Blog Post #9

What Can Teachers and Students Teach Us About Project Based Learning?

When looking for the best way to approach Project Based Learning there are three main things to look to; Other teachers, student's interest, and your own reflection. In the Youtube clip "High School Teachers Meet the Challenges of PBL Implementation" it is shown how working with other teachers will help you to better your lessons. When working with other teachers you can make sure you are meeting all the correct standards, share creative ideas, and talk about what worked and did not work. This will allow you to create a better lesson plan. In the video "Project-Based Learning for Teachers" Tony Vincent shares his idea that to have a good project it is important to understand project based learning, why we use it, and how to effectively use it. Some important steps that Tony Vincent shared are; having a purpose, crafting a driving question, creating a rubric, focus on the process, and meeting deadlines.In this video it is also shared that it is important to let your students have a voice and a choice in their learning to ensure students involvement. ASCD says that it is important how you introduce the topic to your students. In the article "Educational Leadership" it is said that you should allow your students a chance to brainstorm and provide your students with a topic that makes everyone want to be involved in discussion the topic. Based on the work from Pflug's blog titled "Project Based Learning in PE" to keep students interesting in their work you should provide activities that challenge them every day. During those activities it is important to apply teamwork skills, cover all standards, and play a direct role in students lives. In the video "What Motivates Students Today" by Suzanne Ball students were asked what motivated them. Students stayed around the same answer. That answer was that the children knew that to succeed in life they needed to maintain good grades in schools. Students want to do well, as a teacher you have to make them want to learn. The students also were asked what rewards worked for them. The children knew exactly what rewards they liked and what prompted them to do well. I think as an educator, we should never be afraid to just ask our children what they like because they know exactly what they want.
What can teachers and students teach us about project based learning?
Never be afraid to seek help from others and never be afraid to speak up about what you agree and do not agree with.