Four Posts to Get You Ready (part 2 of 4)

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(Part 2 of 4)  "I don't have a good imagination!"  "How do you get started with PBL?" "Do you have to start with the standards?"  These are all things I have heard when talking PBL with teachers.  And, like writing a letter (or a blog post), it is that first step that is the hardest.

Because you are a good teacher you know what needs to be taught next in your yearly plan.  Therefore you need to keep in mind that the standards that you are planning to teach will need to be covered in your next project.  Simple right?

Starting with the standards is all some teachers need to create great projects.  Others like to think of a potential project and they see what standards can be taught within the project.  This will come down to your personality, most of the time, and will be forced due to the need for certain standards to be taught other times.  What is it that you want to teach next?   If you truly are new to PBL then there is no harm in looking at other project ideas from places like the Buck Institute or Edutopia.

For example, you want to teach the concept of perpendicular lines and the slope relationship in perpendicular lines.  You know that the state standards give you the facts that must be learned, now what?  Well, where do you find perpendicular lines?  How about where floors and walls meet?  How about where there are intersections of city streets?  How about irrigation canals?  Does it have to be something that is exactly perpendicular?  What about light bouncing off of a mirror?  Now you can talk about terms like angle of incidence and angle of reflection.  They aren't in your math standards?  NOW you are seeing the power of  PBL - you introduce a project that has students measuring angles of light and they are learning terms that they will need to know in physics.

Let's run with this idea.  The students start by measuring the angles of light being reflected off of a mirror.  Then they can create the equations of the lines by having the place where the line comes in be the origin of an XY Coordinate System.  And, if they draw a line on the mirror what would be the relationships of the light "line" and the line in the mirror?  Is there anything unique about the equation of the line that bounces right back to the flashlight?  Hey that's a 90 degree angle?  They are perpendicular.  Is there a relationship there between the two equations?

To make this scenario really work the students will need a "Driving Question."  The driving question is quite often in the form of "How does a  _____ do _____ by _____ ?"  So, for this previous question you might use the question,  How does a physicist know that a laser is shining in the right direction by moving the beam along a reflective surface?   The driving question must be something that you can come back to over and over again.  This helps the students answer the "why are we doing this?" question.

I think you get the idea.  You brainstorm ideas that might demonstrate the concept you are wanting to cover.  Then you tweak it so that the students have to know particular facts (your standards) to be successful.  Suddenly you are being asked to teach them how to calculate slopes of perpendicular lines. They have used inquiry and have come up with a level of knowledge they want and you are providing them the knowledge.  It is THEIR knowledge now.  They are using it because they want and need it.

Sometimes this brainstorming works best when you are with a friend/co-worker.  You might even try asking your "friends" on Facebook or Twitter to help you brainstorm.  This might be a good time to start coming to the weekly #PBLCHAT on twitter.  It happens every Tuesday night at 9 PM EST and there are lots of PBL folks on there who are more than willing to help you brainstorm.  Next time we'll look into your first Entry Event and how you will plan groups for your first project.

Four Posts to Get You Ready For the PBL New Year

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(Part 1 of 4)  2012 is going to be the year!  You have been thinking about using PBL.  You have been reading about it and/or there's a teacher in your school  using PBL in the classroom.   But where to start?  My suggestion is to treat it like a recipe.  The first thing you will need to do is gather the ingredients and, maybe, read some other recipes about PBL so you know the basics of the process.

Let's give you some places to find PBL methods.  First, let's look at the Buck Institute.  If you are a visual learner then their YouTube channel will be a great place to start.  And, if you are already using Edmodo then I recommend their video about PBL and Edmodo.  But there are other videos from "What is PBL?" to example projects done using PBL.  If you want written help then, by all means visit their Tools Tab for free usable items to help with the PBL process.

Next you can look at the Edutopia website.  On the right side of the page you can join the Project Based Learning Group.  This will give you access to other teachers using or thinking about using PBL. Another good place to find links to information, and a source I go to for information on any (and every) thing education related is Cybraryman's blog.  Jerry Bloomengarten (Cybraryman) is a keeper of the information and he has dozens of links related to PBL.

You have reviewed the process and you know the basics of what is needed.  Let's gather the ingredients.  These are from my Edcamp Plano presentation last Spring:  (1)  Start with up-front planning, (2) Add standards to taste, (3)  Mix in a pinch of imagination, (4)  (optional) Add friends/colleagues,  (5) Fold in experience and, (6)  You may need to add more planning.

