PBL Reflections

The most consistent theme throughout this project has been "making learning real." I have witnessed in high school seniors how much more interest college application essay assignments and interviewing units elicit than, say, a poetry analysis unit. These senior English students are looking for practical tools to help them reach their goals, so the relevance of a "real life" unit generates natural interest and promotes learning. The PBL experience emphasizes that well-planned, meaningful activities underlie authentic learning. Because it seems that many students lack a general respect for teachers and school, the integration of engaging technology in meaningful problem solving can be of benefit in multiple ways including behavior management. The Fantasy Baseball Math project is supported by research, good pedagogy, and enthusiastic testimony. Part of my contribution was to locate articles for my group's workshop plan. Partly because of our leader's enthusiasm, but also because of what I discovered in the articles, I enjoyed conducting the research and then sharing what I had learned with our group and even with colleagues from my former school. My personal experience is a microcosm of what I hope my students will experience when I introduce and direct PBL: their enthusiasm and interest will overshadow the fact that they are in school conducting research.
Because I am not currently teaching, I am not able to give my own lesson plan a test drive with actual students. I imagine that implementing this plan would involve careful planning with the math instructor(s), giving very clear directions (provided in the plan), and having some adult volunteers to assist students who would need to work outside of class to make their recordings while I was conducting class. The adult volunteers would mainly help to keep students on track and focused so that each group could make recordings in a timely way. My experience has shown that video cameras and microphones generate student enthusiasm, so I would expect that students would be very engaged.