Last year I bought a new car. I was driving a large SUV and wanted to find a car that was better for the environment and cheaper on gas – I live out in the country and do a lot of driving. I really wanted a Tesla, but I didn’t buy one, here is why:
Expensive
Concerned about charging stations – if I wanted to travel from Ottawa to Hamilton (where all my family lives) I would have to stop at least once to recharge which would take at least 45 minutes and I usually don’t stop along the way.
Limited infrastructure – charging stations, concerns about charging it at home and at work etc.
The fear of the unknown – I’ve only owned gas fueled cars before
I know that driving an electric car is where I need to go next, but when I bought my last car I wasn’t ready to make the change. Ultimately, if I am going to drive an electric car I will have to change what I know about driving I will have to change my habits, I will have to unlearn what I know about owning a vehicle. When it is time for the next vehicle, I will be ready.
In education we have a similar situation. Many people see the need for change, but have not wrapped their heads around or come to terms with how to make the change from gas to electric or teacher lead / grade driven to student lead / reflective practice.
Five years ago I decided enough was enough and I made that transition from gas to electric in my classroom. I went from the teacher telling the students what and how to learn to a facilitator that provides a framework, suggestions, guidance and support to students.
As a gas fueled teacher I was the one always in control. I had my students learning what I thought was the most important. I had all my students complete all the same assignments and learn all the same things. I assessed my students all the same way and I focused mostly on the content of the course rather than on skills.
As an electric fueled facilitator I now expose my students to different issues / organizations, professions in the field that we are studying, I let my students passions / interests drive their learning, I help connect them with community, I challenge them to get out of their comfort zones, I support them in creating networks that will help them now and in the future. I help my students find their passions and help provide them with skills that will allow them to pursue those passions all while obtaining credits. My role is to coach them in their learning and to help them reflect and learn from what they do in the classroom. I have given up a lot of the control.
It has taken me five years to get to where I am, I get that it takes time to make the shift. Throughout my journey I have had many conversations with curious educators who want to make the shift. I have had the opportunity to share what I am doing at a few conferences and PD Days and the most frequently asked comment / question is usually, I love what you are doing, but how do I make this happen? What I have found is this can’t be answered in a 50 minute session or over coffee. Therefore, I am excited to announce that I am in the process of creating an online course / workshop to help guide educators looking to make the shift, but just don’t know where to start. It is still in the infancy stage but for those who enrol, it will be a place to learn and understand your own why, a place to network with other educators and finally a place to brainstorm and reimagine your classroom.
Who’s ready to make the shift from gas to electric?
In my last post Dreams do come true if you persevere, my vision of an experiential passion based classroom have come true I gave an overview of the two credit course that I am facilitating called The Experiential Passion Based Study of Child Development and Gerontology. This course is a mish mash of bits and pieces that I have taken from the Independent Project, Iowa Big, Don Wettricks Innovation and Open source learning class and Blue Sky school. If you want the day by day on what happens, check out the last post.
Everyday I am so thankful that I get to work with these students. Each and everyone of them has their own unique story and it is amazing to watch them all shine in and outside of the classroom. Since we are a two credit course we spend a lot of time together. We do a lot of reflecting, discussing, podcasting and supporting of each others passion projects.
The other day we were having one of our informal discussions and one of the students said, “I really feel like this class is like The Breakfast Club, we all come from different groups and backgrounds but we are getting to know each other and we are talking to people that we probably would never have talked to if it wasn’t for this class”. He had no idea how much of a compliment that was to me, I had goosebumps.
Disruption is necessary
However, on the daily I hear about the rumours and discussions that go on behind closed doors about me and what is happening in my classroom. My normal is not everyone’s normal – I get that. I understand that what I am doing challenges people’s identities as educators. I know that I am relentless in getting my way and that I am a disruptor to “how we do things here”. I understand that change takes time, but here’s the thing – we don’t have time.
According to an article from Global News, “While Canada’s economy is on track to add 2.4 million jobs over the next four years, virtually all of them will require a different set of skills than young people are currently learning. According to the study, a growing demand for “human skills” will be more crucial across job sectors. In particular, critical thinking, coordination, social perceptiveness, active listening and complex problem solving — described in the report as “human skills” — were identified as being key characteristics Canadians should develop to prepare for changes to the workforce.”
Unfortunately many educators still believe that rote learning, direct instruction and testing are what is needed to prepare students for the future. The more I research about the future of work, it is evident that simply put, they are wrong.
A recently published article How to make high schools better for students outlines research conducted by Jahl Mehta (associate professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education) and Sarah Fine (High Tech High Graduate School of Education).
“Our research in 30 public high schools across the country found that great high schools share something essential in common: They cultivate mastery, creativity and identity. In other words, students in these schools are given regular opportunities to develop significant knowledge and skills, to use their knowledge to produce something original, and to connect their learning to who they are and who they seek to become. The presence of these qualities produces deep engagement — the thing that educators so often struggle to foster.”
