PBL REFLECTIONS - Introduction/Prologue

Where are you starting your journey with PBL? I’m already excited about PBL and have done parts of it before; never in a formal sense that included all the usual steps. I think many elementary-trained teachers do this instinctively but it is more rare to think like that at the junior high level. In the era of true “middle school” there was a lot more teaching with integrated units & projects, so although that’s sort of gone away in the era of high-stakes testing (at least around here), I’ve had a chance to participate in the past.

I’m totally comfortable with the idea of embedding the technology and incorporating 21st Century Skills but I am a novice at finding collaborators and working together long-distance. I admit it feels a little daunting now but I know that it will only get more comfortable with practice. Last year I took an extended graduate-level class through the Oracle Ed. Foundation that was all about PBL and collaboration. In fact, I am now trained to facilitate that course. Thankfully I already have a ready pool of projects to join and colleagues to work with through www.Think.com and Oracle is making it easier and easier to use PBL with their tools.

Dog Imposter Among CatsI feel that if I don’t get serious about finding a way to do serious collaborative projects (rather than the small facsimiles I’ve done so far) then I will essentially be a professorial imposter. Of course I want to do them for lots of other reasons...

I have a strong online PLN to whom I turn for inspiration, ideas, and feedback. I have loads of colleagues here in my local offline network but few of them teach with PBL or collaboration. Honestly, it is logistically very, very difficult to collaborate at my school due to the nature of my job. I am almost the only teacher using tech (other than Smart Boards) and I teach it all day as an elective class. So, it is imperative that I find teachers outside of my building to collaborate with because I need the experience of doing it via web tools.

The other teachers think all my tech talk is invalid because I don’t teach in a content-area classroom (although I did that for 10 years, thank you). I’m hoping the technology picture in my District and building will begin to change this year. I hope I can be more persuasive in recruiting colleagues than I have been in the past (definitely a learned skill) and/or that our staff will get some encouragement from administration to tackle some PBL and 21st Century Skills. However, when it comes down to it, I am responsible to improve my own skills to persuade others, communicate with them, and mentor them when they are ready. I take responsibility for the fact that I have done a poor job of this in the past or more of my staff would be interested in and attracted to embedding tech by now. It isn't my job to recruit them or even support them but as a professional in this field I feel an obligation to do so for the kids' sake.

Enough for now.

Photo credit: http://www.feralcare.org/images/imposter.jpg