As you can see these ingredients are the same basic ingredients that go into a batch of "Good Teaching."  You need to spend time up-front planning because when PBL is done right and you have planned for all contingencies then the process will (almost) take care of itself.  [NOTE:  You WILL have to monitor, monitor, monitor during a normal day in PBL - you can't sit on your butt!]  And, you can't avoid any standards that you are expected to be teaching.  What will help is an understanding Curriculum Department in your school and district.  You may (and quite often will) need to rearrange the sequencing so that the project you are planning makes sense to your students.

Next time we look at some ways to start your projects and look for other posts in this series on grouping, managing groups, and final products.   Bon Appetit!

Reflections on My First Week of School

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      If you are a new teacher or are wanting to be a teacher, the post you are about to read may send you away from the profession.  I have worked in 4 high schools, 2 middle schools and 3 community colleges and the first weeks of school only felt successful at the community colleges.  Why?  It was because I had nearly complete control over everything I did at the community colleges.  Teachers will never have that much control at a public school.

      Now that I've been all negative, I need to say that my present school is MORE organized than any of the other 5 middle/high schools.   Any of our teachers reading this are not going to believe that because, at times, our school seems incredibly dis-organized.  Are there better ways of doing things?  Absolutely.  Will we improve the first week of school next year?  I hope so.   Who knows, we will cross that bridge when we get to it.

   
        This year, as in last year, I am teaching two 9th grade classes and two 11th grade classes.  They are beautifully distributed.  Freshmen in the morning and Juniors in the afternoon.  Teaching Freshmen means you have to teach everything about school: how to work in a group, how to log into computers, how to log into, and navigate, our learning community (ECHO/Google Apps), how to understand our school schedule, the district/school/classroom rules or norms, where are the bathrooms, when is lunch?

     How can this be done better?   First, for some reason we NEVER have school log-ins for the students on the first day.  I understand any kid who just moved to the district during the week before school.  But why can't the system make this happen between the end of June and the beginning of August?  They would then have a very simple task of updating and adding/dropping students who arrive or leave after the 1st of August.   There have been dozens of people in the last 20 years who have tried to explain it to me but it never makes sense.  If this was the military we wouldn't be having this discussion today.
   

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     The computer log-in problem is especially true at our school.  We deliver materials for our projects through our Project Briefcases in ECHO.  We collaborate on work via Google Apps such as Docs and Sites.  Students communicate with their group partners via email and IM.  We are a connected classroom.  So, what does a teacher at our school do during the first week?  They prepare as though they are going to have no technology.
   
    That is where my rookie mistake made for one of my most miserable weeks ever.  I know I haven't had a worse 1st week in the 5 years I've taught in Texas.  I made the mistake of assuming we would have our computers to work with for the upperclassmen.  I planned everything for the first two days to be completed online.  I blew it - big time.  Students at our school expect a level of detail from the teachers.  If the level of detail is anything less, they will revolt.  Now, revolution at our school doesn't take the form of anarchy that I've read about from other schools.  No, what our students do is they become "normal" teenagers.  They do nothing.  They talk, have fun, but refuse to find a way to do actual work.
 
     What would this look like to an outside observer?  Well, there would be the teacher.  Frantically trying to get computer systems or programs to operate as needed.  There would be the students sitting around in groups getting more and more animated and loud.  Then we would see the teacher trying to suggest things for the students to do while he (or she) "fixes the problem."  The student response?

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Look at the teacher like a cow looking at a new gate.  Then the students would revert back to their conversations - only louder.  Then the teacher gets louder and more agitated.   The divergence would grow until either the teacher snapped or the class period ended.  Fade to black....

     One thing that always leads to this craziness is the fact that school districts demand to train teachers during the week before school.  How could this be improved?  Demand that teachers get professional development (PD) or take college classes during their summer.   To make this demand more palatable, districts should give credit for attending non-traditional trainings and un-conferences like Edcamps, Barcamps, and Mobicamps.  

     I've now gotten away from my main idea so let's look at this first week and do some self grading.  Teaching my freshmen about working in groups?  A- .  Teaching how to log-in to computers? A- (we finally had access on Friday).  How to log and navigate within ECHO?  A - .  How to understand the school schedule? A (but we haven't had our first Monday and Monday's are a different schedule).  Rules and Norms? C (lots more work to do here).  Where are the bathrooms and when's lunch? A (again, Monday lunches are weird due to schedule).

     So why was my week miserable?  All of the things in the previous paragraph were things with my freshmen.  I did great with them and I feel good about the coming year.  But, my Juniors?  Final grade for last week?  D- (would have failed if anything else went wrong).  Monday can't come fast enough.  I need to get back into the ring and get control of those two classes.  Wish me luck and stay tuned for updates in later posts.