2009/07/03 PBL Update

Well I have been out of touch about my PBL. The end of the school year came rushing at me and I failed to post how my PBL worked out. I ended up having my sixth graders research a folk song and then put their findings in a PowerPoint presentation. Once they selected a song, they were to find out where the song originated, tell about the country of origin including geographical information, cultural connections and what the song meant to the people who wrote it. They were to include lyrics they would sing plus they could include alternate lyrics they may have found along the way. Their presentation was to have 10 slides with appropriate pictures and text. The fun part was that we recorded them singing their song and then put that also in their presentation. A reference slide was expected citing all their sources.
We used a collaborative website (Edmodo) for them to post their information for me to see. Their work was peer edited before a final version submitted. It really was a great project. I learned quite a bit from trying this with my students. Here is a list of things I need to review before I do this again, which I most definitely will!
Things to consider-
1. TIME- wow I thought I had set aside enough time but I was wrong. We had 2 months to work but they could have easily used 3 and it would have given them better presentations. I felt they were rushed at the end.
2. Presentation skills- We learned they really don't know HOW to present. Something we will work on next year. They like to just read what is on the slide. Which brings me to...

3. Less is More- my mantra- I kept trying to get them to understand this but they wanted to put paragraphs on the slide. It wasn't until they were presenting them did they see that this was not a good idea. They realized looking at a giant slide full of text was boring.

4. Less is More Part II- Pictures, text, bells and whistles- Ppt is fun. Lots of cool stuff to add HOWEVER when you have to watch it, it becomes different. They also saw during the presentations that all that hoopla really didn't make it fun to watch or listen to.

5. Presenting was part of the learning- Once the kids started showing their ppts they could see what needed to be changed. It really wasn't hard after that to convince them about what I kept saying.

6. Recording- again, time. I didn't leave enough time to make good recordings or to teach them about Audacity.

7. Well that this list is never ending which is why we do it. If we didn't keep learning and trying and doing and redoing, it doesn't get better.
8. PBL is cool. It is fun. The kids were fully engaged. There will be more PBLs in my classes in the coming year.

So my advice to anyone is give it a try. Once you let your students go you will be amazed at what they learn. I consider my dabble in PBL was just a mini version but well worth the try.