by Andrew K. Miller | May 23, 2011 | Blog, Whole Child Blog
This post originally appeared on The Whole Child blog, an ASCD initiative to call on educators, policymakers, business leaders, families, and community members to work together on a whole child approach to education. View Original >
Project-based learning (PBL) by nature lends itself to authenticity and real-world relevancy. All well-designed projects connect learning to an authentic task, but some can really run with it. This is where project-based service learning comes in, where PBL is used to not only create authenticity, but fulfill a community service and need.
I have a long term partnership with EagleRidge High School in Klamath Falls, Ore. PBL is becoming one of its core identities as the school moves forward. On a recent visit, teachers were collaborating to build a PBL project for a Community Studies course.
Project Rationale and Summary:
As they were coming to the close of the year, the team of teachers planning the project wanted to do something that would continue to build knowledge, but also give back to the community. Math teachers wanted students to feel confident in the skills they learned, English teachers wanted students to write, and the Community Studies teacher wanted the students out in the community. The school itself had always wanted a tutoring program, but no one had implemented one. The team decided, therefore, that they wanted to students to apply and work in a math tutoring program, in order to provide intervention and support mechanisms for future years. Students needed community service hours to graduate, and this could also fulfill that need, while fulfilling a need for the school community.
Culminating Products:
Although the major component of the project was the actual tutoring program itself, students were also required to create major writing components. All students were required to create a cover letter and resume in order to apply for the tutoring job—yes, all students. The team wanted students to realize that they ALL could be math tutors, reflecting a culture of excellence. The students also created sample lesson plans and teaching philosophies in order to show applicant reviewers that they would have the skills to teach, as well as the heart.
Learning Targets:
Although students were math tutors, they were not going be graded in math. This is because the learning of the math skills by the tutors had already been learned, and would not be driving the instruction. Instead the team decided to grade students on technical writing, as they wanted to improve writing scores. They wanted to focus on conventions and organization, which would be the students’ primary grade and apply to the current English course. In addition, students would be assessed on the 21st century skills articulated below. This grade would be part of the Community Studies course, but could easily fit into any course assessment.
21st Century Skills:
During the planning stages, the team identified aligned CTE standards to 21st century skills normally taught and assessed in other projects. Because they wanted to align this project to CTE standards, they wanted to make sure the connection was there and that they were justified in targeted the 21st century skills of communication and collaboration. The specific state standards are “demonstrate professional behavior and etiquette in all business management and administration teams, work units, departments and organizations in order to enhance the work environment” and “exhibit ethical and professional behavior.” Both are clearly aligned to the 21st century skill of collaboration and communication. During this project, students would have to remain professional as they taught, and collaborate with fellow tutors to meet student needs.
Next Steps:
I’m very excited to see the long term effects of this PBL Project. While the project itself where students are assessed may not occur next year, the teachers and students have built a structure that will last at the school and provide a real need for the community. I could see this spreading like wild-fire to other schools, where they start to see the success of the program as it becomes a part of the ongoing culture at EagleRidge High School. I am inspired by the drive of teachers to create projects that provide community service. I encourage all teachers to explore ways to meet community needs through PBL, no matter how small that impact might be. It builds relevancy for learning and builds a nurturing school culture.
by Andrew K. Miller | May 18, 2011 | ASCD, Blog
This post originally appeared on ASCD Express, a regular ASCD Publication focused on critical topics in education. This article appeared in Vol 6. Number 12, the focus topic being effective school turnaround models and practices. View Original >
Turnaround schools have a unique situation and potential. Because of their mandate to overhaul a school and depart from business as usual, turnaround schools have the ability to create an appropriate culture from the ground up. Professional learning communities (PLCs) can be an ideal way to build that culture.
A PLC refers to a group of educators purposefully collaborating to focus on learning for all students and holding themselves accountable to the results, explains Richard DuFour. DuFour worries that PLCs are at a “critical juncture” where both effective and ineffective implementation has occurred.
A PLC, done well, can be a great tool to build and sustain an effective culture for all members of the school, especially if the staff drives it. However, I have often seen PLCs that aren’t really PLCs. This happens when the administration imposes it from the top down. There’s a lack of buy-in among staff members, who see it as just “another thing to do.”
The following tips can help a turnaround school take advantage of the opportunity to build an effective PLC from scratch.
