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Hi! I found this article very useful in terms of PBL learning that are specific for remote learning but to me they can be applied in teaching in general. I really loved the stress they put in creating oportunities for each student no matter how the student is, and also the importance on their social-emotional needs.

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For remote learning amidst the pandemic I've made pivots in modifying projects, teaching methods, and how to focus on equity.

Those of us who are new to implementing PBL online are wondering about engaging our learners virtually and how to uphold high-quality PBL. What do daily class discussions and group work now look like? And how do we meet the social-emotional needs of students?

At my school, I teach 7th and 8th grade in a personalized PBL program called Learning Above and Beyond. Each student in my class designs and implements four authentic projects throughout the school year that range in focus on student interests, academics, and success skills.

When we learned we were making the shift to distance learning we were just finishing up our third quarter projects. According to our schedule, it was time for us to launch into new personalized projects. But due to the independent nature of this type of project, I knew it wouldn't be very supportive of some of my students who may feel isolated at this time.

Moving learning into our homes was going to cause challenges in our community.

To support the social-emotional needs of my students I immediately focused on new ways to keep us connected as much as possible. We, therefore, decided as a group to move forward with a single collaborative project where they would work in teams.

I shared four project ideas that I thought they would be most interested in, and their top choice was Making Space for Change from the PBLWorks project library, which focuses on environmental sustainability.

Here are four tips from our experience to help you also make the shift to online PBL.

1. Flesh out your project milestones.

Teachers who, in the past few weeks, made the shift to online teaching already know the difficulty we can face managing both student learning and daily activities. So I can't stress enough the importance of knowing at all times where we all are and what we all should be doing in a project.

The "project milestones" table in the PBLWorks project planner is an excellent tool for organizing specific activities for logical student workflow. It includes pacing, key questions, and evidence of mastery. Here's how mine looked for the Making Space for Change project:

During the project, students were tasked with assisting our local town council design eco-friendly public spaces in the community. The milestones helped them track their learning about environmental sustainability, and share our progress with stakeholders via social media.

2. Focus on equity & social-emotional needs.

In keeping with equity mindedness, and because I am not able to physically be with students, I knew we would need a whole-class approach where everyone is socially and emotionally looking out for one another. Bearing this in mind, I partnered students deliberately and structured activities tactfully.

Providing feedback is another way to ensure learners get what they need equitably in projects. In the virtual environment, I strategically used protocols at the various stages of their public space designs so students could request feedback from adults and each other. Here's how I structured the charrette protocol, where students met on Zoom with James Fester, another member of the National Faculty:

Additionally, each week my students reflect via video using Flipgrid about how they're doing with distance learning, how they feel about their progress, and what they've learned about themselves as a learner. Some of the prompts I used include:

Reflect on how distance learning is going for you. What's a bright spot? What's still challenging you?

Purpose: What was your goal for the week?

Process: In what ways did you work to meet your goal? What strategies/tools did you use? What supported your learning? What hindered your learning?

Takeaway: Were you able to meet your goal? If not, what are your next steps? What do you need to do differently?

Who did you become? What did you learn about yourself?

Lastly, my students used virtual office hours to check in with me and get individual 1:1 support as needed. Most of my students took advantage of that time, at least a couple of times per week.

Through our project, I've been able to keep tabs on the needs of students for their success - and that makes me happy and more peaceful!

3. Create digital opportunities for student collaboration.

Although learning to work in groups virtually did take some getting used to, the experience propelled my students academically-enhancing both their communication and problem-solving skills. For facilitating project team work, I frequently leveraged the breakout room capability in Zoom. This enabled me to check in on their individual spaces to offer each team needed support.

I was intentional in meeting with my entire class only twice per week. Students, therefore, had the autonomy to schedule their own project teamwork time. This allowed them to find out what worked best for them and grow in their self-management skills.

4. Find an authentic audience and use a hashtag.

When I adapted this project from the PBLWorks library, many of the pieces were already built out for me, including a significant number of resources and questions I could use with my students for launching and sustaining inquiry. The example project planner also gave me an excellent structure for how the project should flow.

However, it was upon me to make the project fully authentic by building an audience from our community. I did this by making our work public with the Twitter hashtag #VMSLabLife and by reaching out to people who could support our work.

For example, Kristen Bertuglia, the environmental sustainability director for the Town of Vail, became my first contact. She answered some of our initial '"need to know" questions to support our research. She also brought members of her team, Beth Markham and Peter Wadden, to our "Virtual Town Hall" so my students were able to receive feedback from actual experts. Other friends and colleagues followed the hashtag as well, which made a huge difference in the engagement of my students. Having an authentic audience of people who were invested in their success became a huge motivator for them to level up their final presentations.

We are so grateful for everyone who supported us in making our project authentic for students because it moved their work beyond being a simulation and into an endeavor that truly mattered to them. They will never forget the "Making Space for Change" project!

Here's a final thought.

Remember, this is an especially important time to recognize that not all of our students will independently seek out support. We need to be mindful of the fact that our students' home lives are not something we can dictate. This is a time where we need to lead with grace and flexibility, knowing that each of our students is moving through this distance learning experience differently. Our students need us now more than ever, and our projects can serve as the vehicles they need to reach out, connect, and listen.

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4 Tips for Remote PBL with the "Making Space for Change" Project

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A middle school teacher explains how she organized time and tasks online, found an authentic audience, and kept equity in mind.

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The moment I went into PBLWorks webpage, I gazed the seccion related to families and I took a peek on it. I found it interesting to share it with you all, since I have been myself in the case where families have asked me how they can help their children at home and here you can find a few tips on how to do so when it comes to PBL. There are even suggestions to do different projects at home. In my opinion it may also be a way to involve families in the process of their kid's learning and make them participate in a school activity (always taking in mind not to overwhelm them).

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With school closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers who use Project Based Learning are finding ways to keep that going with students learning remotely. They're conducting projects via Zoom meetings, email, Google Docs, and a lot more if their students have the technology and internet access. But even when they don't, it's still possible for students to do PBL at home.

In either situation, teachers are thinking of ways that parents and caregivers can help make PBL work. I've been talking to the PBLWorks National Faculty to see how they're bringing parents and caregivers into their children's education. They shared several ideas with me.

Clarify (and lower) expectations.

First, assure parents that they are not expected to be teachers. Most of them are not suddenly going to be able to homeschool, whether they still have to go to work, have been laid off, or are trying to work from home.

