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Students present their PBL to an audience. This is made of their classmates, family members, advertising experts and other community members because all these add value to their work experience.

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Offering students real-world learning experiences like this one, makes me to be read to use  a tool kit of authentic assessment strategies to guide the teaching and learning process. Formative assessment is a crucial element of project-based learning and the education profession as a whole. Understanding how to swiftly and adeptly modify the scope of your lesson based on the needs of your students will play an enormous role in their learning.

Al through the process I will use a group of techniques that will allow students to understand whether their work is on the right track or not. I will use assessment techquines such as:

1.      at the end of each step ask students "How did our lesson today relate to the driving question?" If they are able to successfully respond and elaborate, I will know that I have tied the lesson sufficiently to the project.

2.      refer back to a list of things to be known and that was defined before: at the end of each class period, ask students if they feel there are any items that can be crossed off the need to know list because they have been sufficiently discussed and answered in class.

3.      at the end of the class, do a "thumb check" -- pointing a thumb upward if they feel they have sufficient understanding of the work they have done, and pointing a thumb downward if they do not. If even one student gives a thumb down, it may be revisited later.

4.      at the end of the class do a “ticket out the door” to encourage students to reflect on their learning.

5.      at the beginning of the class use “bell ringer” activities to check in on student understanding.

6.      track progress with digital tools (use mobile devices or podcasts to get more information on the work done);

7.      use the Think-Pair-Share strategy ( students think about their questions, then discuss it with their partners and then they may share it with others);

8.      create individual portfolios to register their learning process;

9.      peer assessment with the Ladder of Feedback h

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During this time students are required to create their logo, define a good catchy sentence to advertise the product they have chosen and think of the jingle for their ad. So they have to do some research on advertising techniques, which each one of them may do at home.

After they have reached to some conclusion each member of the group presents his/her ideas to his colleagues and they decide the best approach for their work: the creation of a fantastic ad.

They set up to the creation of their ad, which may take the form they wish (a flashcard, a 3D work, a flyer, a video….).

After they have reached to the first draft of their work, they have to make sure it follows the lines of ethics in advertising. So they have to do a little research about this.

They come together and share their opinions about their first draft, trying to understand each one’s point of view and what could be better having in mind consumer habits and society.

They go on with their work by changing what they have decided is not suitable or adequate for their final product.  They use their creativity skills, by thinking out of the box with the help of scaffolding techniques provided by the teacher all along the process.

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Scaffolding is really important to get students get independent in their learning as it helps them grow to a level that is above their current level. It is also a way to shift the responsibility of learning between the teacher and the students. In my PBL I will have in mind that all the “helping” strategies I give to my students will consider the fact that students are people and learn in many and different ways to build their new knowledge. So obviously all the scaffolding strategies will be based on students’ needs and strengths and provide tailored assistance to each student/group of students. Thus, I’ll help encourage them and control their frustration when things don’t go well. I hope that as time goes by on the development of their project I will be less “useful”.

So, for a first approach I will:

·         talk to them and understand what each student/group of students already knows about their topic;

·         know what they can do with their project work;

·         explain what they will need to know and be able to do;

·         understand how big the learning gap between what they know and what they need to know is;

·         understand what scaffolding strategies will help them bridge this gap and still keep the learning process challenging.

By using this approach I will help them identify what they will like to do within my driving question.

The next step is to help them make choices on all their key project related aspects (resources to use, product to create, and use of time). I will help them by using strategies like:

·         building curiosity for the project to develop;

·         tapping into prior knowledge (Let’s share some of your experiences or ideas about what you have to do”)

·         asking what skill they will need in order to work in team successfully;

·         using mind maps, prompts to help them build their work;

·         giving them time to talk and articulate their ideas to define what are the specific tasks each of them is going to do)

·         activating pervious vocabulary on the topic  (Let’s look at these images related to our topic and see what words come to your mind when you see them – brainstorming activity)

·         giving students voice and choice in the process (“Think about the uses of……/ What kinds of things do we use …. for?/ What would be useful to know now?”)

·         encouraging them to seek answers on their own (“Think for a minute and reflect on this idea./How do you do that? / What does this have to do with the project?”)

·         making time for reflection and revision ( “Think of what is working well in the group”)

·         encouraging them for their team work (“I’m really proud to hear how well you are working together.”)

·         encouraging them to overcome their problems ( Where are you stuck? How can we change this? I know you can do it”)

·         motivating them to look for information in different places (“Where can you find the information you need for this now?”)

·         giving feedback to each student on how well he/she is performing his/her task;

For students to take ownership of the PBL process and move their own and their peer's learning forward, they need to have an entrepreneurial mindset. We, as teachers, can help them developing this entrepreneurial mindset and show they have to be persistent and eager to know more, think outside the box, be creative and innovative, be self-confident and self-reliant and don’t mind failure.

And I think that it is exactly what the PBL approach does for them.

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As teachers we sometimes, perhaps many times, discourage our students. By interrupting them, by asking them to answer something and if they keep silent either keep calling their name or suddenly calling someone else’s name, by not talking friendly and trying to see them as people…. So many examples that we must avoid. In my classroom I always keep in mind my students are people, human beings who deserve to be treated like that and try to encourage them to participate and make better the next time. I always tell them that I am not simply evaluating knowledge but educating them to be better people out there, in the world. I always adapt myself to the age range and to the social background of those I am working with. And this is how I try to make them feel confident and independent learners.

