PBL 101 Workshop - Agenda
14 - 16 January 2020
This agenda is for PBLWorks’ introductory three-day workshop. It is broken up by day and includes workshop throughlines, areas of focus, and outcomes along with sample timing for activities. Each day is 6 hours of instructional time, not including breaks and lunch.
Workshop Throughlines
The following concepts are central themes throughout the workshop:
● Knowledge of students: Teacher understanding of the unique strengths, interests, and needs that each of their students brings into the classroom is critical to effective and equitable Project Based Learning. Throughout the workshop, participants are encouraged to reflect on the students they serve and consider how the strengths, interests, and needs of these students should inform their project design and implementation. As a facilitator, consider how you can model this practice by getting to know your participants over the course of your time with them.
● Ideal graduate: At the beginning of the workshop, participants reflect on their “ideal graduate” in terms of what the graduate believes about themselves as a learner, their knowledge, skills, and dispositions, and what they care about. The ideas they brainstorm serve as a “north star” for their project designs: how do they use their knowledge of students and PBL to help their students develop the characteristics and beliefs they have identified as important?
● Deprivatizing practice: Throughout the workshop, participants are asked to publicly share their work-in-progress, to “show their sketches.” This can be uncomfortable for many teachers who are used to working in relative isolation, or to sharing only finished, polished products. However, this shift to reprivatisation is a critical part of building teacher communities of practice and models the public learning process that we ask students to engage in throughout a project.
● Using data to inform instruction: At many key points during the workshop, the facilitator gathers formative assessment data from participants and uses this data to inform next steps or guide coaching moves. Additionally, participants are guided to plan thoughtfully for formative assessment -- not just how to gather assessment data, but how to use it effectively with students to guide instructional decision-making.
● Building a safe, collaborative learning culture: The practices modeled throughout the workshop (including norm-setting, peer feedback structures, and discussion protocols) are designed to help participants experience what it is like to learn in a safe and collaborative environment. Participants reflect on these practices and consider the implications for their own classrooms.
Equity Focus
We have identified three key levers in supporting high quality project based learning for all students. Knowledge of students, literacy, and cognitive demand are introduced in the PBL 101 Workshop with additional resources and support coming through the follow-up engagements, both online and in the face-to-face work.
Topic and definition
Knowledge of students:
Teacher understanding of the unique strengths, interests, and needs that each of their students brings into the classroom is critical to effective and equitable Project Based Learning.
Literacy:
The reading, writing, speaking and listening skills required by the project. Literacy refers both to the concept of literacy broadly and disciplinary literacy within a given content area (e.g., science, math, etc.).
Cognitive demand:
Students engage at an appropriate level of challenge based on their needs in relation to the learning outcomes. All students are held to high intellectual expectations and are supported in critical thinking processes and authentic inquiry throughout the project.
How it occurs in the workshop
Participants are encouraged to reflect on the students they serve and consider how the strengths, interests, and needs of these students should inform their project design and implementation. As a facilitator, consider how you can model this practice by getting to know your participants over the course of your time with them.
Literacy is called out and elevated in section two (Overall Learning Goals) of the Project Planner.
Participants learn about and discuss the concept of productive struggle. This sets the table of them to think about how to build sustained inquiry into their project.
Workshop Outcomes
1. Increase understanding of the Gold Standard Project Design Elements (Days 1-3)
2. Increase awareness of student strengths, interests, and needs to make instructional decisions (Days 1-3)
3. Develop an awareness of the Project Based Teaching Practices and how they inform project design and implementation (Days 1-3)
4. Deepen understanding of formative and summative assessment practices that support PBL design and implementation (Day 2)
5. Reflect on the needs of learners and incorporate scaffolding strategies to support learning throughout a project (Day 3)
6. Explore, use, and reflect upon project management tools and processes that can transfer to the classroom (Day 3)
DAY ONE – DESIGN
30 MINUTES Welcome & Opening Activities
50 MINUTES Entry Event – Ideal Graduate
80 MINUTES Essential Project Design Elements
50 MINUTES Learning Goals and Work Time
Lunch
45 MINUTES Project Development Time
155 MINUTES Driving Questions and Work Time
30 MINUTES Feedback Protocol
15 MINUTES Closing & Exit Ticket
DAY TWO – ASSESS
30 MINUTES Opening & Restorative Practice Activity
95 MINUTES Sustained Inquiry & Storyboard
55 MINUTES Feedback Protocol
Lunch
60 MINUTES Assessment in PBL
65 MINUTES Product Development Work Time
25 MINUTES Closing & Exit Ticket
DAY THREE – MANAGE
15 MINUTES Opening Activities
95 MINUTES Scaffolding Student Learning
80 MINUTES Project Management & Product Development Time
Lunch
100 MINUTES Feedback Protocol
85 MINUTES Next Steps Planning and Need to Know List Review
25 MINUTES Closing Activity & Final Survey