So let parents and caregivers know what you'll be doing to support students' work on projects, make sure they know how to communicate with you, and let them off the hook for as much as you can. If applicable, tell them what kind of technology you'll be using and what tech tools their children might be using.

For families that do not have access to technology or the internet, reassure them that all their children might need is a smartphone, or some basic art supplies or materials for making things, or just a pen and paper. I have ideas below for low- or no-tech projects that can be done at home.

Explain the benefits of doing PBL at home.

As an alternative to worksheets and online learning, it's likely that parents will welcome anything that gets their kids away from a screen and keeps them active-as PBL can do. Projects are a great way to keep kids engaged in authentic learning and building useful skills.

You could also point out that projects are a good opportunity for families to do things together. Conversely, projects can be a good opportunity for kids to do things independently, if that's what the family sometimes needs during long confinement in the same living space.

Explain how to support their children.

I asked the PBLWorks National Faculty about how parents and caregivers can help their children succeed if you have assigned PBL to do at home. Here are three tips:

"My school has been teaching remotely, and I see a big difference with attitude and work habits if a student has a workspace versus a student working from their bed, or lying on the floor, or spread out on a couch. Find an area and set it up to do schoolwork, even if it is a corner of the bedroom." - Andrew Chernow, Secondary teacher

"Younger students can connect to each other or older students, neighbors, cousins, or other family via FaceTime or another app to have an authentic audience for their work. They can show them what they wrote or made today, and it is a chance for them to practice their presentation skills and ask questions and get feedback." - Sara Slogesky, K-12 social studies supervisor

"Help students learn self-management skills by creating a daily and weekly schedule, and sticking to deadlines." - Jorge Valenzuela, Educational coach and consultant

Suggest ideas for projects they can do at home.

If parents and caregivers are looking for projects they can do themselves with their children, here are eight projects from the PBLWorks project library they could adapt:

Here are some ideas for at-home projects, both with and without technology, offered by our staff and National Faculty:

"Produce and share a video of a 'cooking show' and plan healthy menus." - Rhonda Hill, director of district and school leadership at PBLWorks:

"Research a topic of interest (by reading, going online, or talking to or calling people) and share it with a specific person or group, by creating art pieces, 3D models, writings, music pieces, posters, or PSA videos posted on Instagram or other social media outlets." - Lisa Mireles, director of district and school leadership at PBLWorks:

"Plan and run a PE class for the family." - Heather Wolpert-Gawron, Middle school teacher and instructional coach

"Turn any arising family challenges into a family project; keep a list of questions and find solutions together." - Telannia Norfar, High school math teacher

"A family could go on a 'wonder walk' around the neighborhood and record observations, questions, and curiosities." - Myla Lee, Instructional coach and educational consultant

"Have kids design a zoo habitat for their favorite animal, using Legos, paint, markers, etc. First, observe animal live cams broadcasting from the San Diego Zoo, and then have them research the environment where their favorite animal lives." - John Derian, High school science teacher

"Involve children in planning a project with this driving question: How can we create a school at home?" - Sara Slogesky, K-12 social studies supervisor

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How Teachers Can Help Families Support (or Do) PBL at Home

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With school closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers who use Project Based Learning are finding ways to keep that going with students learning remotely. They're conducting projects via Zoom meetings, email, Google Docs, and a lot more if their students have the technology and internet access.

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Technologies we like for remote learning

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Technologies we like for remote learning

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https://www.pblworks.org/technologies-we-remote-learning
I would like to share with you this article where it gives us some examples of apps we can use when starting a PBL unit.
The tools explained help the teachers and the students be connected and thus, be able to collaborate no matter where or when. There are examples of tools for self assessment, to do group meetings...
I hope you find it as interesting just like for me!

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Technologies we like for remote learning

The move to remote learning is enhanced by the wide availability of technology that would have made such a transition much more difficult only a few years ago.

The educational technology market has exploded with new products in recent years - as has technology in general, as more and more companies move to remote work. This reality is certainly something that PBL teachers can leverage, given the fact that many projects intentionally blend traditional learning and the type of work that's happening in our communities.

Here are some of the tech tools we like for connection and collaboration...

For individual & group meetings

Whole class, project team, or one-on-one meetings can now be done with Webex, Google Meet, and Zoom (including relatively short meetings with small teams via their free option), or with Whereby.

For white boards, brainstorming

Mural and Explain Everything are virtual white boards that can be used not only for targeted instruction, but are also fantastic for remote brainstorming and problem ideation.

For student project management

Trello is an example of a tool that helps individual students keep track of project action items and share them with their project teams - a really valuable skill students need to master regardless of context.

For customized online instruction

Teachers can take advantage of Nearpod as a way to create customized online instruction that targets the individual needs of each student. Or students can explore classes and online clubs with apps like Tract.

For younger students

Many of the K-2 teachers we know are using SeeSaw as the tech platform for kids to view and respond to lessons. Teachers can provide feedback on kids' work right in the application, too.

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Technologies we like for remote learning

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Here are some of the technology tools we like for activities in our PBL remote classroom - including individual and group meetings, brainstorming, project management, and customized instruction.

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Hi! I explored this section in PBLWorks webpage which I find really interesting. There are lots of examples of projects with detailed objectives and final products' ideas, some of them related to technology.
I would like to share with you because I think it is really useful, as teachers, to have some ideas of projects which have already been developed.
I hope you find it useful too!

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73 Results

Math

Grades 11-12

How can we create a financial plan for a family?

Science

Grade 9-12

How can we demystify coronavirus vaccines in order to help people make informed decisions about their health?

Math, Social Studies

Grade 6

What is the most equitable way to elect a new member of government?

ELA

Grades K-2

How can we make stories come alive for kids in our community?

ELA, Social Studies

Grade 9-12

How can we, as legal teams, determine the effectiveness of a revolution?

Science

Grade 3

How can we protect an endangered species in our area?

ELA

Grades 6-8

What should we do about cyberbullying?

ELA

Grades K-12

How can we affect hunger in our community?

World Languages

Grades 11-12

What can international media tell us about what is really happening around the world?

World Languages

Grades 6-12

How can we use our target language to help visitors learn about our school?

Fine Arts

Grades 9-12

How can we as composers transform a viewer’s experience of a film?

ELA, Social Studies

Grades K-2

What makes someone a community hero?

Science, ELA

Grade 5

How can we reduce the amount of marine debris entering our oceans?

Science, ELA, STEM

Grades 3-5

How can humans safely explore Mars?

Science, Math

Grades 3-6

How can we use data to reduce our families’ impact on the environment?

ELA

Grades 9-12

How can we use poetry to promote social justice in our community?

