Many great things occur as a result of using the PBL
approach. A project doesn’t just simply come
to an end. It opens doors and creates
connections for future projects. Teachers
and students both have something to celebrate and many memories to look back
on. They may also have “souvenirs and
artifacts” that they have collected along the way that will serve as reminders
of where they have been. As we learned in the previous chapter,
reflecting back on the project not only helps the students, but it also helps
the teacher learn what worked, what can be improved, and what can be
implemented the next time around. Students
are filled with ideas and thoughts, and have new skills that will prepare them
for the future in the real-world.
Teachers can (and should!) “bring it home” in
regards to their projects. They can look
back on their journeys and look for activities where the students were
thoroughly engaged, then use these activities on a future project with
different learning goals. They can look
for a theme that emerged from the projects and maybe use it on another project
to connect the learning. Teachers should
talk with their colleagues and do a “project debrief” where they can work
together to see where improvements need to be made. Talking with colleagues could also include
reviewing students’ products to see what the level of student understanding
was. Teachers could also “bring it home”
by sharing with other teachers. Sharing
projects will help someone else learn, just like you did when you began. A great way to do this is through an online
database or by starting a project library for your school or district. Teachers should and can be a resource for
each other.
This chapter relates to our project because we are
wrapping things up and “bringing it home.”
I think we are doing that through the creation of our website. Through this website we are showcasing all of
our project ideas and reflecting in the process. We are seeing what has worked, what needs
some tweaking and what we would do differently in the future. We are taking all the new skills we have acquired
and are putting them to work on something that we can share with other
teachers, and even add to our own project library. We are coming away with new 21st-century
skills and a sense of what it means to collaborate. We have a good idea of what a PBL project is
like and can share that knowledge with our future students.
I like what you said about students being filled with new ideas and thoughts after projects. I think teachers can also use students new ideas/thoughts for new project ideas. Finding out what student are still curious about may be a great idea to plan for future projects.
ReplyDeleteThe part that stuck out to me most in your reflection was where you talked about how this chapter relates to your project. I agree with everything you had to say about our websites acting as a way to bring home everything that was discussed throughout the project. Creating a website is the perfect way to put everything we've been working on in one spot so that other people can see the project as a whole instead of just parts of it. I also agree with you that the website is a chance to reflect on what worked and what didn't. Collaboration was such a big part of project based learning, and I think that these websites serve as perfect examples of how teachers can work together to promote student learning, specifically through the project based learning approach.
ReplyDeleteI agree that teachers should collaborate with each other when developing or modifying a project. I strongly believe that working with other teachers and reviewing old work will put a new insight into a project. By modifying it each year could turn into a really successful project that will benefit the students or even the school district as a whole.
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