PBL Reflection

My 2 previous blogs looked at PBL, so I was glad I could learn even more about this since my co-teacher and I wanted to make an effort to incorporate more PBL style lessons in our teaching.  Undertaking a PBL project for the first time can be daunting since there is so much front-loading and planning the teacher has to do before the project begins.  As I said in a previous blog, the teacher can’t show up and just “wing it” when doing PBL. 

The three articles are a great starting point in getting some reluctant teachers some direction in launching PBL in their rooms, and also a review for teachers who have already done some PBL.  Here are some of the highlights and takeaways I took from these articles:

·         First article “Getting Started with Project Based Learning”:   It gave good information for explaining what PBL is to new teachers, and also useful as a checklist for all teachers to refer to for including all parts of PBL in their unit.  I liked how the article explains and gives examples for each part of the PBL process.  Hit home the reasoning for it is for providing deeper learning for students. 

·         Second article “Designing to Learn”:  This article made a good point of the importance of having an authentic audience and it’s what sets PBL apart from traditional learning.  Students work harder when they know they will have an audience and someone will actually be looking at what they create.  Another big component of audience is the critiques and suggestions they can offer to make project better.  A big emphasis in the gifted classes I teach is that they are never truly “done.”   We work on how to give constructive critiques and also how to take that advice without getting defensive.

·         Third article “Launching a PBL Project”:   A big takeaway in this article centered on the learning in PBL comes from questions that students are asking, not a list of questions posed by the teacher.  It can be scary to give up this control and be more of a facilitator then direct teacher. 

As far as my experiences with PBL lessons in k-12 as a student, I honestly can’t recall any that are truly PBL.  I remember a group project in 5^th grade where we built models of the Battle of Gettysburg.  I was hooked because I got to bring in my army men and I wouldn’t get in trouble for it!  Although it was memorable, it was missing many of the key components of PBL.  I see that simply building a model of the battle and writing a report isn’t PBL.

 A unit I just started that I mentioned in my blog previously is called “Inherited Traits and Genetic Disorders.”  Just yesterday, the students generated some cool ideas on genetic disorders in their Learn/ Wonder Charts (picture attached).  The students were able to choose a genetic disorder and research it.  My gifted students are the types that will do really well in PBL, as they have so many questions and wonderings about the topics we cover.  My co-teacher and I were encouraged by the level of engagement and thoughtful responses the students had.