any improvements that they'd like to see. This information can help the teacher assess the success of the PBL in meeting the curricular goals and supply ideas for updating and improving the PBL.

Teachers
Feedback from co-workers about the process and the final product would help to refine and improve the curricular aspect of the project and provide suggestions for improvement. Getting the other teachers in the building involved would also increase the school's interest in PBLs and motivate them to become more involved in the next one. Teacher debrief would be done through a Google Form or Google Doc and through discussion groups.

Administrators
Involving administrators in the PBL process will help to familiarize them with the process and the benefits of teaching through real-life projects. Having administrators participate in the debrief will give the teacher an idea as to whether the administrators felt the PBL project was successful and if they are likely to support future projects. Their input and suggestions will help teachers to understand where they stand and what more needs to be done in order to gain the support necessary to continue to incorporate PBL projects into the curriculum.

Community Members
Incorporating PBLs into the curriculum is such a drastic change from traditional classroom teaching, that involving the community in the process as much as possible will be help the community to understand the benefits to the childrens' learning. It will help them to understand the benefits of using PBLs in order to build life-long learning skills, skills that will be necessary for the 21st century world that the students are entering into. Including the community in the debrief will provide teachers with insight into how the community feels about the students' work.

Including these key players in the PBL debriefing process will provide a lot of important information to the teachers and students. If the debrief was meant to be a one-time assessment it wouldn't be worth doing. The information obtained from each of the groups will be presented to and discussed with the students in order to determine what the next steps will be. In the Backyard Nature PBL, if there are ways that the students can improve the work that they did on the trail, the changes will be made. If there are changes that need to be made to the PBL design, those changes will also be made in order to improve the project. There are so many aspects involved in a PBL, from the planning, preparing, briefing, and actually doing the work, that any input and ideas should be used to improve the process and products.

Work Cited: 

1. (2008). Why Teach with Project-Based Learning?: Providing Students - Edutopia. Retrieved June 8, 2016, from http://www.edutopia.org/project-learning-introduction.
2. Debrief form -Adapted from PAKEYS.org 

Implications of Incorporating PBL

Implications of Incorporating PBL

 (1)

Teachers will face many challenges when incorporating PBL into their classroom teaching repertoire. Tradition is difficult to break, and people tend to want to cling onto what they are comfortable with and techniques that they know work. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" Unless exposed to PBL, everyone from the top down, will go on thinking that current practices are working. After all, standardized tests show that students are meeting standards. But, are they meeting the needs of the sudents' future, the requirements necessary to be successful in the 21st Century world? Probably not!

Potential criticisms that I might receive from administrators, parents, and colleagues are:

• How can you be sure students will perform well on the tests?
• By basing my planning and design on the standards that I need to meet and constantly monitoring the students work through conferences and formative testing, I can ensure that the students are learning what they need to know. I will design some of the formative assessments and a summative assessment in a manner similar to what they will experience on a standardized test, so that they get traditional testing experience.
• You can't possibly meet standards like this.
• When I plan the PBL I base my design on my curricular goals. So, as long as I monitor, conference, and re-direct as we go, students will meet the standards by completing the goals of the project.
• All they do is play in her classroom.
• Children learn best through play, something that has been forgotten in the race to "pass the test"! When a project is designed based on real-life problems and situations and the students are able to do hands-on projects, they will be more connected and dedicated to the work. What looks like play to some is really deep learning based on exploration, experimentation, problem solving, designing, and creating. 
• She's just showing off.
• I'm trying to teach in a way that I feel will best suit the needs of my students. Why don't you join me. I'd love to have a partner.
• You're making the rest us look bad.
• It's not about "us", it's about what's best for the kids. Learning through PBLs are the best way to develop the skills necessary for the future environments that students are going to be working in.
• The way I teach is just fine.
• Is it? How do the kids do? Are you seeing more restlessness, movement, and distraction in your classes? It's not a reflection on your teaching, after all, you've always been a great teacher. Kids are different now. There's so much information that they have available to them now that book learning is just not fulfilling any more. Until we catch up as teachers, we're going to continue to see more and more "problem children".
• I don't have the time for that.
• I won't lie, planning for PBL is a ton of work. But, what if we worked on them as a grade level team. We could divide the work up. Like our other planning, it would become second nature and we would get better at it as we do it more and more.

