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…

Once upon a fifth grade classroom, I hosted a student teacher from a local university. As she began to take over more of the instructional load, she integrated some of my classroom management techniques, including my routine for gaining student attention before giving a direction. This routine, which felt natural for me and was quite effective for my students, always seem to fall short for our student teacher. She struggled to gain student attention and eventually she ended up