“Unfortunately, these qualities are fairly rare in American high schools today.” (this would go for Canadian schools too, in my opinion) In most of the schools we observed — even those with reputations for being innovative — students saw little purpose or meaning in what they were doing. Some were defiant; others made sophisticated attempts to “play the game of school.” Very few, however, described their schools as places where they could thrive. National studies confirm that the bulk of high school students are bored at school daily.”
The Call to Courage – Brene Brown Netflix Special Brené Brown
Sometimes I give too much time to the naysayers, according to Brené Brown it is only human to want to be liked. However, after watching Brown’s Netflix special called the Call to Courage I am going to try and focus on and surround myself with positive people. I am going to live by the three things she learned from doing her TED Talk on Vulnerability. NOTE If you have not seen this yet, it is a MUST!! Thank you Logan for suggesting I watch it!!
I vow to live by the following and never feel shame because I do:
I am going to live in the arena, I’m going to be brave with my life, I’m going to show up and I am going to take chances. I am going to fall, fail and know heartbreak.
I am going to be vulnerable, it’s not about winning or losing, it’s about having the courage to show up when you can’t control the outcome.
And finally to the critics, if you are not in the arena getting your ass kicked on occasion because you are being brave, I’m not interested in or open to your feedback about my work.
It is time for all educators to be brave, vulnerable and courageous for the future of our students and society in general. Who is with me?
I can promise you this from my journey, it is messy, it is chaotic and it is scary. But on the flip side I get to hang out with The Breakfast Club and it is so worth it.
Vomiero, Jessica. “Half of Canadian Jobs Will Be Impacted by Automation in next 10 Years.” Global News, 26 Mar. 2018, globalnews.ca/news/4105713/automation-workforce-canada-human/.
As mentioned in many of my previous posts my desire for change in education was sparked by my own educational experience and my introduction to trailblazers such as Sir Ken Robinson, and closer to home Dr. Peter Gamwell. They have been fighting the good fight for years (in a time when it was even more controversial than today) and paved the way for today’s educators to start making some changes.
I am motivated to make change for my students, but even more so for my daughters in grade 1 and 6. I am on a mission to change the way we do school and have been experimenting within our current system to make some of these changes happen. As a part of my experiment, over the past 10 years I have been busy researching about different learning environments and different ways of doing things that reflect our ever changing modern world.
In 2014 some colleagues and I went to visit Westmount High School in Hamilton Ontario who are one of eight schools that belong to the Canadian Coalition of Self-Directed Learning.
I have read articles and watched videos about places like the Independent School, The MET, Iowa BIG and High Tech High.
I have learned to use Twitter to connect with others out there and have become a part of a Professional Learning Network that I never knew existed. I learn so much from this network, whether it is seeing what they are talking about on their blogs, podcasts or vlogs, joining in Twitter chats / discussions or meeting up for virtual hangouts with educators from around the world. I get so much energy and strength from these people.
Every year the research has inspired me to try something new in my classroom. Each year I slowly let go of the traditional and move to a more modern style of teaching. However, there have been huge obstacles. Working in our archaic system can be challenging, but this semester some of my visions are starting to come true.
My vision starts to come true: Experiential, community connected and passion project based learning in action.
At the beginning of February my students and I embarked on a new journey of experiential learning with our new two credit course that the ministry calls Child Development and Gerontology TOJ4C paired with IDC4O. We have altered the name to The Experiential Passion Based Study of Child Development and Gerontology. All my research and the experimenting with my other classes has lead to this course. I have learned what works and what doesn’t work, what some of the obstacles are and how to overcome them. Over the 10 years of trial and error this is what I hope to have as our focus in the classroom.
Student Driven
Exit Outcomes (Essential Life Skills)
UN Sustainable Development Goals
Technology
Entrepreneurial Mindset
Social Media
Authentic Audience and Community Connections
Course Content as a vessel to work on all of the above
Now that we are a month and half into the course we are starting to get into the swing of things. Generally this is what a week looks like:
Monday
The first ½ of class is dedicated to “Monday Meetings” here we get into randomly selected small groups, play a silly ice breaker game and then we have a very informal discussion about “course” related stuff. We talk about what has been going on with their projects, we talk about issues that they might be having, the students support each other in solving those problems or brainstorming for new projects. They discuss the outings that they had in the previous weeks, they share where they went and what they did, what they liked and what they didn’t like. And finally each student fills out a weekly form that helps them plan for the week. They jot down what they are going to work on, where they are going each day (because we are out in the community a lot) anything I need to know about their week and how they are feeling. I am supported by our Student Success Teacher and our former VP (she’s retired) to help run these meetings. I am SO fortunate to have the support of these amazing ladies to make this happen!! We will refer to them as mentors from here on in.
