Exploring Design Thinking as a PBL Guy
Via Eric White This week I will be meeting with other BIE National Faculty (NF) members at our annual Spring Summit. For the summit we have broken into Professional Learning Communities (PLC’s) and I am with the Design Thinking (dt) group. We will be sharing with the other NF and we are looking at how […]
It’s Time For a Project
https://www.flickr.com/photos/dullhunk/ It’s that time of year again for many (most?) of us in the K-12 world of the United States to deal with standardized testing. And there are many teachers who have been waiting until “that test is over” to start a pbl project. There are some of you who can’t see past the […]
Another Take on Problem Based Learning for Math
https://www.flickr.com/photos/gpforeducation/ I have been wrestling with the marriage of Project Based Learning (PBL) and Math for nearly 8 years now. A few years ago I moved towards Problem Based Learning (PrBL) instead of Project Based for math. It just seemed to make more sense. With PrBL there are shorter time periods to complete a problem […]
What is Essential For Successful PBL?
http://earthmosaic.org/index.html This year the Buck Institute for Education (BIE.org), of which I am on the National Faculty, is re-examining the “Essential Elements” for PBL. As I was thinking about it I remembered that I have posted about these elements a few times, over the years, and I came across this post from July […]
Make That Desert Project More PBL’y
http://goo.gl/XqZSjZ Friend of mine had their son bring home a “project” to make a cell membrane. I sighed. But then I thought about how the teacher could have done something with the same material. And it hit me – science teachers need to see how to take that internet or youtube project and make it […]
Resolve to Stop Using the Word “Fail”
http://goo.gl/ssvt4z This year I want to see educators using the word “fail” less. In 2013 and 2014 it seemed like it was the word to use when it came to discussing student resiliency. Half a century ago Winston Churchill talked about failure not being fatal. He then went on to emphasize the importance of not […]
Take Time to be Thankful (even in a crappy year)
Via Smithsonian There is so much going right in my world that I shouldn’t dwell on the downer stuff – but the holidays push me towards that abyss. And no one would fault me for whining and complaining. But I’m going to try and take a different tack. Tomorrow will be the first Thanksgiving that […]
There Was Gold In Them There Colorado Hills
http://goo.gl/oNBuIc A Gold standard for PBL – that’s what the folks at BIE.org are trying to define. And we are reaching out to all of you who are practicing this in your classrooms and schools. This past week the National Faculty (NF) met for our Fall summit and we had some rich, deep discussions on […]
20 Thoughts on Instructional Coaching
http://goo.gl/CxWFJb Thursday and Friday I attended an incredible training by Steve Barkley. If you haven’t heard of him, get to know him. If you have heard of him and haven’t attended one of his sessions then get going and attend one. As a coach, this is one of those must attend events. What I learned […]
Google Apps – Someone Needs To Be In Charge
https://www.flickr.com/photos/internetarchivebookimages/ Labor Day weekend. Time to take a break from our first week with students. Time to relax, have a cook out, watch some football. And, time to organize my folders for the semester planning sessions that are about to roll into full swing this week. Our school district uses Google Apps and, therefore, we […]