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This is Minal here. Excited to learn....

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This is Minal here. Excited to learn....

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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Answer all the questions in the blue boxes!

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Answer all the questions in the blue boxes!

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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Me, Myself, I - Exploring Identity through photography

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Me, Myself, I - Exploring Identity through photography

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There were nine photo categories/art pieces to create. Each category required students to portray who they are, what they look like, their family and friends, etc. All categories also used photography skills/techniques.
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Here is a variety of student work (notice how each photo represent who the student is) :

8TH GRADE STUDENTS constructed a wood box that contained all the creative and unique photos they took. Each photo represented who they were/are. they learned photography tips and tricks and collaborated with others in order to meet the goals of this project. We had a professional photographer come in and help support us, and we went on a wonderful field trip to help build our project.

Gallery of photos and actions happening during this project:

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There were nine photo categories/art pieces to create. Each category required students to portray who they are, what they look like, their family and friends, etc. All categories also used...

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[MUSIC PLAYING] Not all students have the same lived experiences. But school provides a context for shared reflection, which is really how we support all students. We transform experience into expertise through reflection.

I'm constantly thinking, reflecting throughout the project. And I'm also having the kids constantly reflect throughout the project. That's where all the learning comes from. I can give them Newton law all day, but I'm feeding them knowledge. And that's what we call banking pedagogy. And that's not going to do anything. Because at the end of the day, if they don't have a really deep understanding of this, they're going to lose it.

Often, one student's experience is so different from another student's experience of the same thing that we want to make sure that students are getting a chance to hear from each other and share with each other. And so we lean a lot on discourse processes in the classroom to get kids to actually share the things they're learning and then discover from each other so that when we're moving on to the next step, it feels like a shared activity and a shared mission rather than individual students learning separately.

Reflections, no matter how long they are, they always help me shape the missing pieces that I'm not seeing. It's so important for me to try and better understand what my students are understanding, what they're gleaning, what moments stood out to them.

So that could be a blog post where a student records a really high-quality, shareable testimonial about where they're at and a couple of photos of their projects so far that are annotated like a caption that goes along with them and forecasts like "and this is what's coming next." It's this constant cycle that happens where this is how I know what's happening with every student in the class at all times. And this is how their parents know what's happening. And this is what I can share out to other educators to share my own learning and share what's happening in my classroom. It makes it easier for us to check the temperature of how things are going in the classroom.

As we go throughout the semester, they start seeing themselves grow in lots of different ways that maybe they didn't expect themselves to. They not only are growing in their content knowledge, but I ask them to reflect on their role as a group member, the ways that they communicated their ideas to the class, the ways that they made connections with people across the room. What went well for you today? What didn't go well for you today? And I'll often share that back with the students the next day. So reflection is critical in both learning the content and in making sure that you are developing as a critical thinker and a learner and a collaborator.

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HTH instructors break down key components that make a well designed project in the ...

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History and the rise and fall of civilization - Apocalypto

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History and the rise and fall of civilization - Apocalypto

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Human history is punctuated by the prolific rise and inevitable collapse of civilization after civilization. In this project, students formulated hypotheses for these fluctuations, compared their hypotheses with historical evidence, mapped quantitative changes throughout history, then created a narrative and mechanical representation of their findings. The final product was exhibited on the eve of the Mayan Apocalypse.

Teacher Reflection:

See Inside a Successful School Project: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Student Reflections:

Working on Apocalypto was the first glimpse into what I would later define as a "real" project: a project in which the students choose the scope, method, and design. If a student made a mistake on one of those three, it was up to him or her to fix it. In this project, failure wasn't an option; it was simply a means of reaching success.

-Sharon Tamir

Taking on the role of mechanist felt like a lot of weight on my shoulders. However, as I put in more and more work, I started to see progress towards an end goal, which made me even more tenacious. After months of hard work, seeing the final product on the wall at exhibition was one of the greatest feelings I've ever had. I had created a masterpiece and all of a sudden, the many late nights and fatigue-filled mornings felt worth it.

-Josh Ortega

As one of the students who had to go through the humiliating experience of telling exhibition-goers that my piece belonged in one of the gaping holes of the exhibition's centerpiece, I can now say that it was perhaps the most significant experience I've had in high school. My failure to have my mechanism ready on exhibition night along with the overall project made me so much more resilient and calm which would prove to be very important during my next three years of high school.

-Maya Ervin

To learn more about this project and others, visit
http://pbl.scottswaaley.com/apocalypto-project-summary

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Human history is punctuated by the prolific rise and inevitable collapse of ...

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HTHMA 12th grade students in Digital Arts, English, and Mathematics investigated the complexities of man-made structures found in urban/rural design and architecture. As part of this investigation, students explored the formal aspects of visual representation as well as the psychology and symbolism communicated by these visual compositions. As importantly, students learned to analyze critically how man-made environments affect the way we interact with each other and how this impacts our social world. All buildings, no matter how neutral or insignificant they appear to be, are designed to establish particular power relations between the people who use, work in, live in, or pass through them. Thus, students considered how our structures, cultural norms, and even our very identities are formed by design. The students' inquiries and research culminated into a final exhibition using projections and paper sculpture to simulate a large-scale paper city lit up by interactive and provocative projected art. In this city, the audience explored unexpected and disturbing intersections between mathematics, computer programming, social constructs, cultural identities, and architecture.

