by Andrew K. Miller | Nov 17, 2013 | ASCD, 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 >
How do we support our students in being career and college ready? This is not a new question, and educators continually struggle with what that even means. We leverage rigor and relevance as keys to prepare students for the postK–12 world, but what does that look like? What are some practical ways to promote rigor and relevance and target specific Common Core State Standards? One key method, which is not new, is authenticity. Teachers can support students in meeting the Common Core by creating more authentic reading and writing tasks. Here are some ideas to consider as you target specific Common Core standards in instruction and assessment.
Authentic Written Products
The Common Core does not dictate the vehicle with which students can show their writing skills. No matter what specific writing strand of the Common Core you are targeting (argumentative, narrative, or informative), consider having students create assessments and products that mirror work from the real world. Letters, blogs, podcast scripts, infographics, press releases, guides, and the like can provide not only voice and choice to students, but create engagement to do relevant and meaningful work. Pick appropriate authentic products that can align to specific standards so that students can write authentically.
Authentic Reading of Primary Sources
Create contexts for students to read primary and not secondary sources. Not only does the Common Core call for the ability to cite a variety of sources and read a variety of texts, but primary sources can help provide relevance in the classroom, as they are more authentic. Reading and scaffolding authentic texts can help create reading engagement in the classroom.
Authentic Roles
Students of all ages like to take on roles that real people do in real life. Now, I am not saying they are actually performing these roles (pretend can be good, too), but sometimes you can create a space to practice. Students can be architects and use math skills to create effective bridges, and they can be poets to tell the stories of homeless youth in the community.
Authentic Collaboration
The Common Core has a speaking and listening standard at every grade level that calls for “collaborative discussions.” This is a great opportunity to have students tackle real-world challenges and problems in teams and build collaborative skills. We know collaboration is a valuable skill, and we can make this collaboration more authentic through real-world scenarios, challenges, and problems.
As you continue to support students in meeting the Common Core standards, consider authenticity as a model to create a space where relevance and rigor are at the forefront of your instruction and assessment. The Common Core is only the “what,” and we educators must use our methods of “how” to support all students. Authenticity can be one of these “hows.”
by Andrew K. Miller | Oct 28, 2013 | 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 >
While math and English language arts teachers have a much more direct call for Common Core implementation, teachers in other content areas are also being called to implement the Common Core State Standards. This may be a challenge for some. In my work with teachers across many states, I find that non-ELA and non-math teachers aren’t as familiar with the CCSS, nor with implementation. In the next couple of blogs, I’d like to share the stories of science and art teachers implementing the CCSS — their processes, reflections and advice. We’ll start with science.
Biofuel vs. Fossil Fuels
Katie Abole teaches science at Bronx Leadership Academy in New York. “I had never thought about using literacy so intentionally and even having started my teaching career with LDC [Literacy Design Collaborative] as a model, it took a couple of years and a really great literacy coach before I really understood how to tackle literacy,” Katie told us. She shared that it was easier to focus on the content than paying attention to literacy skills, but with the Common Core, she knew that she would have to take some responsibility rather than let the ELA teacher be solely responsible. In fact, she said, “science literacy is different and requires different skills.” To start this implementation, Katie was trained by the LDC to create modules for her science class that would work on targeted CCSS standards. LDC modules have the Common Core hardwired into them, and focus on reading text to write about those texts. Katie created a module about biofuels and fossil fuels. Her task and question was:
Which is a better energy source: biofuels or fossil fuels? After reading articles and potential energy diagrams, write a report that compares the reactions of hydrogen biofuel vs. fossil fuels and argues which is a better energy source.
Reading Standards
1. Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.
2. Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.
7. Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse formats and media, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.
9. Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take.
10. Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently.
Writing Standards
1. Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
4. Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
5. Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.
6. Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.
8. Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, assess the credibility and accuracy of each source, and integrate the information while avoiding plagiarism.
10. Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audience.
Implementing the Standards
Katie scaffolded literacy skills from reading and writing standards in a variety of ways. She used graphic organizers, drafting and outlines, revision, and direct instruction to have her students write an argumentative piece on the question. “Because we looked at an actual journal article for the fossil fuels vs. biofuels module, students felt proud that they were learning college-level skills,” said Katie. “I think the authenticity of the task leads to a higher student engagement, and the ability to write something gives students a voice, especially in an argumentative essay.”
