Capturing PBL Wisdom
Thanks to all who shared their wisdom during our recent webinar series. I tried to capture the high points of the conversation in this new post for Edutopia,
I'm curious where you look for ideas to continue fine-tuning your PBL practice. Do you have colleagues in your building (or district) who provide a helpful sounding board? Do you get opportunities to visit other classes and see PBL colleagues in action?
I've recently been reading Teach Like a Champion, Doug Lemov's close-up look at the practices of highly effective teachers. I'm wondering whether the techniques he highlights have a place in the project-based classroom.
Many of the techniques Lemov endorses fit a teacher-directed learning environment. For instance, one technique he calls No Opt Out is all about the teacher guiding the classroom discussion (and ensuring that no student can duck out of answering a question--correctly). He artfully describes how this technique could engage students in helping their peers master concepts. But in the end, it's about a dialogue that the teacher initiates and directs--and that's not how conversations unfold in a PBL context.
So I'm curious, what are the concrete techniques you use that help your students succeed in a project-based environment? What helps you teach like a PBL champion?
I'm curious where you look for ideas to continue fine-tuning your PBL practice. Do you have colleagues in your building (or district) who provide a helpful sounding board? Do you get opportunities to visit other classes and see PBL colleagues in action?
I've recently been reading Teach Like a Champion, Doug Lemov's close-up look at the practices of highly effective teachers. I'm wondering whether the techniques he highlights have a place in the project-based classroom.
Many of the techniques Lemov endorses fit a teacher-directed learning environment. For instance, one technique he calls No Opt Out is all about the teacher guiding the classroom discussion (and ensuring that no student can duck out of answering a question--correctly). He artfully describes how this technique could engage students in helping their peers master concepts. But in the end, it's about a dialogue that the teacher initiates and directs--and that's not how conversations unfold in a PBL context.
So I'm curious, what are the concrete techniques you use that help your students succeed in a project-based environment? What helps you teach like a PBL champion?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Sue Boudreau on
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I'm loving PARTS of Lemov's book but thank you for crystalizing what feels a little off to me too - a little too teacher-centered. But having said that, even within a pbl class room, there are times when I have to run a discussion efficiently.
I use the Opt Out technique for that, and the turn and face the student who's talking, instead of calling them out. Both are having a wonderful effect. My squrilly 7th period class said "You seem happier" when I asked if they'd noticed the new way I was manipulating their behavior :-) What can I say, it's true. But the net effect is that kids get MORE time to talk, they feel more respected and seem to appreciate the opportunity to recover from a 'er, what?'. That same student often raises their hand immediately after. It's really cool. And I enjoy hearing their views more when I'm not constantly disciplining specific kids. So some techniques absolutely are part of pbl, just not part of all of it. -
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But reading on in Lemov's book and I come across some increasingly disturbing stuff, for example, that it doesn't matter if kids like the subject matter, giving as evidence that he doesn't like poetry but benefited from having to learn it. That kind of fuzzy anecdote in favor of 'rigor' bothers me. I see several techinques that ARE useful but the attitude is very teacher in control, teacher in charge and I'm really disappointed. It plays into the hands of teachers who refuse to use inquiry because it displaces them from that central role.
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Permalink Reply by Jane Krauss on
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I'm getting the same didactic hit. Would be fun to write our own version of this from a student-centric POV. There are a lot of "champion" moves pbl teachers could learn to optimize teaching and learning.
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Ooh, good idea, Jane. Let's talk! Sue
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