Teaching Your Own Children

I recently was contacted by several friends who plan on homeschooling their children. I have never homeschooled my own children so I couldn’t recommend any curriculum. I have had some friends who successfully homeschooled their children for all twelve years. Here are the curriculums they recommended:

Sonlight

Saxon Math

Memoria Press

Raising Little Shoots

In my special education self-contained classroom, I taught multiple grades in multiple subjects. I felt like I was homeschooling in a public school.

Most of the time I had to structure my own curriculum to fit everyone’s needs.

The best way I found to do that was what I always called “The One-Room Schoolhouse” approach and now is called Project-Based Learning (PBL).

I would create a project that dealt with current state or local issues and plan my lessons around that central theme. First, I figured out what my goal was and what I wanted the students to learn.

Then I figured out how I would be able to know if they learned the skills that I planned for them. Once I had that framework, I could build the lessons.

Using the state standards, I worked to see what instructional levels in reading and math my students were working on. This takes a few days, but it is essential to know these levels before beginning lessons. I didn’t want the students frustrated by making the lessons too hard, but I wanted to challenge them so that they weren’t bored.

After deciding on the instructional level, I could plan lessons based on the central project theme. I could incorporate reading, writing, math, science, and social studies around the main project and it would all tie together. By doing this, it will help the student learn the relevance of the skills being taught. It will make learning meaningful.

I like that the students could work at whatever level they were on to accomplish a goal. There may be several students on different levels so I would just adjust their lesson and assignment to meet their needs.

By doing this, I was able to keep students engaged and had very little discipline problems.

I reviewed a book called “Project-Based Learning Made Simple” in a previous blog post. You might find it interesting.

Do you use Project-Based Learning (PBL) and in what way? Please share.

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Unusual Time for Teaching

In It’s okay to throw stuff out. Now’s a good time to rethink a lot of what we’re doing.

History Tech, glennw shares,

“Simply put, what we’ve always done in the past probably isn’t going to work today.”

With the unusual start of school where some people are going in person and others are virtual or part time virtual, it is time to do some unusual teaching.

We can’t go back to the “old way” of teaching. Gone are the lectures and the push information type learning.

Now is a good time to try all the new things you wanted to but was afraid to get away from the traditional way of teaching.

Now more than ever would be the perfect time for Project Based Learning. Within Project Based Learning, you can implement Universal Design for Learning.

If you are an elementary school teacher and you teach a variety of subjects, creating a project that would incorporate all of the subjects will make learning more fun and teaching easier. Students will be more engaged when they are going back and forth from virtual to face to face instruction. This project will be the constant that can tie all of the learning together. The teacher may have to do more work on the front end of the project but during the project, the teacher becomes more of the facilitator and helps to guide the learning. Teachers of the same grade levels can meet to share ideas and./or collaborate on projects.

In upper grades, teams of teachers can get together to create the project together and incorporate their different areas of study into the assignments. With a team, it will be easier to bounce off ideas and share the workload. The final assessment can include a finished project or presentation that incorporates all areas of study.

By doing a project that is relevant to the students, they will be more engaged and excited about learning. All of the negativity and the fear factor from the media has to weigh heavily on the teachers and the students. Something like a project can pull everyone together and help them less focused on the media.

How do you feel about Project Based Learning? Please share.

Photo by You X Ventures on Unsplash

Project Based Learning Made Simple – Book Review

I recently read Project Based Learning Made Simple by April Smith that was graciously sent to me by Ulysses Press to review. I am not being paid for this review.

I am a huge fan of Project Based Learning! I love every aspect of it and I truly believe that is the best way for students to learn. Yet, it is hard to talk many teachers into leaving the traditional way of teaching to give this a try. The world is a different place than when we were taught in the traditional way and when we first learned to teach in a traditional way. Project Based Learning makes learning relevant to the students and gives them real-world experiences.

In the first chapter, the basics of project-based learning are discussed. But my favorite part is chapter 2 which really gives the nuts and bolts of teaching project-based learning. It is well explained and gives a “recipe” for setting up project-based learning in a classroom.

I believe this is a great way of teaching but involves a lot of planning on the front end of the lessons. Then it is fun to facilitate student learning throughout the rest of the lesson. Since everything including assessment is planned in advance, it makes grading progress very easy. Many teachers talk about how much work is involved in this kind of teaching, but I don’t think it is any more time than the time involved overall in traditional teaching methods.