Have Everyone Create the Norms of the PLC
When first starting your PLC, norms and operating procedures need to be established. It is imperative that these come organically from the entire staff.
These should be a set of four to six norms that are continually referred to throughout the year. They should also be short and pithy. As new staff members are integrated, these should be refined and revisited. It will help foster authentic communication, organization, and trust.
Separate Meetings on School Logistics from Professional Development Time
When it comes down to the week-to-week, there needs to be a separation between professional development and staff meetings about school logistics. These logistical or nuts-and-bolts conversations might be about signing out textbooks, a new disciplinary procedure or protocol in communications with students or parents, announcements from student groups, and even technical support accessing the learning management system. All are necessary discussions, but they need to be separated from PLC conversations. For example, professional development about the integration of technology into the classroom is different from training in the technology tool that will be used.
Schools should consider using technology to disseminate logistical information. Can you use an online forum to change problem wording on a schoolwide document? Can you use e-mail effectively to disseminate critical information? Can you record jings or webinars to train teachers in your school’s technology? The answer to all these is yes! Differentiate between the two uses of valuable staff time so that you can guarantee that the professional development time is sacred and reserved for critical reflection and growth as a professional.
Create Opportunities for Staff to Evaluate and Be Evaluated
All too often, there is one evaluator of a teacher. However, we all know the collective wisdom that is in the room: everyone in the school community and on teaching staff has strengths and weaknesses. Present evaluation protocols and criteria clearly and openly. Have staff members and administrators practice using them in a variety of classroom visits. Build in reflection time and goal setting. When evaluation becomes ongoing and done through a lens of trust and community, it becomes less stressful.
Keep a Focus on Mission, Vision, and Identity
Often, turnaround schools get an influx of funds, and the temptation is to spend it on a variety of resources and training programs. If you have multiple curricula, tools, and structures, it can often be just as burdensome to the new teacher as to the new PLC. A school might try to be a standards-based STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), PBL (problem-based learning), or RTI (response to intervention) school that uses a variety of technologies and hybrid learning. Once you start doing everything, it becomes daunting and teachers can easily burn out. Educators recognize the common experience of doing too much and trying to meet the needs of everyone. Whether a school calls itself a problem-based learning STEM school, a hybrid career tech academy, or a standards-based RTI school, keep your focus.
Find the few things that really align to your mission, vision, and identity. It will keep professional development relevant and focused and increase morale for the entire PLC. If you feel that you can’t lose a piece, find how it might fit under the umbrella of a larger component.
Just like in a good PLC, use these selected tips and strategies to build a culture-shifting PLC from the ground up so that it will be sustainable. Do it the right way—or don’t do it at all.
by Andrew K. Miller | May 10, 2011 | Blog, Edutopia
This post originally appeared on Edutopia, a site created by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, dedicated to improving the K-12 learning process by using digital media to document, disseminate, and advocate for innovative, replicable strategies that prepare students. View Original >
Let’s be honest. Designing PBL for Math can be a different beast. With the pressure of high-stakes testing and a packed curriculum, I often coach teachers who are nervous about giving time to a robust PBL project. In addition, because of the plethora of math standards, it can be difficult to choose the right learning target(s) for the project. Here are some tips for teachers designing individual Math PBL projects.
Reframe the term “Real Life” Math
Many standards include the idea of applying math to real life. We all want this as teachers. We want our students to not only see the connection in math to real life, but also to explore them. Below is an example from the Math Common Core Standards.
Solve real-life and mathematical problems using numerical and algebraic expressions and equations.
3. Solve multi-step real-life and mathematical problems posed with positive and negative rational numbers in any form (whole numbers, fractions and decimals) using tools strategically. Apply properties of operations to calculate with numbers in any form; fonvert between forms as appropriate; and assess the reasonableness of answers using mental computation and estimation strategies. For example: If a woman making $25 an hour gets a 10% raise, she will make an additional 1/10 of her salary an hour, or $2.50, for a new salary of $27.50. If you want to place a towel bar 9 3/4 inches in the center of a door that is 27 1/2 inches wide, you will need to place the bar about 9 inches from each edge; this estimate can be used as a check on the exact computation.