Social Studies

Grades 3-12

How can we as historians uncover and share stories about our community?

ELA, Math

Grades 6-12

How can we design a good grading system?

Science, Health/PE, Math, STEM

Grades 9-12

How can we design an app that will help people in our community slow the spread of COVID-19?

Math, Social Studies

Grade 5

How do businesses become financially successful?

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our expanding library of project ideas that are standards-aligned, and cover a range of grade levels and subject areas.

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Technologies we like for remote learning

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Technologies we like for remote learning

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I would recommend you to have a look at the article “technologies we like for remote learning” because it can be really useful to be familiar with some of the ICT tools. The article mentioned some interesting tech tools for connection and collaboration to be used on different scenarios. I’ve discovered possible tech tools such as Flipgrid and bookcreator that can help the transition to a virtual PBL environment and also how PBL teachers can also adapt tech tools to each of the elements of Gold Standard. Personally, I think this article is very interesting because it allows you to find new resources and take some ideas about how to apply them in classroom.

I hope you like it too!

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PBL at home: 3 ideas for Projects Families Can Do

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PBL at home: 3 ideas for Projects Families Can Do

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I really recommend this article which gives ideas to apply PBL at home. I think that is a good way to engage the families in the school community and to get familiar with this new way to learn. At the same time, they can learn from each other and establish closer bonds between them. If we can introduce this way to work in our student's home, I think that we can achieve better results and we can work aligned together (school community and families)

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A few weeks ago when school closures were looming, I sent out the call to our National Faculty.

I asked for tips and ideas for families who would soon be trying to support remote learning at home, or perhaps interested in using Project Based Learning themselves to keep their kids engaged and active. And wow did our team deliver!

The PBLWorks National Faculty is the stellar group of teachers, school leaders, and consultants—now over 90 strong and based all over the country—who lead our PBL workshops. They also provide follow-up support to schools, coach teachers, and contribute to the creation of our professional development services and project library. They’re now facilitating our workshops online during the COVID-19 pandemic.

I’ll be sharing some of the tips from our National Faculty in an upcoming post on Edutopia. Meanwhile, here are two of the more detailed ideas they offered, plus one from a PBLWorks staff member.

3 Ideas for Families for Projects at Home

Let the Kids Become Teachers

from Heather Wolpert-Gawron

When teaching from home, it’s really important to vary between digital and analog activities especially for students with IEPs.  For this reason, I’m ensuring that some of our lessons pull my boys away from the screens. Since PBL is all about choice and creation, this time has become a crazy and unexpected PBL opportunity for my family. In my little make-shift one-room schoolhouse for my 13-year old and 9- year old, we’re doing a couple of things. For one thing, they are role-playing as teachers themselves.

My 8th grader is in charge of running PE class for the family. In fact, he’s kicking our butts! He creates obstacle courses using all the equipment he can find, but he modifies for my injured foot and for my youngest son’s age. My 3rd grader is now our art teacher. He thinks ahead of the skill we’re building on, and gives us choices... but not too many choices. We still share the same goal. For instance, he gives us the choice of what medium to use, but we still have drawn a LOT of dragons. He’s listening to the audiobook Wings of Dragons right now on his iPad. Maybe we can use our phones to create a stop-motion scene from the book with Lego dragons? It’ll be his choice.

Go Around the World in 30 Days

from Erin Starkey

What if we spent the next six weeks at home learning about how global we really are? How might this global pandemic bring us together? Families could choose one country or region per continent (so one country per week, covering six continents in the 6+ weeks). It could take as little as 30 minutes a day for each activity. The goal would be to share the beauty of our similarities (all human, all family units, all have culture, and desire to connect, etc.) and differences (within our similarities, we have different histories, languages, food, etc.) in the final product.

The variance and nuance could increase with age of the student and resources available (all suggestions given could be done from a cell phone). For high school students, the Global Oneness Project Link might provide some direction. This has the potential to be as surface or as deep as students and families are willing to go. The outcome would ideally be students (and their families) gaining a new understanding, respect, and knowledge of people they didn't know before. Bonus: a penpal from one of the six countries studied.

Really this could be whatever students want to make of it, but between Google Tourbuilder, PenPal Schools, and social media, there is a great big world to discover and a respect to gain for those around us.

Here are some possible daily activities for each week:

Day One: Food
Find and cook at least one recipe from the country of focus

Day Two: Language
What language is predominantly spoken in this country? Can you find out why? Challenge your family to learn at least 3 words or phrases from the focus country (e.g., greetings, “thank you”, “My name is…”, food, numbers, etc.)

Day Three: Customs
Discover at least one unique custom from this country. Why is this a custom? What makes it special? What is the history of this custom?

Day Four: Learning
What does learning look like in this country? What does a day in the life of a student of your age look like? Are students outside? Inside? Do they have traditional desks, flexible seating, online learning?

Day Five: Transportation/Housing/Economy/Government/History
What does life look like? How do urban/rural students get around? What is the structure of the country’s government? How is it similar/different from yours? Who are the changemakers/mathematicians/scientists from this country? What made them influential?

Create a TV Cooking Show

from Rhonda Hill, PBLWorks Director of District and School Leadership

Pretend that you and your kids are on a cooking show! Have them consider the groceries available/food at hand. Have a conversation about what constitutes a healthy/well balanced meal. Identify the ingredients that you have to use for dinners for the week and ask them to help you come up with new, easy, on-a-budget creations.

Assign roles if you have multiple kiddos. Everyone can play a part! You could take it even a step further and ask your kids to write a script. They can watch a cooking show or two (if accessible) or, review recipes in a cookbook to serve as a model for the kinds of things they should put in their own script. Then, lights, camera, action! Have your kids take on the role of “host” to actually film the dinner making process. You can use iMovie on your cell phone, if you have access to that.

From cooking to serving and enjoying the meal, this project is a great way to get the family engaged in the act of preparing and sharing a meal. If you want to take it a step further, think about who the authentic audience could be. Could they send the video to other people in your family to help bolster creative ideas for “stuck at home” menu planning? Could you do this a few times over the next couple of weeks to then have a video “cookbook” of sorts with your kiddos as curators and chefs? Start up a (virtual) conversation with others who try the recipes to get their feedback on how it turned out.

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PBL at Home: 3 Ideas for Projects Families Can Do

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Keeping kids engaged and learning during school closures.

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Self-Management Skills in At-Home Learning

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Self-Management Skills in At-Home Learning

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Here you are an interesting article giving tips about how to integrate self-management skills into projects while students are at home, like creating a daily and weekly schedule, stick to deadlines and giving yourself a break.

