PBL Vs. Projects??

When you hear someone mention project-based learning, you may think "I do that. I do projects in my class.". I know I did! However, there is a big difference between just doing projects and the PBL model. It all comes down to the structure and roll-out of the model. In the traditional model, we may do a project after a test or right before. The students are supposed to know the content to do the project, right?

Well, if we flip the script and start the unit out with the project, students are more engaged and enthused to learn the content so that they can complete the project. This also causes them to retain the information because they WANT to apply it to the real-life project that will make a difference. I mention "real-life" because that is another difference from just a project to PBL. In PBL all of the projects are based on real-life problems or needs. The students feel a sense of purpose when completing the project because they know that it can provide a real impact to their community, school, etc.. Another crucial element of PBL is giving students the opportunity to present their project in an environment outside the classroom to an audience that their project will impact.

We want to turn our learners into autodidacts. This means that they will drive their own learning. Students who are not motivated are not going to drive their own learning. They have to be told what to do, when to do it, and your lucky if they put in 100% into it. However, if we give them a scenario to motivate them, they will quickly become their own captain in their learning.

The video below gives a great explanation of this. (Magnify Learning, 2020)

If you subscribe at the bottom of this page, they will send you some great graphics, including a free PBL lesson plan template!

Magnify Learning. (2020). What is the difference between Project Based Learning and a project? | PBL Simplified [YouTube Video]. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P63m14iB6OI&t=308s

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Magic Trash

As the summer comes to a close and we are all getting ready to go back to our beautiful classrooms, I just wanted to share a trick that a veteran teacher shared with me. It works perfectly and will make your life so much easier! We all know that after a long day of activities with a class full of children our perfect little classrooms can look like a tornado hit it. Well, I introduce you to "Magic Trash".

At the end of the day when you are packing up, instead of telling your students to clean up or pick up the trash (because they won't), tell them that you have spotted a piece of magic trash and who ever throws it away gets a surprise. This surprise could be something as simple as a sticker, or whatever. Heck, I even drew a smiley face on their hand with a smelly marker and they were excited. I change the surprise everyday so that students do not know what they will get.

This trick is super simple and will allow you to leave a whole lot earlier! Give it a try this year! You can thank me later!

Contributions to My Learning Community

When I enrolled in EDLD 5303 and 5305, I knew that I was taking on a big task. Boy, was I right! However, Dr. Harapnuik made my first semester a delight. He is a gem of a professor and very knowledgeable. I am lucky to have him for the remainder of my program. I feel much better on this journey now that I know the professor is here to help us and he wants us to succeed. I know one thing is certain, my vocabulary is definitely going to grow with him!

I also met a great collaboration partner, Samantha, that has been a great help. She was just as overwhelmed as I was in the beginning. We both were teaching summer school and staying up late to have meetings and figure things out. Once, when we were just so stuck that neither one of us could process, we decided to reach out to Dr. Harapnuik. He quickly set up a meeting with us and cleared up any misconceptions and confusion. Samantha and I also both have families so we stayed up late to get our work done many nights. She knew she could email and text me anytime and I would her as well.

I did not find a big group to work with, as I was never able to get into any of the class meetings due to scheduling and it seems like everyone made their groups in those. I did reach out and make a few discussion posts looking, but everyone had already grouped up. I also sent emails to some others and they were grouped up as well. This is my fault for having such a busy schedule but I was lucky to find Samantha who was needing a partner as well. We collaborated and reached out to each other on readings, projects, and discussions.

I am an introvert at heart. I love to teach, learn, and do projects but collaboration has never been my strong suit. I am constantly working on this about myself. It is definitely something that I want to overcome. I am a reader, studier, and just an overall curious person. I just struggle with collaborating to do it. That being said, I did post on several discussion posts and gave feedback to some of my peers. However, I did not post on every discussion board.

I did read all of the readings and gained a ton of knowledge through them. I read more articles on Dr. H’s e-portfolio than just those assigned to us. He was a huge inspiration in the making of my e-portfolio. I also go into rabbit holes quite often and just read one after another, so that was the case every time I went to his page. One would turn into 10 very quickly.

If there is something I love more than reading, it would be watching educational videos and blogging. I love to listen to other educators share their knowledge. You can probably tell this if you go to my blog posts on my e-portfolio. Ted Talks are my favorite! I listen to them constantly and now that I have a place to blog about them, this has been my favorite thing to do in my downtime. All of that to say, I watched all of the videos that were posted in my courses and gained a ton of knowledge from them as well.

I have never been a procrastinator. It puts my anxiety into overdrive when I know that I have something to do and it is not done. I completed all of my assignments before the due dates and found the assignments to be very beneficial. I was pleasantly surprised when entering this program that there is not a lot of busy work. The assignments were relevant and will be useful going forward. They were all something that will connect to the overall goal, not just something we do once and throw out.

As far as scoring myself on my contributions to learning, I met all of the key contributions but could improve on three of the supporting contributions going forward. I met all of my deadlines and completed all reading, videos, and supporting resources. I revised all of my assignments after receiving feedback and contributed to and helped my partner in our courses. I am also reflecting on what I could have and can do better in the future. The supporting contributions that I could have and will improve on in the future are actively contributing to various course forums, posting in a timely fashion so others can respond, and postings that reflect the breadth and depth of my thinking with research to support using APA citations.

Overall, I give myself a score of 35/50. This deficit of points take in to consideration the rubric and point loss for not actively participating the discussion posts and replies. This are will be improved on in the coming semesters as I actively work to improve these skills. You can find links to my assignments below.

Literature Review

Innovation Proposal

Implementation Outline

Innovation Plan