Notes from Boss and Krauss, Chapter 8-10

I skimmed over Chapter 8: Building Connections and Branching Out because it seems the farthest removed from my goals right now.  Of course, I want my kids' projects to connect to the world and I want to offer opportunities for students to connect with experts and resources outside of the classroom, but right now I'm really focused on just getting started.  I anticipate that I will need to come back to this chapter during the fall semester. 


Chapter 9: Making Assessment Meaningful

"Assessing students' project work requires deliberate strategies to take stock not only what they created, but also the teamwork, effort, and creativity that went into the project" (p. 139). 

Establish anchors-- *This part actually confuses me.
  I think what they mean is that you need to get a sense of what students already know/can do and then gain a sense of "how far they are going as they work to meet learning goals" (p. 140).   I assume this means to differentiate assessment based on the learner.

Using rubrics as communication tools, not just evaluation tools


Can use traditional assessments in conjunction with PBL learning

Ask students what they learner or have them create something to represent their learning

Use modern, real world assessments-- apply the skills or assessments used by professionals in certain disciplines




Although I feel comfortable using rubrics and grading holistically, I am still apprehensive about assessment.  I am concerned about differentiating between projects and justifying grades.  Often, when I assign projects, I will grade based on completion or the following of directions rather than truly assessing the nuances of the project.  

I am also concerned about time.  I know Nick and Kyle from NGHS said that grading took forever and they had to be really committed to giving feedback in a timely manner.  I tend to be an efficient grader, but I'm not always the most detail-oriented.  

Chapter 10: Celebrating and Reflecting 

It's important to consider ahead of time how you will wrap up the project.

Reflection is so important! Students need to think metacognitively and create their own meaning (echoes of dialogical teaching here!).   They need time to think about the growth of their learning dispositions as well as their increased content knowledge.  

Elaborate--now what?  How will you extend the project? Improve? Share with others?  Build community in your school?

Celebrate-- put on an event, make your blog live, hold a party or an open house.


Teachers need to "bring it home" too (p. 159).  Reflect and critique the project, share with others (either locally or on the blogosphere).   Do your reflection while the project is still fresh in your mind. 

**Reading this book was a great starting point in my PBL journey because it gave me a framework from which to start and it helped me to visualize what a project might look like from start to finish.  I also think it will continue to be a resource-- there were so many links and ideas that I didn't really digest because I was seeking about the big picture.  But once I'm in stage of the project, I know I will come back to Boss and Krauss to help me flesh out the details. 

Notes from Boss and Krauss, Chapter 6 and 7

Chapter 6: Project Launch--Implementation Strategies

Important-- fill kids will optimism and enthusiasm, teach prerequisite concepts (in a way that doesn't kill optimism and enthusiasm)

--Before and after the project, have students complete a self-assessment in which they consider the concepts and dispositions that they will learn (metacognition)


    Tools for this: blogs, ProfilerPRO, SurveyMonkey, Zoomerang

"Good projects start by tapping students' prior knowledge" (p. 96)
--KWL charts
   *I have learned that high schoolers HATE KWL charts.  They think they are babyish. 


--Image studies

--Role-playing predictions 



Teaching the Fundamentals
--Small lectures/readings/activities on information/concepts/skills that will set the foundation for students' inquiry 

--Setting norms for online and in-person collaboration, time management, technology use

--Sharing the assessment rubric

--Preparing technology (set up "technology playground" p. 102)
    *Amy and I talked about each group/kid setting up their own historical researcher's toolbox in which kids maintain a list of resources that they have at their disposal... media center databases, specific websites, interview techniques, etc

--Tap into student expertise-- find out students' skills and knowledge so they can be resources to each other

Promoting Inquiry and Deep Learning 

By creating good driving questions, students are pushed to think deeply and create their own questions.  

Good driving questions often start with "Which one?" "How?" "Should?" "Why?" or "What if?"


