BACK TO PROJECT BASED LEARNING BLOGS
By: Andrea Behling, High School PBL Facilitator
Columbus Signature Academy New Tech High School
Columbus, IN
March 2020: The month that everyone’s worlds turned on end. Businesses closed, events were canceled, gatherings halted. And our schools, our homes away from home, transitioned to an online platform. For some of us who were so lucky, the transition was quick. In 1:1 schools, we knew students had devices, they understood the learning management platform, and (assuming they had access at home) they were able to dive right into eLearning. Others spent the first two weeks changing their curricula to an online platform (sometimes an unfamiliar one), recording videos, driving all over their county to deliver materials to students, and handing out devices to those students who did not have them. We were thrown into uncharted territory, and we had to figure out how to navigate.
By now, most of us probably have some patchwork of a routine or system for online learning. We have utilized the free resources available to educators due to the school closings, and gone above and beyond to create lessons, assignments, projects, etc. that are engaging and accessible for all students. But there is one piece of our jobs that can seem almost impossible to maintain while teaching remotely: classroom culture.
We spend so much time at the beginning of the year developing a positive classroom and school culture that supports our students and supports the work of Project Based Learning. We spend the year developing relationships with our students to help them feel supported and to push them to feel encouraged to take risks and engage with the content. So the question begs, can we continue to cultivate that classroom culture when we are not actually in the classroom?
The answer is a resounding “Yes!”. Here are some tried and true strategies I have used, as well as strategies I have seen from my own inspiring colleagues and hundreds of passionate educators all over the country.
1. Make connections your number one priority
While our content is so important to us, now might be a time for content and standards to take a backseat (bear with me on this one). Yes, we have standards to meet and teach. However, our students are in such an important socially developmental stage, whether they are kindergarteners or high school seniors. By missing out on these weeks of school, they are missing out on connections and relationships that help them build and grow the person that they are. Provide plenty of opportunity for students to connect with you and each other, whether this is related to content or just connecting about their thoughts and feelings. About once every other week, I have had one lesson solely dedicated to connecting with students. This could be a small group Google Meet or Zoom call, a board on FlipGrid, a discussion post on our LMS (or a Google Doc version), or a classwide Google Slides* that all of your students can contribute to. Some teachers have even taken to creating fun videos and challenges on the app Tik Tok to engage and connect with their students. While these tools can all be used in conjunction with content, it can also be a chance for students just to connect with their peers on a personal level, or share with you things they are feeling* during this time. My brilliant colleague, Kerensa Edinger, created an assignment for students inspired by John Krasinski’s “Some Good News” series. Their assignment was to share one piece of positive news they have seen/heard/read from a credible source, or experienced themselves. At the time of writing this, she is working to turn those into video news segments for the kids to watch. While this does not directly align with her Spanish I and II standards, her priority right now is the mental health and the outlook of our students.
2 Provide options for learning content and be flexible
If you are familiar with the Universal Design for Learning framework or anything similar, you know that providing multiple options for students to both receive information as well as to express and demonstrate what they have learned. Now, not only are there the barriers we have always faced within the classroom such as learning ability, but we also have to recognize the different levels of access students might have. We now face a breadth of student accessibility ranging from “High speed WiFi, no problem,” to “Sitting in the library parking lot is my only option.” This adds an extra challenge for teachers to provide options that will allow for the most students to find success. For example, my amazing colleague and co-teacher Rachelle Antcliff had our students complete a discussion for the book Animal Farm, which they had started reading before the school closures. Students were able to participate in a discussion thread on our LMS, post a video answering some of the discussion prompts on FlipGrid, or participate in a virtual discussion by attending a Google Meet. This is an opportunity for us to allow for creativity in completing assignments by letting students demonstrate their knowledge in a way that they see fit, and also to provide the path of least resistance for students with barriers to access. While providing students with options for completing work from their end, we also have to recognize that barriers to access will also impact how students are able to receive information as well. If you are recording lessons or announcements, how will you provide that information to students whose internet speed will not support that recording? Or students who only have internet access once a week? Consider transcribing your videos, providing alternate tools, or creating “video briefs” that may summarize the ideas presented.