4. Use variables to represent quantities in a real-world or mathematical proble, and construct simple equations and inequalities to solve problems by reasoning about the quantities
There are many more standards like this throughout the Common Core that related to “real life” math. This is a great place to start, but we can do better. I think the real potential lies in the redefining the word “problem.” I think this term has been sampled over the years. When you say “math problem” we often envision an equation, whether that be word or simple calculation to solve. Couldn’t it be more? What if the problem was that we need to find the most cost effective design for a classroom, given materials and certain parameters? What if the problem were to predict what would happen if the oil spill in the Gulf had not been stopped, and using this information to convince policy makers to make changes in environmental protections? What if the problem was to create a salary schedule for the student store to reward hard workers while still keeping a profit? These are the types of ideas teachers need to be having when thinking about the word “problem” in math. The old definition of the word “problem” is not rigorous. Redefining the word “problem” within the frame of Project-Based Learning is rigorous, and still demands real world connections in an authentic way.
Pick or Make the Appropriate Time
I know the structures in place for Math teachers. Sometimes there is not enough time for a project. Sometimes, it’s just not the best use of time. If a standard needs to be covered in a short week unit, then it isn’t the best place for a project. However, if there is a 3-week unit coming up around a specific math learning target, this would be a great opportunity to create a project. There is time and space for you the teacher to get your “feet wet” in implementing the project. In addition, you might be able to combine the learning targets in a project that seem to fit together. Your allow time increases and you can have students create products that demonstrate learning of both targets or standards. As a teacher, be creative with the time you have, either in looking for the best opportunity or creating an opportunity.
Pick a Standard with Easy Real-Life Application
“Don’t try to fit a square peg through a round hole.” Sometimes you can try too hard to make a PBL project align to a math standard. Some are easier than others to align. Pick standards that you know or have seen used in real life. If you are unsure, ask you colleagues. I like to say, “The Wisdom is in the room.” I’m sure your colleagues, whether it be math teachers or CTE teachers have some great ideas. Pick standards that clearly can have a practical purpose in analyzing a problem and/or design a solution to that problem. It is much easier to teach Right angle triangles, number sense, or graphing in a PBL project that it is factoring. (PS: I would love to hear from any teachers who have managed to create a PBL project from a seemingly difficult math standard. You rock!)
As teachers, we always have structure and forces as work, from the federal to the school level. Curriculum and Instruction can be a challenging place to navigate in these structures, especially where the curriculum and pedagogy is counter-paradigm to the traditional. I encourage teachers Math teachers specifically to give PBL a shot, regardless of the structures. Hopefully, these tips give you some strategies and comfort you enough to implement Math PBL projects in their classroom. Feel free to steal ideas from the Buck Institute for Education’s Project Search, but make it your own. Remember, if we want our students to really wrestle with rigorous math concepts, then we must create space and environment for this work to happen.
by Andrew K. Miller | May 2, 2011 | Blog, Webinars
I have an upcoming webinar next week titled “Project Based Learning Online – Essential Elements and Examples”, part of iNACOL Teacher Talk series. Next week Thursday, May 19, 2011 at 6:00 PM (Eastern). It should be a good one.
Register Now!
For teachers, project-based learning (PBL) is a “front-loaded” experience. That means considerable planning happens on the front end, before students ever enter the picture. Participants will explore the essentials elements of PBL design as well as look at example student projects from various courses, including English and Game Design. Andrew Miller will walk participants through the PBL projects of his and students’ design, looking at student products and learning management design in Moodle. Andrew will focus on what PBL looks like in a completely online environment. Suzie Boss will describe how an online PBL Camp that uses a variety of Web 2.0 tools to support professional learning, helps teachers find collaborators, invest in planning time, and gain familiarity with project-based learning strategies.
Speakers
Andrew Miller is currently an online teacher for Giant Campus in a variety of project-based courses. He is a regular blogger, writer and presenter on various topics including PBL, Culturally Responsive teaching and online education. He also serves on the National Faculty for the Buck Institute for Education, traveling the country conducting workshops for numerous schools, districts and states.
Suzie Boss is co-author of Reinventing Project-Based Learning: Your Field Guide to Real-World Projects in the Digital Age. She contributes regularly to Edutopia and is on the National Faculty of the Buck Institute for Education.
by Andrew K. Miller | Apr 22, 2011 | Blog, InService
This post originally appeared on InService, the ASCD community blog. ASCD (formerly the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development) is an educational leadership organization with 160,000 members in 148 countries, including professional educators from all levels and subject areas––superintendents, supervisors, principals, teachers, professors of education, and school board members.
