After spending the day working at the Buck Institute Project Based Learning conference in Columbus, Ohio, I finally have a chance to reflect on what I've learned after the first day. And it's clear that I didn't know as much as I thought I did! Here are some initial thoughts:
1. Project based learning isn't as simple as presenting a project and expecting my students to create. The depth, rigor, and relevance of the projects is certainly something that requires extensive consideration.
2. Students need to buy into the process! Presenting the project to students is almost as important as the implementation of the project. If students aren't invested in the learning from the beginning, the end product will not be good!
3. Projects must be rooted in the common core standards. With the new standards on the horizon, teachers must look to them to help guide the creation of their projects.
4. Keep technology in mind! Students and teachers need to have access to technology throughout the entire process.
5. This is hard work! Thinking deeply about student learning is a hard process that requires us the think critically about what we really want our students to learn.
6. Above all, we must give our students opportunities to create; and we must assess them along the way.
At the end of the day, we spent some time beginning to create our own projects to implement in our classes and I must say that my group has a great idea. After some critical feedback from other teachers at the conference, I think we're ready to get to work tomorrow. I'll share that with you in my day 2 reflection! Stay tuned...
