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Saved by 59 people (-1 private), first by anonymouse user on 2009-04-25


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as cutting-edge schools demonstrate just how effectively it imparts the skills students need in today’s workforce.

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earn how to

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For the next generation, these skills are only going to get more important.

Highlighted by kathleennann

For the next generation, these skills are only going to get more important.

Highlighted by lisahuff_teacher

Today’s technology, from Web 2.0 tools to data collection devices, allow students to produce work akin to that of professionals,

Highlighted by lisahuff_teacher

Today’s technology, from Web 2.0 tools to data collection devices, allow students to produce work akin to that of professionals,

Highlighted by kathleennann

homas Friedman’s 2005 book, The World Is Flat, which crystallized the changes in today’s global marketplace, from outsourcing to the digital revolution and made clear the necessity of changing the aims of American education for the 21st century.

Highlighted by kathleennann

homas Friedman’s 2005 book, The World Is Flat, which crystallized the changes in today’s global marketplace, from outsourcing to the digital revolution and made clear the necessity of changing the aims of American education for the 21st century.

Highlighted by lisahuff_teacher

Buck Institute for Education in Novato, California,

Highlighted by lisahuff_teacher

Buck Institute for Education in Novato, California,

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ane Krauss, coauthor with Suzie Boss of Reinventing Project-Based Learning: Your Field Guide to Real-World Projects in the Digital Age.

Highlighted by kathleennann

ane Krauss, coauthor with Suzie Boss of Reinventing Project-Based Learning: Your Field Guide to Real-World Projects in the Digital Age.

Highlighted by lisahuff_teacher

New Technology High School in Napa, California, is the epicenter

Highlighted by sarahhanawald

New Technology High School in Napa, California, is the epicenter.

Highlighted by kathleennann

New Technology High School in Napa, California, is the epicenter.

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New Technology Foundation followed, its mission to help replicate Napa’s school model throughout the country.

Highlighted by kathleennann

New Technology Foundation followed, its mission to help replicate Napa’s school model throughout the country.

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There are now 40 New Tech schools from coast to coast, including eight in California and four each in Texas and Louisiana.

Highlighted by lisahuff_teacher

There are now 40 New Tech schools from coast to coast, including eight in California and four each in Texas and Louisiana.

Highlighted by kathleennann

every student at Tech Valley has a computer.

Highlighted by lisahuff_teacher

every student at Tech Valley has a computer.

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school’s schedule is open enough to give students the time they need to delve deeply into projects.

Highlighted by lisahuff_teacher

school’s schedule is open enough to give students the time they need to delve deeply into projects.

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High Tech High,

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High Tech High,

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have students use technology to research, produce, and present. High Tech High students regularly make movies, robots, and websites, and finish by presenting their work publicly to real audiences.

Highlighted by lisahuff_teacher

have students use technology to research, produce, and present. High Tech High students regularly make movies, robots, and websites, and finish by presenting their work publicly to real audiences.

Highlighted by kathleennann

East Coast example is the Science Leadership Academy (SLA)

Highlighted by kathleennann

East Coast example is the Science Leadership Academy (SLA)

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compartmentalized subjects

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on 2009-05-06 by sarahhanawald

Only in academia do we think that math and reading have nothing to do with each other (except for word problems).

facing testing pressure, compartmentalized subjects, and a schedule that sends students onto the next subject before they can delve deeply into a topic. There’s not “enough time to do anything.”

Highlighted by kathleennann

facing testing pressure, compartmentalized subjects, and a schedule that sends students onto the next subject before they can delve deeply into a topic. There’s not “enough time to do anything.”

Highlighted by lisahuff_teacher

The school’s schedule allows for cross-curricular work to be done over a period of hours per day.

Highlighted by sarahhanawald

it can be easier to start a new school like Tech Valley than to overhaul an existing school to create a PBL environment.

Highlighted by lisahuff_teacher

on 2009-04-26 by lisahuff_teacher

A point I've been belaboring.

it can be easier to start a new school like Tech Valley than to overhaul an existing school to create a PBL environment.

Highlighted by kathleennann

“Some people are worried that if someone walks by a classroom, and it seems disorderly, it will look like students aren’t on task. It’s a problem for people to tolerate more movement and conversation,” author Jane Krauss says. “Chaos is a scary word that’s not really scary,” agrees Smith. “It means freedom.”