*Nice chart on page 109


Chapter 7: A Guiding Hand--Keeping a Project Moving

 "Keeping a project moving requires teachers to support students on their learning journey.  It doesn't always unfold the way you expect.  This is where the art of teaching comes in" (p. 113).

Teachers should...
-- be curious and observant about student understanding
-- be flexible
-- willing to shift from dispenser of information to faciliator



Consider different levels of classroom discussion:
--Teacher to teacher
--Student to student
--Teacher to student


--Need to shift towards more higher order questions.  "How do you know?" "What did you notice?" "Why do you think that happened?"


--Questions for Checking In

•      Procedural
•      Teamwork
•      Understanding
•     Self-assessment

Two other considerations-- optimizing technology and managing conflict





  

Notes from Boss and Krauss, Chapter 4-5

Chapter 4: Strategies for Discovery

Common Pitfalls of Projects:

1. Long on activity, short on learning outcomes (if students can learn as much through a brief lecture, beware!)

2. Technology layered over traditional practice-- having students research a topic on the Internet and present it in a PowerPoint is not quality

3. Trivial thematic units--themes aren't inherently trivial but they can be (probably more of a pitfall for elementary classes)

4. Overly scripted with too many steps-- make sure there is lots of room for student inquiry and decision making


The rest of the chapter has the reader create a project sketch-- basically going through the process that we went through in our workshop last week, so I'm going to move on to Chapter 5.


Chapter 5: Project Management Strategies for Teachers and Learners


Teachers who manage PBL classrooms also need 21st century skills-- it's not just for the kiddos!


Front-loading projects--

• Gather resources-- supplies, information, experts, technology-- and plan on how to divide responsibilities if you are teaching as a team. 
• Create deadlines (preferably with students).  Involve parents, put systems in place to help students manage their time.  
• Plan the teams-- how will students be divided?  
• Plan for assessment-- figure out students' prior knowledge and interests, plan to clear up misconceptions and help students learn from setbacks, plan to build on what they have learned and push for further learning.  Need formative and summative assessment. 
• Formative-- monitoring, observing, interacting, analyzing, reporting
• Online surveys, checklists, student reflection
• Traditional methods of assessment can be appropriate
•  Solid rubrics tied to standards

*The planning and assessing intimidate me.  I know these are the kind of things that you just have to do-- reading about them will only get you so far.  I also anticipate a lot of trial and error and learning on the fly and I'm okay with that ambiguity. 

Notes from Boss and Krauss, Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Imagining the Possibilities

Establishing the framework of a project--

1. Figuring out what is important

"Good projects get to the heart of a discipline... the more complex and important an idea, the better suited it is for the 21st century project treatment" (p. 43).

--Seek highly conceptual projects that allow for decisions and work within students' frames of interest
--Textbook is not the foundation, but a resource for students and teacher
--Review the standards looking for the "big ideas" 
-- Using the big ideas, think about real-world contexts and interdisciplinary connections
--Get comfortable with the unknown-- don't worry if projects end up in unfamiliar territory
--Don't plan the actual project-- that is what the kids will do*

    *This was something that I found challenging in our brainstorming sessions last week.  We kept coming up with ideas for what kids could do-- and I had to keep catching myself.  The goal is not to come up with the project, but to come up with a springboard, a driving question, or a problem for which the students will create a project. 

2. Planning for Rigor and 21st Century Skills


PBL is not just about the academic standards but the 21st century skills  (several lists on p. 48-49)


     --Digital-Age Literacy (scientific, economic, multicultural, technological)
     --Inventive Thinking (managing complexity, self-direction, curiousity, creativity, risk-taking)
     --Effective Communication (teaming, collaboration, interpersonal skills, personal and social responsiblity)
    --High Productivity (prioritizing, planning, managing time)
    --High Level thinking skills
    -- Research and Information Fluency ... etc.


literacy--learning to be independent, aware, and productive citizens 


"From now on, ask yourself: In what ways can a project help students learn how the world works and how they will work in the world?  How can it set them up to practice skills that will make them effective, lifelong learners?" (p. 51)


*I feel like that with the right driving question, the 21st century skills will just fall into place.  
 
