Introducing: asset mapping
…not the initial focus of your conversation and feedback. So then why do we start service, project, and problem-based learning with a problem? Avoiding the “Deficit Perspective” Many of us…
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Search Results for: project-based%20learning
Developing integrated units from commercial curriculum
…use the Lucy Calkins writing or reading units as a basis, for example. You can turn them — viola! — into project–based learning units that engage and excite students. Case…
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#vted Reads: The End of Average
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…are maybe struggling with a creative project, because it’s called a “creative project” and a student previously hasn’t seen themselves as creative. I remember that feeling when I was in…
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8 ways feedback makes proficiencies work
Meet Grace Gilmour, and her proficiency-based classroom. “Oh yay. I was like: yay, my heart.” This was Grace Gilmour’s response to a student’s honest appraisal of her class: “I love…
Read morePersonalized Learning Plans (PLPs)
…and instruction, and help students pursue critically important questions about equity and justice. The rise of the project–based PLP Students and teachers across several schools discover that engaging project–based learning…
Read moreProject-Based Learning in the primary grades
…start small and make it manageable. Let’s break it down. Getting started with project–based learning and grades K-3 1. Use this template (please make a copy!) to create outline your…
Read moreEntry events for project-based learning
Start with the dramatic, unexpected & memorable Q: What do we really want from project–based learning? A: We want students to care about this subject. To really, truly care about…
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Place-Based, De-Colonized Ecology in Middle School
Natalie Smith, a middle school science educator at Lyndon Town School, in Lyndonville VT, originally presented “Making Science Authentic: Teaching Place-Based, Decolonized Ecology in the Middle School Science Classroom” in…
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Trust the Science: Using brain-based learning to upgrade our educational OS
Spoiler alert: When we adjust learning conditions to be more in sync with the known laws of brain-based learning, learning improves. Momentum builds. Trust the science For 15 years I’ve…
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Setting behavioral expectations in a makerspace
…their hands. Introducing roles for project work gives students specific direction for how to contribute effectively. One educator I know created specific well-defined roles for groups as they undertook project–based…
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On the cutting Edge of student-centered education
…designed and built their own working maple sugar house, on school grounds. And that was only the beginning. We used project–based learning in the most student-centered way. Students took hands-on…
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4 ways students are tackling the UN’s Global Goals in Vermont
…and May, this event helps scaffold students in taking on meaningful project–based learning based on the Global Goals. Toland and Halman, who are both are deeply committed to engaging their…
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#vted Reads: Hemingway, with Elijah Hawkes
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…we’ve had what we call The Project–Based Learning Lab at Randolph Union which we staff with an administrator who supports teachers in designing courses that are project based in that…
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What’s your inquiry question?
…in the humanities classroom?” *Marley Evans “Can project–based math yield the results we we want to see on testing? (The project is fun, but does the math get lost?)” *…
Read moreHow schools can conduct a community conversation
…rote-based system is not just bad for hiring, but “also bad for the soul.” Yet, the film did provide an accessible and positive depiction of project based learning. Principals Amy…
Read moreJ-Term at Hazen Union
…while students did project work in each of their seminars, the faculty required them to commit to a so-called Deep Dive, a self-selected project that honored depth over breadth. This…
Read moreSummative Assessment
…high-quality summative assessment look like in action? The crucial role of practice in a proficiency-based environment How can I design and implement summative assessments in project–based learning? Assessment in Project–Based…
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Take project-based learning to the next level
3 ways to plan for PBL 2.0 You’ve dipped your toe into project based learning. You’ve planned an entry event, shared a high quality driving question, managed student teamwork, created…
Read more4 Project-Based Learning resources for parents
How do you explain PBL to families? The popularity of Project–Based Learning (PBL) has grown significantly with teachers and students, but what about parents? When students walk out of school,…
Read moreWhy faith-based education in the 21st century?
