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Project Based Learning: Start Here | Cult of Pedagogy

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Maybe you’ve always wanted to try PBL, but you just haven’t gotten around to it yet. Here’s a set of beginner-level resources to get you started.

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Summary of Learning: Innovative Pedagogy for 21st-Century English Learners (Source #2)

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Summary of Learning: Innovative Pedagogy for 21st-Century English Learners (Source #2)

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Although this article is designed to highlight the benefits of PBL to English Language Learners (ELL), it was mostly a practical and definitive guide to PBL. I was particularly interested on the effects of PBL with ELL as I have several students who are ELL. The article states that by 2030, Latino students will equal "approximately 25% of the total school population." In a short summary the article outlines that PBL allows ELL and English speaking students to "... delve deep into the content standards while being motivated and engaged in new conceptual knowledge."

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I plan to study 8th grade students’ academic performance using Project Based Learning (PBL) methods in writing because I want to find out its success versus the traditional teaching methods to show growth in my students so that I may better understand what motivates 21st century learners.

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In PBL, students are focusing on solving a question or problem for an extended period of time and throughout the process learning necessary knowledge and skills to be sufficient 21st century learners and leaders.

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Aydın, S., Atalay, T. D., Göksu, V. (2018). Project-Based Learning Practices with Secondary School Students, International Online Journal of Educational Sciences, 10(3), 230-242.

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PBL Learning Practices with Secondary School Students

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A teacher who has implemented PBL with Writer's Workshop.

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What is Project Based Learning? According to The Buck Institute, "Project Based Learning occurs when students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time investigating and responding to an engaging and complex problem, challenge or question." There are 6 essentials: A driving question, student voice and choice, 21st century skills, inquiry and innovation, feed back and revision and a publicly presented product.

What is writing workshop? According to Wikipedia, writing workshop is, "coaching students to write for a variety of audiences and purposes." Writing workshop is all about growing a community of writers who spend the majority of their time writing for real audiences.

So, how are Project Based Learning and writing workshop they related? During writing workshop students are working toward the goal of producing a product. They are learning by doing, just like during a Project Based Learning unit! In this video I discuss how my teaching transformed because of one spur of the moment decision...

Before you dive into the content of this article, you may be interested in this in depth course. It includes tons of videos, links to the best resources out there for implementing PBL & writing workshop, posters, assessment tools, a collaborative community of other like-minded teachers and more! Check out the course curriculum here.

Now, I will go over how you can embed each of the PBL essentials into your writing workshop class...

Your driving question explains what the project is and the purpose. The "need to knows" are questions that arise in response to the driving question. Here are some examples of driving questions you could use during writing workshop and need to knows that come up:

Your students may not come up with all these "need to knows" on their own. It is your job to guide them through the discussion and lead them to ask these kinds of questions. You could say, "What sorts of things do we need to know in order to accomplish this project or answer this driving question?"

It is also incredibly important that when you ask the driving question you build up excitement about the upcoming unit with an entry event. Below you'll find a playlist of real classroom entry events!

During writing workshop students should have lots of choice about the topics they write about. This is why I don't like prompts. Prompts limit choice and require students to have background knowledge they might not have in order to complete the prompt.

The teacher chooses the genre and the rest should be up to the student!

If your class is writing a persuasive letter or creating a persuasive presentation they should be able to pick the topic they feel most passionate about. Maybe they are concerned about litter on the playground, that recess is too short or that your school needs new play equipment. You get the point, I think:)

Students need to collaborate, problem solve, think critically and use technology. Throughout the process you will support students with mini lessons about each of these skills.

If your students are working on persuading the principal to make a change, coalition groups can be formed based on the changes your students want to make. You can teach about roles within a group, listening skills and what to do if there is a disagreement. If your students are writing reviews they need to read reviews about similar topics. The teacher can teach a mini lesson about how to find these reviews and what to do if you can't find what you are looking for. Mini lessons that explicitly model 21st century skills throughout the project/writing process are key.

Each driving question requires students to ask more questions to delve deeper. Students are encouraged to ask more questions and keep them on a bulletin board. The teacher can support students through mini lessons by showing students how to find the answers.

The end product or "innovation" should be something students have created that reveals their own questions, interests and answers. For example if students are writing a science article they may come up with questions about the science topic they want to write about. This will lead them to write an article that is uniquely about their curiosities and investigation.

Students need rubrics, checklists, contracts and deadlines to guide them through the project/writing piece (just like every professional in the world, right?!?). Teachers should pause frequently over the course of the project to allow students to discuss, reflect and self assess on their progress and work. Students can provide feedback to one another in the process too.