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No doubt, the coronavirus pandemic is transforming the world of education.

Many schools are curating educational resources for at-home learning- some for a few weeks, while others have decided to keep learning digital for the remainder of the school year.

With parents and caregivers struggling to balance their new realities with work and the school life of students, learners of all ages will need to learn and use vital self-management skills now more than ever. The success skill of self-management fosters the ability of students to follow through on study plans, complete tasks and assignments, and keep schedules. PBL teachers and parents can teach and reinforce this skill in collaboration.

Here are three ways to integrate self-management skills into projects while students are at home.

1. Create a Daily Schedule

Now that kids are learning remotely, the time is ripe for getting them acclimated to a daily routine that gives them voice and choice over how their day is spent. And when integrated into the process of completing a project, planning and producing a daily schedule is a relevant product. Students become invested in the process- hopefully for the long haul, as this habit is useful throughout life. Both research and insights from some of the most creative minds (past and present) provide evidence that keeping routines and daily rituals leads to better self-management in tandem with personal, professional, and academic success.

This practical daily schedule by Dr. Neil Gupta is an editable tool that learners can use and adapt as they do projects at home. However, parents will have to bear in mind that some learners will need modeling and reminders for sticking to their daily schedule.

Other helpful tools for crafting and keeping daily schedules from the PBLWorks student handouts collection include:

2. Use a Weekly Schedule

Both parents and educators are well aware that COVID-19 is forcing many learners into temporary but prolonged periods of isolation. Learning to create, manage and follow larger schedules/timetables can help students not only manage their weekly learning, but promote other important and healthful activities.

Illustration credit: Cody Wood @codywoodillustration

It is important to note that weekly schedules are not to be confused with the daily schedule mentioned above. Weekly schedules are more structured, store more information, and provide an enhanced aerial view of tasks and projects that need to be spread out for effective completion. Moreover, keeping a weekly schedule is key for evaluating whether time spent permits for successful completion of tasks, provides ample study time, and allows for activities that are consistent with a healthy lifestyle.

Our very own PBLWorks National Faculty member Kiffany Lychock created a home learning schedule for her own children to use, which can also be leveraged and adapted by parents and teachers managing remote projects.

Other tools and templates from Algonquin College can help students create weekly schedules, and offer useful strategies for assisting learners in spreading activities out, planning time for fun, and practicing essential time management for both academics and real-life tasks.

3. Stick to Deadlines

Being at home and not having the reminder of the daily bell schedule can cause some of our kids to forget the importance of honoring deadlines and due dates. PBL teachers and parents can help remedy this by reinforcing it in remote projects for students and also by modeling it - in spite of today's challenges.

Sometimes the obvious isn't so obvious; students typically miss deadlines because they:

Get stuck and don't know what to do

Are not aware of the consequences of procrastination

Are easily distracted

Do not take their work seriously

Do not have a plan/schedule

Developing and implementing a schedule is a critical self-management skill that, when integrated as part of project work, helps students prioritize and calendar all tasks and due dates accordingly. The Project Management Log: Team Tasks and the Project Work Report: Individual tools from PBLWorks are helpful for this purpose and can complement discussions during daily check-ins between students with both parents and teachers.

And for learners who need the most reminders, an additional scaffold that I use with my own children is to make their deadline(s) "famous"! I do this by writing their due dates on post-it notes and leave them everywhere I know they will look (i.e., the refrigerator, their cellphone, game console, etc.).

Give yourself a break.

The initial days of COVID-19 may leave some of us feeling as if our kids (or even we ourselves) are not as productive as we hoped, and attribute it to poor self-management. If this is the case, don't punish yourself. Current circumstances call for us to de-stress, reboot, and take the time to utilize these helpful tools for helping our kids figure out how to keep moving forward in their learning.

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3 Ways to Help Students Improve Self-Management Skills in At-Home Learning

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How teachers and parents can support students in creating daily and weekly schedules and sticking to deadlines.

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https://www.pblworks.org/blog/four-pbl-wins-year-my-classroom-remote-learning

I LOVED THIS ARTICLE! This teacher shows how she adapted the project she planned for a normal classroom to remote learning. She gives 4 different advantages she found during this process and the benefits of using remote learning!
This article made me think about being innovative and flexible! As teachers, we have to face different problems during the school year (like adapting to online learning) and we have to find a different way to make meaningful learning anyway so that students could accomplish all the learning objectives settled.

I hope you find this article useful and think about our capacity of innovating and facing all the problems we might encounter during the school year!

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(Editor's Note: This is Teacher Appreciation Week and this guest post, like many of ours, comes from a dedicated PBL classroom teacher. Look for more teacher voices and their stories of PBL during the COVID-19 pandemic in upcoming blog posts and in our next three webinars.)
Though many of our plans for the end of this school year were cancelled, I am able to look back on some great PBL wins for my students, my school, and myself.

Some reminders of what makes PBL effective came during our shift to remote PBL during this challenging time, and some came earlier in the year. Below are four "wins" from my experience.

First, some background. On a Wednesday in early March, my colleagues and I met to discuss the upcoming entry event for our final project of the year. We anticipated there might be rain and made alternate plans for the petting zoo that was coming to visit. We left school that day excited for what was to come.

We hoped to show students how the petting zoo created habitats for their animals and wanted to task students with creating their own zoos. Students would be researching informational texts and writing field guides to go with their zoos. But by that Friday, our state's school system started shutting down and moving exclusively to digital learning due to concerns about COVID-19. We quickly made plans for moving the project online.

PBL Win #1: Using a Tech Tool for Presentations

Thanks to the recommendation of colleagues, I discovered FlipGrid as a way for students to present parts of their projects and give each other feedback. Meeting together as a whole class digitally proved to be a challenge as many parents were working from home and sharing devices, which caused scheduling issues. FlipGrids were a quick and easy way for students to present their ideas.

Since I set the limit for most videos to be around two minutes, students had to be brief and present their best ideas. I then asked them to reply to other classmates with "I like's" and "I wonder's." I think this format really allowed for all students to shine, especially the ones who may not have had the courage to speak in front of the whole class at school.

PBL Win #2: Increasing Student Voice and Choice

During an online training for remote learning, I was reminded of how effective choice boards can be in allowing students to show their strengths. I decided to try these as a way of transforming my kindergarteners' final project to answer the driving question, "How could we as zoologists build our own zoo?"

