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By: Brittany Tinkler
Southport Elementary School
Southport, IN
My grandfather was a very strong willed, driven man who fought for what was right even when it was not easy. During this unique time in our history I’m forced to reflect upon the many stories I grew up listening to him tell. I did not realize it then, but now I know that these stories have an underlying theme that he was instilling upon me. That theme was perseverance. He was a strong man in every sense of the word. He served in the Navy during World War II. He was a boxer who endured through 12 rounds in a ring. He lived through the Great Depression being raised by a man who was lucky enough to have a small income and used that income to buy bread each week for every neighbor. After using much of his physical strength, he obtained two degrees in education and became a principal serving families in the inner city of Indianapolis. As an adult I now use these stories to drive me through tough times, and I’ve had many. We all have a choice to either persevere and find ways to inspire others through it, or shut down and give up thinking it’s all out of our control.
That choice is no different now as education changes before our eyes. We are pushed to find ways to reach each and every one of our kids because we know they need us, and we know we need them. My instructional coaches at Southport Elementary School recently shared a quote with our staff from Eric Sheninger that states, “Educators are flying the plane while building it. What we have learned is that a virus cannot stop their commitment to kids”. To me that means that no matter the situation, I’m going to find a way to build a Project Based Learning unit that continues to drive my students to engage with their content, reach out to their community and make a positive difference. I’m going to find a way to do this virtually even if it feels a little like flying a plane while building it because I know it’s what my kids deserve, and I know it’s exactly what my grandfather would have done. This is my 12th round in the boxing ring, and I know I have the endurance, the will, and the drive to continue inspiring my students to be amazing citizens.
If you are as passionate about PBL (Project Based Learning) as I am, then you know that a project consists of six main ingredients that include: authenticity, academic rigor, applied learning, active exploration, adult connections, and assessment practices. To learn more about the 6 A’s of project design visit this link: The 6 A’s of Project Design. I think that in these unprecedented times these 6 A’s can still be applied; however, we have to find ways to embed them virtually, and that’s the part that is new. To be able to do this I believe we will have to continually and intentionally think about these five areas: self care, inspiring kids through researching virtually, virtually including community partners, guiding students to collaborate virtually, and how to make a difference while keeping our distance during our project culmination. I believe all five of these areas are critical components to a PBL unit that allow for the 6 A’s of project design to successfully happen.
Self-Care
Self-care has been a hot topic in the world of education, and I think it’s even more critical during this time to include a daily dose of self-care. I’m talking about self-care for yourself and your students. If you’re not taking care of yourself during this time, you may struggle to be gracious and positive for your students. For me this means taking an hour or more a day to workout. It makes me feel powerful and like I’m training for something bigger than I could imagine. I know it sounds crazy, but it gives me the mental strength I need to be a mother of two school-aged kids, the wife of a first responder, who is out in the front lines every shift he works, and a loving teacher to 25 wonderful students. I know I’m not the only one in this situation and that’s why I’m making self-care the top priority of each day. I give myself 1 percent daily so that I can give everyone else even more. Sometimes my best ideas for PBL occur while I’m caring for myself. Self-care is something that I want all kids to value. In order to help build a solid foundation for kindness in my students, I truly believe it is important that during this time we do all that we can to be there for them in whatever way they need us. It’s going to be important to put our “relationships before rigor, grace before grades, patience before programs, and love before lessons” (Dr. Brad Johnson).
If our students know we care for them, even from a distance, before we start giving them rigorous projects to think about, then when we do put a PBL in front of them they are going to be even more likely to bring their best ideas forward and complete their work. If we connect that work to an authentic problem that students will be inspired to learn about, the work they produce is likely to be even more high quality than we could ever have imagined during this time. If we take the time to be there for our students, they will be driven to be there for others. That's where the idea for my virtual PBL unit came from. I wanted my students to have something to pour their kindness into that was detached from the negative and scary news I know they are being exposed to daily. I wanted them to focus more on a problem affecting our school community. Currently that’s the pain our very own high school seniors are experiencing with the loss of their spring traditions. In order to launch into the project, I started by letting my kids know I care about them by writing them all thank you notes that were attached to their e-learning packets. I thanked them for being world changers in all the service work they had led this year in PBL. After planting this seed of self-care, I knew they’d be motivated to spread joy when asked to do so during their first week of e-learning.
After taking the time to develop this virtual relationship with my students, I knew it would be a great time to reach out to a community partner that could help with the planning of an entry event, or introduction to our PBL unit. I decided to reach out to a high school senior who has been a part of volunteering in our classroom twice a week all year because the students know her and can empathize with her. She wrote me an email I shared with my students asking for their help during this hard time for her and her friends. She asked the kids to find a way to help spread some joy to high school seniors. From this letter students were able to generate our problem statement, driving question, and need to knows. This initial work will now drive the rest of the project.
