Project Based Learning?? Maker Learning?? How do you manage the time element?

I have always been into Project Based Learning and since my entry into education was as a sixth-grade teacher responsible for all disciplines including art, it was critical to develop learning centers and long-range projects that melded a reasonable choice of objectives for a positive learning outcome.  As my experience grew with contact with excellent teachers and a principal with high expectations, I began to refine the process of developing these types of assignments.

1. Backward Plan - What good can be accomplished with the project? Who will be the audience? How 

    many objectives can you embed and assess? How much time will the project take? How will you 

    insure that groups function properly? Start small - then grow - try a time capsule with predictions based on

   data mining (the new "in" trend).

2. Create Goodwill - Students should have input from the start, find other teachers who can become 

    involved and parents/guardians, be flexible create a calendar of due dates that can be changed and once

    you have a draft plan - involve your administrators. 

3. Keep Objectives/Projects Focused on Some Well-Chosen Incentive(s): career oriented; prize-driven

    (enter contests); have a presentation grand finale - have your students teach other students; use technology

     in a new way; reach out to the community and get press coverage if you can.

4. Justify the Learning - You are responsible - (I don't give a flip about standardized testing when you get

    down to it) - for increasing the reading ability of your students across the board and that means getting

    them excited about it (both fiction and non-fiction); increasing the ability of your students to use data from 

    well-documented sources; increasing the ability of your students to work in small groups either as a leader

    or a contributing member; increasing the ability of your students to speak in front of other people using 

    appropriate visual aids and increasing the ability of your students to write with clarity and purpose to 

    persuade other readers to accept their point of view. 

5. Transferring Learning to New Material - Because PBL and Maker Learning take time, I suggest that you 

     start small and train your students demonstrating how you want the system to work and make the first 

     project one that only takes two weeks at the most. Use a check list of expectations and evaluate students

     using that and allow for feedback. Move on to longer projects and use quizzes and other assessments to

     tackle the idea of transfer.  It is really important that you keep similar skill sets from project to project so

     that students will really "nail" them down.

My colleagues used to call me the Cecil B. DeMille of my elementary school because I was always putting on puppet shows or plays. We had to make the puppets and write the scripts and do backdrops and costuming for the plays. Students and parents/guardians loved it and throw in a few musical numbers and voila - you've really got something ready for prime time. 

Please send me some evaluation forms if you can - I know many of you are gearing up for school and I'd like to know what topics interest you - report cards seemed to grab a lot of attention.  I have a suggestion for long range planning, but it depends on what's expected of you as teachers these days - so send me an e-mail and I'll see what I can find to help you.  

That's what this blog is about - Helping you find easier strategies in this overblown Internet full of unrealistic information and ideas. Giving you lessons and ideas that will help you zero in on giving your students the edge in becoming career-savvy learners with the added bonus that you might have some fun is the goal.  Have a wonderful weekend!  I'll be back Monday!