*Nerdy Teacher Alert* I’ve learned how to use a chrome extension called DocAppender and it has been a game changer for keeping me and my students organized in a PBL classroom. Message me if you want to know more and I will tell you about it!!
During the second part of Monday’s class we have a guest come in from the field of Child Development and Gerontology. These guests give students a look into different careers but also to hear about different issues that they may want to get involved with. So far we have had amazing people come into our classroom to talk about topics such as: Elder Abuse, Children on the Autism Spectrum, Adult programs for people with cognitive disabilities and an amazing Social Entrepreneur Lindsay Barr who has set up an organization called World Changing Kids (WCK).
So far we have had two students get hired to work in a one to one Autism program and another one is working with WCK’s on a podcast. My goal is to provide the students with some inspiration for projects and connections to the community by having these guests in.
Tuesday
Our whole class goes to Woodroffe HS to work with their Junior GLP class. This group of students are between the ages of 14 – 16 and have a variety of intellectual disabilities. They are in a specialized program called the General Learning Program. Every Tuesday we meet up with the students to support them in their learning. For our first two meetups we have worked on building trust and relationships between the two groups of students. Below is what one of my students had to say after their first meetup.
Our last visit started our first “structured” learning experience together. We started a 3 day workshop (given over three weeks of Tuesday’s) by Parkdale Food Centre on how to become solutionaries. We will continue these workshops when we return after the break.
Again, I am hoping to provide my students exposure to different career paths, meeting new people and potentially ideas for their passion projects. So far we have a group of two students who are interested in spending more time within the Woodroffe HS General Learning Program and they have paired up with the Senior GLP class and will be joining them on outings every Friday.
Wednesday
I have arranged for my students to rotate (every three weeks they change placements) around six different places. In their rotation there are three different retirement homes right in our community and three different elementary classrooms (grade 1 EFI, grade ⅔ English and a grade 5 English) at the elementary school across the street. We have been through one full rotation and started their second rotation the week before the break. These placements are hopefully giving them more exposure to different careers, but also an opportunity to learn about who they like to work with and who they do not. Just like our connection with the WHS GLP group I had hoped to find more ways to inspire my students to organically find real world problems that they might want to try and solve. Like Don Wettrick I want my students to become “seekers and peekers rather than moaner and groaners”.
So, I got goosebumps when one of the groups came to me and said….
When the guest from NROC came in and talked to us about Elder Abuse she mentioned that one of the biggest issues for seniors is isolation, and when we visited the retirement home we really noticed that this was a problem. So, we want to do something that will bring people together.
After brainstorming with one of the mentors about what they could do they came up with the “Mapping our Roots” Project. The girls set up with the activities coordinator for them to have a slot on the weekly calendar. They went in for an hour after school one day, explained their project to any resident interested in listening / participating and then they chatted with the residents, asked them their names and where they were born. They compiled all the information, bought a map and other items and brought it back to the retirement home at the end of the week. See what they had to say about it below.
Another group is in the process of setting up a learn to curl activity for the grade 5 class that they visited. These two girls took something that they are very passionate about and are working on sharing their passion with others.
Thursday and Friday
These two days are Passion Project days. This is where the students choose projects related to the course that they will work on. The project criteria follows Don Wettricks rule of three. Are you passionate about it, will you acquire new skills as you work on it and how will this project benefit others. There is a lot of brainstorming and planning that happens for these projects. Once they have figured out what they want to do they must create a project proposal. In their proposal they have to create a detailed step by step process with short term goals (including dates) along with a final due date. They have to connect course curriculum to their project and then they have to have it looked over and signed off by myself or any of the community mentors. Examples of some of the projects have been mentioned above. The projects are definitely not limited to working with people that we have worked with as a class. Some students have come up with some really amazing things after a lot of brainstorming and soul searching. Some of these include:
Podcasting with Grandma and Grandpa.
Q & A style youtube channel about what it means to be a Muslim teenage girl in Canada.
Sean who wrote The Fault in our Education blog is going to accompany me to talk to a large group of teachers about his thoughts on education.
Organize a toy drive for two different organizations.
Working with Grandma to wash and style wigs for cancer patients.
Making students in our school aware that we have a gender neutral bathroom.
Creating a diversity calendar.
Creating a presentation on body positivity for middle school aged girls and going out into our community middle school and giving the presentation.
Selling clothes on Instagram to raise money for a charity.
The students are asked to chronicle their learning on social media everyday and then rap the week up with a weekly blog, vlog or podcast. (You can check us out at our class hashtag #TOJ4C). As well throughout the course they will complete quarterly reflections. They completed their first reflection right before we headed out on the break. I haven’t had the opportunity to go through all of them but if you are interested in hearing what two of the students have to say click below.
I am so pleased with how this course has unfolded. There are so many things that I have dreamed about for my students that are now becoming a reality. Don’t get me wrong there are still obstacles and keeping everyone motivated is not always easy. But, if I had given up on this 10 year long experiment when I hit roadblocks, this course would not exist. So if you are trying new things out and feel like it’s not working, keep going, don’t give up because you are making a difference even if you feel like there are always obstacles, perseverance will get you where you want to be!!