Inspiring Kids Through Researching Virtually
I’ve been finding ways that I can inspire students through research that will intentionally answer their need to knows while also motivating them to make a difference. Some of the resources that I have been using to find rigorous, and engaging reading material, and videos that address many of their ELA and Media standards include Scholastic Magazine and Newsela. Many well known companies such as these are offering great deals to help support the engagement of our students during this time. Having access to relevant articles and videos is an essential part of the research phase in the projects I plan, but the authenticity does not stop there.
Including Community Partners Virtually
Community partners play a huge role in the adult connections that inspire students throughout a project. In the past I’ve used community partners to help with entry events, research, feedback, and culminating events. Community partners are essential to projects and have an impact to all 6 of the A’s within a project. Right now the struggle for community partners lands on this question: how do we involve them during a time of social distancing? I’ve pondered this question and have been planning intentional ways to include community partners who will push my students academically by posing challenges and giving feedback, who allow students to actively explore answers to their questions, and who, most importantly, want to impact the students and the work they are wanting to do for their community.
There are so many tools available to us right now that allow educators to provide these adult connections for students. I used something as basic as emailing to create an entry event. I plan to use FaceTime and Screencastify to interview the mother of a high school senior and her daughter, who will be graduating from our very own community this spring. I also plan to create a “podcast” for my students to listen to as I interview another high school student. The questions I ask will come from students and the Screencastify will be shared with students as a video. I also plan to do a live interview session with a high school teacher using GoogleMeet so that the students can prepare and ask their own questions to practice their speaking and listening skills. I will use our community partners near the end of the project to give students some feedback on their work so that students have the opportunity to make final improvements prior to our culminating event. With so many virtual tools available there is no reason that community partners can’t be involved throughout a virtual PBL unit.
Guiding Students to Collaborate Virtually
Another important piece of being able to include all of the 6 A’s of project design is allowing plenty of opportunity for students to collaborate. This is how students are able to actively explore with their ideas and get feedback on the work they are doing before assessment of that particular benchmark. Collaboration is another part of teaching that is going to have to be thought long and hard about when being asked to give this opportunity virtually. I’ve been researching ways that students can still collaborate with their peers virtually and have found numerous tools that will help to support their academic collaboration. One of my favorites is simply messaging in Google Classroom. My students ask each other questions and respond to one another all day using this feature. I’m there as a facilitator and they will directly ask me questions as well. When something is too big to answer there then I can direct students to go to our GoogleMeet page. GoogleMeet allows teachers to create a link that can be used continuously, you can use the link to meet as a whole class, small group, or one on one with students. I’m currently meeting once a week for a morning meeting to address our Project Based Learning need to knows, benchmarks, and progress towards our end goal. Another great collaboration tool that I have found is called a Google Jamboard. Students can interact with Jamboard anytime by adding a sticky note with their ideas; it also allows for students to see the responses that other students have already shared. If you have not yet explored any of these tools I challenge you to do so. It’s actually been very interesting and impacted my own growth in understanding technology. For more on applying PBL to a virtual classroom you should also check out Project Based Learning Within the Confines of eLearning.
Making a Difference While Keeping Our Distance
The last important idea that I have had to completely rethink with the design of a virtual PBL unit is how my students can make a positive difference virtually. Our world has grown so much in the way we can socialize and reach others virtually using multiple platforms for social media. Our township has their own Facebook and Twitter accounts that reach many of our families and high school seniors. The culminating event will be completely virtual using our social media accounts. Students will have voice and choice in how they create something for the seniors and share it virtually based on their research. Their final products will be posted onto Twitter, and sent to the Southport High School principal to be shared during the graduation ceremonies however those will take place this spring. By students sharing their work virtually, this project has the potential to spread joy not only to our Perry Township community of high school seniors, but it could reach high school seniors everywhere.
If we can put smiles on people worldwide then all of this work and facing all of these changes will have completely been worth the fight. Students, now more than ever, should have the opportunity to experience the opportunities their learning can bring to them and as educators what better time to try something new? We are all in a state of unknown, creating what we keep hearing is a “new normal”. That new normal could mean creating engaging lessons, where students are driven by something that allows them to use their education for the service of others. To me that is one of the biggest purposes of PBL whether we’re in a physical or virtual classroom.
Brittany Tinkler teaches 3rd grade at Southport Elementary School located on the south side of Indianapolis. She loves teaching in the same district that she graduated from. This year is her 8th year teaching, and her first year serving as a mentor on her school’s leadership team. She has spent the last 3 years becoming trained, implementing projects, and working on becoming PBL Certified with the support of Magnify Learning. In her free time she enjoys living an active lifestyle alongside her husband and their two children. She strives to model her love of learning wherever she goes, and hopes to inspire all kids to find their purpose.
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