Your writers need an audience, always! Throughout your "writing project", the audience and due date for the project/writing piece should always be at the forefront of your writers' minds. Here are some ideas for the kind of audiences you can obtain for your class:

Blog Posts Readers

Website Readers

Social Media-Twitter, YouTube

Parents

Other Classes

Famous Authors

Publishing Companies

Organizations (National Geographic for Kids, Time for Kids, Discovery Education etc.)

Leaders in the Community (Principal, Shop Owners, Mayor etc.)

I hope you gained some ideas and inspiration from this post about how PBL and writing workshop go hand in hand! Here are some really awesome web resources to learn about PBL...

Further Reading for You
Edutopia Videos About PBL BIE Resources for PBL Project Based Learning in the Writing Workshop Classroom Course

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PBL & Writing Workshop Are Definitely Related, Here's How to Integrate Them...

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How does PBL relate with writing workshop? During writing workshop students are working toward the goal of producing a product. They are learning by doing, just like during a PBL unit! In this article you'll find driving questions, example projects, assessment ideas and more!

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Since all of my students are underage, will I have to get consent from each parent to begin collecting data?

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Although many of these articles highlight the cons of PBL in teaching, the pros seem to outweigh them all - especially when it comes to motivation of students!

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Almaguer, I., Diaz, Z., & Esquierdo, J. J. (2015). Project-Based Learning: Innovative Pedagogy for 21st-Century English Learners. Teacher Education and Practice, ²⁸(1), 177-189.

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A teacher who uses PBL for writing.

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Now, I'm lucky. I work in a district and, more specifically, in a school, that permits me to develop units and lessons that align to our tests, but they allow me my better judgment in how to prepare for them. So this year, I chose authentic lessons and authentic classroom assessments to prepare my students for our more traditional district assessments.

However, my luck is not the norm. Too many teachers are told that the classroom tests, the district tests, the state tests, and the federal tests are the driving force of the curriculum. They are not permitted the freedom to use their own training, their own expertise, and their own instinct to look beyond the test prep lessons.

But in this day and age, with textbook adoptions on hold, and the era of democratization of information upon us, this economic era of cuts can be an opportunity. Teachers can supplement in a way they have never been permitted before and design in a way that they have never been permitted before. (But only if they're lucky enough to be in a district that trusts their professional judgment.)

Believing the Publicity

But that's not to say that all teachers are eager to start. So many have been brainwashed. Yep, I said it. Brainwashed. I think some teachers have actually started to believe what the media and politicos would have us think: that we aren't capable of creating. That all we can do to prepare for standardized tests is regurgitate the canned lessons from the textbook and test prep companies. But this year I planned to prove otherwise to myself.

Taking what I know about PBL, I spun the concept for a writing focus. That is, our writing units became based in real-world scenarios for real-world audiences using writing as the means to communicate the answer to real-world problems. The first unit was called The DARPA/NASA Unit (a topic of which has led to serious blog fodder over these past few months).

We then quickly moved into our next unit, this one focusing on a blend of Advocacy and Memoir similar to those performed for TED. We are currently presenting our TED-esque speeches in class over this next week. The students will then evaluate each other and select the best presentations to perform in front of a wider audience as a book drive for our school library.

But not once did I teach to the five-paragraph essay that my students are tested on twice a year. You know the ole' format: Intro, Reason, Reason, Counterargument, and Conclusion. Yawn.

In other words, I created units that I believed to be more authentic to the real world. But I didn't see this as preparing them for a test, I saw it rather as preparing them for something more altogether important: life.

Proof in the Data

My project-based writing units allowed total student choice of topic, involved the students in creating the rubrics upon which they scored their peers and themselves, and required students to blend genres rather than segregate them into different assessments.

Yet I heard from some colleagues that I was taking a risk. That my students weren't going to do well once it came down to it. Sure, they acknowledged, the students learned a lot. But did my students learn how to exceed in the school-unique genre that is test taking?

In the end, my scores from the district assessment came back with an enthusiastic answer to that question. This group of students performed better than any of my classes in the past. Whew. With this victory of test scores, will hopefully come encouragement to others in my department that authenticity is the way to go for both more enjoyable teaching and more successful learning.

I have little doubt that it was my leap of faith into project-based writing that got them there. I also have little doubt that I will never look back.

But to all naysayers out there, to all those who believe our thrust should be prepping kids for assessments they will see nowhere else, I present to you this:

Ten Reasons to Teach Using Project-Based Writing

1. It is an organic way to integrate all CORE subjects: math, science, history, and language arts

2. It proves to students that imagination and creativity are connected to research and expository writing

3. It hits all the major elements of the higher level of Bloom's Taxonomy: analysis, evaluation, and creation

4. By allowing a student to choose their format of showing what they know, the buy-in for the quality of the final project is tremendous

5. Students develop projects individualized, unique, and specific from each other

6. It is a powerful way to incorporate all multiple intelligences: visual, audio, kinesthetic, musical, linguistic, logical, etc.

