Exploring Your New Roles as a PBL Teacher By: Kara Day Educ 593 Science and Math Seminar

Coach Make your “players” better at both what they do and as people. Focus on individuals. You are dependent on feedback and motivation and do little tellling. Coach students through a course. Don’t teach it to them. Prensky, (2010)

Guide Lead students to a point of understanding. Students must accept they need you as a guide and acknowledge they are willing to follow you. Play off of their passions to entice them to go where you want them to. Additional Resource: Prensky, (2010)

Instructional Expert This is your most familiar role, which lets you bring all of your traditional skills into the partnership. Be creative in what you tie curriculum to: current events, student passions, and/or students’ reality Do not let this role dominate the others. You must find a balance of all of them. Prensky, (2010)

Designer Provide students with new and fresh tasks as often as possible. This role allows you approach the subject matter from the greatest number of perspectives. Use this role to “steal” ideas and collaborate with other teachers. Prensky, (2010)

Questioner To help avoid telling, ask questions in the most sophisticated way possible. Make sure each question you ask gets answered by every student. Work with your students to help each other ask better and better questions. Try to make them Socratic, so students don’t know an immediate answer. Prensky, (2010)

Context Setter Ensure context is provided in a variety of ways and to the right degree. Make students aware of the context of today, tomorrow, and the ideas that are continually evolving. Prensky, (2010)

Rigor Provider Set a bar under which work is not acceptable, and make students well aware of it. This should never be used to make students feel subpar but instead to help students continually elevate their work. Give students examples and have them evaluate whether or not they meet the standards and why they think so. Additional Resource: rigor-to-anything/ rigor-to-anything/ Prensky, (2010)

Quality Assurer This means evaluating a critiquing student work and providing feedback. This can be time consuming, but the role can be shared with students. Prensky, (2010)

Tools to Give Your Students htm It has specific learning and studying techniques tailored to science and math. Also the “Study guides folder menus” on the left-hand side of the page provides some great additional resources for students such as time/stress management, studying/learning with others, research/reading, etc.

Teacher Resources for Activities/Strategies Edutopia. A wide-ranging resources that includes in-depth research on project- based learning as well as examples, blogs and much more, Edutopia is a comprehensive look at what makes project-based learning so successful. Start here to connect with other teachers via social media and let your online collaborations lead to classroom projects. Buck Institute for Education. This comprehensive website offers a deep look into project-based learning, including a plethora of projects to keep your classroom both educated and entertained. Plenty of research to back up the theories presented, inspiration in videos that depict the reach of project-based learning and professional development services make this the first stop for all your needs Project-Based Learning: The Online Resources for PBL. Sponsored by the Buck Institute for Education, this is a one-stop shop for all things concerning project-based and problem-based learning. From definitions to designs, to the opportunity to purchase handbooks for further study, this site can get you started with all you need to know to engage your classroom. Dauphin, (2013)

Teacher Resources for Activities/Strategies cont… Project-Based Learning Checklists. Want some help keeping track of the projects your classroom participates in and the progress students make in each? These checklists are designed to help you guide students through projects that teach them everything from the kindergarten basics of writing to senior multi-media challenges. GlobalSchoolNet.org. Project-based learning can reach across the globe and create unique opportunities for students to work with those in other countries. This site helps you learn how to start a cross-cultural project-based learning experience that is sure to open young minds to the world view. Online Internet Institute. Project-based learning that focuses on technology can not only engage students, it can also help prepare them for a world where technology will only get bigger, faster and better. This professional development site offers workshops, courses and inspiration for projects that put technology front and center. Dauphin, (2013)

Teacher Resources for Activities/Strategies cont… PBL Exemplary Projects. This site offers a wealth of information on assessing projects, dives into research on project-based learning and offers many unique projects to try. From geography to biotechnology, this site is a perfect launching pad for adding new projects to your curriculum. Intel Teach Elements: Online Professional Development Courses.Intel Teach Elements: Online Professional Development Courses. Not quite confident in your ability to launch an effective project in your classroom? These video courses give you the in-depth information you need to move into a new way of teaching. Houghton Mifflin’s Project-Based Learning SpaceHoughton Mifflin’s Project-Based Learning Space. A brief resource for teachers, this site offers in-depth discussion of project-based learning, including an overview of the issues surrounding it, the student’s role in the process and several projects to get you started, including the popular “egg drop” experiment and “Mission to Mars,” a project suitable for various age groups. Dauphin, (2013)