Kobe chats with Ottawa’s Mayor The Honourable Jim Watson about the ingredients in his homemade bread that relate to his experience in the course, local Municipal Councillor Jan Harder and Darrell Bartraw President of Barrhaven Community Association learns about the DIFD game and how important that was to Chantelle, Reporter from the Barrhaven Independent Charlie Senack learns about Rajan and his unlearning journey over the last two years, Principal J. Offord learns about how the fruit combined in a juicer represents Lucas’ journey throughout the course and Melody from Empties for Paws comes to support her girls who helped her raise money for local animals in need.
On Tuesday January 22, 2019 my three classes hosted a Social Science Fair at our school. We invited parents, people from the community and board officials. The week before the fair the students spent five days working individually and with their classmates to find ways to connect their projects, their classmates projects course experiences and personal experiences to their respective curriculum. They reflected on our OCDSB Exit Outcomes (soft skills) and gave me feedback on what they liked, what they didn’t like and any suggestions that they might have to make the course run smoother next time. On the day of the fair, students were asked to bring in a conversation piece for the showcase. These were the only guidelines they had:
Create something that will allow you to talk about what you want to talk about.
Don’t do something you would traditionally do in school.
Don’t create something that will just end up in the garbage.
To get an idea of what types of conversation pieces they brought in and what they talked about check out the video below.
As always, I was blown away by each and everyone of my students. I got to overhear many of the conversations that they were having with the community member and I was amazed by what they had to say. The feedback that we received from the community was amazing.
“It was a pleasure to speak to all your students today. They showed so much enthusiasm for their work and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to them as they described what they had done.” President Barrhaven Community Organization
“I’ve now subscribed to several student blogs, youtube channels and podcasts – love that infectious energy! The students pitched with excitement; they were passionate, and they were very grateful for the outside-of-the-box experience you facilitated. Thanks for the invite, and congratulations on such an exciting event. And- maybe it’s odd to say this- but one of the most compelling parts of the event for me was listening to students talk about why some of their projects did not work out. I loved seeing them share vulnerabilities and engaging in positive risk-taking!” OCDSB Vice Principal
“...an absolute pleasure to spend time talking with your students and seeing first-hand the impact of your authentic approach to learning. So impressive how well they articulated their learning – and their unique story. I left the event so inspired – and have been sharing it since with colleagues…” OCDSB Principal
“My favorite part was how honest they were about their failures. They weren’t ashamed at all. That’s where, if you ask me, the real learning happens. It was awesome to hear how they bounced back and understood that making mistakes is not what defines their character.” OCDSB Teacher
“Thank you Rebecca for a wonderful lunch hour talking to thoughtful, insightful students who were enjoying their learning. I was so inspired by them.”, “I was struck by how much of most conversations with the students revealed that the way the class was run mirrored Indigenous pedagogy.” OCDSB Instructional Coach
The most consistent thing I heard from the students afterwards was “it was so nice to share what we did with people who really cared about what we had to say.” If that isn’t providing an authentic audience, I don’t know what is.
Over the last 3 months I have been busy preparing for my new two credit course that I will be teaching next semester (I get to have my students for a full afternoon). It is going to be another experiment but I am SO pumped for it. Keep following along if you are interested in seeing more of our unlearning journey.
For two months these girls worked their butts off organizing a charity girls versus boys hockey game in connection with the Ottawa based DIFD organization that raises awareness about teen suicide and mental health. They set a goal, connected with people all throughout Ottawa, worked with a teacher mentor, created a plan, raised awareness, raised money and brought our school community together, it was amazing. As you can tell by the video these girls were motivated to do something that was important to them, something that related to their everyday lives, something that they were passionate about, something for themselves and their community. Everything about this project really embodied what I had hoped to have happen in our passion project based classroom. They worked on a project that they loved, they acquired so many new skills as they worked on it and they benefited people other than themselves all while learning about course curriculum and our OCDSB Exit Outcomes. And never once was I asked “are we getting marks for this?”, they did it even though there were no grades attached, just points. When asked at the end of the project if grades ever crossed their minds this is what they had to say.
“For me no never I just loved what I was doing and wanted to give it everything I had because I really cared about the cause.”
“To be honest, in the first project in your class it did all the time, but working on the DIFD project it never even crossed my mind. It must of been because I loved what I was doing.”
“I didn’t even remember we were getting marked I was just excited to do it!”
“For me marks didn’t matter for any of the projects I just wanted to make a difference or an impact on someone’s life”
“For me doing this project wasn’t about marks it was to get the message out there especially around our school and it was also a fun experience to create something that has such a big impact on all of our lives and just looking in the stands during the game and Madison saying “we did this” was such a amazing feeling that we were making a difference.”