Reptile zoo made by a student at home

The choice options catered to different learning styles, making the project more personalized for students. I encouraged them to be resourceful and use anything that they could find at home, including play dough, construction paper, blocks or even outside materials. I saw many creative animal habitats from students. Working at home with unlimited time and being given the freedom to create what they wanted resulted in thoughtful projects that students were proud to show.

PBL Win #3: Hearing How Much Parents Appreciate PBL

The most encouraging win I have experienced this season would have to be all of the positive parent feedback about student learning through PBL this year. All this school year I was consistent in communicating with parents about student progress, but parents have now seen firsthand at home what their children can do and how much they have grown this year.

Comments have ranged from "I had no idea my child could challenge herself like this" to "I came downstairs and he was already reading and working by himself. Thank you for encouraging this independence." I am hopeful that no matter what school looks like in the future, my students will be able to adapt. Through my PBL classroom, I have helped students to plan and implement their own learning. PBL has helped me to foster creative and independent students.

PBL Win #4: Creating More Opportunities for Collaboration

This win came earlier in the year, on a different project we did in my classroom. Group work was always something I was hesitant to try with kindergarteners. I anticipated that they would not be emotionally mature enough to handle it and therefore I tried to avoid it, or at least pre-assign groups.

However, thanks to some great planning by my student teacher, students chose their own groups to design and create a "museum" of earth materials. Each group member chose a role and they all worked together to create their exhibits. We experienced very few disagreements, and I learned how to truly become the "guide on the side"-as I have been encouraged to be many times in PBLWorks trainings.

Remote learning has brought many new challenges for us, and new issues to consider.

Here are some questions I'm wondering about as the year comes to a close:

What do I do when some of my students don't have access to technology?

Are my directions clear for English Learner students and their families?

What's the right balance between screen time and hands-on learning?

What is truly most important for my students right now?

I don't have the answers to all of these yet, but I'm grateful to work with educators who share ideas and offer help. I'm ending this year on a positive note, knowing that all of my previous PBL training has prepared me for this: being innovative and flexible. I am proud of my class and our accomplishments this year, and I look forward to seeing how these students will use these skills in their next phase of school.

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Four PBL Wins This Year, from My Classroom to Remote Learning

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(Editor's Note: This is Teacher Appreciation Week and this guest post, like many of ours, comes from a dedicated PBL classroom teacher. Look for more teacher voices and their stories of PBL during the COVID-19 pandemic in upcoming blog posts and in our next three webinars.)

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Technologies we like for remote learning. 

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Technologies we like for remote learning. 

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This is the article that I liked the most as it provides with many different online tools to work with the students. These tools are classifyed in order to accomplish different purposes when learning and according to the gold standards of PBL.
These resources are available to everybody, as they are free, and can be adapted to each student's level.

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Technologies we like for remote learning

The move to remote learning is enhanced by the wide availability of technology that would have made such a transition much more difficult only a few years ago.

The educational technology market has exploded with new products in recent years - as has technology in general, as more and more companies move to remote work. This reality is certainly something that PBL teachers can leverage, given the fact that many projects intentionally blend traditional learning and the type of work that's happening in our communities.

Here are some of the tech tools we like for connection and collaboration...

For individual & group meetings

Whole class, project team, or one-on-one meetings can now be done with Webex, Google Meet, and Zoom (including relatively short meetings with small teams via their free option), or with Whereby.

For white boards, brainstorming

Mural and Explain Everything are virtual white boards that can be used not only for targeted instruction, but are also fantastic for remote brainstorming and problem ideation.

For student project management

Trello is an example of a tool that helps individual students keep track of project action items and share them with their project teams - a really valuable skill students need to master regardless of context.

For customized online instruction

Teachers can take advantage of Nearpod as a way to create customized online instruction that targets the individual needs of each student. Or students can explore classes and online clubs with apps like Tract.

For younger students

Many of the K-2 teachers we know are using SeeSaw as the tech platform for kids to view and respond to lessons. Teachers can provide feedback on kids' work right in the application, too.

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Technologies we like for remote learning

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Here are some of the technology tools we like for activities in our PBL remote classroom - including individual and group meetings, brainstorming, project management, and customized instruction.

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3 ways to help students improve Self-Management skills in At-Home learning

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3 ways to help students improve Self-Management skills in At-Home learning

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This post is for work at home but it can adapt to work in class. It explains 3 ways to help students improve self-management digital skills.

1- Create a daily schedule: This practical daily schedule is an editable tool that learners can use and adapt as they do projects at home but I think that it can be useful in school.

2- Use a weekly schedule: tools and templates can help students create weekly schedules.

3- Stick de deadlines:The Project Management Log: Team Tasks and the Project Work Report: Individual tools from PBLWorks are helpful for stick de deadlines to do the work.

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No doubt, the coronavirus pandemic is transforming the world of education.

Many schools are curating educational resources for at-home learning- some for a few weeks, while others have decided to keep learning digital for the remainder of the school year.

With parents and caregivers struggling to balance their new realities with work and the school life of students, learners of all ages will need to learn and use vital self-management skills now more than ever. The success skill of self-management fosters the ability of students to follow through on study plans, complete tasks and assignments, and keep schedules. PBL teachers and parents can teach and reinforce this skill in collaboration.

Here are three ways to integrate self-management skills into projects while students are at home.

1. Create a Daily Schedule

Now that kids are learning remotely, the time is ripe for getting them acclimated to a daily routine that gives them voice and choice over how their day is spent. And when integrated into the process of completing a project, planning and producing a daily schedule is a relevant product. Students become invested in the process- hopefully for the long haul, as this habit is useful throughout life. Both research and insights from some of the most creative minds (past and present) provide evidence that keeping routines and daily rituals leads to better self-management in tandem with personal, professional, and academic success.

This practical daily schedule by Dr. Neil Gupta is an editable tool that learners can use and adapt as they do projects at home. However, parents will have to bear in mind that some learners will need modeling and reminders for sticking to their daily schedule.

Other helpful tools for crafting and keeping daily schedules from the PBLWorks student handouts collection include:

2. Use a Weekly Schedule

Both parents and educators are well aware that COVID-19 is forcing many learners into temporary but prolonged periods of isolation. Learning to create, manage and follow larger schedules/timetables can help students not only manage their weekly learning, but promote other important and healthful activities.

Illustration credit: Cody Wood @codywoodillustration

It is important to note that weekly schedules are not to be confused with the daily schedule mentioned above. Weekly schedules are more structured, store more information, and provide an enhanced aerial view of tasks and projects that need to be spread out for effective completion. Moreover, keeping a weekly schedule is key for evaluating whether time spent permits for successful completion of tasks, provides ample study time, and allows for activities that are consistent with a healthy lifestyle.