View Original >
The term “career and college ready,” or any other variation, is thrown around all the time in K-12 education with good intentions. We all want students to leave our classrooms with passion for learning, prepared for their job or their next step in education. However, you can’t simply rely on these ideas to engage your students.
One of the pitfalls to avoid with career and college readiness is just what the term can imply: “This will matter when you go to college.” Why do we default to the response that this material will help you later? For some kids, career and college has never been an option and seems well out of their realm of possibilities. Simply using it as a talking point will not break through to them. In fact, it may even create a barrier. A student could view this as a lack of understanding of their world and where they come from.
This is not to say you should never use future-oriented language. I have seen some amazing schools where the culture is “You WILL go to college,” but again, this is in the whole school’s culture, not simply a phrase that is used to try and get students engaged in the work. I think this culture of excellence needs to be paired with a culture on authenticity and relevancy in the present moment. As Chris Lehmann asked in a recent TED talk, “Why can’t what students do matter now?”
I agree. We can do better. We can show kids, through authentic and relevant tasks based in the present, that their work is important NOW. You can make students “now” ready. You can make the teaching and learning matter to them now, honoring them as crucial to creating and innovating in the current world around them.
Instead of having students investigate world religions in a traditional research paper or presentation, have them work in teams to debunk current myths, stereotypes, or misunderstandings for the local community through a variety of products and presentations. Instead of just interactive labs about the human body’s structures and systems, have students investigate current health care technologies or practices and suggest innovations and improvements in treatment. Instead of having them create a blueprint of detailed measurements and angles, have them engage in a design challenge to create a new outdoor school structure that will meet all teachers’ and students’ needs at the school (Ed. Note: see the work of 2011 Outstanding Young Educator Brad Kuntz).
Notice that in all these examples they will still learn significant content, but for an authentic purpose in the present. Making students “now” ready creates a culture of present and future excellence. Engaging students in critical thinking, rigorous work, and authentic learning today will convey the skills and content for success tomorrow.
by Andrew K. Miller | Apr 20, 2011 | Blog, edReformer
This post originally appeared on edReformer, a community of advocates, entrepreneurs, educators, policy makers, philanthropists and investors seeking to promote excellence and equity in education through innovatation. edRefomer serves as a catalyst for innovation in education by encouraging and promoting public and private investment in new learning tools, schools, and platforms. View Original >
Innovation Spotlight – Conspiracy Code
There are progressive reforms out there in online education, people and organizations who are thinking outside of the box of what it means to engage our students in the online classroom. Florida Virtual School has implemented Conspiracy Code™: American History, a game-based course in American History. It is one of the first courses of its kind to be available to students on a large scale. I like some, was intrigued by the idea, but of course had my reservations. I was lucky enough to set up a interview with Courtney Calfee, FLVS Curriculum Specialist and one of the lead curriculum designers for the project. Below is the QA from our conversation.
What was the inspiration for constructing a course like this?
Florida Virtual School (FLVS) created a partnership with 360ed, a game development company, to design the game interface and a Learning Management System. FLVS also worked with the University of Central Florida to ensure the facilitation of Caine & Caine brain-based learning in instructional design. The interactive nature of gameplay allows for higher order thinking assessment and incentivized learning through engaging gameplay. Conspiracy Code™: American History was created as an appealing, interactive game-based program with the hopes of leveraging technology to effectively engage students and teach them social studies content knowledge and skills. The historical content is tied into game interaction and storyline to create a meaningful learning experience.
Describe what an example unit looks like, including instruction methods and assessment. What do the assessments look like? Are they authentic?
Conspiracy Code™: American History is organized into 10 missions that are mostly linear, but also organized thematically to allow students to identify changes over history and gain a deeper understanding of historical content. Florida Virtual School students collect historical clues which contain a chunk of information such as text, images, video, audio, primary documents, chart, etc. To check for understanding, the student receives a mini-game following each clue that requires them to select the appropriate images for the clue, answer a Wheel of Fortune- type game, put events in order, or perform another quick content knowledge check. Throughout the game, students are on the hunt to identify enemy agents by asking them historical questions. If the character tells historical inaccuracies, the player knows that this character is an agent. The player can then challenge the agent to a content knowledge duel, which if successful, will remove the agent from the game. Students submit their Conspiracy Logs to their instructors throughout the mission and answer higher cognitive level questions about the content to ensure understanding. Students collaborate in the Forum by participating in discussions on historical content. Finally, the students complete a discussion-based assessment with their instructor and complete an authentic mission project demonstrating mastery over the content.
