“People were so moved with what we were doing, they just wanted to get involved... It was amazing to see how much the community just wanted to jump in and be a part of it.”

— Britni Pascoe, 3rd Grade Facilitator, Southport Elementary School | Southport, IN

Welcome to the PBL Playbook, brought to you by Magnify Learning – where we put teachers back in their sweet spot. Make sure you follow us on Twitter: @magnifylearning, @askgiebs, @MissB103, #PBLPlaybook.

Josh and Andrea continue the PBL Project Blitz series where once a month, they highlight a PBL project by veterans in the PBL classroom.

In this episode of the PBL Project Blitz, Josh and Andrea chat with Britni Pascoe (@bnpurdue), a 3rd Grade teacher at Southport Elementary School (@Southport_EI) in Southport, IN. Britni shares a project that the Southport Elementary 3rd Graders completed called “Spin for M4M.” Inspired by a Myeloma diagnosis in a family member of one of their teachers, 3rd Graders aimed to revamp a biking event called Miles 4 Myeloma in order to raise both awareness of the disease and money for cancer research. In what was meant to be a small community project, Southport third graders and their teachers were moved at the reach of this project and the impact on the community. Britni also touches on the collaboration between the Southport 3rd Grade teachers, and the contributions from all stakeholders to make this such a powerful event for her community and students.

Stay tuned for more awesome projects as the PBL Project Blitz series continues every month!

Show Notes

*PBL PROJECT BLITZ EPisode 27 FULL SHOW NOTES

Resources & Links Related to this Episode

School: Southport Elementary School-Southport, IN (@Southport_El)

PBL UNIT OVERVIEW:

PBL Unit Name: Spin for Miles 4 Myeloma

Grade & Subject: 3rd Grade/All Subjects

Summary: A third-grade teacher on my team has a family member with a rare cancer called Multiple Myeloma and her husband rides in a fundraiser with Miles for Myeloma (M4M) each year. The event coordinators for M4M contacted us and asked if we could use PBL to revamp a stationary bike-a-thon that they typically hosted at a hospital each year. They came to discuss their needs with our students at our entry event and show them a bike used for long distance riding. They challenged students to research and inform the community about Multiple Myeloma and why it was important to raise money for their research. They also told students about their fundraiser and how they wanted to make some changes and get more people involved. They asked our students to plan and advertise the event and to use the event to teach about Multiple Myeloma and let people know where their money was going. Students created posters and published brochures to inform people about this rare cancer. They also planned, advertised, and organized a stationary bike-a-thon in our school gym. Students persuaded businesses to donate snacks, water, and even the bikes we rode that day. They set a goal and kept track of every dollar raised, and at the end of the event they raised three times their goal! M4M was so impressed that they even paid the company that printed the brochures and used them at their annual gala. They presented SES students with an award for working so hard and raising not only money, but an awareness about Multiple Myeloma.

Driving Question: How can we, as SES fundraisers, help raise money and awareness to help people with Multiple Myeloma?

Entry Event:

Community Partners: Miles for Myeloma Foundation, Kwik Kopy, Nine Thirteen Sports, Various families affected by Multiple Myeloma, Southside Times

Benchmarks: M4M Benchmarks

End Products: Example 1, Example 2