…of a faith-based education as a very specific personal pathway. But how does a faith-based education work in the context of 21st century learning? Why faith-based education? Now more than…
Read moreTeaching copyright with video mashups
…meaning of these important fair use concepts by creating their own video mash-up for an authentic class project. And thus evolved a collaborative project with Teresa Hawes, our middle school…
Read moreScaffolds to support PBL learners
Ways to support project–based learning Some people have the mistaken idea that PBL is just when you point students in the direction of a project and say, “Go for it!”…
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3 #GlobalGoals projects feeding Vermont
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…promote sustainable agriculture, and end poverty in all its forms. Marie and the Empty Bowls Project From Marie’s keynote: “I did what we call an Empty Bowls Project. I teamed…
Read morePlanning a PBL unit
Resources to tackle project–based learning Welcome to the PBL Highway, my new series aimed at helping you on the road to project–based learning! Setting up a student-driven, rigorous, community-focused project–based…
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#vted Reads: with Alex Shevrin Venet
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…agency, I think we can there’s a lot of examples where you can go really complicated, really fast, right? If you look at problem-based learning or project–based learning and how…
Read moreCreating a PBL culture from Day One
Build a community to support project–based learning I bet you have big dreams of creative, innovative projects and engaged students in your classroom. Students who are busy researching, collaborating, creating,…
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Equity, identity & art
…about social identity — the way that their concept of self is based on the groups they belong to. By teaching about social identity in school, Christie sought to provide…
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Re-connect & re-imagine this return to school.
…“Project–Based Learning cycles.” Teachers are being put in a tough situation right now (understatement of the century, I know). You’re being asked to put relationships and connection first while developing…
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#vted Reads: Personalized Learning in the Middle Grades, with Penny Bishop
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…pushback on proficiency-based assessment and the proficiency-based graduation requirements. Maine as a state had those, and those were… they were moved from mandated to optional. At that same time, in…
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Children of Blood and Bone on #vted Reads
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…there. Let alone the main character and the story not be based in slavery. Based in seeking freedom, based in hardship, based in a position of emptiness or despair. There’s…
Read moreTracking proficiencies in Schoology
…the Schoology LMS particularly suited to proficiency-based learning. The positive potential and practical demands of Proficiency-Based Learning We’ve talked at length about the benefits of adopting proficiency-based learning, and how…
Read moreChapter 7: PLPs and Proficiency-Based Assessment
…(or Reporting) and Competency-Based Education? Matt Townsley, CompetencyWorks, 2014 Standards-Based, The Glossary of Education Reform, Great Schools Partnership What is Proficiency-Based Grading? New England Secondary Schools Consortium, Harvard and Wellesley…
Read more5.1 Engaging Pedagogies for All
…that. Please add your own in the comments and let us know what we’ve missed! Project–based learning In Project–based learning, students identify a question they want to answer and then…
Read moreProject-based learning: Extreme weather PBL unit
…Vermont news station WCAX. During the project, students referred back to this experience frequently. It gave them several things important to successful project–based learning: real-world relevance examples of careers models…
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Fostering a Sound Culture at Hazen: Youth Voices and the Sounding Board Project
…fostering learner agency through reflective practice, Hazen is exploring a variety of community-centered, project–based approaches that embed this theme into all students’ educational experiences. And Hazen’s participation in the Vermont…
Read more4 shifts for student-led conferences in a proficiency-based environment
…different about Student Led Conferences in a proficiency-based learning system? The clarity of expectations, transparency in terms of progress, and focus on growth of proficiency-based learning provide students with tools…
Read moreCh 7: PLPs & Proficiency-Based Assessment
…address gaps in order to provide equitable learning opportunities for each and every student. This is in contrast to traditional systems which advance students based on seat time. Proficiency-based assessment…
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Turning passion projects into real world change
…action. What started with a guidance project that afforded students the opportunity to talk with Veterans during a breakfast at the school turned into the perfect passion project. The team…
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Unpacking equity in Passion Projects and Genius Hours
…when I actually turned in a poster project, Kaylee Vine announced to the whole class, “OH MY GOD, everyone. Zoey Albro turned in a project. Alert the authorities! The world…
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“Who are we as West Rutland?”
…are we as West Rutland?” West Rutland’s 7/8 team wanted to create a project that connected students to their community through an exploration of the question “Who are we as…
Read moreThe #everydaycourage of staying curious in the face of negative feedback
…used project– and place- based education to help my students understand the interconnectedness of the world. One such project, which didn’t turn out quite as I’d hoped, was the Apple…
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Using student TED Talks to showcase learning
…at Burke about their project’s rationale and plans. So much of the learning in PBL is about the process of creation and reflection. Integration with project–based learning Most teachers think…
Read moreReflecting on your PBL
How did it go? It can be easy to end your project–based learning experiences with students in a big heap of exhaustion and miss the opportunity to reflect on the…
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Confronting climate change in the classroom
…Education Project (VEEP) – their Energy Action Project Institute and Youth Climate Leaders Academy are both stellar! Shrinking our Footprints – this is a great project–based learning unit from PBL…
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How to throw culminating events — online!