What data have you collected that illustrates Conspiracy Code’s success?
Conspiracy Code™: American History is currently being tested with students to validate and measure learning gains through efficacy testing. Florida Virtual School students should finalize course work and study activities through the summer months, and a report will be available by the end of the year.
How is this course culturally responsive or helps to serve the needs of all students? How is the course differentiated?
The students encounter a wide-range of characters throughout the course which allows students to see someone like them in the game. Students can take this course for honors credit and are encouraged to extend their thinking with culminating mission projects. Additionally, students are allowed to progress through the game at their own pace to allow time to digest the content and review content. The content is chunked into manageable pieces of history to help students digest information before moving on to new content. The Conspiracy Code™: American History mini-games help all students evaluate their understanding of clues before moving on to new material.
How do students collaborate with each other?
The students taking Conspiracy Code™: American History participate in a forum where they collaborate and discuss historical topics.
Regarding efficiency: How do you know that this is an efficient use of learning time?
The teachers provide constant feedback on their students’ level of engagement by conducting discussion-based assessments with their Conspiracy Code™: American History students. The documentation of the interaction demonstrates that the students gain a deeper understanding of American History than in traditional courses.
What are your plans for extending this type of course design to other FLVS courses? Will you keep the theme of “conspiracy” or branch out into other thematic games?
Future plans include a development of a middle school U.S. History course and a high school World History course using the same characters in different environments. Currently, we also have an Intensive Reading version of the course being tested in lab settings for a blended model delivery.
How do you train teachers on teaching this type of course? How is the same or different from teaching other traditional FLVS courses?
We train teachers on Conspiracy Code™: American History by giving them hands-on experience in the course. Our teachers are all very highly-qualified and knowledgeable in their own subject areas so they are already awesome teachers – we just need to train them to use their skills in a slightly different environment.
What has been your biggest learning experience as a course designer for Conspiracy Code?
The most rewarding learning experience has been to see how content goals and gameplay goals can be integrated and accomplished together.
Conspiracy Code™: American History is definitely appealing to a variety of learners and can serve as an engaging environment to learn important content. There are a variety of assessments, media and activities to check students understanding of the context, as well as learn the content initially. As the developers are reflective, they see some potential to reflect and improve upon the course. I think the next step is building authenticity for an outside audience in a course design, similar to Jane McGonigal’s Evoke project, as well as true collaboration to produce the assessments, more than simply chatting on a discussion board. Conspiracy Code™: American History is a great example of thoughtful innovation and commitment to exciting options for all students. Like Jane McGonigal says, “Gaming can make the world a better place,” so why not allow our students game to learn.
by Andrew K. Miller | Apr 20, 2011 | Blog, Whole Child Blog
This post originally appeared on The Whole Child blog, an ASCD initiative to call on educators, policymakers, business leaders, families, and community members to work together on a whole child approach to education. View Original >
Project-based learning (PBL) is being embraced by schools nationally and across grade levels. Educators know that each grade level comes with its challenges as students are in a variety of developmental levels and abilities. However, through practicing 21st century skills in a PBL environment, students can build their social, emotional, and cognitive capacity.
Because the middle grades are a paradigm shift for most students, middle-grades teachers are presented with an exciting opportunity to engage 21st century learners, but they also need to keep in mind that these students need unique scaffolding.
As someone who taught using PBL at the middle-grades level, I have seen students be very successful, with careful and deliberate scaffolding. Of course, there are unique challenges when working with middle-grades students, not only in terms of their development but also in terms of the level of PBL project they have accomplished previously, if any at all.
Because many students have not done PBL regularly, it is important that the PBL projects are tightly managed and teacher-directed at first. This is because you need to make it safe for students. PBL has students collaborate, present, and think critically. Although these may seem like “skills,” they are crucial to any child developmentally. Just as good teachers scaffold content learning, teachers need to scaffold this learning as well. Middle-grades students can collaborate, present, and critically think, they just require more scaffolding and focused guidance.