7. It desegregates non-fiction and fiction, blending the two

8. It integrates the CORE subjects with non-core subjects, potentially using technology, art, music, etc.

9. It is a rigorous assessment requiring high-levels of thought and communication

10. It requires use of the entire writing process from brainstorm through revision, editing, and final draft regardless of the genres picked and the topic chosen

The list above is an excerpt from a workbook on Project Based Writing that Heather wrote for Teacher Created Resources, due out in 2013. In addition to teaching middle school by day, Heather Wolpert-Gawron currently teaches an ecourse in Project Based Writing for Powerful Learning Practice.

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The Power of Project-Based Writing in the Classroom | Edutopia

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Now, I'm lucky. I work in a district and, more specifically, in a school, that permits me to develop units and lessons that align to our tests, but they allow me my better judgment in how to prepare for them.

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Summary of Taking a Leap of Faith: Redefining Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Through Project-Based Learning (Source #7)

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Summary of Taking a Leap of Faith: Redefining Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Through Project-Based Learning (Source #7)

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I needed to analyze this article before determining if it could be a legitimate source for my action research. Though tailored to higher education, the challenges and successes of teachers administering PBL techniques for the first time were very relevant to the same challenges and successes of middle level educators. This was one of the few articles I read that productively highlighted the cons of implementing PBL. Not only did they identify the cons, but they also provided meaningful ways to address the negatives of PBL. For example, the use of community partners is a component of PBL, but many professors indicated it was a challenge and time consuming to "bring outside experts into the class to coincide with when students need information." However, these same professors indicated that community involvement was essential and allowed for authenticity. Overall, this article looked at the teachers perspective of administering PBL versus the traditional route of finding data on student results.

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Lee, H. , & Blanchard, M. R. (2018). Why Teach With PBL? Motivational Factors Underlying Middle and High School Teachers’ Use of Problem-Based Learning. Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning, 13(1).

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Why Teach With PBL_ Motivational Factors Underlying Middle and Hi

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Summary of Engaged Learning: Impact of PBL and PjBL with Elementary and Middle Grade Students (Source #5)

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Summary of Engaged Learning: Impact of PBL and PjBL with Elementary and Middle Grade Students (Source #5)

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Using qualitative methods, teachers were interviewed on the pros and cons of Project Based Learning. Ultimately teachers provided many pros including, "cultivating creativity and entrepreneurship, autonomy, motivation, collaboration and social skills, critical thinking, and problem solving." The authors acknowledge that they did not observe classrooms, but instead relied on teachers' observations - as a teacher, I value the input of other educators. As Sagor says, "action research is conducted by people who want to do something to improve their own situation." Many of the teachers from this article hoped to give students 21st century skills and PBL gave them that opportunity.

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Dole, S. , Bloom, L. , & Kowalske, K. (2016). Transforming Pedagogy: Changing Perspectives from Teacher-Centered to Learner- Centered. Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning, 10(1).

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Dole, S. , Bloom, L. , & Doss, K. K. (2017). Engaged Learning: Impact of PBL and PjBL with Elementary and Middle Grade Students. Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning, 11(2).

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Engaged Learning_ Impact of PBL and PjBL with Elementary and Midd

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Johnson, Sarah A. and Cuevas, Josh (2016) "The Effects of Inquiry Project-Based Learning on Student Reading Motivation and Student Perceptions of Inquiry Learning Processes," Georgia Educational Researcher: Vol. 13 : Iss. 1 , Article 2.

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The Effects of Inquiry Project-Based Learning on Student Reading

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Lee, J. S. , Blackwell, S. , Drake, J. , & Moran, K. A. (2014). Taking a Leap of Faith: Redefining Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Through Project-Based Learning. Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning, 8(2).

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Redefining Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Through PBL

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Kumar, R. , & Refaei, B. (2017). Problem-Based Learning Pedagogy Fosters Students’ Critical Thinking About Writing. Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning, 11(2).

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Problem-Based Learning Pedagogy Fosters Students_ Critical Thinki

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Mehta, J., & Fine, S. (2012). Teaching differently... Learning deeply. Kappan, 94(2), 31-35.

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Tamim, S. R. , & Grant, M. M. (2013). Definitions and Uses: Case Study of Teachers Implementing Project-based Learning. Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-based Learning, 7(2).

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Savery, J. R. (2006). Overview of Problem-based Learning: Definitions and Distinctions. Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning, 1(1).

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EXTRA Overview of Problem-based Learning_ De_nitions and Distinctions