Hi everyone! My name is David and I help build our community at #goformative ! I'm a former special educator living in LA and excited to learn more about #PBL tonight! #BetterTogetherCA
A1: GREAT question. It's that challenging thing that I'm trying to learn! And integrate into my classroom effectively... It's how real learning works - see the end result and work backwards. Then, work together to complete the steps to get there. #bettertogetherCA
For me, a PBL is usually a long-term, high-end opportunity for students to explore some kind of super interesting and engaging real-world question. #bettertogetherca
Q2: How does PBL help you create an engaging environment (learning story) for your students? How does PBL encourage Ss to be active, engaged members of community and digital citizenship? #BetterTogetherCA
For me, a PBL is usually a long-term, high-end opportunity for students to explore some kind of super interesting and engaging real-world question. #bettertogetherca
Dessert project, like dessert, get finished. Most PBL's don't get finished. Instead steps are taken with finishing in mind and the steps are measured and at the end, usually long before finishing, students report out on the steps taken. That's how I view a PBL. #bettertogetherca
For example, in middle school math, students can tackle "Which rewards program is better Starbucks or Peetes?" For MS science here is a "bunch" https://t.co/pHRsEsV4kw#BetterTogetherCA
A2) My students are from low socioeconomic backgrounds and achieving schools. Projects add more points of entry into the curriculum and makes the class more equal through different talents. #BetterTogetherCA
Some of the most meaningful PBL activities I have done is where we solve a problem that exists in our community. This has really helped Ss get a feel of what it means to be involved citizens.
#BetterTogetherCA
A2: sounds like #PBL includes lots of room for student voice and choice, and connects learning to real life challenges. Sounds engaging to me! #bettertogetherCA
A2: PBL should provide a context for learning that engages students throughout the entire process. When students work with a real audience in mind=1,000x better product #BetterTogetherCA
A2: When #pbl involves a real audience, #students will have opportunities to practice communications skills - teaching them how to convey ideas professionally, effectively, and respectfully. #BetterTogetherCA
When it comes to PBL's, I think the toughest place to integrated a PBL would be in either a middle school or high school math class. Most CA public school math classes just don't seem to support PBL's, though I know some math teachers who would say otherwise. #bettertogetherca
Q3: Implementing PBL often requires a mindset change in all stakeholders. What challenges do you face when implementing PBL (from students, admin, parents) and how have you solved them? #BetterTogetherCA
A2) First picture is the achievement gap, 2nd picture shows how projects bring in more kids, necessary to help close the achievement gap. #BetterTogetherCA
A3) The biggest problem is people need to see the proof. How do you do that? You invite people in. Something special happens when kids are collaborating, creating, and self-directing their learning. #BetterTogetherCA
A3: PBL works bets when the problem is crosscurricular or interdisciplinary. Time to draft those engaging questions and lead students through is the biggest problem #BetterTogetherCA
A3- a big shift has been for me as a teacher has been to give up control and let students be in charge of their learning. With PBL I have embraced the role of coach, and put aside the role of sage. #BetterTogetherCA
A3) The biggest problem is people need to see the proof. How do you do that? You invite people in. Something special happens when kids are collaborating, creating, and self-directing their learning. #BetterTogetherCA
A3- a big shift has been for me as a teacher has been to give up control and let students be in charge of their learning. With PBL I have embraced the role of coach, and put aside the role of sage. #BetterTogetherCA
Audiences for #pbl can include peers, school staff members, parents, the community, local businesses, etc. If students share their work on a blog, the audience could be even wider. #BetterTogetherCA#studentswhoblog
A3: #PBL leads to depth but doesn’t usually cover the breadth. I prefer diving deeper where real learning happens, but it can cause parents & admin to push back. #bettertogetherCA
Invite other teachers into OUR classes to build a mutual trust. In this way I have helped roll out 3D modeling and animation across the gradelevel. It only takes one good experience to make a change #BetterTogetherCA
If you walk into a PBL classroom, it often looks pretty unruly. It's just so hard to tell who is working and who isn't. That's the biggest challenge I have faced integrating PBL's. The perception that things aren't happening. Even when they are. #BetterTogetherCA
A3: End product of #PBL should be presented to an authentic audience. This is a great time to invite parents, community members, experts in to be on panels or attend expositions. #bettertogetherCA