Below are the first stages of a PBL development guide created by Angela Dye of the Small Schools Project. I think these are great targets for teachers to use at the middle grades. I believe that if you are using PBL effectively and regularly in the classroom, students can reach stage 3 or higher by the time they leave your classroom for high school. In fact many elementary schools focus on PBL projects that would fit in steps 1 and 2; so if PBL is built into the scope and sequence of the entire life of a student, one can only imagine the amazing things students can do at the middle-grades level, let alone in high school.
Step 1: Project Taskmaster
At this level, students are connecting themselves to the problem-solving process. Here is where they commit to learning the problem by completing specific, subject-matter tasks. They take responsibility for building their knowledge base for the project. They use the computer effectively to collect and display data. They collaborate with others for accuracy of data and information. They learn to view the teacher as an advisor and not the central source for knowledge and learning.
Deliverable
- Report of problem (outlined by facilitator)
Step 2: Project Scholar
At this level, students analyze the global aspects of the problem. They are able to take the data collected and articulate a sound description of the problem. In addition, they use the Internet and other resources (other than the teacher) to add depth to their analysis.
Deliverables
- Report of problem (outlined by facilitator)
- Problem analysis
Step 3: Project Leader
At this level, students are able to use their global awareness of the problem to identify outcomes (needs) of the problem. By connecting these needs to a social institution, they then design a solution that is a concrete object, an event (or activity), or a process. Although the solution is not carried out at this level, the design is valid (researched) and applicable (realistic) and ready for implementation.
Deliverables
- Report of problem (outlined by facilitator)
- Problem analysis
- Project design
PBL is a great way to not only build skills but also foster student growth emotionally, socially, and cognitively. When students collaborate, they become social beings in a context. When students present their work, they build their emotional confidence. When students critically think, their brains are working hard. How thankful your high school will be when your middle-grades students leave you as not only project leaders, but also confident and secure young adults.
by Andrew K. Miller | Mar 16, 2011 | Blog, Whole Child Blog
This post originally appeared on The Whole Child blog, an ASCD initiative to call on educators, policymakers, business leaders, families, and community members to work together on a whole child approach to education. View Original >
Project-based learning (PBL) is rightfully touted as a way not only to create engagement in the classroom, but also to prepare students for their lives once they leave the confines of our classrooms. When given an authentic task to complete that is aligned to standards, students engage in an inquiry process, both as a team and individually, to innovate a solution. The task creates engagement in learning content and also 21st century skills. But let’s cut to the chase and see exactly what about PBL aligns to aspects of being career and college ready.
Public Audience
Every project in which students engage demands a public presentation of their learning. Similar to a board of directors presentation or a sales pitch, students are required to present their products to the public, whether through YouTube, a formal presentation, a podcast, or a portfolio. The audience usually comprises experts in the field. As in the work world, when there is accountability not only to ourselves, but experts, our level of work increases. Students will do the same. If you give them the opportunity to present to an expert, they will rise to the challenge and emulate a real-world experience.
Driving Question and Student Voice and Choice
These two foundations for PBL are closely related in terms of preparing students for college and careers. The driving question creates a feeling of challenge and interest in solving a real and authentic problem. It can be abstract: “How does who we are as teenagers affect who we become as adults?” It can be concrete: “How do we create an ideal outside classroom for our school?” Regardless, students create authentic products for an audience to answer the question, similar to a project in the real world. In addition, the question is open-ended and complex, and allows for student voice and choice in creating a product to answer the question. In college, although requirements are defined, there is often space for students to express their own viewpoint or method. As adults, we have complex and open-ended questions we answer in the career world every day. Students need to be given the opportunity to not “look for one answer” but solve complex, open-ended questions that allow for different ways of knowing in order to prepare for them for that post-secondary experience.
Revision and Reflection
PBL fosters a culture on ongoing feedback and revision. Students learn that it is OK to make mistakes and revise work. This is counter-paradigm. Some traditional teachers might demand a rough draft, but PBL creates multiple opportunities to revise and reflect on work before the actual due date. Like in the workplace, students critique each other, critique themselves, and receive critique from teachers and experts. It helps to prepare students to be independent in their critique and to continually seek feedback from peers and experts, a skill not taught explicitly at the college or career level, but nevertheless is needed and valued.
21st Century Skills
The Buck Institute for Education currently focuses on three major 21st century skills: collaboration, critical thinking, and communication. All are critical to being prepared for college or career. Whether it’s problem solving with teammates, being able to articulate work to a client, or analyzing a solution for effectiveness, all of these skills can be at practice in a PBL project. In fact, they can be taught and assessed. Instead of simply allowing students to experience these 21st century skills, PBL values them as part of the grade and demands teachers not only assess them, but teach them. They are just as important as the content that is being learned in the project.
