PLN6 Fall2014

PBL is the near-term solution

REDEFINE RIGOR

But so far it’s been difficult to locate a missing link: A performance rubric for students that defines their level of performance on each practice.

four areas that blend inquiry and performance. Let’s call these the 4 E’s: Effective Accomplishment, including portfolios, content mastery, tests, and assessment; Effective Action, including goal setting, persistence, and work ethic; Effective Relationships, including communication, teamwork, and empathy; and Effective Thinking, including critical thinking, creativity, and content acquisition.

TEACH INQUIRY SKILLS. Creativity, problem-solving, design thinking, and critical analysis are learnable skills that benefit from intentional instruction.

discovery, trial and error, or prototyping

MAKE COHORTS AND TEAMS THE PRACTICE, NOT THE EXCEPTION.

But we must shift this towards

team learning.

Portfolios measure personal growth and achievement; the best collaboration and teamwork rubrics assess empathy; many PBL teachers have found work ethic rubrics to be a great tool for measuring attitude and productivity.

Knowing when to teach directly, or allow for problem solving, is a high art.

all of which require more time.

SEE THE BALANCE BETWEEN INQUIRY AND CONTENT AS A DYNAMIC.

Success relies on whether teachers have the ability—and give themselves permission—to move back and forth between content and process.

THE CIRCLE OF CONTROL.

First, it’s happening, whether we agree or not. Second, we’ll need good minds to figure it out, meaning more of those young people in your classroom who have been well trained in the art and skill of inquiry.

The shift into the next, non-industrial phase of schooling is a psychological issue, not just a logistical one.

making it nearly impossible to decide what a tenth-grader should know.

ncreasingly, any standards-based curriculum is at odds with the outside world.

o create a quality product, either as an idea or a material object.

but standardized information and testing remains a barrier to innovative teaching.