new tweety on the block: finding my pbl groove

[This post is migrated from my original blog, "Mockingbirds Nest Here."]

Please excuse my hashtags. I am learning how to tweet. It’s crazy. It’s like blowing my ideas up like a balloon, tying on a colorful string, and letting it float away, hoping someone finds it and the tag with your name on it, so they can say, “Hey, I found your balloon. Cool. It floated all the way to ____.” Actually tweeting right now is nerve-wracking and causes anxiety for me. But I’m here, as I said in my first tweet. I’m trying. I thought I was tech-savvy. But twitter and blogging have opened up an entirely new world for me. I lose myself. I’m not even paying attention to the current 1-0 Rangers-Royals shutout or the newly trim Jeff Francoeur, who I still love because he was a Ranger for a little while…. Instead I’m blogging about my new squeeze: pbl.

Project based learning has reignited my passion as a teacher. I’m in a STEM academy in Texas, and I find myself digging around in my novels, short stories, poems, and dramas for even the tiniest science/tech/engineering/math link. I long to be innovative and share my ideas. Having a PLN (professional learning network? right?) is new to me – I’ve only ever had the comfort of my hall buddies, the lounge or cool lunch meeting spot, my North Star of Texas Writing Project buddies, or my favorite little teacher partners in chopshop crime, @HeatherCato and @AmyRass. (Who got me finally onto twitter in the first place….) The idea of reaching out over the web, just using some @s and some #s — that’s crazy! Look at this world we live in! So tonight I have educated myself for a bit on #edchat, #pblchat (which isn’t really official yet but I think we should kick it off), #edtech, and have found a few distant teachers and gurus to guide me.

PBL is my bread and butter… most of the time. It’s so hard to make it happen every day. I need more conference periods and less sleep to make those pbl units to climb off my yellow legal pad and laptop, and come to life and work. When they work, it’s magical. It’s magical what happens to my students, what love they find in literature again, what enlightenment they bring to our classroom discussion and to each other…. I want to be better for them. I want to plan better. I want to execute a driving question that’s killer, that stops them in their tracks, that really perplexes them, that really brings it home: how can I make the world a better place by learning about this? How can I have a global impact because of this?

I found this and became re-inspired (can you be?) all over again, on the Buck Institute (@biepbl) blog, called Experts and Newbies: Bloggers on Project Based Learning. It’s fantastic, by the way. Really good stuff. Dayna Laur blogs about people’s most powerful personal experiences in a learning community, and had this to say:

"Many teachers attempt some elements of PBL.

However, many teachers forget the important role they play in the project process as the facilitator. Students still need guidance. As teachers

manage the process of PBL, they quickly discover that their role as

facilitator is even more crucial to the learning process than it ever was

in the more traditional classroom. Guiding students in their learning

through PBL is both challenging and rewarding. It is in a supportive environment that the process of feedback and revision occur.

Creating a supportive classroom environment is as imperative

as creating a challenging, authentic, PBL task."

(Main Buck Institute blog, 11 April 2011)

I hear you loud and clear, Dayna. Supportive classroom environment? Check. Challenging, authentic pbl task? I’m on it. I have big goals for the summer, and that is #1. I have to get my pbl groove back. If I’m going to be the Patron Saint of PBL, spreading the message to the masses of East Texas and beyond, being excited isn’t enough. Dreams need feet, so I must get moving.

Anyone with me? Let’s make some plans together that will not only excite and engage me in learning, but more importantly, will do so for my students and my community. Let’s move our nests a little closer together.