“Now” Ready
One of the pitfalls to avoid with the idea of being career- and college-ready is just what the term can imply: “This will matter when you go to college.” “This will prepare you for college.” As Chris Lehmann in a recent TED talk espoused, “why can’t what students do matter now?” Why do we as educators default to the response that this material will help you later? For some kids, that idea of college and career is well out of their realm of possibility. The language of being career- and college-ready will not break through to them. However, when done well, PBL frames the content to be learned in a relevant and engaging current problem. With PBL, you can make students “now” ready. You can make the learning and project matter to them now, honoring them as critical to creating and innovating in the current world around them. Use PBL to not only make your students career- and college-ready, but also “now” ready. By making them “now” ready, you will make them college- and career-ready.
by Andrew K. Miller | Mar 10, 2011 | Blog, InService
This post originally appeared on InService, the ASCD community blog. ASCD (formerly the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development) is an educational leadership organization with 160,000 members in 148 countries, including professional educators from all levels and subject areas––superintendents, supervisors, principals, teachers, professors of education, and school board members. View Original >
Online learning was created to fill a variety of needs for students. Some students are not successful in the traditional school. Some are bullied and feel unsafe. Some need to catch up. Some learn online in order to prevent dropping out of school. All of these scenarios cause us to rethink what time means to student learning.
Yet some people still hold fast to the Carnegie unit and time as the quality indicator for learning. Yes, adequate time must be given to student learning, but why is time the main factor and not the learning? (See iNACOL‘s briefing on competency-based pathways, which highlights many of these challenges.)
How does this affect the role of teacher? As an online educator, I use my time differently. I meet students where they are. I communicate through a variety of online tools. Some responses are instant; some occur over time. Students learn content synchronously and asynchronously, and our online meetings reflect that. Due dates, although indicated, are flexible to student needs. Submitted work is given immediate, meaningful feedback within 24 hours of submission.
Overall, when time is not the driving force, learning can be more individualized to the student. Time spent learning should be just as diverse as the students I serve.
by Andrew K. Miller | Feb 28, 2011 | Blog, Edutopia
This post originally appeared on Edutopia, a site created by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, dedicated to improving the K-12 learning process by using digital media to document, disseminate, and advocate for innovative, replicable strategies that prepare students. View Original >
One of the greatest potentials for PBL is that it calls for authentic assessment. In a well-designed PBL project, the culminating product is presented publicly for a real audience. PBL is also standards-based pedagogy. Oftentimes when I consult and coach teachers in PBL, they ask about the assessment of standards. With the pressures of high stakes testing and traditional assessments, teachers and administrators need to make sure they accurately design projects that target the standards they need students to know and be able to do. In addition, teachers need to make sure they are continually assessing throughout a PBL project to ensure their students are getting the content knowledge and skills that they need to complete the project. Below are some criteria to ensure that your PBL project demands that demands high expectations, aligned to standards and assessed properly.
When designing, use R.A.F.T. as a way to ensure an Authentic Culminating Product
R.A.F.T is great teaching strategy that many teachers use in activity-based lessons and assignments. In it, students are given a topic (T) and must make a few selections. They choose a role (R) that they will take on individually and as a group, such as marketer, author, blogger, campaign manager, etc. They choose an Audience (A) obviously related to the role. It could be students, parents, voters, a CEO, or even a doctor. Students also choose the format (F) that they will use, such as webpage, press release, letter, museum exhibit, or podcast. Again the possibilities are endless.
This strategy is a great technique to use when figure out the culminating product for PBL. You as the teacher can decide the aspects of R.A.F.T they will and also allow for student voice and choice. It helps to ensure that the product they create is real world, targeting real content and for authentic purpose and audience. This leads to student engagement.