Q4: Challenging problems or questions are an essential element of successful PBL. How do we transform our “Essential Question” or objective into relevant, real-world problems to solve? #BetterTogetherCA
A4: Let students make the decisions about what to focus on. That creates immediate relevance & buy in for #PBL. Love giving them autonomy & choice. #bettertogetherCA
Comment left by one of my students " I like exhibition nights because other people give you a lot of feedback about how to make it more audience-friendly, and they often think about the project in different angles than you." https://t.co/cTSYgrlOYU#BetterTogetherCA
A4: Ts can provide students w/umbrella topic like “sustainability” then allow students to group according to interest & pitch #PBL project concepts. #bettertogetherCA
A4) As with everything...WE MODEL IT FIRST! As the teacher, make some great projects, kids eventually want to remix it and make their own. That takes practice. #BetterTogetherCA
Investigating aspects of sustainability…social, environment…to hone in on something that interests them. Then they have to pitch a #PBL project concept w/manageable scope. #bettertogetherCA
A4: We should include our students in the decision-making process for PBL! When we focus on student input and opinion, Ss will buy in and connect with the learning #BetterTogetherCA
My 8th grade ELA team all gather in the MPR for an expo to share student work. Our students present to each other, gather feedback, and get to view other projects, too. It's a fun day. #pbl#BetterTogetherCA
Using a fishbowl strategy during project pitches are fun because outer circle can provide feedback & help inner group to narrow focus & articulate their specific interests. Love seeing student guide each other through this early refinement #bettertogetherCA
I’ve gotten super into reaching out to community members w/education or work experience that relates to the topic of our expo. Their feedback and Q&A w/students = priceless! #bettertogetherCA
Q5: Student choice and voice are essential components of a successful PBL run. How do you encourage student choice and voice while still meeting your summative assessment requirements. #BetterTogetherCA
A4: It’s messy. Did aquaponics last yr. Not sure I focused on the Q’s. We asked could plants grow without dirt? Could we recycle products? #BetterTogetherCA
Expos can be done virtually with FlipGrid too if students do presentations on a Grid that shared w/an actual audience that leaves questions and comments! #bettertogetherCA
The days of showcasing student work on the walls of our classroom are over. They just don't care about that. What really motivates students is to showcase their work to a panel of adults at the end of the term. #bettertogetherca
She then went out to start recruiting kids to begin programming and now I have 7 students actively working on the modules in @khanacademy#BetterTogetherCA
That’s a fun idea! I love the unconference model! We should definitely use it for highlighting student talent & give them a forum to learn from each other! #bettertogetherCA
Love the idea of using @flipgrid for this. Talk about the possibility of a real world audience. You can even have other classrooms participate and end up with a lively discussion! #BetterTogetherCA
In reply to
@Catlin_Tucker, @WonderTechEdu, @Flipgrid
Year in and out, I literally have seniors a day or two before graduation working in my room into the evening hours to prep for their end-of-term, before a panel of adults, presentation. #bettertogetherca
Totally! We used FlipGrid to gather information from stakeholders all over the US for a design thinking project my kids worked on. In 4 days, they had 120+ videos! #bettertogetherCA
In reply to
@MarianaGSerrato, @WonderTechEdu, @Flipgrid
A2: To be perfectly honest I'm really struggling to create an engaging learningj environment with PBL. I try to give my students voice and chioce in their projects, but they are slow to use the freedom for learning. How can I make it more engaging? #BetterTogetherCA
Love the idea of using @flipgrid for this. Talk about the possibility of a real world audience. You can even have other classrooms participate and end up with a lively discussion! #BetterTogetherCA
In reply to
@Catlin_Tucker, @WonderTechEdu, @Flipgrid
A5) Many of my students were let down by the educational system. The projects bring them back. They require the projects to come back. The projects should make the learning real #BetterTogetherCA
A5: I might let them choose a Plant or an Energy project. After we’ve done a whole class experiment. I fill a Pinterest board with ideas and let them look at it. I meet with them to discuss their own ideas. Okay? Nokay? #BetterTogetherCA
A3: One challenge that I've overcome is the "here's your project, it's due in a week, go!" syndrome. For PBL to be effective it must have meaningful structure. #BetterTogetherCA
A5) Students choose who they want to work with and be flexible with the final product, if it's a video create an animation, stop-motion, etc. #BetterTogetherCA
Q6: “High quality student work is a hallmark of Gold Standard PBL, and such quality is attained through thoughtful critique and revision.” - @BIEpbl How can we teach students to give quality feedback and revise their work based on the feedback they receive? #BetterTogetherCA
