Post-Project Reflection

In order to provide for post-project reflection, students will participate in a self-evaluation of their contributions to the project and learning experiences during the PBL unit. You can view the self-evaluation form below. This form will not only serve to support students' reflecting on their relationship with the project and their group, it will also provide for a rich classroom discussion that will serve to bring closure to our PBL unit while directing our focus for future PBL experiences.

Week 6 Learning Log

Project-based Learning calls for a requisite shift in the role of teachers and students alike. With regards to myself as a classroom teacher, my role will fundamentally change. I have often heard it described as moving from being the "sage on the stage" to being a "guide on the side." In other words, rather than being the dispensary of information and wisdom, I will become a facilitator of learning, supporting my students as they explore content and engage in the inquiry process within a constructivist learning environment.

To become that facilitator, development of new skills is necessary. Skills which presuppose effective facilitation include, but are not limited to, asking intriguing open-ended questions; supporting risk-taking and exploration of new ideas; providing ample opportunities for discussion and reflection; listening to others and prompting their thinking; and designing the learning environment to allow for student-driven construction of knowledge.

As mentioned before, the roles of students will fundamentally change along with that of the teacher. Rather than simply mastering academic content at the lower levels of Bloom's Taxonomy, students in a PBL environment will be tasked with developing 21st century competencies as well. As the emphasis is transferred from getting the right answers to teacher-provided questions to finding solutions to student-identified problems, the room and expectations will be created for such skills to develop.

With regards to the changes that I will need to make in order to become an effective faciliator in my own PBL unit, I will need to discipline myself to plan more thoroughly ahead of time. Rather than proceeding lesson by lesson, I will need to take the time to capture a comprehensive view of the unit as a whole. Additionally, I will need to let go of the pride that often causes teachers to hold on to their role as a "sage on the stage" in order to make room for student-directed learning a meaning-making.

Designing Integrated Curriculum

Including other disciplines in a shared project is a great way to create authenticity and meaning for learners. Not only will it help students make transfers of learning. It will also open up the opportunity for deeper engagement and higher order thinking about project-related content and issues.

However, the benefits of cross-disciplinary PBL projects is not felt by students alone, but instructional staff as well. By collaborating on PBL designs, colleagues gain a deeper understanding of their own content areas due to being required to teach others about the big ideas and connections to their subject matter. Similarly, they begin connecting the dots between their own expertise and the curricular content in the departments down the hall.

Naturally, there are challenges to creating such an all-encompassing support system. The first that comes to mind is time. How can teachers from different grade levels or departments carve out adequate time to meet and plan with one another. Likewise, how can they creatively make time to ensure that students are end-of-year assessment ready while still teaching in a PBL framework. Additionally, communicating during the PBL process, once the Entry Event has kicked off the learning experience, and finding time to make sense of formative assessment data and what that means for each discipline seems to present a logistical challenge as well.

Nevertheless, to overcome such challenges and make interdisciplinary PBL a reality in my school, time and energy need to be invested in created a shared vision for Professional Learning Communities where cross disciplinary and vertical alignment becomes second nature. While the subordinate tasks required to create this type of communication and planning network are vast, being serious about making collaboration a top priority in my school is as valuable as in-class instructional time, because teachers are learners too. Their learning and how it is supported simply enhances the learning of students as a result.

Week 4: Key Principles of Effective Assessment

The assessments that I have included in my assessment plan have been designed and incorporated specifically to support student learning and growth. In other words, the assessments are for the students, which is a key principle of assessment. To illustrate, one assessment tool I have created for my PBL project is a social media evaluation tool, in the form of a Google Form. Aside from serving as evidence of learning to me, this assessment tool helps students to focus their research and thinking while also providing a record of their insights for later use during the composition phase of their public presentation. 

Another key principle of assessment met is that the assessment is faithful to the work students actually do. To illustrate this key point, students will video record a practice presentation which they will then review with a self-assessment checklist in preparation for their public presentation. This assessment opportunity enables students to honestly evaluate their presentation with regards to effective public speaking skills in conjunction with the final rubric for their eventual public presentation.

As students present their findings in the form of a public presentation proposing a strategic plan for the school district, assessment of their final products will be public, another key principle of assessment. Though I, the teacher, will assess students' presentations with a project-specific rubric, students will also be informally assessed by the sustained attention, interactions, and responses of their public audience.

Together, the assessments that I have designed for this PBL unit promote ongoing self-relfection and critical inquiry, the final key principle of assessment. Rather than being structured to deliver a grade to students, the objective of each assessment is to assist students in the process of attaining good work through an iterative process of reflection and revision.