Soft Technology

This video seeks to answer the #1 question I get about Project Based Learning, and that is, "Am I Doing This Right?!?" The question speaks to the integrity of my favorite people, educators, and their desire to do the best they can by the students they teach. I hope this video helps you know where to focus your energy when you are trying to shift your teaching practices. Special (and HUGE) thanks to my colleague Kristy Edgar for the amazing animations, graphics, and visuals for this video. She made a simple soundtrack come alive and be entertaining.

You heard us right! Now, Learn how Lucidpress+Google Classroom Can Help You Improve Digital Literacy The latest generation of students may be tech-savvy, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re tech literate. What’s the difference? Tech savviness refers to an individual’s skill level, whereas tech literacy more broadly refers to the ability to use technology responsibly and appropriately. So how can teachers best prepare a bumper crop of young Tweeters and Snapchatters for a lifetime of meaningful technology use? We think the answer is simple: focus on key outcomes. That way, students will come to appreciate the productive possibilities of technology even as the tech landscape continues to evolve around them. Here are three key outcomes to focus on as you guide your students’ use of technology this year, along with tools and tips to help you do so: Collaboration Technology makes collaboration easier, and collaboration makes learning easier. Collaborative tools are a dime a doze...

The idea of the "Student Choice Continuum" has had quite a bit of traction thanks to followers on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. Thanks for your feedback. Below please find the updated Student Choice Continuum which has discarded the "Based on Curriculum" anchor found in the original version. Educators pointed out to me that any of these activities could be based on curriculum or not and that often teachers think their activities are based on curriculum (word search) when they are actually not helpful to student learning. Keep sharing and sending feedback! I'm listening! Vector Version (svg format) Extra Large PNG Version

I've been doing a lot of reading lately in preparation for the first upcoming Engage Me Academy. Here's one thing I learned . . .

Someone asked me recently if [insert organization name here] owned Project Based Learning. Well, I'd like us to think about that together because I understand the root of the question. There are some organizations, sales people, companies, etc. who seem to own the idea of Project Based Learning. Do they? In fact, the tenets of Project Based Learning are ideas good teachers have been using for many years, even if they didn't call it that. One teacher in her 60s recently told me, "Oh Amy, I know all about this! This is how we used to teach before all the testing. It was fun!" Yes, it WAS fun! My friend and mentor Jan Robin was one person who taught me about it. She used it in her elementary school classroom back in the 80s and 90s. She told me that at one time, there was even a state standardized test that attempted to have students create a floating vessel out of some popsicle sticks and foil. My knowledge about PBL has come from many different places, but it began in ...

Today I met with a great group of teachers embarking on implementing project based learning together. I shared this sem inal article with them and we discussed their ideas. But AFTER I left their meeting, what I REALLY wanted to say hit me. As you plan your projects, consider at least one element of project design that will get (and keep) kids interested BEYOND the 8 essentials . . . 1. Serve others in need with your project. Example: Students build a grocery store via donations to fuel the local food bank. In the process, they learn about pricing, inventory control, spreadsheets, and supply and demand. High school students create books about science concepts for elementary school students from poverty with no books in their homes. Each child gets a book. 2. Serve other students by teaching them something they need to know. Example: Everyone is reading this novel in English, but my team is responsible for teaching everyone about theme in this work of literature. If we do a bad job...

I'm working on the idea of a student choice continuum to help explain Project Based Learning. This continuum is not meant to represent "good" verus "bad" instruction; almost all forms of instruction can be done well or poorly, purposefully or not. For example, I learn well by listening, so for me, an interesting, well-delivered lecture could be effective. My son, however, is not much of an auditory learner. Doing a Project would be better for him than a lecture.  I'd appreciate your constructive feedback on this idea. This is version 1. What can we do to make it better?

Need help getting started writing a Driving Question? Try using the scaffold below; however, don't get locked in! This is just an IDEA for a starting point. Feel free to rearrange, get rid of, and add elements as you please. If you have suggestions to make this graphic better, please let me know if the comments or via the contact form on the right. Want this graphic as a Google Doc so you can edit it? Sure thing. Click here to get it. 

While I've been using Project Based Learning since my second year as a public school teacher some 14 years ago, I have only recently learned the vocabulary to describe the practices I find so effective. Thanks to BIE.org for standardizing and publicizing this terminology. So here's what we do (and don't) say to describe our practices. A big shout out to a certain nearby Project Based Learning elementary school for giving me a few new words and helping refine my understanding of Project Based Learning in the elementary school as well. I would tell you the name of said school, but they are already overrun with visitors. (You can ask me again next school year.) To begin with, Project Based Learning is not a regular noun, it's a gerund, like "caring" or "running." You can't "have" it or "hold" it because it's verb-like. Thus . . . Don't say: This is my PBL.   Instead say, "This is my project." Don't say:  Th...

Yesterday I had  Instructional Rounds  scheduled with a group of teachers involved in a special project . One of the 7th grade teachers I was scheduled to visit had a family emergency and wasn't able to be at school. I decided to go ahead and see what was going on since I already had the time set aside, and I have to tell you . . . It was amazing. The students are engaged in Project Based Learning and were finishing up their "Dream Big" project where they design their dream bedrooms in collaborative teams using Chromebooks. They must know furniture and building costs, calculate dimensions, and keep up with lots of spreadsheets and calculations, as well as use tools like MyDeco.com and Autodesk Homestyler  to create their rooms in 2 and 3D. Everywhere students were discussing projects and solving problems. It was TRULY a WOW! moment. Way to go Mrs. Brenda Schultz and class. We couldn't stop talking about you! Photograph Used with Permission from Andy Carlos Photograp...

Do you have ideas that should be added to this list or do you notice something that needs to be changed? Please let me know in the comments and you will see the document form of this list change accordingly. Here's the Google Doc version of this file.