She balanced literacy instruction with traditional science activities and lessons. “For example, when we would spend one day reading an article, the next might be an activity or lab, which kept students engaged in the overall unit.” This helped to ensure that the “stamina” to read and write wasn’t a major concern. In addition, the reading and writing was about the science content itself. Although some of the instruction for traditional science content was taken away, Katie’s approach allowed for depth in a specific area of science content using literacy skills.
Nuclear Power vs. Fossil Fuels
Christopher King, who teaches at West Bronx Academy in New York, developed a similar LDC unit about nuclear and fossil fuels. He used the same task frame as Katie, but his focus was on ninth and tenth grade science content. In the unit, students would read a variety of texts that provided both the pros and cons for using nuclear and/or fossil fuels. His task and question was:
Should electrical energy be generated from nuclear power or fossil fuels (natural gas or coal)? After reading informational texts on how electrical energy is generated from these fuels, write an essay that compares the chemistry behind the two methods to generate electricity, and state whether one is the better method for production in an urban environment. Be sure to consider alternate viewpoints and support your position with evidence from the texts.
Because he used the same task as Katie, Christopher targeted the same built-in reading and writing standards. Not only did he scaffold it with strategies, he also included a Socratic Seminar to scaffold argumentation and evidence skills. He used sentence stems to help students quote articles and readings effectively as well as work on counterclaims.
Reflections and Advice
Both Katie and Christopher learned a lot from their experience. Neither had previously included much literacy instruction in their content area classes, but they said it allowed them to cover science content as well as intentionally work on literacy skills. Because of the nature of the prompt, students were willing to engage in academic conversations. They wanted to argue because the topics were interesting and relevant to them.
So what should you think about before getting started? Christopher suggests:
I think the easiest way to get started is to start small. I mean, really small. Like have students look at a graph and make a claim about what the graph is telling them. Then analyze the structure of the claim they make. Then, when they have the hang of that, move on to the next step. Taking everything at once is a recipe for disaster.
Katie’s recommendation is similar:
The best thing I can say is to think of where you want students to be skills-wise by the end of the year and build in opportunities to have students practice to reach that goal . . . Starting small allows you to develop a path to guide them on and build them up so their confidence as scientists/writers will be sufficient to carry them through the module!
by Andrew K. Miller | Oct 16, 2013 | Blog, Huffington Post
This post originally appeared on the Huffington Post, an internet news and commentary website. The Education section features updated on college, teachers, and education reform, where I regularly contribute. View Original >
There are many educational policy issues manifesting themselves currently that are creating tensions and in some cases all out rebellion. One is of course standards, and more specifically, the Common Core. With this effort to standardize learning objectives, there is of course backlash. NBC News recently noted that many teachers and even parents are “rebelling” against them. Regardless of how you feel about the Common Core, it is a change for many educators, and change causes tension. In addition to the Common Core Standards, the Next Generation Science Standards are hot of the heels of the Common Core in terms of adoption. My home state of Washington recently announced they would adopt these standards. No doubt, there will be some backlash there as well.
Speaking of rebellion and backlash, standardized tests are also a source of rebelling. Teachers in Washington State garnered national attention when they decided they would not issue the standardized tests set forward by the state. The new Smarter Balance and PARCC assessments, aligned to the Common Core are the latest tests to receive this backlash. States like Georgia, Oklahoma, North Dakota, Alabama, and Pennsylvania have all backed out of issuing the new PARCC assessments.
With all these controversy and conversation around standards and testing, I feel there is a major issue that needs to be discussed from the Educational Policy perspective: Student Engagement. Why aren’t we creating policy that focuses on diverse ways to engage our diverse group of students? Standards in no way will solve the problem of engagement, nor will testing. Now I’m not saying it easy to legislate or create policy to drive engagement, but it certainly has not been at the forefront of the conversation. Why aren’t we creating policy to create professional learning experiences to arm teachers with a variety of techniques to engage students? Why aren’t we debating policy to shift towards personalized and competency-based pathways to differentiate instruction for all students? I have no answers, but I know there are pockets of excellence. I simply want Student Engagement to be as important at the forefront of our minds and conversations when we create policy that will affect our students.
by Andrew K. Miller | Oct 11, 2013 | 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 >
Authenticity — we know it works! There is research to support the value of authentic reading and writing. When students are engaged in real-world problems, scenarios and challenges, they find relevance in the work and become engaged in learning important skills and content. In addition, while students may or may not do stuff for Mr. Miller, they are more likely to engage when there is a real-world audience looking at their work, giving them feedback, and helping them improve. This is just one critical part of project-based learning. However, maybe you aren’t ready for fully authentic projects. Where are some good places to start taking the authenticity up a notch in your classroom?
