{"id":1029,"date":"2014-11-23T07:08:42","date_gmt":"2014-11-23T07:08:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/insideout.insidewp.test\/?p=1029"},"modified":"2014-11-23T07:08:42","modified_gmt":"2014-11-23T07:08:42","slug":"another-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/2014\/11\/23\/another-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Not Another Project!!"},"content":{"rendered":"

When one of my\u00a0kids came home on a Friday and declared, “I have to\u00a0finish my\u00a0project,”<\/em> I was filled with dread. Weekend plans were abandoned so I could try to achieve the impossible: learning the material the project was supposed to\u00a0demonstrate, balancing my child’s expectations with reality, understanding the standards against which the project would be evaluated,\u00a0avoiding\u00a0tears of frustration and ensuring that the child’s experience\u00a0of working with\u00a0Dad\u00a0became a cherished memory.<\/p>\n

If your experience is anything like mine, you might not be too excited with all the talk about projects that is coming home from school. The good news is, Project-Based Learning (PBL) is not anything like the projects of old.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

For one thing, PBL requires teacher guidance and team collaboration, so very little project work is done at home.<\/p>\n

But that’s just the beginning of the differences.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With the projects of yore, most of the teacher work occurred after the projects were turned in\u2014they had to figure out how to give the thing a mark. With Project-Based Learning, most of the teachers’ work comes before students even know about the project. I am currently planning a First-Nations project with the other Humanities 9 teachers. It will\u00a0start in\u00a0the spring, but we began planning in September.<\/p>\n

In the olden days, projects happened after the \u201creal\u201d learning occurred. Today, projects aren’t just an extension or demonstration of\u00a0previous learning; they are the means by which students learn<\/span><\/strong> important knowledge and skills.<\/p>\n

Before, the scope of a project was limited to a specific area of knowledge, but today they are based upon an open-ended Driving Question<\/em><\/span><\/strong> that propels learning. In the Humanities 9 First Nations project, our driving question will be something like:<\/p>\n

How can we create an exhibit for a grade 4 audience that will inspire an appreciation for First Nation\u2019s culture, and foster students\u2019 desire to be loving neighbours and agents of healing in their communities? <\/em><\/p>\n

In order to answer this question, students must engage in an in-depth inquiry by asking questions, using a variety of resources, and developing answers.<\/p>\n

There was little choice for students in the old projects, but the new projects are rife with student voice and choice<\/em><\/span><\/strong>. Choice is still done within pre-approved guidelines, but teachers are often surprised and even delighted by the choices the students make.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another way the new projects differ from the old is that they often have a meaningful connection to life<\/strong><\/span>. Often dealing\u00a0with real world problems,\u00a0these projects\u00a0can closely resemble work done outside of school by adults, even using the same tools and practices as professionals. In our First Nations project we will be looking to learn the techniques used by professional curators and exhibit designers as we work on our own displays; we will also be seeking the assistance of groups and individuals who are liaisons between First Nations peoples and the broader culture.<\/p>\n

Old projects were simply turned in. New projects are presented to an audience<\/span><\/strong> beyond their classmates and teacher. Our First Nations project will be presented to the grade 4 classes at our school, but we might invite grade 4 students from other schools. It is also possible that our exhibit will be open to city and provincial officials, and members of the First Nations community. This public audience is far more motivating for students than the audience of one, the classroom teacher, in the old projects.<\/p>\n

As a parent, I did not like\u00a0projects. As a teacher, I didn\u2019t like them either. I\u2019m very excited about the new kind of projects, because they can help students become more independent, persistent, collaborative, and productive, all skills that students will need\u00a0in college or in the workplace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When one of my\u00a0kids came home on a Friday and declared, “I have to\u00a0finish my\u00a0project,” I was filled with dread. Weekend plans were abandoned so I could try to achieve the impossible: learning the material the project was supposed to\u00a0demonstrate, balancing my child’s expectations with reality, understanding the standards against which the project would be […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":147,"featured_media":1033,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,35],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-1029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-project-based-learning","category-secondary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/147"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1029"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=1029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}