Unit 2 Thoughts

I really enjoyed this week's reading due to the emphasis on the increased accountability of high-stakes testing and its negative effects on authentic, real-world learning and understanding.  Because of this focus, many teachers are "teaching to the test" and putting authentic learning like PBL and CBL on the backburner which is hindering the students' learning.  As I mentioned in my discussion board, this "teaching to the test" is not doing our students any favors because the tests do not mimic real-world situations; however, the teachers feel there is no other way.  This is truly sad because students are being disengaged in learning and not being adequately prepared for the 21st century. 

I also enjoyed the fact that many of the articles were related to high school because I teach high school English.  Many of the points made in the unit's readings were very relevant and evident in my school and my students.  It is important for teachers to know that traditional teaching is not fostering deep understanding of the content in our students, and other methods need to be implemented in the classroom, along with collaboration.  Students should be given opportunities to not only create their own meaning and understanding of school-related materials, but be able to use and apply this deep understanding to new situations in order to be successful in the real world.

(u01a1) Blog - PBL

If the provided videos do not get you excited about implementing PBL in the classroom, I do not know what will!  To me, it appears that each project-based learning example arose from a personal question (fellow student with Cystic Fibrosis) to a quest to have the students learn something that a textbook was not fulfilling (Geometry) to pure curiosity about Science (More Fun Than a Barrel of...Worms?! and March of the Monarchs).  To get these students excited and engaged, questions swirled about a subject, whether teacher- or student-created.  Students then begin their missions to solve these problems - challenges willingly accepted by the students due to their relevance and real-life applications.  Once guiding questions were generated, teachers would take a step back and allow the students to actively answer these questions, and even generate new questions, in an effort to solve these real-world problems.  Once each project had been established, the teachers facilitated and guided learning through activities and assessed students using a variety of forms at different phases during the project.  Although the teachers put a lot of work into planning the project, the bulk of the work was tackled by the students.  Mrs. Vreeland, from the article More Fun Than a Barrel of…Worms?! (Curtis, 2001), makes this clear when she states, “It's much easier, she says, to follow a textbook and know you'll be reading a storybook at 10 A.M. and working at the computer at 11 A.M. and counting at 2 P.M. Project learning, however, requires flexibility and the ability to take a kernel of an idea and set it off in a productive direction."  I believe this seems to be a challenge in itself worth exploring. 

Some other aspects that these three PBL examples had in common were the hands-on activities, collaboration, and integration of technology.  Rubrics were also provided so students were aware of the teachers’ expectations.  With the combination of these aspects, authentic learning takes place where real-world problems are introduced and solved while spanning other disciplines throughout the process.  Because the students claim ownership of their work and are a part of a group, I believe they take pride in presenting their findings or solutions at the conclusion of the project.  They have become invested in the process from start to finish.  Having experts and professionals present during their presentations can be even more special for these students, validating their hard work!  This is evident when students and teachers heard “architects telling the kids that their work was on par with first-year architecture students at the university” (Armstrong, 2002).  Learning in this manner presents opportunities for students to develop deeper understandings that will not be erased with the next lesson and will imbue a love of life-long learning.  In addition to these benefits, Principal Peter Bender of More Fun Than a Barrel of…Worms?! stated that higher scores, better attendance, lower discipline issues, and increased enthusiasm are results of PBL (Curtis, 2001).  For these reasons, I am excited to learn more about integrating PBL into my classroom. 

 

Armstrong, S.  (2002).  Edutopia.  Geometry Students Angle into Architecture Through Project Learning.  Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/geometry-real-world-students-architects. 

Curtis, D.  (2001).  Edutopia.  More Fun Than a Barrel of...Worms?!  Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/more-fun-barrel-worms