Teacher Resources for Activities/Strategies cont… High Tech High. Need even more inspiration? High Tech High teachers documented the success of their project-based learning efforts to share with other educators. These in-depth projects can be recreated in your classroom or can be used as a launching pad for projects of your own design. PBL Lab. This project-based learning initiative by Stanford University focuses on the five P’s: problem, project, product, process and people. An excellent guide to those who want to see how collaboration and knowledge sharing works across disciplines, this resource aimed at post-secondary students can be a good inspiration for anyone who wants to incorporate project-based learning into their curriculum. ThinkQuest.org. Though this learning platform phased out in July 2013, the extensive library archive of projects remains. This library can guide you through numerous projects and help you find the inspiration to create unique projects for your own classroom. Dauphin, (2013)

Teacher Resources for Activities/Strategies cont… YouTube for TeachersYouTube for Teachers: One of the best video libraries on the planet. The Teaching Channel: Another one of the best video libraries on the planet. Dauphin, (2013)

Teacher Resources for Assessment Lets you create age-appropriate, customizable checklists 03/a-great-project-based-learning.html Simple rubric that can be used for self- evaluation or student evaluation of PBL projects Provides multiple links for rubrics, planning tools, and student handouts Lets you design your own rubrics and provides templates for greater depth

Six Affirmations for PBL Teachers 1) PBL Teachers Collaborate with Each Other Although PBL teachers often start out with projects in just their own subject area, most create integrated projects with teachers of other disciplines. In that creation, they seek to learn about how different contents connect with their own in authentic and meaningful ways. PBL teachers bounce project ideas off one another and engage in critique, such as the Critical Friends Consultancy Protocol, to seek meaningful feedback that will improve their projects.Critical Friends Consultancy Protocol 2) PBL Teachers Give Power to Students Through voice and inquiry, PBL teachers constantly reflect on how students can have more power in their learning environment. Teachers move from structured to guided to open inquiry as they do more and more PBL projects with their students, ultimately empowering students to take major ownership of their learning. During projects, PBL teachers use group contracts, learning logs and more to give students ownership of not only how they show their learning, but of how they spend their time moving toward those learning goals. 3) PBL Teachers are Learning Environment Designers When PBL teachers engage in designing a PBL project, they are looking to create an engaging experience for all students. They are not only looking at the big package, but also at the nitty-gritty. They utilize their teacher bag of tricks to provide a variety of different learning activities and lessons that will arm students with the skills they need to perform well on the project. Rather than simply replicating lesson plans from year to year, PBL teachers constantly innovate and create engaging learning environments. Miller, (2012)

Six Affirmations for PBL Teachers cont… 4) PBL Teachers are Student-Centered PBL teachers know it isn't about them. Instead the focus is on the students. For instance, when crafting a driving question, they move away from convoluted, academic language toward challenging, student-friendly language. PBL gives space for differentiated instruction, and PBL teachers use that space. They know students can show their knowledge in different ways, and give opportunities to do just that. They create engaging entry events to hook students on the project. They look for constant real-world relevance in the topic, and they provide contexts for students to connect their lives to this work. 5) PBL Teachers Honor 21st Century Skills Through instruction and assessment, PBL teachers honor 21st century skills through true leveraging. PBL teachers target specific 21st century skills to teach and assess, rather than haphazardly "doing them." They teach the skills of critical thinking, collaboration and communication through targeting instruction. PBL teachers work to balance not only the learning of their content, but the 21st century skills as well. 6) PBL Teachers Really Plan And I mean they REALLY plan! Anyone who has done a PBL workshop and/or designed a PBL project knows that the majority of the planning occurs on the front end. PBL teachers design a plethora of critical components for PBL projects from driving questions to rubrics and assessments. They plan the majority of the project upfront to ensure that they can work with students during implementation. They work to make sure all elements of the machine are ready to go before kicking off the project! Miller, (2012)

References Dauphin, S. (2013, July). 12 Timeless project-based learning resources. Retrieved July 15, 2014 from timeless-project-based-learning-resources/ timeless-project-based-learning-resources/ Miller, A. (2012, May). Six Affirmations for PBL Teachers. Retrieved July 11, 2014 from pbl-teachers-andrew-millerhttp:// pbl-teachers-andrew-miller Prensky, M. (2010). Teaching digital natives : partnering for real learning / Marc Prensky ; foreword by Stephen Heppell. Thousand Oaks, Calif. : Corwin, c2010.