Teacher Reflection:

We asked students to do very sophisticated and complicated intellectual and artistic work. This process was messy before it was beautiful. But the final culmination was intricate, elegant and thoughtful. We are very proud of our students' work.

Student Reflection:

For me the most challenging and rewarding aspect of the project was having to make decisions about our physical art piece that insured our research was visible. We needed to be aware throughout the process that the aesthetic choices we made on our physical structure needed to have meaning and purpose.

-Ilias

To learn more about this project and others, visit http://margaretnoble.net/educator/codedstructures

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As importantly, students learned to analyze critically how man-made environments affect ...

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Chemistry and History - Chemistry and Conflict !

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Chemistry and History - Chemistry and Conflict !

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The inspiration for this project came from a "thing biography" display at a Los Angeles bookstore, exploring topics ranging from salt to political ideologies, written from various disciplinary perspectives. We asked ourselves, Why not have students create 'thing biographies' that integrate chemistry and history, where they study elements and chemical compounds that played a role in historical and contemporary conflicts, and produce a beautiful book?

Working in pairs, students explored connections between a historical and a modern conflict. They explored a variety of topics, from the use of uranium during the Cold War arms race to the exploitation of coltan in the Congo today. They created copper etchings, conducted library research, wrote lengthy history chapters, and developed their own mini-projects related to a contemporary conflict. They also engaged in an extensive critique and editing process and had to satisfy a student-run editorial board before teachers even read their drafts. The book was displayed at exhibition night and is available at:
http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1841770

Teachers' Reflection

Having an early deadline allowed us to produce physical copies of the book in time for exhibition night, and gave us a couple of weeks to conduct oral exams that served as preparation for their exhibition night presentations.

Student Reflection

My favorite part in the process of creating our final product was the editing phase. While some would find the task tedious and annoying, I found it interesting to read about the topics that the other students were exploring, watching the information in each paper grow and grow after every draft.

The amount of knowledge required to write an informed, detailed book chapter was immense. Absolute mastery of the content was necessary to meet the gold standard and get your work published. The challenge to draw connections and find lessons from a historical conflict and apply them to solve a modern day conflict was difficult, but it was satisfying to know that your solution was valid and rooted in well-researched facts.

-Wade Bruffey, 10th grade

To learn more visit Peter's and Daisy's digital portfolios at
http://dp.hightechhigh.org/~pjana & http://dp.hightechhigh.org/~dsharrock

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The inspiration for this project came from a "thing biography" display at a Los Angeles ...

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Maths, Humanities and Physics- Self portraits through quadratic equations! 

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Maths, Humanities and Physics- Self portraits through quadratic equations! 

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Students explored the questions "What pictures tell a story?" and "How do we tell the WHOLE story?" through an integrated Math, Humanities, and Physics project. Students created graphic novels, pinhole cameras, photo journals, identity cards, and more!

In Math, students created their self portraits using hundreds of linear and quadratic equations. They then annotated their portrait by solving intersecting lines using substitution and elimination. They looked past just what the eye can see to get a better understanding of the story behind every image.
Teacher Reflection

This project challenged students to examine their identities and the world around them through photographs. One of the things students made was a tri-product that included a Desmos Self Portrait, Annotations of the portrait and a Dear Math letter. What I found inspiring in the students' work was their dedication. Since the portrait was personal to each individual, students spent a significant amount to time ensuring that their image represented the story they wanted to tell. They also mastered the linear equations math unit because the self portrait required them to understand slope, y intercept and how to solving the equations of the intersecting lines. I was astonished by each and every one of their final products.

-Taya Chase
Student Reflection

This was my favorite assignment of the semester. We started it off by going on a field trip to the Balboa Park Photography Museum. After taking a look at the museum, we took self portraits. These self portraits were the foundation of our main product, the desmos self portrait. We created these by going on desmos.com and inserting in our portraits. Then over the course of a month we outlined our portraits using linear, circler, and quadratic equations. We then followed up our portraits with annotations. These annotations solved for the intercepting points of three sets of two equations using substation and elimination. Finally we wrote a letter to math. This letter expressed how we feel about our relationship with math.

-Audrey

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Students created their self portraits using hundreds of linear and quadratic equations. They then annotated their portrait by solving intersecting lines using substitution and elimination

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Austin's Butterfly: Models, Critique, and Descriptive Feedback

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Austin's Butterfly: Models, Critique, and Descriptive Feedback

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Austin's Butterfly: Models, Critique, and Descriptive Feedback

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Everyone has "their math" that they do every day, addition, geometry, calculus, algebra, and more. Not all of these people learned their daily math in school. Not all of these people have taken the...

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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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Project Based Learning (PBL) is a teaching method in which students learn by actively engaging in real-world and personally meaningful projects.

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What makes students take ownership in this project if at all?

What role does the teacher play ?

What are some classroom norms/culture you see being followed in this class?

Where do you see collaboration in this project?

What do you notice about the collaboration between peers?

Can you identify any connections which can be made with other subject groups through this project?

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Project Based Teaching Practices: Design & Plan

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Project Based Teaching Practices: Engage & Coach

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Project Based Teaching Practices: Manage Activities

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How can you ensure that a project is authentic?

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How can you ensure that a project is authentic?

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What does sustained inquiry look like in a classroom setting ?

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What does sustained inquiry look like in a classroom setting ?

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What is the impact of PBL on student engagement and learning

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What is the impact of PBL on student engagement and learning

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Project Based Teaching: Scaffold Student Learning