5 Things to Jumpstart PBL in the New Year [Math Version]
@amyshamblen You’ve enjoyed the holidays and you have a few more days until school starts back up so you’ve been catching up on your reading. Several of your friends have gone to trainings during 2018 where they have learned about Project Based Learning and you are intrigued. But everything you have read gives you […]
The Learning Process Must Include Inquiry
http://bit.ly/2pPDPQh Today I worked with a teacher planning a unit and I realized that the idea that we need to kick start the inquiry process on Day 1 of a unit isn’t obvious to every teacher. The following post wrote itself as I walked her through the process of making inquiry the foundation of all […]
Tot Ziens Facebookiens
goo.gl/squnwG Sitting in the shower this morning I realized that I had been sucked into the Facebook political maw. It has been months since I have actively used Twitter. Instead of engaging with incredibly diverse people with a focus on all things Education or PBL or Design Thinking (on Twitter), I am engaging with (mostly) […]
Understanding Life in 1800 When You are 12
https://www.pinterest.com/Lugsail/merchant-ship-1750-1800/ This week I am wrapping up a project with my 7th graders that is about traveling to Texas in the year 1800. All of my design students take either French or Spanish and I have them in corresponding “delegations” with a student governor. Within the delegations are groups of students (3 to 6 in […]
Let’s Make a Maker Space
https://hildakweisburg.com/2016/01/04/on-libraries-makerspace-magic/ Right up front I want to say that any school that has a Maker Space because that’s what great schools have, is missing the whole idea. I think playing with things and trying out things is really cool. I do. But if we haven’t thought through what we will have in our space then […]
Design Thinking or PBL, A Chicken/Egg Scenario? My journey.
http://www.science20.com/gerhard_adam/chicken_and_egg_problem_view_evolution-107927 Last night I missed a great conversation during a Twitter chat hosted by #MeritKCI and involving my friends who frequent the #dtk12chat. As I was scrolling through the tweets from the chat I noticed some discussion of PBL and how different Design Thinking (DT) is from PBL. A blog post that was referenced (and […]
Thanking a Teacher In My Life
This past weekend I heard about a project being run by People Admin. They offered money to hear stories about people who inspired you to become a teacher. So I sat down and whipped up this thank you to a teacher who inspired me to become a teacher. Enjoy —– In 1990, at the age […]
Thoughts About This Coding Craze
In 1976 I set off to the University of South Carolina on a Navy ROTC scholarship to major in Math and Computer Science. In 1986 I was taking courses in computer architecture and the language ADA as I worked on my master’s degree in Engineering. In 1992 I helped teach a computer class to teachers […]
Using An Old Challenge to Teach Project Management
http://goo.gl/AK0vs When I talk with teachers about getting started with PBL I often tell them to think of something they have seen done before and take the idea and make it their own. But I also caution them to think of their content first – what are the verbs and nouns in their standards? Unless […]
I Go From Project Idea to Project Launch (PBL with a DT Feel)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasahqphoto/ I’ve just completed a pretty darn nice 2 weeks off for the holidays. Tomorrow I head back to 2 days of PD before the students come back to me on Wednesday. I’ve been spending the last couple of hours fine tuning my first design project of the year. This is my first year of […]