Project-Based Learning Training*

This past Friday was a Professional Development Day. Project-Based Learning is an idea that is starting to gain power throughout the education system. With that being said, our professional development day was spent touring schools who have experience in project-based learning and who have proved that it works.

The fourth and fifth grade teachers traveled up to Dalton, Georgia to tour two schools that are focused on project-based learning. We first stopped at a middle school where the students were participating in a team building exercise where they were given supplies and they were to build the tallest tower. These were the only directions given and the students had a time given in order to complete this task. The teachers then traveled to each group asking questions and facilitating discussions within the groups. After the time was up, the students all gathered together and discussed what they learned and how they arrived at the most efficient result. While the tallest tower was the end result that was needed, the team building exercise helped the students come together as a community. While talking with the students, I realized that they have team building exercises every Friday and they have a "town hall meeting" where they join as a grade level team and talk about issues that have come up. This is where the students talk about projects going on and various other activities.

After the middle school, we traveled up the road to an elementary school where we had a question and answer session with various members of their faculty. One thing I loved about this school was that the projects were carried on throughout the school. What I mean by this is that one class was doing learning about how chickens are born and raised, and while they were focusing on temperature, humidity, and how these affect the birthing, the rest of the school watched the development of the chicks through a web cam that was played throughout the day. The school had writing activities and various other activities based around this one project done by a class. The project completed were not just busy projects, they were ones that were carried over into real life, which I loved about this school.

While we learned and were trained on project based learning, I also learned many things about the layout of an effective school and the atmosphere that needs to be created for these to continue. For example, the classrooms all had natural lighting with lamps and lights, the walls were painted brain-researched colors. I found many things that I want to bring into my classroom including a behavior management idea where the students can move up when they do something good, but can also move down. The students are rewarded when they land on "outstanding" and there is a continuous chart where the teacher writes down every student who lands on outstanding. When they land here more than two times, they get a jewel on their clothespin, and if they land more than 2 times, they get a special treat from the teacher.

Having these meetings are a great way to help keep the teachers involved in new learning that can help the children learn in a different format. While I am not saying that I am an expert in project-based learning, I now have learned an immense amount that will help me in my future classroom. I look forward to these days :)