…projects, project–based or service learning units celebrations online. In this moment, we can still find connection, audience and purpose. It’s just (like everything else right now) going to take a…
Read moreClimate, Community and Voice from Day 1
…day for passions projects and community-based learning. Others are scaffolding the skills of self-directed learning through student-driven project–based or design learning. Many are working to make students’ personal learning plans…
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Top 10 ways to spend a snow day
…levels and allow them to take ownership over their own learning?” — Evy Gray “How does a guided structure for project based learning help students make real-world connections across all…
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#vted Reads with Elijah Hawkes
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…we could learn from. So, the students at the tech center helped make the food for the evening. And the students from some of the project–based learning classes helped provide…
Read morePLPs to Know Students Well: Introducing the Personal Learning Plan Toolkit
…project–based, and so many other effective and compelling approaches to curriculum are ideal fodder for PLPs. Student-centered personalized learning starts with identity Exploring personal and collective identity is a cornerstone…
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Getting personal about systemic equity
…punitive measures to schools based on students’ aggregate performance. We have been largely mired in deficit-based policy that is ineffective for spurring transformation and generally demoralizing. That’s the stick. At…
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Measuring the value of a personalized learning coordinator
…this change is urgent. Should out of school internships be available only to students who know where to look? Should project–based learning be a reward to students already who have…
Read moreLearning Goals
…in their learning journey. Proficiency-Based teaching and learning in Vermont: the who, why and how Winooski’s Graduate Proficiencies & Expectations How do you measure success with project based learning? …
Read moreY is for Young Writers Project
Using the Young Writers Project to teach writing There are so many reasons to appreciate how we teach adolescents to write in Vermont. One of these gifts is the resource…
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Evolving student roles in a big (BIG) PBL project
As Dorset’s coop dreams became a reality, students gathered new skills What does it look like to break one enormous project into several project–based learning units? For Dorset students to…
Read moreProficiency-based teaching and learning in Vermont: who, why and how
Two examples of implementing proficiency-based scales of learning Vermont educators and their students are on a journey. Let’s look at how one school is implementing proficiency-based learning in a way…
Read moreHow proficient are you with proficiency-based learning?
…beginning: how to implement proficiency-based learning. They began the chat in another new way as well: with a pre-chat self-assessment. It assessed profiency with proficiency-based learning, of course. [View the…
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4 key concepts for families about proficiency-based reporting
…the biggest concepts around proficiency. The idea is relatively simple, but the execution will be much trickier. Proficiency-based reporting represent a departure from the way public schooling has been done…
Read moreHow to bake an inspiring kickoff video
Launching a new project cycle with inspiration from the last one Organizing your realia — testimonials, storytelling and artifacts — from a round of projects can feel overwhelming. So much…
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Personalized learning in the spring garden
…They’re considering how they might tie in some STEM standards to this student-led project. They all consider how to flex the schedule to build more time for this collaborative project….
Read moreNatural Disasters in the Classroom
…they offer a powerful way to frame large scale project–based learning opportunities for students. Studies of these events can incorporate earth science, physics, geology, and chemistry; they also offer powerful…
Read moreLeonardo da Vinci’s Smartphone
…from the Renaissance. Here are the assignment sheet and rubric that I gave to students. Students used Google Draw to create the home screen of the smartphone based on this…
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Nevermind the physics: it’s all about collaboration
…School. For her, this project was a great fit for the engineering and physics proficiencies she teaches to 8th graders. Rose Scavotto has been working on more project–based learning units…
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Introducing “Cabot Leads”
…met LaunchPad, it’s project–based learning planning tool created by two Cabot educators. Launchpad is an easy to use, organized, scaffolded and visually appealing way to develop project based learning units….
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#vted Reads: Pride with Meg Allison
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…summer and then be prepared to present a project for it for the library, like a marketing project using the book that they read at the GMBA list. Now, these…
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