“As a leader, if it’s just you bringing in an idea, it’s going to be top down with some compliance and some innovation curve, but eventually it will fizzle.”
Welcome to the PBL Simplified, brought to you by Magnify Learning, where we help teachers, school leaders, and afterschool workers find their sweet spot through PBL!
Make sure you follow us on Twitter: @magnifylearning, @ryansteuer
SHOW NOTES
As a leader, it’s essential to build your core learning team when introducing PBL to your school. You want PBL to empower learners and not go away when you leave. Having a core learning team will help with the sustainability of your PBL program. I talk about the three keys for PBL sustainability in your school. You don’t want to do it alone. People follow the first follower instead of the leader. You need local examples for your core team and teachers to follow.
I also talk about a need to know that I get asked often: “What does Project Based Learning look like in kindergarten?” Besides being incredibly cute to see the kids dressed up and speaking to the audience, PBL in kindergarten is filled with impact. They learn to communicate with community partners, and the parents get to be the authentic audience which is a treat for everyone.
Episode Highlights:
[02:03] "Need to Know": What does Project Based Learning look like in kindergarten? Answer: Ridiculously cute and insanely impactful.
[02:40] There's magic that happens when Project Based Learning is brought into the kindergarten classroom.
[03:57] The kids are fired up. The kids that normally act out will sit and listen to the community partner.
[05:09] The kids get to ask questions and the authentic audience is the learner's parents. The kids learn to speak in front of an audience.
[08:49] Every Project Based Learning leader should have a PBL learning team for three sustainability keys.
[09:01] Key #1 You can't bring Project Based Learning in alone, and you wouldn't want to.
[10:38] Key #2 People follow the first follower, not the leader.
[13:29] Key #3 You need local examples of Project Based Learning. Now your next group of teachers have something to reference.
RESOURCES & LINKS RELATED TO THIS EPISODE
STAY TUNED FOR THE NEXT EPISODE OF THE PBL SIMPLIFIED COMING SOON!