Authentic Products
Does the work matter? Does it look like something people create in the real world? It should. Much of the work we do in the classroom may not be like the real world. Wouldn’t it be great if it were? Now, I’m not saying you need to make every piece in your classroom completely authentic, but consider having your major summative assessments reflect the real world. If you truly want the work to matter, make your products not only look authentic, but actually be authentic. Follow this link for a list to consider.
Needs Assessment
How do you make the work be authentic? One way to is to conduct a needs assessment of your community. You can facilitate students to conduct this needs assessment by having them design the type of data to be collected, collecting and analyzing that data, and then developing action plans. These action plans can include real-world projects that you help your students align to curriculum standards. Paired with authentic products, the work now matters to the community and can make a difference.
Authentic Audience and Assessment
Edutopia has a great section on Authentic Assessment that you can use to get started. It goes over definitions, features videos, and includes tools to help make the assessment process more authentic. Part of this is having an authentic audience to give your students feedback. Sometimes that audience can be parents, but often it’s made up of people who, in their everyday lives, do the same or similar types of work to what your students are doing in the PBL project. So instead of just a public audience, make it an authentic audience. Remember, this audience doesn’t just participate at the end of the work, but is engaged throughout.
Authentic Tools
When you partner with an authentic audience that can give honest feedback about the work, they may also be able to provide you with authentic tools. These tools might be construction-type materials, or they might be technological. Different work calls for different tools, and having the right tools can help students do more authentic work. As you plan your work and projects, find those real-world connections, and ask them what tools they use.
Whenever I build PBL projects, I try to make them as authentic as possible, not only because it helps engage students, but because the students start becoming social change agents. Education shouldn’t stop at engagement in learning — it should be about engagement in our world in community!
by Andrew K. Miller | Sep 27, 2013 | 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 >
Providing your students with a public audience is not only a critical part of the project-based learning process, but it’s also a great strategy for building authenticity into assignments to create work that matters. We often leverage our students’ parents and guardians in this process because 1) they are easily accessible, and 2) they are our partners in their children’s learning plans. Why not then continue and build this partnership in PBL? John Larmer wrote a great blog about how to build parent support for PBL, and one of the best ways he mentions is to keep them involved in the PBL project you launch in your classroom. Here are some strategies to consider as you leverage parents for your next PBL project.
Use Technology
I know many teachers use technology tools like Edmodo in their PBL projects, and Edmodo has a way to set up parent accounts. Use Twitter as a backchannel chat with a classroom hashtag to communicate. Use Skype to bring in parents who are experts on content and skills as well as for entry events.
Parents as Experts
Our parents and guardians are experts not only in a wide range of job-specific content areas and skills, but also in hobbies and other outside interests. To explore this resource, send home a survey to ask parents about their interests and areas of expertise. As you discover what is just phone call away, start building a huge database of experts who can support your PBL activites before, during and after the project.
Parents as Assessors
If you plan to have parents or guardians as part of the assessment process, make sure to orient them to the rubrics they will be using. Don’t think that they need to look at the entire rubric. If you have a team of parents and guardians assessing a presentation, for example, jigsaw it! Or perhaps just have them use a checklist along the way as well. The other key piece here is to have parents and guardians give growth-producing feedback. Give them stems such as “I like . . .” and “A good next step would be . . .” This will help focus the feedback and keep it balanced.
Parents as Planners
One very powerful way to make parents or guardians a critical part of the PBL project is to involve them in the planning process. Having a content expert with you in the planning stages can help ensure that all gaps are filled and that you’ll have more eyes to ensure a quality project. In addition, seek out parents who are familiar with the Critical Friends Group critique protocol, because they can provide excellent feedback before you launch the PBL project. (Don’t forget to involve the students in your planning process as well).
Thank You!
It’s easy to forget this part. Please say thank you to your parents. Record a class video. Have students write thank you notes. Send a letter home signed by the class. This seemingly little piece can go a long way toward a continued partnership with your parents and guardians.
As you partner with parents in your PBL projects, remember this one piece of advice: just ask! You aren’t going to get anything if you don’t — and the worst-case scenario is still the same. But keep asking! Before you know it, you will have many parents and guardians who are more than willing to help in whatever way they can. This will lead to a better school community and buy-in for authentic PBL.
by Andrew K. Miller | Sep 17, 2013 | ASCD, Blog
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 >
Educational leaders, I have an important announcement for you! (You’ll get the joke later). We are always pressed for time. Many of us do not have collaborative planning time, or if we do, it is limited. There is never enough time, and so we have to be creative, both in creating space for work and in changing how we would normally spend our time. The staff meeting is one place where we can be creative with time and refine it to meet our professional learning goals. Here are some things you might do to restructure and “flip” the staff meeting.
