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"PBL is all about the process and the learning that happens as part of this process. In other words the project is the main course. "Doing projects" however, is often an add-on at the end of a topic that has been studied in class (...)"

PBL sounds very interesting in theory, although in practice it may not be that simple.
As it sounds from what I've just learned, it seems like there's an utopic freedom on Project-Based Learning. If the focus is on the investigation and the "relevant work", isn't there a risk that the student won't learn the National Learning Program that should be taught in all schools?
Wouldn't it be better (as in realistic) to concile both traditional teaching with Project-Based?*
I also detected some fallacies in the chart that exagerattes on the differences of Project-Based Learning and regular projects; and that distinguishes them as if the regular projects are all unhelpful.
Maybe the next topic will answer some of these questions.

* turns out, that's the idea. I just didn't know it when I wrote this originally.

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The said chart from the post right on the left!

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Interesting proposition!
From: How have robotics and automation changed our society in the past century?",
To How might robotics and automation change our town and its business in the next century?

Although I think both are very good questions. I still love to answer the question about the past, because the past is needed to build a better future.

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4.Reflections on my current teaching strategy - Sunday School

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4.Reflections on my current teaching strategy - Sunday School

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Write a short Learning Diary entry reflecting on your own teaching strategies, classroom setup, students' needs, etc

At Sunday School (SS for short) I'm not the only teacher. I usually insert little projects into our program, in the middle of the traditional teaching - for example: we talk about a subject, try to receive feedback and explore it by talking to the kids and listening to them; and sometimes we use visual aids and challenge them to make drawings, to study a saint, to open their bibles, find a story and interpret it (and then we discuss to understand)...

The aim isn't only to learn about their faith - and to be able to QUESTION it, and to say it out loud, ask questions, and to be able, ultimately, to investigate for the answer themselves.
The aim is also and mostly to feel connected to God, the church and experience faith. That is most of our job - to help them have that experience and to be examples and friends for them.

Our necessities include:
To let them move and have fun; we need to let them participate, so they feel involved and interested. However, sometimes they feel a little intimidated and I still have to find why, and how can I make them open up more.
The room disposal is: they sit in chairs (that's where they prefer to sit), although I don't like much that. I'd prefer if we would sit on the ground.

The most common teaching strategy is to explain things while asking questions to understand what they already know and to let them put their input and understand the topic and find some of it by themselves (By thinking, aided by our questions). And, of course, I love them most when they ask questions.
We also sing, and sometimes make little projects for them to do along the week and to share with us on the next.

What do YOU do most of the time in the classroom?
Talk and ask questions. Answer their questions when they make them. And aid my two colleagues if I feel they need help on finishing a thought process that I feel the kids aren't grasping yet.
Oh, and we sing. I play the guitar.

What do the students do most of the time?
Sit still and listen. Sometimes they answer. Only a some of them sing. (Yup we need to work on this)

Do you feel your current approach could be easily complemented with a PBL approach?
I don't know. They're still young and need to learn a lot and there's a lot to be confused about. They would need to be guided a lot - there's so many religions and it's not very easy to understand everything. Or maybe it depends on the project; since I don't have the experience as a student maybe I just don't know hot to apply.

Do you sometimes have the problem that students don't remember what they "learned" the day before? How do you address this?
Sometimes, yes I do. We try to memorize with rythmic poems, or to repeat the key words (of concepts), and their meanings. And of course, we try to get them participating.

Do you already use some of the PBL approaches mentioned in the video? What works, doesn't work?
The video tells the benefits of PBL, more than specific approaches. Therefore, I don't use them.
It says, however: let kids fail, but let them fix it after.
I don't let them "create" any big project on their own. They're still young and I hope to prepare dynamics for them more than them making projects. Or aren't they very young? Are they able to make project-based-learning? Again, I don't have any experience.

I find about my students needs by asking them and listening. But sometimes they end up not having much space for thinking about it (if they have any doubts they'd like to talk about), maybe because I haven't provided the right background for it to happen.

