I recently had the opportunity to develop a PBL two-day workshop for the MBCI school in Winnipeg, Canada. A colleague and I met together several days before our trip to design a training that would help 43 teachers and 3 administrators lead the charge to create a PBL curriculum at the middle and high schools.
At first it was a daunting undertaking, since it was my first two-day workshop. I have worked in the past with administrators and teachers to develop PBL curriculum but not quite in the same setting. I've worked on distance training through the High Tech High Leading Schools Program, and I have assisted workshops at schools in Hawaii and with visiting teachers to HTH, but the context of a two-day intensive workshop is much different.
We were fortunate to have incredible support and lead up training by the MBCI school who was excited and ready to make a change in their educational practices. Their enthusiasm was high and their fears were real but not about to hold them back from trying something new. What I didn't realize was that many teachers still feel threatened by a practice that is meant to liberate them. Some teachers see PBL as another requirement on top of what they already are doing in their classrooms. It takes work to dispel myths about PBL. Every training has to have an example of what PBL is and what it is not. The other point to stress is the importance that PBL is a way of teaching, not something extra. It is a process by which we engage our students to learn about the real world and enter that context with the skills necessary to succeed.
During this trip, one of the main goals of the administration was to encourage collaboration amongst staff members. The staff at MBCI was an amazing group of dedicated, knowledgeable, caring professionals who were just immediately ready to get the chance to develop ideas together! Because they have so many different departments and teach content at two different schools, the teachers did not have many opportunities to collaborate on projects before. Once we began however, their ideas blossomed and they dug into the process of designing a curriculum that would be exciting and rigorous.
I love getting to work with passionate people. The two-day workshop really showed the transformation of ideas about PBL from day one to day two. It is not an easy concept for those who are new to the idea. But, it makes sense, especially by day two that it is a way of teaching that will develop students to be the graduate ready for a world that needs problem solvers, critical thinkers, collaborators and communicators. Thanks to dedicated and supportive administrators and staff members, our students will be engaged in real world work!
At first it was a daunting undertaking, since it was my first two-day workshop. I have worked in the past with administrators and teachers to develop PBL curriculum but not quite in the same setting. I've worked on distance training through the High Tech High Leading Schools Program, and I have assisted workshops at schools in Hawaii and with visiting teachers to HTH, but the context of a two-day intensive workshop is much different.
We were fortunate to have incredible support and lead up training by the MBCI school who was excited and ready to make a change in their educational practices. Their enthusiasm was high and their fears were real but not about to hold them back from trying something new. What I didn't realize was that many teachers still feel threatened by a practice that is meant to liberate them. Some teachers see PBL as another requirement on top of what they already are doing in their classrooms. It takes work to dispel myths about PBL. Every training has to have an example of what PBL is and what it is not. The other point to stress is the importance that PBL is a way of teaching, not something extra. It is a process by which we engage our students to learn about the real world and enter that context with the skills necessary to succeed.
During this trip, one of the main goals of the administration was to encourage collaboration amongst staff members. The staff at MBCI was an amazing group of dedicated, knowledgeable, caring professionals who were just immediately ready to get the chance to develop ideas together! Because they have so many different departments and teach content at two different schools, the teachers did not have many opportunities to collaborate on projects before. Once we began however, their ideas blossomed and they dug into the process of designing a curriculum that would be exciting and rigorous.
I love getting to work with passionate people. The two-day workshop really showed the transformation of ideas about PBL from day one to day two. It is not an easy concept for those who are new to the idea. But, it makes sense, especially by day two that it is a way of teaching that will develop students to be the graduate ready for a world that needs problem solvers, critical thinkers, collaborators and communicators. Thanks to dedicated and supportive administrators and staff members, our students will be engaged in real world work!