It's been a while since I've posted, I'm sorry. I feel obligated to post tonight due to some of the activities that occurred in our district for one of our PD days. I had a small part as presenter for a couple break-out sessions at one school, which were very productive. The rest of the time I participated in a PD at one elementary on Project-Based Learning.
The PBL PD was beneficial, I think, for the staff at this elementary. It got most folks talking about doing things differently and really engaging kids in their learning. There were some who also questioned aspects of it, such as "how much time during the day should be devoted to PBL" and "if a teacher is coaching a few students, what are the rest of the students doing?"
These are good questions, but I also believe they originate from most educators' preconceived notions on what learning should be like in school. As educators, as teachers, we have been trained to have everything planned out ahead of time. In a true PBL setting, this is impossible. The teacher may be able to guess the directions their kids will take with their inquiry, and this is fine, because it helps with preparation, but they must also be open to the unexpected left-turn in the journey.
Not having all answers is very uncomfortable to most teachers, because we have been "brainwashed" into believing that we are the "knowledge bearers". No one person can know everything.
Another concern in our current education climate, is "covering" the standards. Common Core or otherwise. PBL becomes problematic on this front because it is a lot more difficult to determine if you have "covered" and assessed these standards for every kid.
My first burning question is this. If we didn't have to "cover content", if we didn't have to worry about standardized tests, what would learning look like in our classrooms?
My last burning question begs you to respond. Think about the last time you needed to learn something new, something other than education. What did it look like? Did you take a class and listen to a talking head at the front of the room? Did you learn it on your own? Did you ask others to help you with your learning? Did you dive in and practice it? Were you asked to be perfect at your new skill/knowledge on an assessment?
For myself, I've learned origami and basket weaving thanks to the Internet. I learned scripting (a form of programming) online too. I've also relied on colleagues to expand my thinking in both a face-to-face setting and also virtual, with people I've never met.
Should we not be modeling our classrooms based upon what our own life-long learning has shown us?
It's a tricky balance, especially now with Race to the Top (and yester-years with No Child Left Behind). As a teacher, what do you MOST want your students to gain from their time from you? Is it the memorization of content or something much more?