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This episode goes back to the beginning of my career as an English teacher. I was being evaluated in class by an older teacher and I was working with 12-year-old students, level 3 of English. We were dealing with the Past Simple of verbs and I had prepared an interactive powerpoint presentation with “Little Red Riding Hood” to have a beautiful class. However the computer was off the network that morning and I couldn’t use it. I was trembling and very nervous, but fortunately my daughter had a doll with Little Red Riding Hood that turned upside down had granny and the wolf. So I quickly had to recreate the story interacting directly with the students and it ended being great. I can probably say it was better than the powerpoint presentation I had prepared because students got engaged in the activity.
Look at the doll that saved my life!

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This is my new PBL . It is done inside the topic "Teens and Consumerism" with the sub topics (consumer habits;advertising and marketing strategies; ethics). The project involves the creation of ads How to create awesome ads (students will be asked to create an ad based on what it involves as consumer habits, marketing stategies, the langugae of the media and ethcis in advertising) in the form they wish (video, ppt presentation, flashcard, outdoor, flyer....)
To get in action a hugle flashcard is set on the wall with the Topic of the Project.
I'll explain the aims of the PBL and the taks each group is assigned.
Groups were formed with the TeamUp tool and I give the link to the studentds.
I define the role each student has inside his/her group and what are the responsibilites expected from them.
To get students involved in their team Ir give them a team buiding activity "Create a masterpiece". Each group is given some random pieces of stationery (craft paper, pensicls and pens) and within 30 minutes each team is supposed to make something original and creative using what they were given.

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I don’t often make pair/group work in my lessons, but when I do it I hope they work together and do some collaborative work to reach a final product. I usually do pair/group work when I want students to discuss an idea or to create a product. In the process I hope they share responsibility while carrying out the task I have asked and they have to decide together what they will do and how they will do it. Although each of them may have a specific task to perform, they are all responsible for the analysis and final presentation of their assignment.

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Finding Collaboration Partners outside the Classroom

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Finding Collaboration Partners outside the Classroom

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In my school there is a real concern about involving students with the local communities, so we have several partnerships with local entrepreneurs and facilities. The Town Hall members, the Police Officers, the Fire Brigade, the local Hospital and others are in close contact with our school. Besides we try to make a less regular contact with Portuguese writers or artists. For students in professional courses we usually make their lessons more attractive by arranging meetings with companies related to their specific areas (multimedia, sport, electricity and safety at work). We take students to their environments to learn in the real world or we invite them to come to school and do some real work here with our students.  Now my students are completing their 3 year course and they are working with different partners outside school and so they are learning in a real working environment.

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As I said before (1.3)I already did some PBL with my 12th graders in my English lessons. Next year I'm thinking of those who will be in the 8th grade. They are 13 years old and most are very creative and eager to know more. So, I'm thinking of doing some PBL with them on the topic "Advertising". This is usually a more complex topic for them, where I try to make them understand what is advertising, how to create an ad, a logo, the language used in advertising world and ethics in advertising. So, I think that instead of so much theory, I will make them create an ad in the form they wish (ppt, flashcard, flyer, video....) and understand all these concepts as they work in groups.

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I think all these keys are demanding, but probably there are two more challenging than the others:
1. collaboration: sometimes students feel they are all leaders and in changer and distributing tasks may be difficult , but it's important for them to understand that working in a team will be important in their future life;
2. Assessing: it's difficult to assess this type or learning because we have specific criteria for reading, writing, speaking or listening.... while in here it's all very different. So, definetely, this is my biggest challenge!

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It's all new to me, but I think the challenge will be worth it!
After watching the videos I am very curious about what is coming next, because I think PBL is a very useful tool in our classrooms. Students really get involved in their learning and I think they will be more successful. I'm eager to try it in my classes, but I hope to learn many things to put this into practice.

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When I think about the way I teach my stidents, obviously I go to the traditional concept: the teacher talks and the students learn and take notes. However, I try to use as many different approaches as possible and I make use of the interactive whiteboard, the laptops, the ipads and students even link their mobiles to the net so that we can play some quizes/games online. I do these especially with my 7th grader (level 3 of English) because they feel motivated and they learn English while playing. With older students, I also try to diversity and here students' autonomy is higher, so I think PBL is suitable for them. This year, my last topic with the 12th grade (level 8 of English) was "Cutlure and arts in the 2nd half of the 2oth century" and after we explored contents on music, fashion, human rights, cinema, architecture ... they were arrigned a project work. They were able to investigate, talk to their parents and other teacher and create a project work that showed one of the areas mentioned. I received pleasant works that ranges from comics to viodeos, to prezi presentations, to barbie dolls fully dressed according to the right decade ..... It's really mtivating to see you students really committed in what they were doing and learning with pleasure because they were doing it by themselves. It was very interesting so i'm eager to follow this course to get some training to continue develop projects like these.

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I've worked in several school, but I've been in the same school for 13 years. It's not really close to where I live. I have to travel 60km every day to go to work, but I like my school. It is formed by a group of several schools: kindergarten schools, primary level schools, middle school and the secondary school (where I work). it may seem a lot, but it is a small school when compared to the ones ion the city where I live. So you can see I work in a little village where students don't have all the facilities we are used to. The whole school has about 600 students, but the one I work in has only 300 students.

However, I think my school has a lot of good things. It is surrounded by trees and pure air and the buildings are modern.  There are big classrooms, with a classical layout (students in rows in front of the teacher's desk). There are some interactive whiteboards, every classroom has a PC linked to the projector and the WiFi connection is very good. Besides thare are 3 cumputer classrroms we can use upon reservation. The students can also book laptops to take into the classroom and work if necessary and  the same happens with the 15 Ipads (which teachers can ask for in adavance).

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My name is Ana Fonseca and I am from Portugal. I live in the city of Coimbra, in the centre of the country.

I have been an English teacher for about 20 years and I really like it very much.