Blogs: Suzie Boss
Make Project Planning a Collaborative Practice
By Suzie Boss
5/7/08
Moving from traditional teaching to project learning takes effort: You have to be willing to rethink everything, from classroom management to homework expectations to assessment strategies. And if you're the only one in the building who is teaching this way, it can get a little lonely.
Last spring, a high school teacher named Telannia Norfar decided to give the project approach a try with her ninth-grade math students. During the last nine weeks of the school year, she had students make their own movies about linear equations and the principles of triangles.
In her blog PBL Birdside View, Norfar describes that initial project: "There were some pitfalls, but overall, I have never seen the students more engaged. The students actually wanted to come to school and stay after to film. They managed themselves, and I looked on in amazement and wondered why I hadn't done this sooner."
During an online conference about project learning earlier this year, Norfar described the many real-world math projects that have followed that first effort. For instance, her students have put their geometry skills to work designing blueprints for a home renovation. They have used algebraic thinking to figure out how to choose the most economical cell phone plan. Hearing her describe how her students respond to this way of learning and how the projects help math concepts stick, I could tell she has become convinced of the power of project learning.
But one thing was still missing -- collegial support. She wanted to know how others have approached planning a cross-disciplinary project with colleagues. What helps move the team-planning process forward? How do you get everyone to buy into project learning?
Wouldn't it be great, she added, if we could hear that whole conversation unfold? I couldn't agree more, and by the end of that conference call, Norfar offered to provide a window to her school's experience with collaborative project planning. She set up PBL Birdside View to track that conversation.
Norfar is a thoughtful narrator for her team's journey into collaborative project planning. Her colleagues teach science, English, social studies, and special education. They are all part of a ninth-grade academy team with shared planning time. They bring unique perspectives, experiences, and teaching approaches. And they don't always agree. Designing a collaborative project is giving them the opportunity to learn more about one another's teaching practices, look for connections across disciplines, and consider technology tools to support the learning experience. It's also giving them time to focus on strategies for reaching students performing below grade level.
After discussing everything from standards to driving questions, the teaching team settled on a topic that's certain to generate a lot of student interest: cafeteria food. Student teams will explore everything from the food's nutritional value to the cultural relevance of menu choices. Experts from a local culinary school and a food co-op have agreed to let the students interview them. The principal will be a sounding board for student proposals for a menu overhaul, which adds more real-life flavor to the project.
A month into the planning process, Norfar posted this update: "The excitement for the project is increasing. We are beginning to see the impact the project can have on the students and the team. Our abilities as educators are increasing, and our students will be all the better for it."
The project launch date is fast approaching. I can't wait to hear what happens when students enter the picture. I'm also eager to find out whether this first team effort leads to more collaborative projects. Norfar and her colleagues may eventually look back on this project as the start of a stronger professional learning community.
Do you work with colleagues to design projects? What helps you work well together as a team? What are the challenges? If you could design your dream team for collaboration, who would you invite? Please share your experiences.
Reader Comments
Make project planning a collaborative practice
As one who is interested in embarking on a Project Based Learning approach myself, I have to applaud Ms. Norfar's efforts on her project.
Make project planning a collaborative practice
Project Based Learning is a great way to get the whole school involved. I love collaborative teaching and learning. I would love to see it more in action at the elementary school level.
Collaboration
I agree with the concept but I would add an element of diversity by including students from a remote classroom. It could be from a nearby school or from another country to teach the students how to collaborate with and without physical proximity. Ego, pride, leadership, and cooperation are some of the elements to contend with and mold, but the result can be magic.
Project learning
When I was in college I was taught the project approach to teaching. I have always felt that it was a great way to educate students. I teach Kindergarten and this approach would be useful to me, but with testing and data driven instruction, I just do not see how a teacher would be able to use the approach. It really is a shame that the fun has been taken out of a lot of the classrooms because children learn better when they are having fun!
Make project planning a collaborative practice
I am a huge advocate of project based learning. My most memorable moments from my highschool classes have always been the projects that I worked on. Most of the time that a student works on a project they take ownership in it and tend to put in a lot more effort. I am continually looking for new ways to incorporate small projects into my curriculum and I would really enjoy doing some collaboration with other teachers.
group project free-loaders
none i have been sentenced to have worked, or re-enforced the concept of carrying other peoples load. my research indicates that there is NO data suggesting group prjects benefit students.
Make Project Planning a Collaborative Practice
Vocational/technical teachers have been doing project based learning for years. Unfortunately, we do not often get the credit or respect we deserve. Project based learning takes much planning and hands-on involvement by the teacher. The teacher becomes more of a facilitator. Now that project based learning is becoming popular in all classes, it would be great to finally collaborate with core subject teachers and design projects that would address several content areas and be assessed by multiple teachers. I can imagine one comprehensive project with rubrics and evaluations from several teachers. I would bring to the table the experience of doing project based learning for years, while English and math teachers, for example, would supply support on those basic skills that many of my students lack.
Project approach
I like using the project approach however it almost seems impossible with all of the data driven instruction. When I was in college they taught us how to use project based learning, but it just doesn't seem feasible to do since I teach Kindergarten. I would love to hear suggestions of how people use this type of learning in their classroom and how I could incorporate it into mine.
Make Project Planning a Collaborative Practice
I truly feel that projects are beneficial too. If a teacher clearly teaches the content and what the desired outcome is (rubric), a student can be very successful in the project approach. Students transfer knowledge, research more information, and become invested in the assignment. I think it is also important to present, display, and brag about the finished projects. They are very proud to share and explain their ideas.
Virtual reality project
Having started out in education as a shop teacher, having ended up as a high school English teacher, for me, seeing the application of collaboration projects between student and teacher in a hands-on environment, is an obvious thing. I've devised a "minds-on project" that demands real collaboration between all participants. I believe this might provide some insight into effective collaboration among teachers. My basic unit plan starts with an "object", which could be a claw hammer or "Hamlet". I imagine the object on a table in the center of the classroom surrounded by students. I pose the simple problematic, essential question: "What is this object? I'm not going to tell anything, because I don't know everything -- you will do all the work of finding out -- but we will spend the next ____ period of time examining the object -- how it came to be, what is it made of, what are some uses for it, how might it be improved, is it useless or useful, is there something about this object that hasn't been figured out yet?" Some of the objects are brought to class by students, and the same process occurs. Remember, this is the broadest interpretation of "object". Teachers could use this approach to collaboration: assume that there is no single best answer, yet all are focused on the object and the process demands that all participants bring "their all, their best" to a resolution.