Where can I apply a real project, with investigation?
And that means to make something to present to a broader audience, and something useful, right? It still should be, though, something realistic and appliable to the real world.
Something like to find in the bible passages about nature.  And to explain to each other how it applies. (this is hard to do alone, though, because they might misunderstand things)

Or something that conciles the themes of sciences, nature, and the community of God, which are the principal themes of this trimester.
I mean, they could do an exhibition on church, couldn't they?

Or to ask them to prepare something for each other - or for a younger group - that could be fun! To be useful - to be there for the others, would make them feel, indeed, like part of something bigger. "God Needs You"... He really does! Maybe they could even present what they're learning for the younger kids (not much younger, though).

Anything, I need to be able to provide a question, rules, orientation.... how?

Couldn't it be to present them also some books so they can investigate from them? The CCC, the Youcat... and others, simpler ones. They can ask for help.
Will they need resources like images, internet? We can't provide computers, but they can use their own smartphones.
We'd need more than and hour per week to do this, though.

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4. Reflections on my current teaching strategy - English

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4. Reflections on my current teaching strategy - English

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Write a short Learning Diary entry reflecting on your own teaching strategies, classroom setup, students' needs, etc.

I do not teach English; but I am planning on tutoring that subject (English for foreign languages).
Tutoring isn't the same as teaching, and thus I would need to prepare time for the students to study alone for their exams and homework, and time to do PBL in groups.

My most common strategy would be to make them write, talk, and listen to me speaking english. This could be a problem, because they aren't fluent yet.
I think ideally I'd allow them to choose activities from Listening Comprehension, reading comprehension, etc - they should prepare their own programs.

I'd be there to help and guide, and also to provide feedback on their mistakes and good parts.

I think the students would be doing homework most of the time, though.
It could be easily complemented with a PBL approach, because to learn a foreign language is to use it and there are many, many ways to explore it. The only problem would be time - but if they have interest, they will find time.

It's usual for kids to forget what they learned. The key is on practicing. I would implement duolingo, although there's the common problem of brazilian-portuguese and european-portuguese being different...

End of the reflection - My class would be for about 6 to 10 year olds; or older. I haven't started yet.
Let's suppose 10 year olds.
They need to be able to understand and talk about (very limitedly) their own personal capacities, their house and family (previously prepared).
That means they could be given a project to present their own house and family.
Maybe they are even given that homework at school - that's a problem - then in groups they should build a house and family.

This is pretty hard to grasp... and it's even only on my imagination since I don't teach yet.

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Real-World Connection.

Core to Learning

Structured Collaboration

Student-driven

Multifaceted Assessment.

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Real-World Connection
An authentic problem.
Students choose different paths to address the question.

Core to Learning
PBL: It is the unit, it's the way they learn the content.

Structured Collaboration
Thinkers came up with ideas, then designer figured out he would make it. Then the leader makes final decisions

Student Driven
The teacher becomes more facilitator and the students take control. Give hands, not answers.

Multifaceted Assessment.
Kids are part of the assessment.
They learn that they have voice and choice.

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------------ARTS CLASS-------------
I'm finding that the contexts in which I teach aren't very prone to PBL.
If I were to make an arts class (someday) how do I apply the collaboration?
I've never seen people work in groups for making a piece of art, unless we're talking about making an exhibition and thinking about everything of it (catalogue, theme, pieces of art, etc).

People draw together, but each has their own paper and pencil...

If the project is to learn to draw (that is, to get their eyes looking at things differently), only if the question I propose is. "How Can You Look at This Differently?".
But then where's the collaboration? Where's the applying to the Real World?

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Authentic problems are always posed on Sunday School. However, they're brought up to think about them but not to "solve". It would be interesting to make them think about it. But how?
(And there's the time thing, once again...)
The student driven is super interesting, but hard to follow, since it's important that they don't fall into other theologies thinking they're the same as catholic.
Structured collaboration makes me question. Am I the one who should impose them who does what? (this one applies to other subject teachings though).

