Bringing More Project-Based Learning to Graland

Faculty from Grade 7, Grade 4 and the drama department traveled to California last week to attend a conference on project-based learning, a teaching technique that guides students in identifying a real-world problem and developing its solution. It allows students to show what they learn as they journey through the unit, not just at the end.* The conference was hosted by High Tech High (HTH), a network of charter schools serving K-12 that also provides professional development to educators. Read more about our team’s reflections on this impactful experience.

Katie Stone, Grade 4 

“One of my greatest take aways was that PBL (project-based learning) can be as big (or small) as you want it to be. I have been able to bring new ideas into my classroom this week and at the same time we are already working collaboratively, planning to build stronger, more engaging curriculum for next year. 

 

“We also looked at Ron Berger’s Hierarchy of Audience. When the audience of a students’ work changes so does their level of engagement. If I am asking my students to write a reflection about their recent field trip to AmeriTowne, their level of effort will change if I tell them that I will be reading the reflection, Mr. Cobb will read it or imagine if we were able to choose a few reflections for Young Americans Bank to publish in their newsletter. 

 

“We want to find ways for our students to interact in the community around them as well as our Graland community. The Camp was a great introduction that provided countless resources for us to continue to create curriculum to inspire our students.”

 

“At HTH we discussed an activity that teachers can lead their students through when introducing new material. The exercise begins with showing students an unknown item, perhaps an unidentified cell under a microscope or an old letter or photograph and having the students answer the following prompts: I see, I think, I wonder … 

 

“This type of questioning can capture students’ imagination and jumpstart creativity and engagement in the topic. We as a teaching team participated in a series of workshops that had us look at our own curriculum and reflect on our own teachings. I see that we cover this topic, I think it is a worthwhile lesson, I wonder if there is a way we can approach this learning to enhance student engagement, ownership, problem solving and learning. 

 

“Working collaboratively, and feeding off each other’s curiosity and creativity, the Grade 7 team is re-envisioning how our trip to Washington, D.C. can evolve into an even more student-centered experience, piquing student engagement through student-driven itineraries and activism. We returned to campus with concrete plans for ways we can live out the school’s mission to ‘prepare our students to be engaged citizens and thoughtful leaders.’ 

 

“Perhaps influenced by the spirit of the season, I personally returned feeling a deep sense of gratitude for my phenomenal teaching team and gratitude for a school like Graland willing to invest in this type of experiential learning for teachers.”

 

“At the High Tech High Project Based Learning Camp in California, one of the things that struck me most was how important it is to include the design thinking principles of empathizing, ideating, and rapid prototyping when planning experiences for students. This means it is essential to include students, teachers, colleagues, and other experts in the creation, tuning, and running of projects. 

 

“One of the activities at the design camp I found particularly valuable centered on planning a project. It included writing down all the possible components and ideas for a project onto notecards and then organizing the notecards in different chronological sequences. This was an example of how to quickly ideate and prototype. It allowed me, as a teacher, to rapidly experiment with different ways of running a project and explore choices of what to include. It forced me to pay attention to the ebb and flow of student engagement. It made me recognize the importance of having a compelling launch to a project. It emphasized the need to include meaningful, empathic interactions with experts and primary sources throughout a project. It also made me think about the audience for the project and how and when student work would be displayed and shared publicly. This was a great exercise in planning and calendaring. 

 

“However, it was not a stand-alone activity. It was followed later in the day by an activity for how to ‘tune’ a project. As a team of MESH teachers, we had the chance to present some project ideas centered around our D.C. trip. The tuning involved the MESH team plus a small panel of other workshop attendees. It followed a set of protocols during which we shared our project ideas with the panel, the panel asked clarifying and probing questions, and then the panel offered and suggested feedback and tweaks. It was amazing how helpful the tuning was and how much better the project was by the end. All in all, the experience was amazing. As a MESH team, we learned a ton and are eager to try new things here at Graland.”

HTH Participants: 
Steve Collins
Kelly Gaudet
David Hill
Dan O’Neill
Emma Perkinson
Kai Sionas
Katie Stone

 

*https://www.edutopia.org/blog/what-heck-project-based-learning-heather-wolpert-gawron