We first needed to determine how to approach support at UGE. Would we start with only those who demonstrated interest in PBL or develop buy-in among all teachers and go school wide? Fortunately, our risk-taking principal, Anne Wilson, encouraged us to dive right in school wide. With Anne's support, coupled with the encouragement from strong teacher leaders among our staff, we decided to go school wide.
We asked teachers during pre-planning to describe the qualities we want this year's high school graduate to have. They shouted out characteristics such as: driven, resourceful, tech proficient, collaborative, and globally responsible. Then, we showed them this powerful video:
We asked teachers during pre-planning to describe the qualities we want this year's high school graduate to have. They shouted out characteristics such as: driven, resourceful, tech proficient, collaborative, and globally responsible. Then, we showed them this powerful video:
Next, we asked teachers to share what they liked and what they wondered about they heard and saw. This was especially helpful in determining the misconceptions of PBL teachers have and what they want to know more about. It led to really great discussion about the similarities between PBL and what we already do in our classrooms (Formative assessment, student products, inquiry, etc.), which was very exciting!
This short session sparked great discussion about PBL and motivated our teachers to start looking for resources to support PBl and digital resources to support the 4 C's. It also gave us the information we needed to develop a mini-PBL task for teachers to engage in during the week, so they could get a small taste of PBL.