1. The Principia Upper School English Teacher
The Battle of the PBL’s
Alicia Sorensen
The Principia Upper School English Teacher

2. Today’s Objectives
Building the right atmosphere for both PBL experiences
Break down the value of Performance Tasks
Gain insight on designing a Performance Task
Know how a Performance Task differs from Project Based Learning
Gain insight into designing a PBL in any unit

3. Performance Task
Learning activity that asks students to demonstrate their knowledge
Yields a tangible product or performance
Gives you a chance to assess where they are at in the learning process
Can be simple or complex

4. Sample Performance task
Goal – The challenge is to recreate a classic nursery rhyme to reflect the modern challenges our students face.
Role – Your job is to first collect and analyze data and then to work with your team to create a product that reveals your findings.
Audience – You need to write a new version of the nursery rhyme with teens as your target audience.
Situation – The challenge involves working as a team to compile your data and create the final product.
Product – You will create an updated version of the nursery rhyme so that this generation learns important life lessons related to the *coming of age theme.
Success – Your product must be centered around an important life lesson all children need to learn and should include the elements that make a children’s nursery rhymes appealing (i.e. imagery, rhyming words, relatable characters).
This acronym is from Jay McTighe’s Designing Cornerstone Performance Tasks to Promote Meaningful Learning and Assess What Matters Most

5. Performance Task – Step 1
Read and discuss the portions of the rhyme that still seem relatable to issues kids face today

6. Performance Task- Step 2
Brainstorm and list the correlation between the issues discussed in the rhyme and the issues kids face today

7. Performance Task- Step 3
Now think beneath the surface – what issues are not being addressed within the rhyme that should be?

8. Performance Task- Step 4
Review your list and decide what needs to stay in your new rhyme.

9. Performance Task – Step 5
Create your updated rhyme and be ready to share it with others when time is called.

10. Variations of Sharing
You can have them stand and meet with another group
You can have them split up and partner up with people they haven't worked with
You can have them share out with the whole class
You can have them gage audience reactions and go back to make adjustments to the piece before sharing with the class

11. What? So What? Now What?
It is important to spend time debriefing a performance task
Students need to know what the learning outcome is
The key to debriefing is asking the right follow-up questions
Students will give surface answers unless you push them

12. Project Based Learning
Student-centered approach
Asks students to acquire a deeper knowledge through ACTIVE exploration of applicable challenges and problems
Places ownership on the student for content, product, and process
Offers multiple places for the teacher to assess learning and make adjustments
   

13. HACK #1 - Build Trust
Build a space that promotes risk taking and celebrates failure.
PBL cannot happen if the students do not feel comfortable and safe.
Think back to the first few activities I asked you to do.
What does building trust look like in your classroom?
What risks have your students been asked to take?
How do you ensure every student feels safe?

14. HACK #2 - Teach Collaboration
Define and model what collaboration looks like.
Collaboration does not mean work together to complete a project.
Encourage students to work together to solve problems and generate more questions.
Brainstorm
Question
Discuss
Value
Provide consistent feedback so that students know how the process is going.

15. Collaboration is a critical thinking skill for students of all ages.
Share with your partner one of the best collaboration experiences you have had or seen in your classroom.
Share a collaboration experience that did not turn out the way you expected it to.
What did you learn from both experiences?  

16. Hack #3 - Know What is Essential
You can’t teach everything
What content is essential for students to learn and offers opportunities for exploration and creativity?
Once you know this, the PBL will unfold naturally

17. Hack #4 – Create YOUR Path for Learning

18. Project Based Writing
You will have complete and total freedom for this unit!
You can write about whatever you want in whatever form you want!
Followed by a series of fun writing prompts and brainstorming activities to generate writing ideas.

19. Project Based Writing Research & Workshops
-Look at books that are written in the same genre you have chosen to write in and highlight what you like best
-Complete a series of workshops about character building, using imagery effectively, and prose writing based on the writer’s choices
Benchmark: Students are tracking research in a document

20. Modeling, Discussions, and Reading
Project Based Writing
Modeling, Discussions, and Reading
-Students begin the writing of their story and keep track of daily progress
-Students meet with the teacher and peer mentor throughout the writing process
-Students read other peers’ works in preparation for benchmark
Benchmark: Students participate in Inquiry Week where they have a complete draft read by several peers and evaluated

21. The last week is all of this!
Project Based Writing
The last week is all of this!
-Students have feedback that they use to build, write, edit, and prepare final drafts of the story.
Present: Students share a presentation that discuses the story they created and the process. They also write a letter to me where they reflect on how they were challenged and how they grew as a writer.

22. What Drives Project Based Learning?

23. Key Takeaways You can’t go wrong with either PBL
Take the time to build trust and relationships with your students
Give student’s a choice and engagement will increase
Keep it simple at first and find your moments to build on
Don’t be afraid to deviate or admit you need to change a plan
Take the time to stop everything and provide mini-lessons
Go for it! You can’t learn where to tweak it you don’t try it

24. Resources I used
Designing Cornerstone Performance Tasks to Promote Meaningful Learning and Assess What Matters Most by Jay McTighe
Hacking Project Based Learning by Erin Murphy and Ross Cooper
Project Based Writing by Liz Prather