3. Keeping Students in Mind


"passion-based learning" (p. 52)


Projects should authentically engage students-- be interesting and important.  


Essential Learning Functions--
1. Ubiquity
2. Deep Learning
3. Making things visible and discussable
4. Expressing ourselves, sharing ideas, building community
5. Collaboration
6. Research
7. Project Management-- Planning and Organization
8. Reflection and Iteration

Notes from Boss and Krauss, Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Creating a Professional Learning Community

I am fortunate because I have a PLC at my disposal-- I will be teaming with Amy, Roger, and Mike for my class.  In addition, there are three other teachers in my school teaching the ninth grade CDAT class, so I have them as references.  I won't be teaching alone; my class is designed to be interdisciplinary.  Most importantly, I have the complete support of my administration.  My principal wholly supports PBL and is willing to create frameworks within the school to support PBL.  For example, she rearranged our lunch schedule so that we would all have lunch together to meet and plan.

Boss and Krauss cite the following benefits to professional learning communities:

• decreased teacher isolation
• increased commitment to the vision
• shared responsibility 
• more powerful learning  (p. 33)

however, Boss and Krauss do not talk about some of the challenges that may occur in a PLC.  For many teachers, collaborating requires a huge paradigm shift (as PLB does as well), and teaching as a unit can be uncomfortable.  Although Amy and I get along as friends and I think have the same goals as teachers, I do anticipate challenges.  I think that I value efficiency where she is more flexible with time.  I am much less organized than she is and I think I'm more comfortable with a certain amount of chaos than she is.  We have different styles of classroom management that I think might cause conflict.  In addition, I'm just used to my classroom being my domain and it will be a shift to working with another teacher on a daily basis.  I know that we will work through issues when they come up; I'm just trying to be open about some of the concerns I have and the issues that I anticipate could possibly arise. 

Notes from Boss and Krauss

I am currently reading Reinventing project-based learning: Your field guide to real-world projects in the digital age by Suzie Boss and Jane Krauss.  What's really cool is that I'm going to a professional development through my school's CDAT program that is being led by Suzie Boss herself.   So I'm being a total nerd and reading her book before I actually meet Boss.


Chapter 1: Mapping the Journey--Seeing the Big Picture


It's clear that PBL takes much more work on the front end because knowing the end point is essential in starting a unit.  (That's true for the regular classroom too, but in the traditional classroom, I think you can fake-it-til-you-make-it easier.) 


Hallmarks of PBL:

• Projects are the heart of the curriculum--they are the real work, not an activity or add-on
• Learning is centered in the real world and authentic work
• Students work in teams and collaborate with each other, the teacher, and the community
• Technology is a tool integrated in the classroom 
• Projects works to cross boundaries within the school and the community (p. 12)

 The Ministry of Education in Singapore: Teach less, learn more (p. 13)


Teachers must be learners too-- model life-long learning for our students.   Teachers should expect their classroom and teaching style to change-- including the teachers' learning goals, they way they interact with students, their classroom management style, the physical arrangement of the classroom, the way they assess learning, the artifacts of learning they collect, and how they communicate with parents and colleagues (p. 18-19). 


PBL allows students to learn real-work "soft skills" rather than just the academic content.  They practice and develop communication, flexibility with time and people,  and inquiry skills.  They "achieve a fuller understanding of how the world works" and the "feeling that, through communication with and understanding of other people, individuals can do something about changing the world" (p. 20).


Ways to get started generating ideas-- start a furl or del.ici.ous to bookmark sites.  Begin reading blogs and sites--> Eduopia, the Buck Institute, NETS*S, edublogs.com, EduBlog Insights, Cool Cat Teacher (the latter two are teachers from Georgia).