Highlighted by jdarnell

chedule allows for cross-curricular work to be done over a period of hours per day. “[In a traditional school], it’s difficult to work on a project. You can’t do it in 45 minutes,”

Highlighted by lisahuff_teacher

chedule allows for cross-curricular work to be done over a period of hours per day. “[In a traditional school], it’s difficult to work on a project. You can’t do it in 45 minutes,”

Highlighted by kathleennann

ability to store all the parts of a project on a network

Highlighted by lisahuff_teacher

ability to store all the parts of a project on a network

Highlighted by kathleennann

“Some people are worried that if someone walks by a classroom, and it seems disorderly, it will look like students aren’t on task. It’s a problem for people to tolerate more movement and conversation,” author Jane Krauss says. “Chaos is a scary word that’s not really scary,” agrees Smith. “It means freedom.”

Highlighted by kathleennann

“Some people are worried that if someone walks by a classroom, and it seems disorderly, it will look like students aren’t on task. It’s a problem for people to tolerate more movement and conversation,” author Jane Krauss says. “Chaos is a scary word that’s not really scary,” agrees Smith. “It means freedom.”

Highlighted by lisahuff_teacher

Part of the opposition has less to do with technology and testing than it does changing people’s opinions of what school should be.

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“It’s hard to teach in a way we were never taught,

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“It’s hard to teach in a way we were never taught,

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it doesn’t mean the end of lectures, small-group work, or other techniques used by most teachers. These techniques can be sprinkled into a three-week project when appropriate, and, in fact, can help assure teachers that their students are gaining knowledge.

Highlighted by lisahuff_teacher

it doesn’t mean the end of lectures, small-group work, or other techniques used by most teachers. These techniques can be sprinkled into a three-week project when appropriate, and, in fact, can help assure teachers that their students are gaining knowledge.

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“It’s not an additional burden of work, it’s a transition of work,”

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“It’s not an additional burden of work, it’s a transition of work,”

Highlighted by kathleennann

Instead of creating daily lessons, teachers do their planning before the launch of a project. Once the project starts, their job is to make sure students stay on track and cover the objectives.

Highlighted by kathleennann

Instead of creating daily lessons, teachers do their planning before the launch of a project. Once the project starts, their job is to make sure students stay on track and cover the objectives.

Highlighted by lisahuff_teacher

on 2009-04-26 by lisahuff_teacher

I've noticed this in my own attempts at PBL. Daily lesson plans don't really work. You have to map out, starting with the end, the project and all the mini-lessons, activities, resources need to scaffold students. You have to adjust from group to group, student to student, class to class. Instead of DAILY lesson plans, unit plans are much more valuable. I find that having them on a wiki with linked resources is even more valuable than writing them in a traditional planbook. IDEA: What if charter school teachers all keep lesson plans on a wiki or blog? Lesson plans would be UNITS rather than day-by-day traditional plans.

The move to PBL doesn’t have to happen overnight

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“We encourage small steps, projects that take weeks, not months.”

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The move to PBL doesn’t have to happen overnight

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“We encourage small steps, projects that take weeks, not months.”

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biggest doubters are its youngest members.

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The move to PBL doesn’t have to happen overnight, Ross notes. “We encourage small steps, projects that take weeks, not months.” PBL newbies can join existing projects or team up with others.

“There’s no denying the first time around takes time,” Ross says. “We hear this again and again from teachers.”

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“There are students who are good at the game of school. This was me in high school. Tell me the assignment and I was good to go. We have to give [students] permission to think, not teach them what to think.”

Highlighted by kathleennann

“There are students who are good at the game of school. This was me in high school. Tell me the assignment and I was good to go. We have to give [students] permission to think, not teach them what to think.”

Highlighted by lisahuff_teacher

“It’s moving from guided inquiry to open inquiry,”

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“It’s moving from guided inquiry to open inquiry,”

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students receive much more knowledge than can be recorded on a bubble test.

Highlighted by sarahhanawald

on 2009-05-06 by sarahhanawald

If you can't test it with a bubble sheet, does knowledge exist?

Have clear, strong instructional goals

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Creating a great classroom project is more complicated than taking a single lesson plan and stretching it out over several weeks.