Our very own PBLWorks National Faculty member Kiffany Lychock created a home learning schedule for her own children to use, which can also be leveraged and adapted by parents and teachers managing remote projects.

Other tools and templates from Algonquin College can help students create weekly schedules, and offer useful strategies for assisting learners in spreading activities out, planning time for fun, and practicing essential time management for both academics and real-life tasks.

3. Stick to Deadlines

Being at home and not having the reminder of the daily bell schedule can cause some of our kids to forget the importance of honoring deadlines and due dates. PBL teachers and parents can help remedy this by reinforcing it in remote projects for students and also by modeling it - in spite of today's challenges.

Sometimes the obvious isn't so obvious; students typically miss deadlines because they:

Get stuck and don't know what to do

Are not aware of the consequences of procrastination

Are easily distracted

Do not take their work seriously

Do not have a plan/schedule

Developing and implementing a schedule is a critical self-management skill that, when integrated as part of project work, helps students prioritize and calendar all tasks and due dates accordingly. The Project Management Log: Team Tasks and the Project Work Report: Individual tools from PBLWorks are helpful for this purpose and can complement discussions during daily check-ins between students with both parents and teachers.

And for learners who need the most reminders, an additional scaffold that I use with my own children is to make their deadline(s) "famous"! I do this by writing their due dates on post-it notes and leave them everywhere I know they will look (i.e., the refrigerator, their cellphone, game console, etc.).

Give yourself a break.

The initial days of COVID-19 may leave some of us feeling as if our kids (or even we ourselves) are not as productive as we hoped, and attribute it to poor self-management. If this is the case, don't punish yourself. Current circumstances call for us to de-stress, reboot, and take the time to utilize these helpful tools for helping our kids figure out how to keep moving forward in their learning.

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3 Ways to Help Students Improve Self-Management Skills in At-Home Learning

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How teachers and parents can support students in creating daily and weekly schedules and sticking to deadlines.

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Product Toolkits: Scaffolding Guides for Authentic PBL Products 

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Product Toolkits: Scaffolding Guides for Authentic PBL Products 

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https://www.pblworks.org/blog/product-toolkits-scaffolding-guides-authentic-pbl-products

I highly recommend this article because it focuses on the project product. It considers that although project products can take many forms, there are a number of common product types that are often used in PBL or at least that there are common threads between some.
To help teachers scaffold the development of these products, they have created a list of PBL Works, that are organized according to PBL Project Path, and offers strategies and processes (as well as suggestions for technology tools) to the teachers.
The only catch is that you have to register to download some of them and for others you have to pay. But still, it’s worth it, because there are a lot of ideas well organized that can serve as templates for our activities.

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In Gold Standard PBL, students work together over time to create authentic public products that demonstrate their learning. These products move beyond the traditional book report or poster to engage students in the creation of something that will live and breathe in the world beyond school. Authentic public products are important aspects of Gold Standard PBL for several reasons:

1. They challenge students to develop a wide variety of important skills, ranging from public speaking to the use of varied technology tools to visual design.

2. They lead to learning experiences that are engaging and relevant to students- students find these products interesting to create, and understand why the content they are learning matters.

3. Awareness that these products will be public elevates the level of quality and rigor in student work.

While project products can take many forms (and should be appropriate for the project's learning goals, community context, and student needs and interests), there are a number of common product types that are often used in PBL. For example, a high school social studies teacher and a kindergarten teacher can both have their students create podcasts. While these projects will look very different, there are common threads in the process of creating podcasts that will be used in both scenarios.

To help teachers scaffold the development of these products with students, we have created the PBLWorks Product Toolkits, a new set of (free!) resources available at my.pblworks.org.

Developed in partnership with PBLWorks National Faculty member Honor Moorman, the Product Toolkits are currently available to support each of the following commonly-found project products:

Each PBLWorks Product Toolkit is organized according to the PBLWorks Project Path, and offers strategies and processes (as well as suggestions for technology tools and additional resources) that can be used flexibly to support students throughout a project. The Toolkits also include examples of what each product type might look like at different grade levels and content areas.

We are excited to share these resources with you, and look forward to learning how you use them to plan and implement projects in your own classrooms. You can access the Product Toolkits at the links above, or by visiting the Resources area of my.pblworks.org.

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Product Toolkits: Scaffolding Guides for Authentic PBL Products

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In Gold Standard PBL, students work together over time to create authentic public products that demonstrate their learning. These products move beyond the traditional book report or poster to engage students in the creation of something that will live and breathe in the world beyond school.

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You should visit this website, and, starting from reading the article I have just shared with you, move on and discover plenty of resources that will help working PBL remotely.
You will find a bunch of ideas, tips, examples and even webinars that will help facilitating PBL remotely.
Have a good reading!

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Overview  |  Projects  |  Technology  |  Equity  |  Best Practices  |  Webinars  |  For Families

The world is changing minute by minute due to COVID-19. It’s causing a range of emotions, opportunities, and challenges as we wrap our brain around this new (ab)normal.

Many of you who are new to Project Based Learning may be tempted to fall back into lecture and worksheets. Let us help you instead by sharing some ideas and resources on how to maintain your PBL culture with remote learning. The same level of inquiry, questioning, critique, reflection, scaffolding, and collaboration can still be there, albeit in a remote learning setting.

In this past month, we've been excited to hear that some students who are doing PBL at home are as or more engaged as in the classroom, and they're working more independently.

From the blog: Remote learning ideas, skills, and examples

How-to Tips and Tools

School Closures? Using PBL in Remote Learning

How to maintain norms and practices of a PBL classroom and use tech tools to do project work away from school, with ideas for engaging students without tech access.

Four PBL tips to remember while facilitating projects remotely

1. Build personal connections

PBL can only thrive when you and your students feel like you have a relationship. Remember to build those personal connections - schedule individual check-ins, celebrate successes, be transparent about your own feelings. Remember, we're all in this together.

2. Make time for questions

PBL is falls under the umbrella of inquiry based learning, and questions are its lifeblood. Consider how you might elicit student questions at the start of the project, and leverage those questions throughout. Celebrate clarifying questions, and those deeper probing questions. We want our students to become skilled and passionate questioners.

3. Build opportunities to reflect on learning throughout the project (not just at the end).

Remember, John Dewey told us that we don't learn from experience, we learn from reflecting on experience. Ask your students what they're learning, what they need to learn next, how they're growing.

