Thursday, September 17, 2015
Building School Communities One Brick at a Time
After reading this article I can see how it will be a little easier for elementary schools to implement PBL units because of the year long opportunities with students. Plus some teacher teach more than one subject so they can work across the curriculum. In high school there are so many students taking a different path and different courses it is harder to collaborate with another subject. All students do not take English in the same semester. Plus in science class you have several different grade levels. I truly believe that I am completely supported in my PBL efforts at Greer High School. The administration does not want students sitting and taking notes all day. I try to incorporate projects in everything I teach but again they are only projects. PBL has taught me to think outside the box and have students do more of the work. I am truly there to help guide them, grant them permission to take risks and support their efforts.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Yes, PBL does look different in elementary, middle, and high but as mentioned in the previous article and as you've suggested, we must be flexible. PBL can be done within one subject area...you just simply need to integrate the 4Cs of collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and creativity along with the 8 Essentials. However, another point I think we need to consider in secondary education is how typical it is for us to teach within silos of academic concepts. Life is not nicely compartmentalized into various subject areas. Life is messy, blended, and requires problem-solving, persistence, empathy, and all those great soft skills. Knowledge and information are a commodities. Yes, we need to establish a foundation but students need to be engaged in real-life, authentic, meaningful experiences in which they are engaged to think, not simply repeat a series of fact of information. Thank you for your willingness to try new things, to think outside the book, and to even fail...but the learning you and your students experience through failure is simply part of the exciting process of learning!
ReplyDelete