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Start of the School Year
Our school year started off with the assignment of chapters to be read from "The Innovators Mindset." With the exception of our CTE classes, no project-based learning (to my knowledge) is occurring in classrooms. Eighty trial laptops have been allocated for use in History and Language Arts classes, but have not been delivered to department chairs. -
Innovation Staff Development Day
All high schools in the district have gathered together to listen to two key note speakers, Katie Martin and A.J. Juliani, speak about the necessary changes that need to be made to the current education system in order to develop 21st century students for the future. Both provide examples of project-based and student-centered learning and the state the positive outcomes achieved. -
Survey Teachers for Interest
As an administrator, I would like to survey my teachers about their interest in starting project-based learning in the classroom. -
PBL Interest Group Formation
Next, I will form an interest group and collaborate on best practices, implementation and examples. Teachers will be given opportunities to attend trainings, visit school sites that are implementing PBL, and also read literature, like A.J. Juliani's "The PBL Playbook." As a group, we will discuss observations and insights of their experiences during monthly meetings. Link text -
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PBL Learning Experiences
Between November and April, teachers would be given opportunities to attend trainings, visit PBL implementation schools and read professional learning books. Each month, we will meet to discuss these learning experiences, making notes of what might work well at our site, what wouldn't work well at the site (with reasons stated) as well as a wish list for what we need to make PBL happen. -
PBL Planning
After our list has been compiled, we will then create a plan for our next school year. As an administrator, I will help secure funds to pay for planning time in the summer. As a group, we will decide how we will roll out PBL: via team teaching or via PLC collaboration time to develop projects between science and math, and history and language arts. -
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PBL Trial Semester 1
Teachers utilizing PBL in their classrooms will trial 1 unit project that they developed over the summer. Following the trial, the teachers will evaluate the process, indicating what worked, what didn't work and what additional training/information/time they may need to develop the project further. Teachers will also use district benchmarks to measure their students performance. -
PBL Trial Semester 2 Meeting
Teachers will be provided a collaboration day to develop an additional unit project for second semester. -
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PBL Semester 2 Unit Project Development and Implementation
Teachers will use information that they have gathered to make any updates that will make the learning experiences more enriched for their students. As an administrator, I will try to support with any resources or training that they need. I will encourage them to use their PLC time to collaborate monthly. -
PBL Semester 2 Unit Project Evaluation
At the end of the school year, teachers will again be asked to evaluate their second project. Teachers will also use district benchmarks to measure their students performance. As a group, we will discuss the positives and negatives in the implementation process as well as the impact on student learning.