Quit the Announcements – You know what gets old at a staff meeting? Announcements. At every staff meeting, I was always frustrated when we spent 15–20 minutes going over logistics and making announcements. You can record these announcements, create a document, or send an e-mail and spend the time asking clarifying questions instead. This way, you can save time for better work; work that teachers will find more meaningful.
Teacher Led PD – Based on needs assessments of teachers, we create targeted professional learning activities. Frankly, we don’t need to do this creation ourselves. Our teachers have great ideas, and we can ask them to share these ideas that are aligned to faculty and staff needs. We can co-create professional learning sessions. Build your teacher leaders and have them model great instruction by leading focused professional learning.
Ongoing Protocols – Discussions can sometimes get out of hand. We are educators, and often we love to talk…and talk…and talk. I’m guilty of this as much as the next teacher. Let’s honor the talk, but also focus it. Choose professional learning protocols to use in staff meetings. Perhaps it’s a critique protocol or looking at student work protocol. Regardless, your staff meeting can now become a time where revision and reflection occur, and student learning is the focus of the time.
These are just three ideas you might use to start flipping your staff meeting. It can be a valuable time for professional learning, but only if we are creative with that time and shed some of the “traditional” ways they have been used. How do you foresee flipping your classroom for the upcoming year?
by Andrew K. Miller | Sep 11, 2013 | 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 >
Play has earned some inaccurate baggage of connotations over the years. When we talk about playing in education or play time, many would push back that it is not appropriate to play in classroom, or that play is not good learning. This could not be farther from the truth. I think Fred Rogers put it best:
“Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children, play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.”
Remember when you were a kid and were always playing? You often made mistakes, but those mistakes never got in the way of you trying again, trying something new, and ultimately coming to a place of success. Wouldn’t it be great if we got just a little more of that into the classroom?
Why Play?
Play does so many positive things for us in terms of learning. When we play:
We build skills like confidence
We strengthen relations with others
We develop creative skills
We problem solve and tinker
We learn to be flexible
People who play learn to question something, predict an outcome, and evaluate their predictions through the process of play. When we play, we persist through challenges — and we even enjoy it. Play builds excellent social and emotional skills and helps create a culture where those skills are valued at school. Probably one of the most important aspects of play is the way it treats failure and mistakes as non-punitive, ensuring that we have opportunities to learn from whatever went wrong. Yes, play makes failure fun. I love the use of the word “tinker” to describe play. It’s serious work, but it’s also fun work. Play values the process of learning as well and the product.
Elements of Play
The Strong, an organization devoted to the study and exploration of play, has broken down the elements of play. They use this great equation:
Play = Anticipation + Surprise + Pleasure + Understanding + Strength + Poise
Their Elements of Play graphic breaks down this equation in emotions. For example, anticipation is associated with interest, readiness and ultimately wonderment. Understanding is associated with empathy, skill and ultimately mastery. When I look at these emotions and descriptors, I get excited about creating them in my classroom. I want to work in a room where we create things like joy, ingenuity, awakening and even balance. I’d love to foster these elements of play by actually creating time to play.
Ideas for You
The Museum of Play is just one organization that champions the cause for play. They offer many resources including studies, activities and also great quotes about play. In addition, as you play with students, you can teach and assess creativity. As articulated in an earlier blog on creativity, it is important to break down what creativity means for students, encourage play, and set creativity goals as they play over and over again. You can develop Makerspaces in your schools and communities to foster tinkering and play in all kinds of contexts. Use game-based learning as a model, and create either “gamified” units or use games as part of the instruction. There are so many possibilities for embedding play in your everyday instruction. From these possibilities you can help reframe failure. It can be become not only non-punitive, but also a learning opportunity. More importantly, the forgiving context of play can make failure fun!
As you head back to school, don’t forget to carve time out for playing with kids. Let’s honor the reality that all of our students are kids, and because of that they need time to play. Although play may look different from 1st grade to 12th grade, all kids want to play, and we can use play to motivate students toward being creative, toward collaborating and tinkering in our classrooms, toward creating high-quality work and assessments. Also, don’t forget to play as an educator — you need it, too! Like I say to my fellow educators and students, “Let’s have some fun and fail forward!”
by Andrew K. Miller | Aug 19, 2013 | 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 have an honest conversation on the issue of coverage. Whenever I work with teachers, I always hear the genuine concern about coverage of material. And it’s true — most teachers, based on structures beyond their control, are forced to cover a lot of material in the year.