BUT, we are back in portable 10 after a great holiday break and things are starting to wind down for the semester. We now have two weeks left and we are using the time to reflect and to get ready for our Social Science Fair showcase. Over the semester the students were exposed to the course curriculum, asked to create and implement their own projects where they would accumulate points, they were asked to chronicle their work via social media with daily posts and weekly vlogs, podcasts or blogs and to reflect monthly on the different projects that they had been working on. For an entire semester and for some over the last three years I have begged and pleaded with them not to talk about grades. I wanted them to find their passion and I wanted that to drive what they did in our classroom. I didn’t want grades to be the incentive for completing tasks. And I would say that for the most part we have been successful at not focusing on the grades, however the reality is I have to put a mark on their report card at the end of the semester and I hate it.
Over the last few days I have been working away at making sure that I have all the students projects in my spreadsheet as well as the points that they have accumulated. I have had discussions with the students to make sure that we are both on the same page and have an understanding of how many points they have accumulated and what grade that it equates to. I love having the opportunity to talk to the students about what they have accomplished, their failures and what they learned from it all. This to me is more valuable than a report card mark and generic comments. But in the end I still have to come up with a grade, so am I really going gradeless?
While I am frustrated at this point in the semester, I need to remind myself that I am doing my best to do what I can inside the box that is our education system. I will focus on all the amazing things that my students did because they wanted to, not the ones that were still just trying to get a grade.
I am very curious as to how others have gone gradeless in a system where it is still mandatory to place a mark on a report at the end of the semester?
The countdown is on and we are T-7 school days left until the much needed Christmas Holidays. We are working really hard to stay motivated – students and teachers alike. We have had a lot of time to be working on our projects in all of my classes which gives me the opportunity to chat with all the different groups and see where they are at and what they need from me. This can be exhausting but very uplifting at the same time. Today in my grade 11 class I did what I normally do and made my way around the classroom checking in on all the projects to see where they are at and if they needed any help. After a bit I decided to just sit back and observe the class. To most onlookers they would have seen a bunch of teens lounging and laughing either on their phones or engaging in light hearted conversation. But what I heard and saw was this: two girls researching on their phones looking for schools around Canada to connect with to start a pen pal program, two other students yelling across the room trying to get people to sign up for a potluck that they are organizing for the class and the GLPs (students with disabilities) that we work with once a week, another two talking about how they can get their gender stereotype podcast out and redefining roles within their group, students discussing their former projects, some students just having a discussion about what…I am not quite sure, another one watching YouTube clips, one studying for a bio test, another one working on putting together tweets to make people aware of OI and finally another group brainstorming / chatting / procrastinating about their next project. What I also didn’t see but trusted was happening was three other groups that were out of the classroom, one group was vlogging about their progress, another one was in another portable recording a song and the last group was working in the school painting a poster for their big event that is happening this Friday.
Below is what our classroom looks like, it is not just within the four walls of portable 10, it is everywhere and anywhere!
Our PBL classroom is not traditional so it should not look traditional.
Part of my internal struggle in our PBL classroom is that I have been conditioned along with everyone else in society to believe that school looks like: students following instructions, everyone working on the same projects with the same deadlines and of course being productive for the entire 60 – 75 minutes a day that they are in each of their classes. I have to continually remind myself that if I micro manage them and am continuously telling them what to do they will never learn the skills of self regulation and time management. I continue to listen to podcasts, watch videos, read articles and have conversations with people out in the real world about how this generation lacks in every “soft” skill that exists. I am happy to be the wiser person in the room to remind them every now and then to get going, but ultimately they need to learn to be motivated, to stay on task and to get stuff done. They need to have the opportunity to fail and learn from those failures so that they can learn coping mechanisms for when things don’t go their way. They need to be able to set goals, create steps to achieve those goals and have control over how they implement them on their own. They need time to chat and brainstorm for their next projects so that they can learn patience and truly figure out what they want to work on.
I would have to say that I struggle everyday with the idea that I am allowing my students too much freedom and that they aren’t doing school “properly”. However, when you as the “teacher” can unlearn what we have all been conditioned to believe school is, it is liberating for both you and your students.
There have been amazing things happening in my passion project based classroom, but there are also things that don’t go so well. As the teacher / facilitator of a project based classroom I constantly struggle to feel like I have control of my classroom. Everyday I feel pulled in so many directions. My students fill out proposals that have completion dates, we file them away in their individual files and we input them into a database that connects to a calendar and I feel like I have finally found a system that will allow me to keep track of all the projects. However, I still go home feeling like I have failed somehow or someone. Every period I am on, I try to talk to those who are working on projects and need support, I try to talk to those who are finished their projects and are reflecting and negotiating points, I try to talk to the ones who are brainstorming their next project and I try to talk to the ones that need some motivation. At the end of day I am exhausted and feel that I haven’t done enough to get to everyone. I feel teacher guilt that some students weren’t working on anything. It is hard when you don’t see or are not able to manage all the behind the scenes.
