Create Effective PBL Unit Introduction To help facilitate Project-Based Learning of your own, a fourth-grade teacher and James Fester, author of Creating a PBL unit Based on Local History in Elementary School, give 5 important tips that are effective in creating a Project-Based Learning unit: Determine Your Learning Goals Provide Context to Sustain Inquiry Survey Communities for...
Hexagonal Thinking What is Hexagonal Thinking? Hexagonal thinking involves students recording ideas, questions or facts on hexagonal tiles and arranging them so that related tiles are next to each other, essentially building a web of connections. It can be used to provide students with an effective way to launch project-based-learning, and students can go after interesting questions. I will show...
Using Community Challenges Using Community Challenges to Collecting Real-World Problems School Budget Cut Using Community Challenges to promote mind and skill sets is to collect real-world problems that are a challenge or driving question for students. This is PBL’s first step in the learning process, which is a challenge or driving question. It involves a project that matters in the real...
Empower Student Learning Why Empower Student Learning So Important 6 Truths came about when I read Spencer and Juliani use the Louis Braille story to focus on giving kids the knowledge and skills to pursue their passions, interests, and future. Louis Braille as a young kid was trying to make some holes in the leather using a sharp-pointed tool called an awl. According to John Spencer and A.J...
Bullying in Schools Bullying and Glasses in Schools Bullying often happens at school, and children who wear glasses are common targets. It can be verbal, physical, or both, and it often happens at school according to NVISION. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, about 49 percent of children in grades four to 12 reported being bullied by other students at least once...
Building a Belonging in the Classroom Building Sense of Belonging Building a sense of belonging is a strong sense of connection to a group or community. Feeling respected and accepted, having a sense of group purpose, and being part of a bigger system are ways to achieve this. People are more likely to be motivated and involved in their work when they feel belonging. It may also lead to more...
Mind and Skill Sets Practice Mind and Skill Sets Shape Classroom Culture Classroom Culture What is a Learner-Centered Classroom Culture? Practice mind and skill sets shape classroom culture by teachers involving students in what it means to belong to the group, how they act as a group, and how they adjust their behaviors when they are not meeting their goals as a group. A goal for learners is...
Framework for Student Agency Build Framework for Student Agency What is an Agency? Bill Zima, author of Mindsets and Skillsets for Learning: A Framework for Building Student Agency, defines agency as the perceived ability of the individual, based on his or her capacity, to shape his or her life. You might wonder what does this look like in a classroom? Zima gives these scenarios: A kindergartner...
Using Student Choice to Support Motivation Chase Nordengren, author of Step into Student Goal Setting book, writes ‘no matter how your classroom is designed or how much authority you exercise over students, they always retain the most important decision: the choice to engage in learning.’ It got my attention. Many educators face this dilemma of how to engage students in learning. My question is...
Introduction To build better rubrics, it needs to be high quality. According to Karin Hess, author of “6 Key Questions to Better Rubrics”, 3 important qualities of a better rubric are: Describe learning expectations Frame actionable feedback to advance student learning Accurately evaluate student progress over time Creating a better rubric is more than slapping expectations on a...
Focus on Learning Introduction To build commitment to learning in students, you need buy-in from students and staff with school vision, values, and goals. School functioning as Professional Learning Communities uses their mission, vision, values, and goals as successful businesses use Big, Hairy, Audacious, Goal (BHAG). Jim Collins (2001), author of Good to Great. states, “a BHAG is “a huge...
Learning Something New Learning Something New Defined Learning something new or inquiry-based learning is about triggering curiosity and tailoring your curriculum to what your students are interested in. Heather Wolpert-Gawron, author of the article “What the Heck is Inquiry-Based Learning?“. notes Inquiry-Based Learning puts a new perspective on an age-old topic. Wolpert-Gawron...
Introduction Have you ever faced this struggle: should I focus on academic content or boost social emotional character development? I am sure educators have encountered this dilemma many times, including myself. With no guidance on the topic, it is hard to know how to teach it to students. I have been thinking about social emotional learning for some time. I came across an article “Making...
Voice and Choice Voice and Choice are the two core tenets of Student-Center-Learning, according to Christa Green and Christopher Harrington, authors of the “How Implementing Voice and Choice Can Improve Student Engagement” article. Green and Harrington explore voice and choice in depth “to understand why implementing Student-Centered principles into the learning environment can...
The Building Blocks of Project-Based Learning Lesson Plan Check List for PBL Jennifer Pieratt, author of Project-Based Learning: Assessment and Other Dirty Words, provided some tips to help you integrate assessment best practices into your projects, while also helping you uphold rigor and student engagement: Start With The End In Mind Build Your Rubric Rows Benchmark Deliverables Calendar It Out...
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