PBL Summer Playground
August 14 - 18, 2023 from 8am - 2pm
Whether you're new to PBL or you're a veteran who needs a concentrated dose of work time and feedback, this summer session will set you up for success! Justin & Gail will be on hand to guide you through the why, what, and how of project based learning design and offer opportunities to work alone, with a small group, or to join in some big conversations about learning. Come with ideas or just an open mind.
I came into the PBL Summer Playground hoping to focus more on the small individual components that are needed to make a PBL successful rather than a group PBL where everyone is responding to the same driving question. The resources I created and improved will be helpful as we further refine the learning that occurs in the High School STEAM Hub.
I was interested in hearing what Emily Wemmer had to offer around how we could grade and assess PBL and how her ideas could be used for other projects that occur during our learning blocks.
The "Highlight" of Emily's discussion was when she put up the question asking, "What is the best way to grade the final, public product?" You can see her answer by using the slider to the right.
All kidding aside, although that was an awesome portion of her discussion, she did also invite us to consider shifts in "teaching" that focuses more on the learner as well as not getting hung up on number grades but rather the skills and standards are learners have met.
Chris Emdin @ PBL World 2020
We also had the opportunity to watch Chris Emdin present as the keynote at PBL World. Chris is an amazing speaker with a presentation style that is a mix of poetry and rap. Justin and Gail created a transcript that we read and used the "Save the Last Word" protocol to engage with his message. My choice of passages to share was, "How have in race-based practices that do not allow young people to come alive how have I been utilizing the curriculum as a baton that I swing at young folks to harm them, How are my State Standards that I am following to achieve impending my ability to be the kind of person that stands in the gap for young folks that makes them alive." See video here.