Classroom Fun - PBL Updates

Student: "Mrs. Wilson...can I conduct a social experiment in order to see what really makes people happy?"

Me: "Absolutely"

Student: "Really? Ok, good. I love this assignment."

Me: Smiling from ear to ear and thinking....that's #whatsup

We are about three weeks into our PBL project in my English II class, and it has been an interesting learning experience for me as a teacher to step back and let my students take ownership of their own learning. Due to other curriculum items and our reading of my favorite novel, The Great Gatsby, our PBL activity is something we do on a weekly basis. Every Monday, the students get the entire period in order to research, analyze, reflect, interview, and inquire what it means to be truly happy and how one can attain this happiness. As we near the end of the unit and school year, the students will take the information they collected and created from their Google + Collection and synthesize it in order to create an infographic that answers our driving questions. Although the first few weeks were slow, I am finally starting to witness my students taking ownership of their work and direction when it comes to this assignment.

One Student's Interview Questions

One great piece of evidence....my students's question listed above. In addition, students are writing questions and interviewing friends and family. Some students went to the lunchroom during class and interviewed over 10 students for their projects. Students then asked to create a video montage of responses in order to add to their Google + Collection. One student came in with a copious notes on her phone that she was typing into her Collection. When I asked what she was typing, she told me she talked to a bunch of different people over the past week in order to get their perspectives. True inquiry, creativity, and ownership. Wow...my students make me excited about the process and potential that come with a PBL activity.

On the other hand, some students do struggle with an open ended project. They want clear instructions. They want set guidelines. They are worried about points and how they can "lose" points if they don't do something a certain way. When they ask me a question and it is not answered directly, they struggle to comprehend that they are in the driver's seat when it comes to their work with this assignment. This makes me sad, as it appears the students feel the only way they can think is if they comply with my expectations. While I think it is important to set some ground rules/expectations, I do believe that students should be allowed to be curious, ask their own questions, and use their interests in order to drive research. Yes, this can be time consuming and hard to fit into a jam packed curriculum, but don't we want our students to be critical thinkers? Curious? Creative? Collaborative? Problem solvers?

All of these skills are expectations in our curriculums and, more importantly, in the real world. I am seeing more and more that they need opportunities in the classroom environment to take ownership of their thinking and learning. And they need us to facilitate, motivate, and challenge their thinking.

I love my job! #whatsup

Here is my PBL Assignment sheet. If you are interested in seeing some of my students' work, please let me know. I will ask their permission to share their Google + Collections and final infographics.

My Trip to Google

Last week, I had the opportunity to go to Google Chicago to be a part of a Google Educator Group (GEG) leadership planning event. It was a wonderful day of learning, collaboration, and developing my PLN. In addition, I totally geeked out because it was my first trip to one of the Google offices. I am pretty sure that everyone knew I was excited as I continued to take selfie after selfie as I entered the building and walked throughout the illustrious working spaces. 78 pictures to be exact. #geek


Everything I imagined about the space at Google was pretty spot on. It is obvious that they practice what they preach when it comes to collaboration, creativity, and student-centered learning spaces. The space itself provided collaborative, comfortable places for the staff in multiple areas on every single floor. It was refreshing to see a variety of people working in different chairs, couches, standing desks, cubicles, and meeting rooms as I toured the building. In addition, interesting and unique art decorated the walls of Google Chicago and highlighted the beautiful city that we call home.  It would be impossible for anyone to forget where they are with the amount of Google logos around the building, but each one was decorated a bit different in order to draw your attention to take a closer look. In addition, the outer walls of Google are all glass, so the city of Chicago was on display at every turn.  While Google's employees were all hard at work, it was obvious that they felt at home in all areas of the building. I felt at home on our floor during the planning event and inspired by the vibrant space, platforms for creativity, and passion from the other GEG educators. 

The day itself flew by as the GEG worked together in order to plan events for other educators in the Chicagoland area. Although the meeting itself focused on leadership for instructional technology use, our best work came from collaboration with one another, sticky notes, revision, combination of ideas, and the excitement of members. Like myself, the teachers and tech coaches present at this meeting were more than excited due to the location of our meeting. Along with the enthusiasm about Google Chicago, my colleagues were genuinely thrilled to be joining forces to help other teachers, tech coaches, and administrators produce a student centered learning environment. The conversation never focused on the technology tools; instead, the dialogue focused on pedagogy and the most important part of education: the students. 



I left Google Chicago proud of the work we accomplished and excited about the upcoming events that were planned during our meeting to enhance and transform the classroom. More importantly, I felt thankful to be a teacher and to have the opportunity to meet other teachers who share the same passion for the profession. As I always say, it is amazing to see what happens when you get a group of passionate educators in a room to talk about teaching and learning...especially if that room is at Google! #whatsup