Academic Math Planning Day February 29, 2012

We got A LOT accomplished today!!

Our Academic PBL answers the question:  “What is the best way to plan a 5 day trip for a family of 4 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation?”  We had started out with a family of 5.  As I worked through a sample presentation, I found that a family of 5 is a challenge to plan for.  Kudos to those of you with 3 kids!! 🙂  Working through the project, I also found that we needed ages of the 2 children.  To work with these two situation, we came up with a good plan… we have small sheets of paper for the students to draw out the amount (i.e. $6,000, $7,000…) that they will have to spend on their trip, and they will draw out a sheet of paper that states the age of the child requesting a wish with something they like to do (i.e. a girl that likes dance or a boy that likes baseball) to add in the challenge of planning the trip.

We worked as a fluid team today creating, discussing, and editing through our to-do list.  Here is a snap shot 🙂 

Go Math! 🙂

Bonus Day of Planning…Success!!! February 27, 2012

After our meeting with Amy, we (the ELA team) discovered that we really needed to back up and condense our project to a few weeks.  Last Thursday we met as a team, and slowly, but surely success was found!  From 7:30 until lunch time we formed our rubric.  We started with our objectives, and then filled in what we thought a proficient project would be.  Next, we delved into what a project would look like if it was to be considered exemplary or deficient. We printed out the draft and looked as a group for changes to be made.  Personally, I felt a huge milestone had been hit once the rubric was complete!  After lunch, we turned our attention to the calendar.  In order to be as efficient as possible Dani typed a student calendar, Monica typed a teacher calendar, and I typed a “To Do” list.  We are having to plan around the STAAR test which falls right in the middle of our project.  We decided to use it as a checkpoint.  Before the STAAR reading test, students are focused on researching their social issue.  After the test, they are responsible for the persuasive product.  We are hoping to include advertising community members and possibly some Miller Career Center students to be in charge of videoing.  Next step: Organize!  Organize! Organize!  We are going to need to compile the documents needed.  I want to create a sample binder for the kids which will allow me to think through the project, and plan as much as possible for a positive outcome.

Monkey wrench….. February 20, 2012

What a day! I really think I am feeling exactly how my kids are going to feel when they first start their projects. Even though my team has planned together before, I feel as though this is a different beast! Is this a trick? You guys totally want us to go through the same frustrations and struggles our kids are going to experience! Bring it! 🙂

PBL Planning 2/17 February 17, 2012

How are you feeling after day 1 of planning?

      Confused      Maybe       For Sure

Engaging the students February 15, 2012

I sat in on a student roundtable last week and heard a number of students speak either directly or indirectly about the type of “work” they do at school.  Many felt like the work lacked relevance or was just plain boring.  I sense that, as educators, while we inherently like the idea of PBL but there is some conflict with the idea of presenting information that is new to students.  PBL would be easier if it was implemented after all the objectives had been taught.  Unfortunately, what you have in that case is just a project. 

 In my mind, one of the amazing aspects of PBL is the engagement level.  There will always be the need to present new knowledge and skills to students – to explain, to model, to practice (the stuff that kids generally view as boring).  It is the context under which the new material is introduced that makes PBL different.  Students will see the presentation of new information as integral to solving the overarching problem and thus they will be more apt to be engaged.  The new concept takes on a relevance that fosters authentic student engagement. 

Years ago in graduate school, I read a book by Phillip Schlecty, called Working on the Work.  A couple of years later I had the opportunity to attend a week long seminar and spend some time with Dr. Schlecty discussing how we can change the way we educate kids through changing the way they “work” in school.  Although he does not explicitly say it, I believe his theories are a key component of PBL.   Dr. Schlecty talked about the need for “teachers to become aware of ways of linking classroom activity to products students value and care about, ways of breaking the linkage between failure and punishment, and ways of enriching content without introducing boredom.”  He identifies ten qualities of student work that, when one or more are present, result in student work that is authentically engaging.   I’ll post the ten qualities as a comment on this post in case anyone is interested.

Staff Development February 13, 2012

We are excited to offer time for you to collaborate and work on your projects, whether you are interested in starting something now or in the 6th 6-weeks.  Dallas Broadstreet has begun a pilot today, so he is gathering information, prepping students, and working through the calendar and assessment pieces of the puzzle.  He will be able to shed some light on what we are all working toward. 

I am working on having a Raines HS teacher come over Monday sometime to brainstorm, add expert testimony and experiences, prepare us for pitfalls, and offer feedback on our projects and plans. 

What makes you the most apprehensive?  How can we provide support for you?

Bittersweet February 6, 2012

I am so excited about doing this project! Not that I have any clue how or what I will be doing…. but I am eager to see my students in action and hear all of their ideas, questions and conversations once we finally put something together. I love how projects allow student creativity to flow and constantly open up pathways to high level questions and ideas that you’d never expect to hear from a 12 year old. Unfortunately this is all so bitter sweet for me, because I am due May 11… so I may not be able to see our project(s) through from beginning to end! 😦

Field Trip February 3, 2012

I was really excited to go on our field trip Wednesday.  I wanted to see how a PBL math classroom works.  It was very interesting.  The kids were working on a project using topics and skills their teacher had taught them previously.  They were taking the knowledge to a deeper level by using it in a real world-type situation.  They were all involved in their projects and could answer any questions we asked them about it.  The students really cared about what they were doing, and it showed.  The biggest thing I took away from it, is that PBL doesn’t involve just projects.   The math teachers still had days of general instruction where they taught the class, but instead of homework, the students completed a project to show mastery of the skill.  I was really impressed.  It made me so excited to plan something to do in my classroom!!! We all came back planning what activities we could do to include our TEKS and make it something the kids would not just memorize but truly learn.

Raines High School Field Trip February 1, 2012

It was really great to see first hand how PBL is working in Katy ISD.  Talking to the kids and hearing their insight on what it’s like to participate in Project-Based Learning really got me excited about the potential that it has.  It was also really great to witness a project experience in a math classroom.  I spoke to a couple of students who were working on a project in their Algebra II class where they had to design a space settlement to submit to a contest for NASA.  They were using Google Sketchup and other resources (some were even hand-drawing blueprints) to create a prototype of their colony.  I was very impressed with the detail and creativity that I saw, and also the connections they were making to the math content (independent/dependent variables, domain/range, function/not a function, slope/point-slope form).  Overall, it was a great experience!