Curriculum 21: Chapter 4
"What if schools gave teachers and teaching
teams the option of 3 or 4 full weeks to go into depth on personal projects,
research investigations, creative generations of digital projects, and onsite
visits?"(p.66)
This quote from our book started me thinking this week: what if?
What if we actually had time - continuing throughout the year - to plan
collaboratively with our fellow teachers? What if we could reach across
the curriculum on some project, like bioethics or genetics or world history,
incorporating disciplines of math, science, English, art and the like?
Would our students not be so much more engaged, with topics spilling over
into many realms? The pull of Project
Based Learning, that many of our highlighted schools have embraced, runs
through my mind again and again, drawing me in. I can see the potential of so much within my own school.
What if?
I think some of the schools we read about last week do these type of research projects for weeks at a time. These gifted students get the opportunity that most students don't, and it seems as though they are quite successful in their studies.
ReplyDeleteI would love to see public schools try something like this out. I don't know if it's possible, because I'm not sure if there's a lot of funding that would have to go into it. It takes a lot of time, money, and resources to do such lengthy and in depth research. I think it might be possible if the school is willing to do some sort of fund raising to help with those costs. It would be cool to see schools try and experiment with this idea.
I know that many of the schools we have researched these past two weeks incorporate these project based learning ideas. I know this could be applied at the typical public school, but it would involve a lot of innovation, and complete support by administration. I'm not sure that it would necessarily mean increased costs, just an increase of time to collaborate with those who share a common vision.
ReplyDeleteMost of these schools are public schools...like King MS in Portland. Hardly a "typical" school because they have chosen to use a totally different focus to help kids learn. Why...not because PBL is cool, trendy, or fun...but because it engages students in learning at high levels. An important thing to remember is that moving to this type of learning won't immediately engage all students and it takes time to implement. A large number of students dislike the current system ("it's boring!") but don't want it changed because it doesn't require them to work very hard.
ReplyDeleteFunding is not a big issue in moving to more of a PBL approach...simply reallocation of funds. And you pointed out the need for time to collaborate...excellent point.
So, where are you going to start with these ideas? What can you do in your classroom...right now?
I continue to ponder that throughout this class...
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