Phase 6 - Final ImagineIt Report
It has been about 5 months since I decided to use Project Based Learning (PBL) as a strategy for teaching students in a more holistic way, not just teaching skills but teaching through application.
To achieve my goal, I need to learn a lot about PBL. My book of choice was “Project Based Learning ToolKit Series, PBL Starter Kit” written by John Larmar and John R. Mergendoller, PhD. This book was a good choice for my for a number of reasons. First off, the book provided me with tips, sample projects, templates ready to use and much. I also read, “The Dreamkeepers” by Gloria Ladson-Billings. These two books together made my teaching and my students’ learning more powerful. The biggest takeaway from this book would be that in order to get students to buy into the learning they must learn to respect each other. This was the first time I really understood the meaning of culturally relevant community of learners. This understanding made the experience for the students and myself much better.
As I developed this project for my students, I reached out to my colleagues for some support and as a sounding board around how to implement the first try at my Imagine-It and just how long the project should last. They were very helpful during my sample lesson. As teachers they looked at the lesson from a different perspective and it helped me to finetune my lesson for my students. I also talked to my students about the short project we engaged in and they were very insightful about what they wanted to see happen during the bigger project and for them accountability was the most important part for them. They didn’t want their entire grade to depend on students that were not invested in the learning process. This insight led me to create an accountability rubric for the group project. This rubric provided students with a guideline for what was expected from them during the project and they also were able to rate others on their participation in the group work.
Looking back at my original Imagine-It, I see that it will take a lot to get student to a place where they will be comfortable enough with each other to make mistakes and trust that their peers will not judge them for not knowing but care enough to help them learn. I have begun building this culturally relevant environment in my classroom that I hope will foster a sense of family that will lead to learning for all students. After reading the aforementioned books, I know that I will need to make some changes in the next implementation of my Imagine-It. One such change will be the size of my groups. During the first implementation, students worked in groups of 5 to 6 members. This was problematic because their was too much socializing and not enough focus on the task at hand. For the next project, students will work in groups of 3 and they will also have more choices for what project they will work on.
To achieve my goal, I need to learn a lot about PBL. My book of choice was “Project Based Learning ToolKit Series, PBL Starter Kit” written by John Larmar and John R. Mergendoller, PhD. This book was a good choice for my for a number of reasons. First off, the book provided me with tips, sample projects, templates ready to use and much. I also read, “The Dreamkeepers” by Gloria Ladson-Billings. These two books together made my teaching and my students’ learning more powerful. The biggest takeaway from this book would be that in order to get students to buy into the learning they must learn to respect each other. This was the first time I really understood the meaning of culturally relevant community of learners. This understanding made the experience for the students and myself much better.
As I developed this project for my students, I reached out to my colleagues for some support and as a sounding board around how to implement the first try at my Imagine-It and just how long the project should last. They were very helpful during my sample lesson. As teachers they looked at the lesson from a different perspective and it helped me to finetune my lesson for my students. I also talked to my students about the short project we engaged in and they were very insightful about what they wanted to see happen during the bigger project and for them accountability was the most important part for them. They didn’t want their entire grade to depend on students that were not invested in the learning process. This insight led me to create an accountability rubric for the group project. This rubric provided students with a guideline for what was expected from them during the project and they also were able to rate others on their participation in the group work.
Looking back at my original Imagine-It, I see that it will take a lot to get student to a place where they will be comfortable enough with each other to make mistakes and trust that their peers will not judge them for not knowing but care enough to help them learn. I have begun building this culturally relevant environment in my classroom that I hope will foster a sense of family that will lead to learning for all students. After reading the aforementioned books, I know that I will need to make some changes in the next implementation of my Imagine-It. One such change will be the size of my groups. During the first implementation, students worked in groups of 5 to 6 members. This was problematic because their was too much socializing and not enough focus on the task at hand. For the next project, students will work in groups of 3 and they will also have more choices for what project they will work on.