Incorporating PBL into my repertoire for effective instructional strategies will prepare students for the 21st Century by reinforcing the skills that will be required by the students, which include critical thinking, communicating, collaborating, and creating.  "The term 21st century skills refers to a broad set of knowledge, skills, work habits, and character traits that are believed—by educators, school reformers, college professors, employers, and others—to be critically important to success in today’s world, particularly in collegiate programs and contemporary careers and workplaces." (2) Reading, memorizing, and regurgitation information is no longer a sufficient set of skills for students. Students need to know how to take information and analyze it, interpret it, and create and present a final product. Incorporating PBL into my curriculum will help to build those skills and to lead the minds of students toward the 21st Century thinking process.

Work Cited:

1. Retrieved from http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2813/12079594693_aee01d902a.jpg. 
2. (2013). 21st Century Skills Definition - The Glossary of Education Reform. Retrieved June 6, 2016, from http://edglossary.org/21st-century-skills/.

Adaptation to the Role as Facilitator

Adaptation Takes a Community

As an educator, my role will definitely change when embarking upon a PBL unit. Instead of being up in front of the class lecturing and presenting material, I'm going to have to step back and lead students toward their own discoveries. Even though "traditional teaching" will still be necessary in order to present some concepts, I will need to keep this style of teaching to the minimum and focus on letting go of the reins a bit and empowering students to take charge of their own learning. Part of this process will involve helping students to be more independent in their learning and to not look to the teacher for all the answers. Extensive regrouping of techniques and practices will be involved on the part of the teacher and the students.

According to an article in Edutopia titled "5 PBL Practices for Redefining the Teacher's Role", there are five practices that the teacher needs to consider when teaching in a PBL environment. (1)

The above 5 practices, thorough planning of a unit, providing organization, clear goals, and resources, will lead students toward success and reaching the intended goals. Using essential questions that are based on real life problems will increase learning because students will be more invested in their learning. The use of models, videos, and real examples in teaching the unit's concepts will help guide students toward their own ideas and learning. Conferencing throughout the PBL, through individuals or groups, will assist teachers in revising before it's too late. By allowing students to change and revise as they go helps to ensure success. By evaluating themselves and peers, students will develop a sense of independence and control of their learning. Self-evaluation will take practice and training on the student's part, in order to gain the skills necessary to give constructive input to peers and to objectively evaluate themselves. I adapted a form from the Edutopia article (1) mentioned above, that I felt would be helpful to use with my PBL, Backyard Nature. Success in a PBL is largely dependent on the pre-planning and organization on the part of the teacher.

Will the students develop the competencies and skills needed to be successful?  That's the question of the day! Any "new method" will raise questions and the teacher will have to answer to administration, parents, and community members. Students will develop the skills that they need to be successful in their 21st Century world.  I really like this visual, taken from the Zulama Cloud blog. (2)

The skills displayed in this image will be developed in a well planned, designed, and monitored PBL. Through constant monitoring and conferencing, teachers will ensure that the curricular goals are being met. But, the question is, will this model prepare students for the standardized tests. When students become used to developing, designing, and collaborating, will they still be able to function in a multiple choice testing environment. Those are questions that can't be answered until a school dives in and begins to prepare students for the 21st Century. Are administrators willing to take the risk and support the teachers, and is the government ready to release their control on how schools operate by trusting teachers to do their job and getting rid of the one-size-fits-all standardized tests? So, I do believe that students will develop the skills necessary to be successful in their future endeavors, but teachers require the support to feel comfortable "jumping in" and making the change in their teaching methods.