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Based on the learning goals, make a question that is:
- Open-ended, engaging, and aligned to my learning goals and standards.

"the question should be open-ended, engage and inspire students by creating curiosity, be aligned to your learning goals, and at the same time be non-Googleable"

Best to spend your time with other teachers and students to evaluate the question.

Types of Challenging Questions
- Solving a problem or task
- Creating a product
- Educating others
- Convincing others
- A broad theme
- Forming an opinion
- Philosophical issues
- Thinking divergently
- Real-World or fictional scenarios

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9. Driving Questions - Turning Googleable Questions into non-googleable questions.

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9. Driving Questions - Turning Googleable Questions into non-googleable questions.

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What does it mean to be a healthy eater?

-> What are the pros and cons of healthy eating?
Is our school's lunch healthy, and why? What recipes would you make for the menu of a school's lunch next week?
-> Is there such thing as normal food and healthy food? Is the such thing as healthy eating?
But my favorite is "Is the nutrition that is healthy for me the same as it is healthy for you?", from Cátia Santos.
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“How are airplane wings constructed?”

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10. Driving Questions: Turning Googleable Questions into non-googleable questions.

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10. Driving Questions: Turning Googleable Questions into non-googleable questions.

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How are airplane wings constructed?
Is not open-ended. It's good to think what are the learning goals right here, but since we don't have it....
-------------------------------------------------------
How would you construct plane wings?

How would you construct better wings for a paper plane?
________________________________
I like this one
Can you build a toy plane using recyclable materials? (Bianca)
And: Why does a paper plane fly? (anonymous)
I'm like a bird. My arms are my wings. Why can't I fly? (Enrique Rodriguez)

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This is a good resource for it!
Check it out.

It has the following examples:
“Who were the first settlers in our city?” //  “What was the most important cause of our city’s growth?”, “How can we best convince teenagers to be healthy eaters?”

“What does it mean to be a healthy eater?” // “How can we best convince teenagers to be healthy eaters?”

“Why is the sky blue?” // “Which is bluer, the sky or Frank Sinatra’s eyes?”

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Just another link!

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Um outro método de ensino.

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14. Official First P2P - Reflections on my current teaching strategy - Sunday School

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14. Official First P2P - Reflections on my current teaching strategy - Sunday School

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At Sunday School (SS for short) I'm not the only teacher. I usually insert little projects into our program, in the middle of the traditional teaching - for example: we talk about a subject, try to receive feedback and explore it by talking to the kids and listening to them; and sometimes we use visual aids and challenge them to make drawings, to study a saint, to open their bibles, find a story and interpret it (and then we discuss to understand)...

There are two big aims on Sunday School. One is for the kids to learn about their faith, question it and ask questions, to learn to share and discuss out loud, and ultimately to able to investigate for answers to their questions themselves.
The other aim is to plant seeds in them; to help them feel connected to God, the church and experience faith. That is most of our job - to help them have that experience; we have to be examples and friends for them, meanwhile.

Our student’s needs include:

To let them move and have fun in each class; we need to let them participate, so they feel involved and interested.

Sometimes they feel a little intimidated and I still have to find why, and how can I make them open up more. We may need to insert more movement, games; this especially because there’s a kid with ADHD and gets bored and excited, distracting himself and the others.
The room disposal is: they sit in chairs (that's where they prefer to sit), although I don't like much that. I'd prefer if we would sit on the ground.

The most common teaching strategy is to explain things while asking questions.

·         To understand what they already know and

·         To let them put their input (opinion) and understand the topic and find some of it by themselves

There’s room for them to ask questions, but they don’t always (I wish they would)
Another aspect of the teaching strategy is that we sometimes go outside, to the street, to do something different. They may get distracted, so we need to plan it carefully to make the different class structured.

We also sing (every class), and sometimes provide little projects for them to do along the week and to share with us on the next. (They most always forget, though)

We don’t have computers in our class, and there’s only an hour per week.