Feeling out of control sucks, but I have to continue to remind myself that it is important that I don’t talk to all students all the time. The whole point of a student lead class is to teach them to become more independent. I want them to learn to manage their time. I want them to fail (so that they can learn from it), and I want to provide a safe place for them to do this. I have to remind myself that they get out of it what they put into it.
When I am feeling out of control I check out their twitter feeds, vlogs, blogs and podcasts and I am usually blown away with what I never knew they were working on. These updates are crucial to a project based classroom. It is from these posts that I usually find out that they have done way more than I thought they had. It is at this point that I talk myself through my feelings of inadequacy, guilt and lack of control and am reminded that it is all worth it. You can check out some of the things that make it worth it in my previous post PBL in Action or below. You can also follow along with us @ #jmsshpa11#jmsshpahhg#jmsshpacgw on twitter.
For anyone thinking about trying this out you need to be prepared to be uncomfortable, it sucks but it is so worth it.
So we are two months in and we have been hard at work trying to change the world…project by project. We have had some amazing things happen, some ok things happen and some failures. I have had days where I am so excited to share what is happening in our classroom with anyone who will listen and then there are days that I drive home ready to burst into tears because I feel so out of control. At the end of every project my students are asked to reflect on what went well, what didn’t go so well and what they learned from the process. When I feel like crying I do what I ask my students to do and reflect. I take what I have learned from what we have been doing and try to find ways to make it better. I love what my students are doing, I believe in what we are doing, but I often struggle to find a way to feel in control. Managing a project based classroom is probably my biggest challenge right now. I am by no means an expert at all, in this post I will outline how I am trying to keep it all together.
Taking my cue from Don Wettrick’s blueprint in Pure Genius we embarked on our project based learning by looking for issues around the school that the students could find solutions for. The kids were super excited and had some really great ideas. As mentioned above we had some amazing things happen, some ok things happen and some failures.
Project Development Cycle
When working on our projects my students go through five steps from start to finish.
Brainstorm projects and write up a proposal.
Work on project until completion date.
Reflect on the project.
Negotiate mark with teacher.
Start Over
Proposal
They are required to complete a proposal that includes:
The issue that they will be exploring / coming up with a solution.
Step by Step instructions that includes a completion date and mini goals to get there.
At least 3 curriculum expectations that they will be covering as they complete the project.
How many points their project is worth.
The proposal has been a lifesaver and pain in the ass all at the same time. Once the proposals are complete they are what keep the students on track and give them guidance. It makes them accountable and really helps them to stay motivated (for the most part). However, getting the proposals completed is tough. Since the students have never mapped out their own learning before they require a lot of guidance and help. It is really hard for me to give each person / group the attention that they need. There is one of me and 30 of them!! So I have recruited some former students, friends of mine who work from home, our former VP who is now retired and a set of Grandparents to come in and help me with this process. This has been a huge help, especially in the brainstorming stage.
Another challenge I have found with the proposals is that since the students all started their projects at the same time most students were finishing up their first projects all at once. This meant that I was having to negotiate / conference with students when they finished but then they required help to get started on their next project proposal. This was very overwhelming for me and I wasn’t sure I was going to make it!! But we all powered through and got them all going on a second project. I am finding now that we are at the mid way mark, most students have such different deadlines it makes it so much easier. I have the ability to negotiate with only a few groups a week as well as helping those who need it on their next proposal or those who need help on the projects that they are working on.
Once the proposals were completed and approved, the students got going on their projects. It was a lot of running from group to group to group but other than being tired at the end the day it was manageable. I was able to move around and support students with their projects. However, where it became unmanageable was trying to figure out who was finishing up, who needed to work on their reflection, who needed to negotiate and who was starting the process all over again. I had my students sharing their proposals with me in google classroom and was attempting to keep track of all of them there. I found this very difficult so I decided to use the board below to keep myself and the students updated on who was at each stage. For a couple of weeks I fixed this board up every morning and then would go over it at the beginning of each class. I found it very helpful for me for a bit and just recently found it hard to stay on top of. I have now abandoned this method and am trying out a new tracking method.
I have moved from electronically looking at the proposals to having the students fill out a project list (they add their projects to it as they go), I ask that they hand write or print out a copy of their proposal and I have created a file folder for each student to keep track of all of their projects. Now when they get a proposal approved a copy of it goes into that folder and I put what the project is, how much the project is worth, and when it will be completed into a spreadsheet. I have new whiteboards with every student on it with their project and dates and I will update my whiteboards probably once every two weeks or so.
My next step is to create a google form that I think I will fill out once the proposal is approved. I am hoping that this will provide me with a spreadsheet where I can sort the students and keep track of each of their projects etc, we will see how that goes.
We are very much in a trial by error / learn by failure situation in my classroom. If you have a PBL classroom and have any suggestions I am SO open to any help you might give.
