A little over a year ago, I read Higher-order thinking is the exception rather than the norm for most classrooms on Scott McLeod's blog, Dangerously Irrelevant , and have been mulling it over, wondering if our school district is any different. Over the past year, our teachers periodically collect data with their teams on the types of questions/tasks they ask students. One teacher records teacher questions and the other records student responses on a shared Google Doc ; then teams sort through their own data, plotting teacher questions by Bloom's Revised Taxonomy , and student responses to those questions/tasks with Webb's Depth of Knowledge (DOK) . The 2012-2013 data showed we were not very different from other districts; therefore, our teams set their own goals for higher-order thinking and depth of knowledge. The data so far for the 2013-2014 school year shows questions asked of students are up and down the Bloom's ladder, equally distributed (with a little...
I have been exploring my new (free) account at www.bie.org. This site has amazing resources. I was starting to struggle with certain things about PBL. For example, how does a rubric look when I'm keeping everything flexible so the kids can pave their own way? There is a downloads section on this site with help on how to build a rubric. It includes things like, "Displays a strategic approach when accessing information" or "Searches key sources efficiently." Why had it not occured to me that I could assess in this way? For one thing, I'm a writing teacher. I grade process all the time, but with projects I was grading the product only. To mimick my students, epic fail Ms. Gummow! Besides, these are the skills that are going to matter most in the workplace no matter what they end up doing. These are the skills that will enable them to be successful. There's also a rubric for me to check my own planning to make sure I'm creating the best project I can. I highly reccomend getting yourself an account at www.bie.org!
ReplyDeleteAwesome insight and reflection, Ms. Gummow! You have made an extremely important point. I will write about rubrics on my blog in the future.
ReplyDeleteI decided to dive deeper into the bie.org site and look for projects for myself, especially ones that have been done in the younger grades. And bam, I found something amazing! Me and Rhonda have been looking for interesting new projects for our walk to success groups and this teacher was finally able to show how to differentiate projects and give age appropriate ones! I love all three of these sites that are here, one just outlines their project and the other 2 are other projects to peruse.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.hardin.k12.ky.us/academy/bdahl/worldwq.htm
http://davidson.k12.nc.us/pbl/k5links.htm#whole
http://connes.wcpss.net/pdf/Magnet/Second%20Grade%20Modules.pdf
Bethany, that's fabulous that you found something you can actually use! Totally awesome also that you and Rhonda are collaborating and networking together. Huge smile on my face right now, Huge.
ReplyDeleteI have been exploring the Intel Education site and I'm really enjoying it! I like how you can select projects by project type (webquest, service project, ect.), or grade level. The project index is helpful in slecting a project that meets your needs. I really like their Enduring Hereos project and think it would peak students' interest as well. The project is laid out and organized in a way that makes sense to me and is easy to follow. Essential questions guide the PBL and there are assessments and timelines built in. I can really envision the project and am excited to build upon it.
ReplyDeleteI set up a Diigo account but have not done anything with it yet! Need to talk to the experts about what to do next! I also took the time to view the PBL resources and found that I liked the Intel website and loved how it showed how to design an effective project. Previewed the Construction and Design project as well as the Enduring Heroes project and felt both would be great projects to try with my students. Construction and Design would show students just how important learning math is to everyday life and how important it is when designing future marketable products. Also took a look at the Flat Stanley site. Great way to bring in Social Studies/History. From - Kim Shirley
ReplyDeleteI have spent my exploration time searching for ideas for journalism projects without much luck. I've spent some time on the BIE site like others, I looked at the Intel site, hsj.org, and several others and just haven't found many unique ideas. There are some language arts projects on BIE that I think I could adapt and combine, but I find myself in a familiar place. I can make almost anything fit my class because they can use media writing or design skills in almost anything. That's good, but it gives me so many options that it's hard to figure out what to do.
ReplyDelete@Lori- I love the Intel projects and the details laid out. I often used those to spark ideas, and then I'd adapt them to fit what my students needed and the amount of time I wanted to spend on it.
ReplyDelete@Kim- Glad you found some resources and had a chance to set up your Diigo account. If you go to my website Social Bookmarking Resources http://www.ajusd.org/webpages/twatanabe/resources.cfm?subpage=462640 in the "Learn More" section there are tutorial links. I can come help as well... in addition to Amber and Shauna if needed.
@JD Can you check out my digitalstorytelling bookmarks at http://www.diigo.com/user/twatanab/digitalstorytelling ? I'd like to especially point out the "Where's the Beef? Adding Rigor to Student Digital Projects" and the "DigiTales- The Art of Telling Digital Stories". They might have some fabulous insight for you.
I have set up a Diigo account and enjoy reading all the different things people post for different project they can do as a class. There is so much infromation out there, there will never be enough time to go through it all. It's nice to know there is so much help out there.
ReplyDeleteDear Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteI am glad you have your Diigo account set up. It is true, we are a media saturated society. The key thing is to know what you want to know, and keep focused on that... and not to try to be informed of everything... just what applies to you/your students' learning. Does that help?
Candi and I are still doing a lot of planning together, brainstorming ideas on what we can do to incorporate a PBL mega project into our 4th quarter- something with Scientific Method and a mega lab. We found some good ideas on the website links for last week and are still brainstorming on how we can tweak those to our use. This is still quite overwhelming.
ReplyDeleteHi Wendy,
ReplyDeleteIt takes time before the comfort is there. I applaud you for trying to engage the kids in new ways. Keep up the great work!
Tracy