4. Carve out time for critique and revision

Critique and revision is the key to better products in PBL, and to instilling a growth mindset in our students. In PBL, we operate under the assumptions that nothing is perfect, and feedback from others can help us improve. How will you give your students an opportunity to share their best thinking or early drafts during the project? How will you structure the conversation so it's meaningful? Who else might be able to provide your students with quality feedback?

Listen to Free Recorded Webinars on Facilitating PBL Remotely

WEBINAR: How to Adapt a Gold Standard Project for Online Learning

Trying to figure out how to engage students in intellectually challenging and meaningful work remotely. We'll walk you through how to adapt a Gold Standard project.

Learn more

WEBINAR: Solutions for Sticky Problems of Practice for Facilitating PBL Online

What are the top challenges teachers are encountering as they design and facilitate PBL online? Learn practical solutions for the stickiest problems of practice.

Learn more

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Many teachers new to Project Based Learning may be tempted to fall back into lecture and worksheets during this pandemic. We’ve got some useful ideas and resources to help maintain a PBL culture and momentum with remote learning.

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Technologies we like for remote learning

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Technologies we like for remote learning

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I highly recommend this website where you will find interesting tools to implement your PBL. Some of them are:

Challenging Problem or Question:  PBLWorks Projects Library and Parlay Ideas

Sustained Inquiry: Newsela and Listenwise

Authenticity:  Nepris and SketchUp/AutoCAD

Student Voice & Choice: SeeSaw and Canva

Reflection: Flipgrid and Kidblog

Critique & Revision: Penpal Schools and Kaizena

Public Product: Soundtrap and Bookcreator

The above provides a small sampling of possible tech tools that can help the transition to a virtual PBL environment.
Best wishes
Sonia Navarro

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Technologies we like for remote learning

The move to remote learning is enhanced by the wide availability of technology that would have made such a transition much more difficult only a few years ago.

The educational technology market has exploded with new products in recent years - as has technology in general, as more and more companies move to remote work. This reality is certainly something that PBL teachers can leverage, given the fact that many projects intentionally blend traditional learning and the type of work that's happening in our communities.

Here are some of the tech tools we like for connection and collaboration...

For individual & group meetings

Whole class, project team, or one-on-one meetings can now be done with Webex, Google Meet, and Zoom (including relatively short meetings with small teams via their free option), or with Whereby.

For white boards, brainstorming

Mural and Explain Everything are virtual white boards that can be used not only for targeted instruction, but are also fantastic for remote brainstorming and problem ideation.

For student project management

Trello is an example of a tool that helps individual students keep track of project action items and share them with their project teams - a really valuable skill students need to master regardless of context.

For customized online instruction

Teachers can take advantage of Nearpod as a way to create customized online instruction that targets the individual needs of each student. Or students can explore classes and online clubs with apps like Tract.

For younger students

Many of the K-2 teachers we know are using SeeSaw as the tech platform for kids to view and respond to lessons. Teachers can provide feedback on kids' work right in the application, too.

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Technologies we like for remote learning

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Here are some of the technology tools we like for activities in our PBL remote classroom - including individual and group meetings, brainstorming, project management, and customized instruction.

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Technologies we like for remote learning

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Technologies we like for remote learning

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This is the post that I have read. I think you like it because you will find there a lot of ICT tools that you can use in your lessons (not only in remote learning). For example, for brainstorming activities.

In this post there is enclosed a webinar about 7 Tools for Supporting Online PBL and it talks about 7 essential elements of PBL too (more or less that we learned in the first module) and related them with tools like Flipgrid, Canva, and others that I really don’t know.

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This article is a MUST for anyone willing to implement PBL in class. You get a lot of ideas and examples on how to work using Project Walls and how to work with them both virtually and physically. A project wall allows children to have a space to organize themselves, to show their progress, to keep visible the most important content, ideas, vocabulary and information for the project, and to interact with peers and the teacher. Believe me, you'll just love it!

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Project walls are bulletin boards or wall spaces that guide learning and project management throughout the project.

Log in to get this resource...

To view or download this resource, log in here.

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Project walls are bulletin boards or wall spaces that guide learning and project management throughout the project. Log in to get this resource... To view or download this resource, log in here.

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Technologies we like for remote learning

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Technologies we like for remote learning

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https://www.pblworks.org/technologies-we-remote-learning

I recommend reading this post because it gives many ideas of online resources that can be used in the classroom. In addition, it classifies them according to the use that is going to be given to them and, what is more important, it proposes ICT applications and tools to work with each of the 'Seven Essential Elements of Gold Standard PBL'. In this way, they invite us to explore these possibilities to introduce ICT in the PBL in a justified way, with a purpose and meaning so that they are 'good ICT tools' by adapting to each process. Finally, it should be noted that the post includes direct links to the online resources, something that provides dynamism and facilitates their exploration.

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Technologies we like for remote learning

The move to remote learning is enhanced by the wide availability of technology that would have made such a transition much more difficult only a few years ago.

The educational technology market has exploded with new products in recent years - as has technology in general, as more and more companies move to remote work. This reality is certainly something that PBL teachers can leverage, given the fact that many projects intentionally blend traditional learning and the type of work that's happening in our communities.

Here are some of the tech tools we like for connection and collaboration...

For individual & group meetings

Whole class, project team, or one-on-one meetings can now be done with Webex, Google Meet, and Zoom (including relatively short meetings with small teams via their free option), or with Whereby.

For white boards, brainstorming

Mural and Explain Everything are virtual white boards that can be used not only for targeted instruction, but are also fantastic for remote brainstorming and problem ideation.

For student project management

Trello is an example of a tool that helps individual students keep track of project action items and share them with their project teams - a really valuable skill students need to master regardless of context.

For customized online instruction

Teachers can take advantage of Nearpod as a way to create customized online instruction that targets the individual needs of each student. Or students can explore classes and online clubs with apps like Tract.

For younger students

Many of the K-2 teachers we know are using SeeSaw as the tech platform for kids to view and respond to lessons. Teachers can provide feedback on kids' work right in the application, too.

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Technologies we like for remote learning

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Here are some of the technology tools we like for activities in our PBL remote classroom - including individual and group meetings, brainstorming, project management, and customized instruction.

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Technologies we like for remote learning

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Technologies we like for remote learning

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https://www.pblworks.org/technologies-we-remote-learning

Without any doubt, the article I find most interesting is “Technologies we like for remote learning” as it provides many ideas of tools that can be used in order to foster remote learning.  I was unaware of the existence of many of these platforms and applications and, thanks to this article, I can use these platforms to make my PBL units online while maintaining the motivation of students and the 8 essential elements to succeed with PBL.  I highly recommend this article to any teacher (whether or not they want to apply PBL) in order to open up and offer interesting new learning opportunities to our students.

