Reading Reflection 1

Reading Reflection 1

                Throughout the PBL journey, every student/pre-intern/teacher needs to keep in mind that this is not what is considered “normal”, teacher-centered teaching. Instead, “learners pursue their own questions to create their own meaning”. By using technology, students are able to become immersed in what they find interesting while learning useful skills along the way. Teachers must also realize that this may mean additional work for them- even if it is student-centered- because the teachers will need to make sure they plan meaningful, and innovate projects based on the classroom. Because this is a relatively new approach, teachers will need to adjust their thinking, and realize that they have a learning curve to achieve truly productive PBL. They can do this by conducting research or seeking expert advice before diving in. However, doing so will teach the children true life skills, and help them to find the answer to any question they may ever have.

                Teachers have found that PBL is not only efficient, but also effective. By having teachers invest in students, students develop good communication skills, good inquiry skills, flexibility, a further understanding of how the world works, and a sense of justice and social activism. PBL opens the student up to seeing what else is out there, and different ways to go about either understanding it, or solving it.

                PBL has many useful benefits to students. First, PBL allows students to be creative, and create their own knowledge. Not only are they learning valuable life skills that they can apply their whole life, but they are also learning more ‘educational subjects’ like science, social studies, math, and language arts, because they are interested and invested.

                When it comes to the PBL approach, we must consider the amount of planning we need to do, as well as being flexible and ready to adapt to any situation. Teachers must also talk and engage with students the entire time to ensure full participation. Teachers must be mindful about their own personal classroom management style, the arrangement of the classroom, the assessments, and collecting assignments. Finally, teachers must consider that communication with the parents and colleagues is vital if PBL has any chance of being effective with support from home and other classes.

                New Technology High School is a perfect example of PBL. New Technology incorporates 21^st century technology every step of the way to keep up with the needs of the students. They also designed it to be small, so teachers can work more closely with students, and so that full-fledged projects in the real world are easier to coordinate and instruct. Teachers are encouraged to work together to maintain a “project based learning” environment, sometimes continuing a lesson plan to be more focused or more in depth. New Technology also provides online assessment tools to help with feedback instantaneously, and much more accurately than an end of the unit test might.