Numerous changes will have to be made in my current teaching methods in order to incorporate PBL into my classroom. Since I am the Technology Integrator, first and foremost I will have to find teachers to partner with. A positive aspect to this is that we would team teach, lending two sets of eyes and hands to the entire process. My current schedule would have to be changed so that I am not on the Unified Arts (UA) schedule and am free to schedule my own time, allowing me to be where I am needed, when I am needed by a class. Currently I am confined to a schedule dictated by my 1st - 4th grade UA classes, making it very difficult to schedule open times with 5th - 8th grade. I would have to "let go" of some of the control and allow students to be more independent in their discovery and learning. I don't think that this would be difficult for me because I like to have students discover things on their own. I would need to totally change my planning and preparation methods and the first year of using PBLs would be similar to being a first year teacher again. Although I change and update my curriculum every year, PBLs require a totally different approach. Planning and preparation are within my control, but other things, such as scheduling and administration support are our of my hands. Gaining support at all levels, along with changing teaching and learning methods would be critical to the success of a PBL.

Work Cited

1. (2015). 5 PBL Best Practices for Redefining the Teacher's Role | Edutopia. Retrieved June 5, 2016, from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/pbl-practices-redefining-teachers-role-josh-block.
2. The Four Cs of 21st Century Skills - Zulama. Retrieved June 5, 2016, from http://zulama.com/education-trends/four-cs-21st-century-skills/.

Scaffolding in PBL

Scaffolding in PBL

(1)

Project Based Learning presents many unique challenges in teaching. When using PBL, ensuring that students stay on task and reach the learning goals of the curriculum is not as straight forward as in the traditional classroom setting. Scaffolding is important in order for a PBL to be successful because it will provide structure and organization to the students' work. According to an article titled Scaffolding in PBL,

(2)

Clearly stated expectations will help to guide and keep students on track and heading toward the final goal of the PBL. Without establishing a set of clear expectations, students will wander and lose sight of their task. One way that I like to do this is to always provide rubrics prior to the start of a project and encourage students to refer to them frequently in order to help them stay focused. If expectations are clearly stated students will be able to guide themselves and do most of the work independently, with the teacher acting as a consultant and adviser. It's a difficult task to let go of some of the control and find a balance between enough structure to assure learning goals are met and enough freedom to allow students to be creative and learn through doing. Scaffolding will help teachers to find that learning/teaching balance.

(2) 

According to Scaffolding in PBL, the eight characteristics of educational scaffolding are:

1. Provides clear directions
2. Clarifies purpose
3. Keeps students on task
4. Offers assessment to clarify expectations
5. Points students to worthy sources
6. Reduces uncertainty, surprise and disappointment
7. Delivers efficiency
8. Creates momentum

Scaffolding is important with PBL because there are no textbooks or workbooks to guide the teachers and students. Traditional educational environments that teachers are accustomed to, which include teaching through textbooks and scripted readings, practicing, and then testing to assess learning, will not be used when students are involved in a PBL. Student learning will be judged based on the understanding that is gained through "real-world" exploration and experiences. Scaffolding will provide students with a clear path to follow, keeping them focused and on task. Formative assessments throughout the project, such as journals, will demonstrate the level of understanding of individual students and provide teachers with the opportunity to redirect students who are not meeting the expectations of the project. Unlike final tests, formative assessments, which are done throughout the PBL, keep students and teachers informed on how they are doing, allowing for intervention immediately and not after it's too late and the unit is over. Students are given the opportunity to be successful.

In my project, Backyard Nature, students' journals, blog entries, team participation, and project progress will be monitored daily. This will allow me to discover problem areas, with students or my design of the project, right away. The sooner I am able to address a learning or design issue, the quicker I will be able to get the students back on task and headed toward the PBL goal.

The main concern that teachers in public schools will experience is, "How will the students perform on the mandated standardized tests?" It's a shame that even though teachers familiar with the benefits of using PBL with their students agree that this style of learning works best for deep understanding, teachers' hands are still tied by the constraints of government mandated standardized tests. Like students, teachers also fear failure...failure in the eyes of administration, parents, the community, and the government. Public schools are not judged on the ability off students to be creative, independent, successful explorers, designers, and learners. They are publicly judged, ranked and rated on how well they perform on "the tests". Using scaffolding, formative assessments, and summative assessments, to align the PBL to standards and curricular goals will help to ensure that students will be prepared to "pass the tests", while still attaining a deeper level of knowledge. 

Work Cited

1. Retrieved from https://pixabay.com/static/uploads/photo/2016/03/26/09/41/road-sign-1280254_960_720.jpg.
2. Taken From: Scaffolding in PBL