Thanks for unlearning with us.
Cheers, R 🙂
Picture
“School District of Ashland.” Project Based Learning Schools (3rd – 12th Grade) / Project Based Learning, Ashland Elementary Charter School, http://www.ashland.k12.wi.us/Page/1290.
So if you have been reading my blog you will know that Don Wettrick has been a huge inspiration for me and my students. After listening to his podcast for almost a year, I decided it would be a good idea to read his book Pure Genius over the summer. Not surprising, it was exactly what I needed. Rewind to last year and you will understand why.
Over the past five years I have truly transitioned from a traditional classroom to a more student led inquiry based classroom. We have followed an inquiry process where students used the Social Scientific Research Method to research a current issue, become an advocate for it – make their classmates, their parents and the world aware of the issue, research it according to the course that they were in, create media pieces and showcase everything that they were doing via Twitter. I am super fortunate to teach a lot of the same students in grade 10 history then in grade 11 Intro to Anthro, Psych and Soc and then get them for grade 12 Human Growth and development and grade 12 World Issues. For the past few years, I have used the Inquiry Model in all of my classes. The grade 10s take a bit to get to used to it and the grade 11s usually love it. However, what I was finding was that the grade 12s were bored of that process and needed more. Last fall, I spent time volunteering at Blue Sky School in Kanata (Experimental Prototype School) where they allow the students passions to lead their learning. I was very fortunate to watch this process and wanted to try out a similar model in my classroom. So, at the end of semester one I gave my grade 12s some more freedom in their learning and I asked them to create their own projects that were prompted by three questions:
What do you want to learn?
How do you want to learn it?
Once you have learned it what will you do with the information?
Since most of these students had already spent at least two courses with me they didn’t struggle like most students when they were asked what they wanted to learn. They really embraced the idea and jumped into their projects without hesitation. When they were done we had a little show and tell at the end. They showcased what they learned in a variety of ways. We had a lesson on Artificial Intelligence a workshop on finance, a TED talk style presentation on humour and some small discussions. In my opinion it was a success.
Riding out that high I decided, as I do, to jump right in and I attempted to go completely project based with my grade 12s the following semester. I went in a blazin’ with a trial and error mentality and we had some really amazing things happen, but we also had a whole lot of nothing happening. To be completely honest it was a bit of a gong show.
After a semester of trying this out and a lot of reflection I realized that I just couldn’t figure out the right kind of structure to support the students. I was looking for answers to the following questions:
How do I keep track of 25 students doing all kinds of different projects.
How do I get students to stay on task?
How do I get them to follow through on what they want to do?
How much freedom do I give them in creating their projects?
How do I support 25 students as they work on different projects?
We tried so many different things / ways to answer the above questions. Originally we tried out some of the methods they were using at Blue Sky School such as their metaphor of driving their own bus and creating road maps each day but unfortunately they did not work for us. We tried journal writing, goals on twitter, google forms, step by step instructions on the wall, calendars, reflections and binders with their projects listed. By the end of the semester I was exhausted and felt defeated as I never really felt that I was able to get a handle on a student led project based classroom. For the entire semester I was searching for a play book to help me out but I couldn’t seem to find anything…..UNTIL I came across exactly what I was looking for in Don’s book.
I have met some amazing teachers via Twitter and this summer was talking to Eryka Desroisers from Quebec (host of the podcast In a Teacher’s Shoes) and she asked if I had read Don’s book. We were discussing the upcoming school year and I was telling her my dilemma from the previous school year. I told her that I had been racking my brain and resources for ways to get a handle on this type of classroom and she pulled out Don’s book and read a part to me that she thought would be helpful. After we finished out Google Hangout session I immediately downloaded Pure Genius onto my Kindle and read it in about two days. I had almost given up on the idea of running my class like I did last semester and was going to revert back to the inquiry model until I found Don’s blueprint for an innovation class.
So, this semester I am teaching grade 11 Intro to Anthro, Psych and Soc and grade 12 Human Growth and Development and World Issues and we are 100% project based. What I learned from last year was that the students required more help than I could provide them, they needed deadlines, they needed to be working on one project at a time, they needed a value placed on their projects and they needed to show progress on a regular basis. It was like I hit the jackpot when I found Don’s blueprint. I immediately started to wrap my head around how I would use it in my classroom and adapted it accordingly. I created guidelines for the projects that my students would create. You can see them here if you are interested.
In the last month we have been busy learning how to be a 100% student led project based classroom. For the first couple of weeks we learned about the course content and curriculum so that they had an understanding of what they needed to connect their projects to. We then went over the guidelines. As recommended by Don, my students were encouraged to start out with a small project around the school. The students assembled their teams and started the proposal process. I realized that this planning stage was one of the biggest downfalls to last year’s success. One of the issues last year was that there was only one of me and 25 of them so it was really tough to give each student the attention that they needed. As a result the emphasis on a good plan was not there. So this year I made it my mission to make sure that no one started their projects before they had laid out step by step what they were going to do. As well I reached out to some friends and former students and asked if they would come in and help me with the brainstorming and planning process, this was as a huge help. Getting through this process was intense, stressful and a learning curve for both myself and my students but totally worth it.
