After completing a year-long, integrated PBL with my IPC
classes, these are my thoughts on the whole thing. These are presented in no particular order,
other than their categories.
The Good
1.
My students became extremely comfortable with
presenting, whether to a group of their peers, parents, or outsiders.
2.
They learned how to solve problems, even those
that they couldn’t get on the first try.
#failforward is the hashtag of the year.
3.
Everything they learned remained relevant the
entire year. They couldn’t ever put a
subject away and say, “Oh we’re done with this topic, so I can forget about
it.” I think this gave them a deeper
understanding of the TEKS because of this application piece. They had to keep using them.
4.
I like the year-long narrative structure because
it gave me so much flexibility to pull in more ‘stories’ as needed to suit the
TEKS. We were able to expand the problem
as the year went along.
5.
Students tell me that they like being able to
use their creativity, and that they aren’t boxed into a particular procedure or
method of solving problems.
6.
I like being able to sit down with small groups
of students and listen to their ideas.
This gives me a huge advantage in the relationship piece of
student/teacher interactions.
The Bad
1.
My room has been an unmitigated disaster since
last September. Several times during the
year, I reached my breaking point where I couldn’t take it any more, and had
spasms of cleaning. Possibly of the good
– NJHS students didn’t have problems making their community service hours if
they were willing to come in and help me tackle the mess.
2.
The level of squabbling on some days made me
want to send them all to their rooms.
Oh, wait, I can’t. I need more
corners to send people to for cooling off periods.
3.
The first semester exam was a disaster and the
STAAR wasn’t that much better. One thing
that I have to improve is the students’ ability to relate their problem solving
to test questions.
4.
On-line research is a skill that is seriously
lacking in middle school students. I had
a whole 2-credit class on how to do research in law school – at this point,
with technology an inescapable part of their lives, middle school students
should be provided the same thing.
Proper research methods will be part of my scaffolding process next
year.
5.
The GT students hated me most of the time,
because they wanted to know how to do it ‘right’ and I was firm that there
wasn’t necessarily a right way. They
were in the mindset that it was all about the grades where I was trying to show
them that it was about the process. As
the district moves forward in the implementation of learner centered
classrooms, I anticipate that this issue will become easier.
The Odd
1.
We have variously had class discussions about
whether human bones make good tools and whether it would be ethical to use them
for that purpose, the rugby team from Uruguay, how cavemen made tools, and the
things we learned on Minecraft.
2.
One of my classes implemented a very repressive
constitution for their last project. Also,
they had a huge debate on whether morality is something that can be legislated.
3.
They know lots of things about Caruthersville,
Missouri, and the geography of the southern Pacific Ocean.
4.
We didn’t realize it when we first started, but
the initial scenario that @whowe67 and I created gave us almost unlimited ways
to expand it to include new topics.
5.
I liked that I had to be on the top of my game
at every moment, but I was brain dead a lot on my time off. So much so that I couldn’t follow scripted TV
dramas – I watched a lot of reality TV and sports last year.
At the end of the year, I was mentally exhausted because
project based learning requires more in-depth thinking on the teacher’s part as
well. If I were just coughing up the
same lecture from year to year, my creativity and critical thinking would also
suffer. Project based learning is a very
involved process for all parties concerned.
If you go all in on it – doing it full time – make sure you
have a shoulder to cry on and another creative mind to bounce ideas with. I couldn’t have done it without @whowe67, and
her guidance, leadership, and encouragement.
I would absolutely do another year-long project. I think the good aspects of it far outweighed
the bad, and the bad can be fixed. I
don’t know that I would do the same scenario of a tsunami-instigated shipwreck,
because that story has been told. Stranded
in Antarctica or terra-forming Mars are both intriguing possibilities for the
future.