AP teachers must cover world history and chemistry content to prepare students for the AP tests, a series of exams that call not only for knowing a lot of content, but also its application. Non-AP teachers also face the same issue of covering many standards in a short year. I work with teachers to build great PBL projects that focus on deeper learning, and I always hear, “I have so much content to cover this year that I don’t have time to do a PBL project.” Again, this concern comes from a real place. I’ve experienced it both as a student in the classroom and teacher in AP and PBL classrooms. However, I have a few responses for this common concern.
Starting the Conversation
“How’s the coverage going for you?!?”
The typical story here is this. We have a lot of material to cover, either because the pacing guide calls for it, or because we mapped out our year to cover that material. We prepare our students for an exam that will occur in a week or two. We are successful in preparing them for that exam through a variety of lessons, lectures and instructional activities. Most students pass the test, but after the weekend or even weeks later, they can’t remember the content. They are then forced to relearn or review content later. Sometimes we must take up class time to do this. In general, coverage doesn’t ensure that the learning “sticks” and may even take away from time that we need to teach other content and skills.
“Do you really cover everything?!?”
Most teachers who cling to the excuse of coverage aren’t actually covering everything. Because students have different individual needs and the character of a classroom changes every year, teachers differentiate and make adjustments to meet those needs. This means that some standards or learning objectives may not be given the content they need. I was guilty of this when I taught world history. I just didn’t have time to do it all. However, teachers still make good choices here. They look at the standardized or AP tests and pick the content they’ll hit during that year to make sure students are prepared. If Gothic literature or specific texts are frequently on the AP literature exam, I make sure to pick those texts. Let’s just honor that fact that we make good choices for our students and yet may not cover everything we want to or need to cover.
I admit these questions are somewhat crass and could be perceived as rude. However, I am simply trying to elicit an honest conversation on coverage of material. My personal opinion is that we use this excuse of coverage as a crutch when we, as good teachers, are actually not as committed to it as we think.
Covering Your Bases with PBL
If you are concerned about coverage of material as you build your PBL projects, consider these few ideas to alleviate your fears. They will help you focus on “uncoverage” and steer you more effectively toward deeper learning.
1. Pick the Major or “Meaty” Content and Skills
Some of our standards are easily taught and assessed in a limited time frame, while other standards and learning objectives require a length of time. This is either because of what the pacing guide dictates or because our teaching experience has told us so. The “meatier” content and skills are a great place to aim for deeper learning. They take time because that’s often part of deeper learning, so why not use a PBL project?
2. PBL Projects Uncover Multiple Standards
In addition to “meaty” standards, teachers have targeted multiple standards for a PBL project. A PBL project can have a single-disciplined or multi-disciplined focus. There is space for teaching and assessing multiple standards. In addition, you can use a PBL project to “spiral” in standards you may have already targeted for continued practice and assessment.
3. PBL Projects Require Critical Thinking
It we want the knowledge to “stick,” then we must have students think critically with it. When designing a good PBL project, we make sure that it simply isn’t regurgitation of knowledge. If I see a PBL project going this way, then it might be a design flaw. It could be a problem with the driving question, the rubric or a number of other factors. Design with critical thinking in mind, and make sure the PBL project demands it.
There are of course other reasons that PBL projects work, and there is research to support it. I think we need to stop using the excuse of “coverage,” first because it may not even be an honest excuse, and second because it isn’t working. Let’s do what’s best for our students and focus on “uncoverage” by creating PBL projects and units that focus on deeper learning of the content, where students remember the material, think critically with it, and apply it in new contexts.
What are your strategies to reframe the conversation of coverage to “uncoverage?”
by Andrew K. Miller | Aug 1, 2013 | 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 >
I had a great time at the PBL World Conference in so many ways: as a presenter, as a panelist, as a listener, as a collaborator, and even as the subject of art. (Now, that is something I would never, ever have guessed!) Everyone took away his or her own ideas for implementing PBL projects, but one theme I noticed throughout the entire conference was assessment. Assessment remains a challenge for many of us who do PBL, but I left the conference feeling more confident not only in the assessment practices I have done, but also in generally accepted best practices. Here are some of my big takeaways:
Assess 21st Century Skills
There were many “deep-dive” sessions on teaching and assessing 21st century skills, from critical thinking to creativity and innovation. (I myself recently wrote a blog on the latter.) This may be a challenge for some teachers, as most of us are good with assessing our content area, but not necessarily 21st century skills. Use already-existing rubrics to target quality indicators for scaffolding activities where students learn and practice aspects of the 4Cs. If we truly value 21st century skills, then they must be taught and assessed as we would do with any other content area’s knowledge and skills.
