This course is the 2nd part of our fantastic three-part series on Project-Based Learningâ€”but if you missed part one, don’t worry, this is still the class for you. In this Q&A video Sheryl tells us all about Project-Based Learning Immersion: Designing Quality Projects: what’s involved, how to get started, and what it has to do with Nemo the fish. Watch the video, check out the PBL info page, and sign up quick! This course begins January 14th 2013, so save yourself a spot in the front row and get ready to dive into passion based learning.
I wonder what effect our societies’ low expectations of adolescents has on their development? What does it do to one’s identity when often we give our teenagers so very few meaningful roles or real work to do? That the five hours they spend in classes a day often results in rote learning that is frequently memorized the night before an exam and then forgotten. What if instead, high school students spent five hours a day constructing an identity while responding creatively to their moment in history? What if they were told they can change the world now?
“We live in a connected world, with the Internet and powerful digital technologies literally at our fingertips, so it would be foolish not to integrate those things into the learning experience. But when I talk about the shift to 21st century teaching and learning, I am not talking primarily about changing the tools we use. Iâ€™m talking about transforming the way most teachers teach today â€“ either because they were taught to teach that way or because the accountability system makes them believe they have to teach that way.”
Many teachers who attempt this type of thing might do it once, but with all the difficulties never try it again. I can see why that would be so. But I will teach every unit I can this way. Itâ€™s only in doing it the first time that you learn what you need to change about your teaching role. And itâ€™s only by pushing through the hard â€œfirst timeâ€ that your students learn how to deal with difficulties. The strength and growth that Iâ€™ve seen in my students this past month is truly amazing.