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13 Tips To Improve Student Conferencing and Feedback #HackingPBL
I can’t clone you. I know you have 30 (sometimes more) kids in your class at a time and spending even 5 minutes with each individually would take an entire week of instructional time. What I can tell you, without reservation, is this time investment is worth it. Countless studies (especially the work of John Hattie) highlight the positive impact timely, specific feedback has on student self-efficacy and achievement. Even with this knowledge, finding the time to implement conferences remains a challenge. If you have spent any time thinking about student conferences, you have already come to realize that they must be brief – typically 3 to 5 minutes. A…
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Chaos Coordinator #HackingPBL
This weekend I return to Los Angeles to collaborate with the teachers of LA Unified School District. Last time I was there, they gifted me a shirt that says, “Chaos Coordinator.” This got me thinking about the ways we coordinate the chaos in a PBL classroom. Here are four quick strategies. Want to grab the guide to writing awesome directions for your PBL unit? Join the FREE online course. Listen to the Podcast
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Learning Lounge – PD The Relaxing Way
On a Sunday afternoon in early winter, you walk through the front door of your local bookstore. As you warm your hands and stomp the fresh snow off your feet, you glance around the store at your fellow patrons: a teenager curled up in a comfy chair reading a book, two men eagerly leaning over a laptop critiquing the contents on the screen, and a group of women actively engaged in a quick-paced debate. Each of these individuals, of course, with a delightful beverage in-hand. This cozy scene framed within in a bookstore truly encapsulates an authentic learning environment. The individuals in the store have identified conditions where they can…
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Context is King
I have vivid memories of my high school chemistry class. I can almost feel the splintered wood chair beneath my legs and smell the sourish, sweet scent that filled the room (the origin of which, I never dared to ask). I was a fairly successful student, but chemistry left me flummoxed. After memorizing the elements on the periodic table and units of measurement (some of which may have been completely fabricated by our quirky teacher, as “Googling it” was at least 5 years in the future), it felt we spent the remainder of the year balancing equations and performing experiments completely disconnected from the work we completed at our seats.…
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Grit Does Not Apply To Worksheets
One of the things that really gets my nerd juices going is Angela Duckworth’s research on grit. I am personally a big fan of hard work, so this idea of grittiness really appeals to me. (I won’t be recounting the depth of her research here, but if you are interested, definitely check out her book or even better, have her read it to you). Duckworth’s work intrigues me because she has found that grit is one of the single most consistent predictors of success. Individuals who have the ability to show grit are far more likely to reach success and achieve goals. Duckworth defines grit as “the tendency to sustain…
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Happy Birthday #HackingPBL – FREE Course For You
Ross: What do you think about writing a book on PBL? Me: I think you’re crazy. Ross: Just think about it. If I’m being honest, I tried not to think about it. Unfortunately, the idea got stuck in my head. At first I fixated mostly on my failures: terrible rubrics, lengthy directions, displays of content rather than displays of learning, and the list could go on. Eventually, my stream of consciousness turned to the solutions I created (often times through a conversation with Ross), and then my wheels really started spinning. The true tipping point, however, came later in the week, when I bumped into a former student. She approached…
