C4T#4 Summary Post

For C4T #4, I was assigned to Tyler Rice. He is a science teacher at a high school on a major Indian Reservation in Washington. The two posts that I read were about PBL, Project Based Learning. Project Based Learning is an instructional approach that increases student motivation and interest. Tyler is very ardent about Project Based Learning. He is trying to use it to better his school, but his posts are serving to inspire others to learn about the concepts included in Project Based Learning. I am one of the people he has inspired. I admire him for continuing to learn. His willingness to learn, even when he is a teacher, will improve his school. Also, he has inspired me to make sure I use Project Based Learning in my classroom.


Blog Post #1: PBL Challenge-Balancing Content vs. Project
In Mr. Rice's first post, he talks about his school's struggle to balance content and the project. The method they currently use, causes the instructors to be involved so much that they are more of the conductors of the project than the students are. The end result may not fully represent what the student or students have learned. Adopting the PBL method will motivate students and allow the balance between content and project to exist. The assignment has to be challenging, engaging, and relevant to the student. This method also allows for a lot of review. The students' peers or teacher could review what they have. With PBL, students will be doing thorough research and creating quality projects.

In my response, I told Mr. Rice that I enjoyed his post. I agreed that PBL sounds like a great method for the classroom. In his post, he had given an example project that his students did. I told him that the project sounded so interesting and I wish I could have done one like that in my class.

Blog Post #2: What We're Learning About Project Based Learning
In this post, Mr. Rice tells readers that his school has had much success with PBL. He tells readers that when teachers assign projects they must incorporate one out of three criteria he lists. They are:

• a significant and relevant (to students) problem for students to investigate and create a solution for;
• a clear role for students to play in a situation or simulation that causes them to think like an expert;
• significant student choice about how to attack a project

He also talks about the importance of having an audience for the project presentation. Students tend to be more motivated when they have an audience. One of the most important things to include in a project is feedback. Having review sessions with peers, teachers, or themselves will help students create quality work. He asked his audience for their thoughts.

In my response, I offered my thoughts on his post as a student. Obviously, I couldn't respond as a teacher. Maybe my insight could help in the future. I agreed that the list of criteria is important to a project. If the project follows that criteria and has an audience, students tend to make work they are very proud of. They are more motivated to make a project that is the best it can possibly be. I told Mr. Rice about a group project I had had in middle school that reminded me of the projects his school strives for. We had to build a city with any materials we chose. We could create the buildings and services provided in the city. When the project was turned in, we would present it to the class. I feel that this project could be classified as PBL because we had to research cities and services, be creative, and present the finished product to the class.