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Technologies we like for remote learning

The move to remote learning is enhanced by the wide availability of technology that would have made such a transition much more difficult only a few years ago.

The educational technology market has exploded with new products in recent years - as has technology in general, as more and more companies move to remote work. This reality is certainly something that PBL teachers can leverage, given the fact that many projects intentionally blend traditional learning and the type of work that's happening in our communities.

Here are some of the tech tools we like for connection and collaboration...

For individual & group meetings

Whole class, project team, or one-on-one meetings can now be done with Webex, Google Meet, and Zoom (including relatively short meetings with small teams via their free option), or with Whereby.

For white boards, brainstorming

Mural and Explain Everything are virtual white boards that can be used not only for targeted instruction, but are also fantastic for remote brainstorming and problem ideation.

For student project management

Trello is an example of a tool that helps individual students keep track of project action items and share them with their project teams - a really valuable skill students need to master regardless of context.

For customized online instruction

Teachers can take advantage of Nearpod as a way to create customized online instruction that targets the individual needs of each student. Or students can explore classes and online clubs with apps like Tract.

For younger students

Many of the K-2 teachers we know are using SeeSaw as the tech platform for kids to view and respond to lessons. Teachers can provide feedback on kids' work right in the application, too.

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Technologies we like for remote learning

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Here are some of the technology tools we like for activities in our PBL remote classroom - including individual and group meetings, brainstorming, project management, and customized instruction.

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Four PBL Wins This Year, from My Classroom to Remote Learning

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Four PBL Wins This Year, from My Classroom to Remote Learning

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I found this article very interesting because it's the summary of the main ideas I keep from this course. First tip is to use ICT tools in the daily class and especially in the student presentations. Second tip is about the most important and relevant PBL essentials: give to students Voice and Choice. Third tip is about how families appreciate PBL so they can become the real audience for their kids. And fourth tip is about how PBL can contribute to collaborating with a huge net of people: other school students, families, community...

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(Editor's Note: This is Teacher Appreciation Week and this guest post, like many of ours, comes from a dedicated PBL classroom teacher. Look for more teacher voices and their stories of PBL during the COVID-19 pandemic in upcoming blog posts and in our next three webinars.)
Though many of our plans for the end of this school year were cancelled, I am able to look back on some great PBL wins for my students, my school, and myself.

Some reminders of what makes PBL effective came during our shift to remote PBL during this challenging time, and some came earlier in the year. Below are four "wins" from my experience.

First, some background. On a Wednesday in early March, my colleagues and I met to discuss the upcoming entry event for our final project of the year. We anticipated there might be rain and made alternate plans for the petting zoo that was coming to visit. We left school that day excited for what was to come.

We hoped to show students how the petting zoo created habitats for their animals and wanted to task students with creating their own zoos. Students would be researching informational texts and writing field guides to go with their zoos. But by that Friday, our state's school system started shutting down and moving exclusively to digital learning due to concerns about COVID-19. We quickly made plans for moving the project online.

PBL Win #1: Using a Tech Tool for Presentations

Thanks to the recommendation of colleagues, I discovered FlipGrid as a way for students to present parts of their projects and give each other feedback. Meeting together as a whole class digitally proved to be a challenge as many parents were working from home and sharing devices, which caused scheduling issues. FlipGrids were a quick and easy way for students to present their ideas.

Since I set the limit for most videos to be around two minutes, students had to be brief and present their best ideas. I then asked them to reply to other classmates with "I like's" and "I wonder's." I think this format really allowed for all students to shine, especially the ones who may not have had the courage to speak in front of the whole class at school.

PBL Win #2: Increasing Student Voice and Choice

During an online training for remote learning, I was reminded of how effective choice boards can be in allowing students to show their strengths. I decided to try these as a way of transforming my kindergarteners' final project to answer the driving question, "How could we as zoologists build our own zoo?"

Reptile zoo made by a student at home

The choice options catered to different learning styles, making the project more personalized for students. I encouraged them to be resourceful and use anything that they could find at home, including play dough, construction paper, blocks or even outside materials. I saw many creative animal habitats from students. Working at home with unlimited time and being given the freedom to create what they wanted resulted in thoughtful projects that students were proud to show.

PBL Win #3: Hearing How Much Parents Appreciate PBL

The most encouraging win I have experienced this season would have to be all of the positive parent feedback about student learning through PBL this year. All this school year I was consistent in communicating with parents about student progress, but parents have now seen firsthand at home what their children can do and how much they have grown this year.

Comments have ranged from "I had no idea my child could challenge herself like this" to "I came downstairs and he was already reading and working by himself. Thank you for encouraging this independence." I am hopeful that no matter what school looks like in the future, my students will be able to adapt. Through my PBL classroom, I have helped students to plan and implement their own learning. PBL has helped me to foster creative and independent students.

PBL Win #4: Creating More Opportunities for Collaboration

This win came earlier in the year, on a different project we did in my classroom. Group work was always something I was hesitant to try with kindergarteners. I anticipated that they would not be emotionally mature enough to handle it and therefore I tried to avoid it, or at least pre-assign groups.

However, thanks to some great planning by my student teacher, students chose their own groups to design and create a "museum" of earth materials. Each group member chose a role and they all worked together to create their exhibits. We experienced very few disagreements, and I learned how to truly become the "guide on the side"-as I have been encouraged to be many times in PBLWorks trainings.

Remote learning has brought many new challenges for us, and new issues to consider.

Here are some questions I'm wondering about as the year comes to a close:

What do I do when some of my students don't have access to technology?

Are my directions clear for English Learner students and their families?

What's the right balance between screen time and hands-on learning?

What is truly most important for my students right now?

I don't have the answers to all of these yet, but I'm grateful to work with educators who share ideas and offer help. I'm ending this year on a positive note, knowing that all of my previous PBL training has prepared me for this: being innovative and flexible. I am proud of my class and our accomplishments this year, and I look forward to seeing how these students will use these skills in their next phase of school.

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Four PBL Wins This Year, from My Classroom to Remote Learning

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(Editor's Note: This is Teacher Appreciation Week and this guest post, like many of ours, comes from a dedicated PBL classroom teacher. Look for more teacher voices and their stories of PBL during the COVID-19 pandemic in upcoming blog posts and in our next three webinars.)