Blog Post #9

Project-based learning is becoming very popular among teachers and students, We can learn many thing from those who already use PBL in their classrooms. I think that the teachers who have not yet began to use PBL in their lessons, are not quite sure how to incorporate them. This post will help all of us understand how to incorporate PBLs in our future lesson plans.

The first article we were assigned to look at,Seven Essentials for Project-Based Learning, gives teachers a few ways to try and easily incorporate the PBLs into the classroom. The key things to remember when using PBLs in the classroom according to this article are: a driving question that effectively captures the heart of the project; allowing students to have a voice and choice when deciding how to design the project; making sure the project gives students to opportunity to work on building their 21st century skills, such as communication, critical thinking, and the use of technology; giving the students feedback and teaching them how to use rubrics to critique another's work; and a publicly presented product. We need to keep all of these things in mind when working with PBLs in our classrooms.

Project-Based Learning for Teachers is a video that tells us why using PBLs in our classrooms is useful. The video explains that PBLs are useful for teaching students the four C's, collaboration skills, communication skills, critical thinking skills, and career and life skills. These four skills are all important for students to fully understand before they graduate and enter the real world. These are all skills that students will not only use in the classroom, but for the rest of their lives. What Motivates Students Today? This video is good for all teachers, especially beginners like myself. This video shows how important it is for us teachers to motivate our students as much as we can. For some students, teachers are the only motivation they have in life, so we need to make sure we are doing this the best way that we can.

Ten Sites Supporting Digital Classroom Collaboration In Project-Based Learning is very useful for teachers who are new to PBLs. Google Docs is one site that is mentioned and I think it is my favorite. Before EDM 310, I had never used Google Docs, but now I love it. It is really useful for students who are sick or out of town and miss school. As long as they have access to a computer and the internet, they can still join their classmates when completing assignments. In the video, Students Solve Old Problem With New Ketchup Cap, two students solve the problems of the nasty watery substance that comes out of the ketchup bottle by just replacing the cap with a new one that they created. This is the kind of creative thinking that project-based learning should bring out of students.