What do YOU do most of the time in the classroom?
Talk and ask questions. Answer their questions when they make them. And aid my two colleagues if I feel they need help on finishing a thought process that I feel the kids aren't grasping yet.
Oh, and we sing. I play the guitar.

What do the students do most of the time?
Sit still and listen. Sometimes they answer. Only a some of them sing. (Yup we need to work on this)

Do you feel your current approach could be easily complemented with a PBL approach?
For short. I’m not certain that this is doable for various reasons.

·         They are young (10 years old)

o   Maybe it depends on the project; since I don't have the experience as a student maybe I just don't know how to apply.

·         There aren’t many resources written for their age in the internet not in books.

o   The only way would be if they only searched in books, or specific sites; but those sites need to be carefully chosen for them to be able to understand

·         There are many religions, they might find the wrong informations – we are catholic and the interpretations and opinions of our church may be slightly or greatly different from what they find; and they might think they’ve learned something and not know it’s not what the faith they are learning teaches.

Do you sometimes have the problem that students don't remember what they "learned" the day before? How do you address this?
Sometimes, yes I do. We try to memorize with rythmic poems, or to repeat the key words (of concepts), and their meanings. And of course, we try to get them participating.

Do you already use some of the PBL approaches mentioned in the video? What works, doesn't work?
The video tells the benefits of PBL, more than specific approaches. Therefore, I don't use them.
It says, however: let kids fail, but let them fix it after.
I don't let them "create" any big project on their own. They're still young and I hope to prepare dynamics for them more than them making projects. Or aren't they very young? Are they able to make project-based-learning? Again, I don't have any experience.

I find about my students needs by asking them and listening. But sometimes they end up not having much space for thinking about it (if they have any doubts they'd like to talk about), maybe because I haven't provided the right background for it to happen.

I also find about their needs by looking at them, to see if they’re bored, distracted or whatever.

Where can I apply a real project, with investigation?
With something applicable to the real world it’s easy. Something useful to the world and to present to a broader audience, maybe it’s harder, unless they are going to teach a younger grade. But it can always be useful for them… for learning about their faith or to experience it better.

The subject… It could be about the Eucarist, which is a fundamental aspect of the catholic faith. Two of them will be having their 1st communion, so to increase their understanding of it is important.
Or something that conciles the themes of sciences, nature, and the community of God, or about examples of saints and of choosing paths (bad choice/good choice, how there’s evil in the world), which are the principal themes of this trimester – make them feel useful in the Church, understand they’re part of something bigger.

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I need the kids (10 year olds on Sunday School) to acquire the following learning goals:

Knowledge:

·         What is a sacrament

·         What is communion

·         What do you need to do before commungating

·         What happens in the consecration

·         Why should we commungate

·         What’s the difference between communion and being blessed

·         Why can you only be blessed by the priest, but there can be ministries of the communion

·         How do you prepare for confession and why

Especially for the two kids who haven’t had their First Communion yet to:

·         For the new kids to understand what they are about to do (on the 1st communion)

·         For the new kids to understand what it means to confess and why need to do that; for them to feel compelled to do it when needed.

Possible driving questions:

·         What is the best way to prepare for communion? (it is googleable)

·         Who was the saint who can help you better to understand confession and communion?

·         If you can commungate by the hands of a minister, why can’t you confess to a minister too?

o   I think this won’t lead them to understand everything

·         How can we prepare for communion the best way possible?

·         How would you help a kid in a younger grade to prepare for communion?

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16 - 2.1. What is efective collaboration?

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16 - 2.1. What is efective collaboration?

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Sometimes my students join groups or pairs to find a passage in the bible. However, the bible is only in the hands of one of them; they might not work in groups, if one of them handles it faster.
Then each one reads a part of the text.

To all the other questions, the answer is no: they aren't each with a task providing they have shared responsabilities and the learning activity not is designed in a way that requires students to make substantive decisions together

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More to come on the Six Thinking Hats! I hope I get to understand it and develop it.