A6: Modeling what quality feedback looks like is key. My co-teacher & I actually sit in front of the class and simulate a critique session. We also bring experts in during the process to do “think tank” sessions w/groups. #bettertogetherCA
A6: Feedback during the process is critical to strong product. We cannot wait until the end to give students feedback or facilitate peer feedback. Too late in the game for meaningful revision. #bettertogetherCA
A6- part of a successful PBL experience lies in the pre-teaching that occurs before you start that first project. AN important part is teaching students how to give constructive criticism, and revise work based on feedback. #BetterTogetherCA
A5) Had a 9th grade boy, held back year before, learn how to long divide and solve ratios only because he made a 3D zombie apocalypse world and then made tutorials solving word problems based on it. #bettertogetherCA
A5) Different 9th grade boy who hated math but bounced back when he started making his own mini-library of Arabic and English math tutorials that he could share at home. #bettertogetherCA
For those of you wanting to provide you middle and/or high school students with 50 really cool civic action PBL's, you might want to take a look at this. https://t.co/LYTqBf0XE2#bettertogetherca
A6) Authentic audience helps with that, have parents/ community leave comments and ask follow-up questions after presentations, give time for reflection, written or verbal #BetterTogetherCA
For those of you wanting to provide you middle and/or high school students with 50 really cool civic action PBL's, you might want to take a look at this. https://t.co/LYTqBf0XE2#bettertogetherca
Q7: Implementing PBL is hard enough, and especially hard when you have to rely on yourself for inspiration. Where do you go for PBL inspiration or to find high quality PBL resources? Tag friends who excel at #PBL so we can learn from them! #BetterTogetherCA
Yes @PeterPaccone it’s a process...value through Literature/stories Ss see what is possible, they empathize, discover, struggle- all important skills for real world. #bettertogetherCA@MarianaGSerrato great question!
Q4: Challenging problems or questions are an essential element of successful PBL. How do we transform our “Essential Question” or objective into relevant, real-world problems to solve? #BetterTogetherCA
A4: I put the building of the EQ in the hands of the students with some input from me. Additionally, I'm letting students develop different EQs for the same project (I guess doing this makes them different projects!) Ihave yet to see how this works out... #BetterTogetherCA
Q4: Challenging problems or questions are an essential element of successful PBL. How do we transform our “Essential Question” or objective into relevant, real-world problems to solve? #BetterTogetherCA
During the summer, my teacher team did an externship w/IDEO in SF & learned more about the process. It’s my favorite approach to #PBL. Provides a loose structure. #bettertogetherCA
A5: I encourage student choice by giving options for the end product and specifics of the topics they dive into deeply. I give students voice by allowing them to develop the EQs with only a small amount of input from me. #bettertogetherCA
A7) For me, everything is a project. You just have to want to make it a project. You like worksheets? Have the kids make their own worksheets, record tutorials, and put them in a library and share with other kids. Literally, everything can be a project. #bettertogetherCA
A6: When giving quality feedback, it helps if students have a rubric to guide them. I usually have my students give peer feedback AND also self-assess. They also have to write a short explanation. Here's what a sample looks like. #pbl#BetterTogetherCA
A6: This is the feedback I needed to hear! Revision is something projects lack in my classroom right now. And I wonder why the quality hasn't been there...? #bettertogetherCA
A7: Make magazine or Instructables first. Then YouTube, Twitter. Then Google. Then Home Depot. Then $1 store. Amazon is my last stop. #BetterTogetherCA
A6: When giving quality feedback, it helps if students have a rubric to guide them. I usually have my students give peer feedback AND also self-assess. They also have to write a short explanation. Here's what a sample looks like. #pbl#BetterTogetherCA
A7- It is forums like this that get me excited and give me great ideas for PBL. So many terrific educators willing to share their breadth of knowledge I found so many amazing ideas and resources in chats, especially #EdmodoChat#bettertogetherCA
A6: This is the feedback I needed to hear! Revision is something projects lack in my classroom right now. And I wonder why the quality hasn't been there...? #bettertogetherCA
Good to talk about the devil in the details. Implementing PBL looks different in every class. We all experience problems in our practice. I have trouble chunking projects into manageable daily work. #BetterTogetherCA
In reply to
@PeterPaccone, @KQEDedspace, @WonderTechEdu, @Catlin_Tucker, @MarianaGSerrato