Now some of my students have been through their first projects, reflected and negotiated their points and are now moving on to their next project. Below are videos that showcase what has been happening in our classroom. You can also see what they have been doing via their vlogs / blogs and podcasts at our class hashtags #jmsshpa11 #jmsshpahhg #jmsshpacgw
This is a video that I took of my grade 12 World Issue class describing the projects that they are working on.
These are two girls from the World Issues class who are combating garbage in our hallways. Check out their journey.
This is a group of grade 11 girls who wanted to brighten up some classrooms and engage some friends from a General Learning program. This is their final vlog.
So far things have been going well, not perfect, but pretty good. However, there are days where I wonder if I made the right decision to go 100% project based. I do know that I love watching my students taking risks, making things happen and feeling like they have a voice. I will therefore put my insecurities aside and soldier on.
I am always looking for others who are interested in chatting about this type of stuff – so if that is you please reach out and let’s connect!!
Thanks for unlearning with us 🙂
Cheers, R
Stay tuned for more examples and thoughts as we move throughout the semester.
I am currently taking a course where we were asked to define the roles of the teacher and students in an inquiry based classroom…..so I thought I might write a quick post about it.
Teachers Role
As more and more classrooms are shifting from teacher lead lessons to a more student centred student lead approach, it is evident that the roles of both teacher and student will need to change. The “sage on the stage” or teacher knows best model is no longer relevant in our ever changing world. By no means does that mean that the teacher no longer has control over what is happening, it is that the teacher is no longer the keeper of all knowledge, as we now have access to anything and everything at our fingertips. In this type of classroom the teacher needs to learn to let go and become a facilitator / mentor to their students. Teachers need to become the CEO of their classroom with many projects happening under them. In my opinion, in an inquiry classroom a teacher’s role is to:
Take Risks – be ok with failure.
Expose students to new ideas and issues that are in our world.
Provide opportunities for their students outside of the classroom.
Help ignite passion within their students.
Support their students in finding ways to explore those passions.
Help their students learn where and how to find credible information.
Support students on learning time management skills.
Connect curriculum to their passion projects.
Connect students to experts and community members that can support their projects.
Model the love of learning and promote lifelong learning.
Advocate on behalf of your students.
Help students reflect on their learning – what worked, what didn’t and what will you do differently next time?
Students Role
I have slowly moved from a teacher centred classroom, to a teacher / student centred classroom, to a complete student centred passion based classroom over the past 5 years or so. My grade 12s have been a part of this for the last three years. When trying to think about what the role of the student is, I thought who better to ask then them. This is what they had to say.
“In your classroom failure is okay and we are allowed to fail and it won’t be a bad thing or effect our marks. It is actually a good thing in this class. We are allowed to talk through all sorts of issues we have in the classroom to figure them out. It’s like everyone is apart of your project and contributes to it even though is just your project. We all like to see each other succeed. We also are allowed to use our phones and computers pretty much all the time without getting in trouble.”
“What became evident in your classroom is that it wasn’t a regular learning system that people have been used to for the last 10 years. We are allowed and encouraged to delve in to our own minds and reveal are true passions. From there we are granted access to further research upon what we are passionate about in the inquiry process. We are also expected to do more self-directed learning as opposed to the traditional standards of memorize what the teacher says and study for the test. So our role is to become the guide to our own studying. We are encouraged to go on our phones and use twitter and other media devices to help enhance our learning. Whereas, in most traditional classrooms the only time you would be allowed to take out a media device is your computer when taking notes. We are still expected to work hard in both types of classrooms but we are allowed to fail in yours and make mistakes without getting a failing mark. We are also encouraged to talk about our failures over the course and reflect on them (in your classroom), as opposed to failing on a test and never looking at it again and missing that learning opportunity.”
“I find that I can help some less experienced students and I’m able to think bigger when it comes to things that I can do for school work. We’ve been planning out our project, getting in contact with Parkdale Food Center, and I help other students figure out issues that they want to look at.”
So what I get from these students is that their roles are to:
Think big and figure out what they are passionate about.
Have an open mind.
Take Risks – don’t be afraid to fail.
Think creatively.
Support one another in their learning.
Guide their own learning.
Be more self directed.
Learn to time manage.
Use non traditional ways of researching.
Connect with community.
Reflect on their learning and learn from successes and failures.
If you look at the two lists they are quite similar. Both teacher and student need to have an open mind, not be afraid of taking risks and failing and to support each other in their learning.
I feel as though I have left a few things out – I would love to add to these lists for future discussions. Please let me know your thoughts.
Unlearn With Us 