Target Select Power Standards
However, PBL’s intent is not to cover, but to get in depth authentic assessments that truly show a student has mastered a few given standards. When students are going in depth on a targeted standard, a teacher can be confident that they have learned that target. If a teacher covers a standard, can a teacher be certain that all students truly have an understanding of the learning target? Many teachers might say “I don’t have time to go in depth.” I might reply “So what else is new?” There is never enough time to target every standard, so it is important to focus on power standards and target them in depth to ensure deep learning for all students in the classroom. When I train teachers in PBL, I use this analogy to explain an effective framework. There is shopping with intent to buy, and also exploratory or “window shopping.” I have found that teachers respond well to this analogy with regards to Standards and PBL:
“When you go window shopping, you often spend a few hours walking down the street or the halls of the mall window shopping. You look in the window at a coat you might want to buy. You even enter the store and try it on. You might even try out a cologne or perfume. Or, you might simply admire the iPad that you want to buy at the Apple store.
“Conversely, when you go shopping with intent, you most always know you want to buy something. Standards and PBL is a lot like this. You have the intent to purchase an item. The task is deliberate. You have a mission. You need to buy a gift for a friend, or you want to buy a pair of shoes. These are the ones you take the time to truly explore, think about, try on, and finally purchase with your hard-earned money. It is the same way with standards. There are some standards you “buy.” THESE are the standards you mean to assess. There are also standards you “window-shop.” These are the standards that you might encounter and explore in the project, but do not intend to full assess. As a teacher, you need to think about which standards will your students ‘buy,’ how you will teach them, and how your assessments will demonstrate the learning.”
We know that learning is not segmented. In science, you might be working on writing skills. In math, you may be working on speaking skills. That is what makes learning exciting and what allows students to make connections across disciplines. However, there must be clear intent of the instructor of what is truly to be assessed. Using this framework will allow you, the teacher to categorize and target the power standards you need to, and ensure true alignment with you assessments and standards. These might be power standards determined by your department, district or team or personal learning community (PLC). Again it depends on what forces are at work, but you are the teacher that is designing the PBL project. In order to have a targeted and aligned PBL, ask yourself: “What standards are my students going to buy, and what standards are they going to window-shop?”
Select 21st Century Skills to Teach and Assess
Just like selecting targeted power standards, you should also select 21st century skills to grade and assess. My top 3 are collaboration, presentation and critical thinking, but of course technology literacy is always a popular one. Just remember that you must teach what you intend to assess. Perhaps your students will experience critical thinking for this PBL project but be taught collaboration and also assessed. The Buck Institute has a variety of rubrics available, so you don’t have to “reinvent the wheel.”
What does 21st century assessment look like? Well, there are many ways to show that students have collaborated. Perhaps they create a wiki to show they have collaborated. Perhaps they have portfolio defense where they showcase how they critically through throughout the project. Perhaps student presentations are on YouTube. I encourage you think creatively about how you have students show they learned a 21st-century skill and share any thoughts in the comments area below.
Formatively Assess Only for Purpose of Revision and Improvement
In order to be transparent to parents and students, you need to be able to track and monitor ongoing formative assessments, that show work toward that standard. There must be a place to have this data so that effective conversations can be had for all partners in the learning of the student. In addition, you use the formative assessments to give meaningful feedback to students and specific ways to improve. It serves to improve your practice as an educator, demanding you refine and improve your instruction. In addition, it holds students accountable, because there is an exit slip, worksheet, draft, or quiz due often.
Here is the idea that may “upset the apple cart”: As I teacher, I know the complications of grade books. As a teacher you sometimes feel the need to put everything in the grade book in order to ensure that students are doing their work. However, there is philosophical dilemma here: If the grade is the performance, why does practice factor into it? I recommend only having the summative assessment count for the majority of the grade. Formative assessment is practice, and summative is the performance. You might protest “If I don’t count the worksheets and assignments I give out, then they won’t do it.” If I were there, I would answer, “You trying to ‘cattle-prod’ your students into doing work by giving leverage in the grade book instead of focusing on the real problem – Your students aren’t engaged.”
The focus should be on creating relevant, inquiry-based and engaging summative assessments. When the summative assessments have these characteristics, formative assessments and assignments will be relevant to students. The daily work is filtered through an authentic task that is engaging. Your students will do the work and it will improve the culminating product that will ultimately show they know the content and skills.
Next Steps
If you use these criterion and advice, you can be more confident that the PBL project you create is engaging and really calls for targeted learning. Your students will learn rigorous content and skills for an authentic task. As you master these techniques, make sure you are transparent in your assessment strategies with all partners in the learning community: administrators, students, parents and community stakeholders. As this a paradigm shift, you will encounter resistance, so make sure you communicate how PBL is assessed transparently.
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