Assess Process and Product
It is crucial to assess not only the product of a PBL project, but also the process along the way. Formative assessment is key here. There must be benchmarks not only in terms of content, but also product. Traditional formative assessment tools can be used along the way for students to reflect and revise their work, as well as set goals. In order to ensure not only quality but also critical learning of content and skills, we must value the PBL process as well as the product.
Authentic Assessment
“Keep It Real” was Sam Siedel’s call for PBL — in other words, to make the work authentic and meaningful to students. When students create products, it is crucial that the assessment is authentic. Instead of doing all the work yourself, have an authentic audience contribute. Since the students are doing meaningful work, it only makes sense to get that work to the experts and audience who need it. In addition, let’s think about authentic assessment as something that’s also student-driven. Have students assess their own work and well as the work of their team members and peers.
Embed Standardized Assessments
I wrote a blog on this subject awhile ago, and it still holds true: standardized tests remain a concern for teachers. In fact, they are a concern for teachers across the globe. Educators I worked with from Canada, India, Israel and Indonesia all expressed the same concerns and fears around standardized tests. The key here is embedding that material within PBL projects to keep them somewhat meaningful while still practicing for the standardized test.
In addition to these tips, check out Edutopia’s Classroom Guide: Top Ten Tips for Assessing Project-Based Learning. The ideas I’ve just described are articulated in that guide, along with more assessment strategies to draw from.
What are your best tips for Assessment in PBL?
by Andrew K. Miller | Jul 15, 2013 | 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 >
I had a great time at this year’s ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) conference, as both a presenter and participant. Of course I was excited to hear Jane McGonigal again as she engaged us in thinking about games for learning and other amazing purposes. As ISTE closes, there are many free resources that I saw either introduced or highlighted around game-based learning (GBL), from educational games to gamification in the classroom. I’m always looking for free! (Aren’t we all?) Some of these tools and concepts have already been featured in news reports about education, but following are a few ideas as you consider using them.
SimCity Edu
We have all been awaiting the release of SimCity Edu, and you can now pilot it this summer in anticipation for use in the classroom this fall. Although applications for this pilot closed on June 28, I’m sure there will be more to release soon. In the meantime, you can still log in and create your own lesson and ideas as well as browse other sample units and lessons. One sample unit has students focus on creating civic engagement in SimCity, aligned to civics learning objectives and essential questions. Many of the other lessons are aligned to common core standards and other content standards like business, math and science.
Educade
Newly announced from GameDesk is Educade.org, a huge database of games and game lessons that teachers can use in the classroom. It’s free, and you can even create your own lessons to share with the PLN they’ve created. It’s a great way to get your own GBL ideas out there for feedback and collaboration. The lessons are aligned to content, grade level, and even 21st century skills like critical thinking and collaboration. You can also add lessons to your “backpack,” “like” and comment on lessons, and share them on social media. I especially liked the lesson idea of using statistics to predict and plan outcomes for the board game Settlers of Catan (one of my favorites). Educade’s mission is to “zap” boredom, so if you’re using the tools, consider joining the Twitter hastag PLN #EducadeZAP.
Quest Designing Tools
Dr. Chris Haskell of 3D Game Lab has put together some great resources on designing effective gamification environments for learning. One of the best articles I’ve seen on this site — and on this subject — is “Understanding Quest-Based Learning,” which goes over effective usage of game mechanics in the classroom, as well as quest design, incentives and assessment components. 3D Game Lab also has paid Teacher Camps that allow participants to use their learning management system. However, the resources on the site also provide a great framework for ensuring quality gamification in the classroom.
It’s clear that there are more and more tools and resources out there to help support implementation of GBL in the classroom. As you consider some of these resources, don’t go crazy! Make sure to start small. Along with that, be intentional in terms of student learning outcomes. Build or use assessments appropriately, and give feedback to the organizations creating and providing the lessons, resources and tools — because we’re all in this together! I would love to hear how you are using these in your classroom and more.
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