Highlighted by kathleennann

Creating a great classroom project is more complicated than taking a single lesson plan and stretching it out over several weeks.

Highlighted by lisahuff_teacher

Speaking about the common habit of turning to PBL as a year-end “reward,” she says, “The idea is not to get our vegetables and then have our dessert. The core curricula needs to be the project itself.”

Highlighted by kathleennann

Speaking about the common habit of turning to PBL as a year-end “reward,” she says, “The idea is not to get our vegetables and then have our dessert. The core curricula needs to be the project itself.”

Highlighted by lisahuff_teacher

“The best questions have no clear answers,” says Tech Valley High School Principal Dan Liebert. “As opposed to getting the right answer, [we tell students] to come up with an answer they can defend.”

Highlighted by lisahuff_teacher

“The best questions have no clear answers,” says Tech Valley High School Principal Dan Liebert. “As opposed to getting the right answer, [we tell students] to come up with an answer they can defend.”

Highlighted by kathleennann

elements of a good project should include relevance for students, ample time to plan, change, and complete the project, and enough complexity to inspire intense work. There should also be a way to connect the project with people across the hall, on the other side of town, or across the world, an opportunity for students to collaborate with peers, international experts, and anybody in between, and a way for students to share their completed work.

Highlighted by lisahuff_teacher

elements of a good project should include relevance for students, ample time to plan, change, and complete the project, and enough complexity to inspire intense work. There should also be a way to connect the project with people across the hall, on the other side of town, or across the world, an opportunity for students to collaborate with peers, international experts, and anybody in between, and a way for students to share their completed work.

Highlighted by kathleennann

Projects are the learning that students remember,” says Stager, “long after the bell rings.”

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Chris Lehmann, principal of the Philadelphia-based Science Leadership Academy,

Highlighted by sarahhanawald

on 2009-05-06 by sarahhanawald

Educon host school! Please, please let me go!

One of the reasons desks-in-rows and textbook learning has lasted so long is that it’s the best way to keep order

Highlighted by sarahhanawald

At SLA we use Understanding by Design as our unit planning tool. We also have a common assessment rubric. Every major project the students do here is graded on the same five elements—design used, knowledge displayed, application of knowledge, presentation, and the process followed.

Highlighted by kathleennann

At SLA we use Understanding by Design as our unit planning tool. We also have a common assessment rubric. Every major project the students do here is graded on the same five elements—design used, knowledge displayed, application of knowledge, presentation, and the process followed.

Highlighted by lisahuff_teacher

on 2009-04-26 by lisahuff_teacher

I need to find a copy of that assessment rubric.

on 2009-05-06 by sarahhanawald

http://www.scienceleadership.org/drupaled/wiki/assessment-sla

We also employ a school-wide “essential question” that changes with each grade. In ninth grade, it’s identity; in tenth, it’s systems; in eleventh, it’s change.

Highlighted by sarahhanawald

on 2009-05-06 by sarahhanawald

Brilliant!

We also employ a school-wide “essential question” that changes with each grade. In ninth grade, it’s identity; in tenth, it’s systems; in eleventh, it’s change. This way there are common elements no matter what class a student is in, and that allows for a more unified day.

Highlighted by lisahuff_teacher

We also employ a school-wide “essential question” that changes with each grade. In ninth grade, it’s identity; in tenth, it’s systems; in eleventh, it’s change. This way there are common elements no matter what class a student is in, and that allows for a more unified day.

Highlighted by kathleennann

“At the end of a unit, what is the assessment tool you use to see what students have learned?" In a true PBL classroom, student work is the ultimate assessment of learning. That’s not to say that tests and quizzes don’t play a role in a PBL classroom. The tests and quizzes are now interim assessments to make sure the students can do the harder job—which is to transfer the knowledge to the work they create. That is true project-based learning.

Highlighted by kathleennann

“At the end of a unit, what is the assessment tool you use to see what students have learned?" In a true PBL classroom, student work is the ultimate assessment of learning. That’s not to say that tests and quizzes don’t play a role in a PBL classroom. The tests and quizzes are now interim assessments to make sure the students can do the harder job—which is to transfer the knowledge to the work they create. That is true project-based learning.

Highlighted by lisahuff_teacher