Finally, we have to embrace flexibility. Teachers are masters of flexibility as it is. Snow days, fire drills, testing, accommodation strategies, extra hours helping students, lessons that flop, the list goes on. But the transition to eLearning has provided an even more daunting test of our ability to be flexible in our lessons, our grading, and sometimes even our hours of operation. We have students who have no internet access, students whose parents are working so their days are spent helping take care of siblings, and students whose part-time jobs are considered essential, so they are now working every week day. Recognizing that these situations not only exist, but are incredibly common in some of our schools, it’s up to us to be kind, understanding, and supportive of students who are doing the very best with what they have.
3. Challenge kids to learn about something that interests them
While we are facing so many challenges, the Department of Education has offered the option of testing waivers for states that find themselves lacking the resources and ability to administer statewide standardized assessments. If your state, like mine, is among those canceling this year’s standardized assessments, you now are able to adjust a curriculum designed to “teach to the test,” and allow for more creative and active exploration from your students. I have challenged my students to use days away from instruction to reflect on the current state of the world, as well as to engage their brains in something new. This would also be a great time for a passion project or a project involving exploring their interests. For example, as a history teacher I recognize that my subject area does not resonate with all students (as well, I’m sure, as every teacher in every content). However, there is always some history topic that students can find interest in, and this time provides an opportunity for students to explore an interest or dive further into content that they enjoy. It can be hard for students to engage with the content from home, but by letting them explore their own interests, you can create a curriculum that revolves around their passions.
4. Experiment with your curriculum
Likewise, without the immediate pressures of state testing, this is a time for you to experiment with tools and activities to enhance your content. Dress up like a scientist to demonstrate a cool at-home science experiment. Explore topics that you have never had time to dive into before. Use different platforms, apps, and tools to provide content. While in PBL, we often recognize the importance of allowing ourselves to fail, we as teachers can still be so hard on ourselves when that does happen. These school shutdowns are the perfect time to “embrace the messiness” and to allow yourself the opportunity to fail by trying something new or different. Maintain connections with your students by allowing them to help you reflect on new strategies, activities, or practices. And keep an open and honest dialogue with your classes by letting them know that this is tough for you, too, and that all anyone can do is their best. I frequently remind my students that I am still on a major learning curve with eLearning. They know that my (virtual) door is always open for feedback or suggestions. Further, since only a select few students will reach out unprompted, our school has conducted blanket “temperature check” surveys to gauge how the students are feeling about their eLearning workload.
5. Constantly remind them that someone is in their corner
Again, our students are in a crucial stage of social development, this is an incredibly trying time for all of them. Mix in different life and home circumstances, and these shutdowns could provide a hotbed for student trauma. Now more than ever, our students need to know that there is someone who cares about them and who is thinking about them. Instead of sending prodding messages about missing work to the student who is logging in for five minutes a day, ask them if they are okay, or if they need support (and not just academically). Call home to check in on kids that you are worried about. Hold virtual office hours. Provide outlets for kids to talk about their feelings, and then respond to them, so they know you are listening. Your love and support means more to them than their history assignment.
We are living through an event that no one has lived through before. There is no handbook on how to make this work, except the one we are all currently writing together. I have been so inspired by all of the amazing, passionate, and gritty teachers who are doing whatever it takes to make this work and to support our students. Thank you to you all.
*Student names and faces have been removed from resources to protect student privacy.
Andrea Behling is a social studies facilitator at CSA New Tech, a Project Based Learning school in Columbus, IN. She has been facilitating in a PBL classroom for four years and also facilitates PBL workshops for Magnify Learning during the summer. Her favorite part of PBL is hearing her students reflect on the meaningful work they do and the connections they make between history and their own lives.
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