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2nd P2P - DRIVING QUESTION ON ARTS (Visual Education)

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2nd P2P - DRIVING QUESTION ON ARTS (Visual Education)

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This is me trying to apply driving questions on an hipotetical arts class.

Well... the learning goals are mostly to get used and understand the works of different materials (riscadores and suportes).
Distinguish geometry concepts: points, lines, surface, etc. Identify all of those + volumes (in real life, nature or architecture). (Based on this)

I feel like it would be really fun to insert restoration of paintings here. - Because there are different approaches to restore a painting (you can paint with soft parallel lines of a color; with soft parallel lines of different colors; with mimetizing the paint (no lines, just a "block" of color)... and other different approaches.

The driving question would them be:
- What would be the best approach to restore the drawing X, if it had a lacuna?
- Rules: you can try different approaches but only present one and explain why.

(because if they'll be trying they'll have to show me, and they're not painting with brushes, as it's very difficult to maintain a straight line)

Problem: This sounds like too much...

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Junta as escolas e professores e disciplinas pelo mundo numa plataforma online, para podermos comunicar e planear projectos com outras turmas e escolas. Muito interessante!

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Engaging the Community with the Kids - AND VISUAL EDUCATION

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Engaging the Community with the Kids - AND VISUAL EDUCATION

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In the Visual Education subject, kids of 5th grade are supposed to be learning about different materials to use (surfaces and graphic materials), as well as concepts on geometry (point, line, surface...)

It would be very interesting to bring a professional from the field of conservation and restoration.

Bringing them to class and engaging with the kids, inserting the explaination on how there are gaps in the paintings that are points, others that are surfaces, this will help them understand the concepts based on a dynamic and interesting subject - conservation and restoration of paintings.

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O site; e o vídeo explicativo.

Esta é uma ferramenta muito boa para fazer grupos!
Nem é preciso registar no site. Crias a tua turma, deixando os nomes dos alunos (pode ser só o primeiro nome) e o site envia o link da turma para o teu email (não deves partilhar com ninguém e se não partilhares só tu é que o tens!)

Depois podes deixar símbolos em cada aluno para serem divididos equilibradamente. Se quiseres dividi-los equilibradamente por sexo, deixas esse símbolo; ou por ter mais conhecimentos na matéria... etc. E o site divide-os por aí.

Depois podemos dar um link diferente à turma para eles registarem os progressos, do que é que já fizeram, do que vão fazer...

E ainda deve ter mais opções.

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Aqui está um pdf que é um guia para usar o PBL globalmente (fazer trabalhos em conjunto com alunos de outros países)!

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I failed my driving license twice, but because I insisted and God was with me we kept praying and trying, and I got the license in the end.

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3rd module.2 Developing Student Resilience

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3rd module.2 Developing Student Resilience

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Identify how we as teachers can weaken our student's confidence and independence.

We can weaken our student's confidence by laughing at their questions and not answer them calmly and nicely. W
We can weaken their confidence by disencouraging them from participating: only us talking, asking close-ended, subjective questions; ignoring their questions and comments, not picking them up as a theme to explore.
We can weaken their confidence by not playing even a little bit, by making some students feel different from the others, by pointing out their flaws in front of the others (or letting them do it themselves).

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The Ten Commandments to Weaken Your Students Confidence and Independence

1)      Give them activities you know they will hate (they can´t learn without effort)

2)      Give them goals you know they can´t achieve (if someone can do it, you will know he’s a really good student)

3)      Keep them in silence (you are the teacher, their role is to listen to you)

4)      Always criticize, specially in front of other students (they must know what they are doing wrong)

5)      Show no flexibility (otherwise how will they distinguish what is wrong from what is right)

6)      Always nurture competition (only the strong ones survive)

7)      Treat your students like scum (show them who’s the boss)

8)      Always expect the worst and you will never be disappointed

9)      All they must know is on the handbook

10)   Every student must be taught and learn in equal  way.