The rest of the book gives great suggestions and processes for 100 different projects. The chapters are broken into sections for  Science and Stem, Math and Financial Literacy, English Language Arts, Social Studies,

The last chapter covers wrapping up the end of the project. This is what brings all the work on the project together. Wrapping up is what helps students retain the skills that they have learned.

I have to say I love this book! It is great for someone who wants to do project-based learning in the classroom but doesn’t know where to start. I highly recommend this book and it would be a great addition to every teacher’s library as well as in a school professional library.

Unveiling the Mystery of Project Based Learning

Here is the presentation that I gave yesterday at the Upstate Technology Conference in Greenville, SC.

Unveiling the Mystery of PBL

View another webinar from Successful Teaching

Math Projects for Real Life

In Math Homework is a Hot Topic from Educationally Minded, Anthony states,

“So my thought is that math PBL will include students having small “projects” to figure out math. Then after a few projects they will have one large project that covers many of the smaller ones and how they work together. That’s math! It continues to build on upon earlier aspects.”

This reminded me of two fun projects my students did that incorporated math skills into real life situations.

Project 1: Scale Models

First we talked about architects or engineers who sometimes use scale models to show what possibilities their client may have. We talked about how scale models are made and what scale models we have actually seen. Then we talked about making a scale model of our school and what process we would use to make one. We had to decide up on the scale we wanted to use and what materials we would use. Once we decided on this, the students broke up into teams and divided parts of the school to build. Each group had a foreman and a recorder as well as a worker but all three were expected to do their share of work. Some of the students even made an appointment with the plant engineer to talk about some measurements that we couldn’t do on our own. Throughout the project, someone in the group needed to document all the steps the group followed. When tasks were doled out, the name of the person responsible for getting that information was also written down. This project lasted a month and the students really enjoyed it. It was thrilling when the scale model was displayed in the library for the student body to see. It was also important to evaluate the project after we finished seeing what the students felt worked, didn’t work, or needed to be changed.

Project 2: Plan a Trip

At sometime in every person’s life, they will go on a trip. It may be a short trip or a long trip and may even involve overnight stays. Students had to plan a trip for their family. Many people usually get a week off from work so we decided to plan a week’s vacation. Students had to choose a destination anywhere in the United States (I didn’t use foreign countries for the first project because then we would have to deal with foreign money and the exchange rate) and plan a trip for their entire family. They had to include getting there and back, accommodations, food, transportation during the week, activities and places to see (including admission costs). The student had to turn in an itinerary and cost analysis. I was able to get outdated books from AAA which helped with the planning in addition to the internet. Students were very excited about planning their trip and I heard them talking about this many times during the week. At the end of the week, they told the class about their trip including the places they would visit and the cost. For many, it was an eye opening experience because they didn’t realize how expensive some of the places they wanted to go to cost. Now, some understood why their parents had not taken them there. I even had some comments from parents that this project was discussed at the dinner table and suggestions were made from family members. Again, it was important after the project was finished to evaluate what worked, didn’t work, or needed to be changed.

I felt both of these projects taught the students more than if we worked out of a textbook to study measurement and money. These projects were more relevant than problems written in a book. I have heard from former students who even remember doing these projects so I felt the lessons made an impression on them.

What math projects have you used in your class? How did your students react to them?

Posted on the Successful Teaching Blog by loonyhiker (successfulteaching at gmail dot com).

Original image: 'Teamwork'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12426416@N00/253055698 by: Andrew Becraft

What Do You Want to Learn to Do?

At the beginning of the year, I ask my students to list three things that they would like to learn to do. It might be rollerblading, framing pictures, knit, build a birdhouse or model airplane etc. We actually brainstorm some ideas on the board because otherwise, they will sit there and say, “I don’t know.” Once the ideas get rolling, I have them list the ones they like and pick the top three.

Then we come up with a plan on how to learn about it.

1. Research. Use the library, the internet, and talk to others who have done this.

2. Make a list of the materials you need.

3. Find out the cost of the materials.

4. How much time is involved?

5. Find written directions that give step by step instructions on the procedure.

6. Read the directions and make sure you understand all the steps.

7. Gather the materials.

8. Complete your project.

9. Evaluate the project. Did it turn out like you wanted? What could you have done differently?

10. What next? Is there another project like this you want to learn? Can this project be expanded further?

Once we agree on the plan and I approve of their project, I set aside an hour each week for everyone to work on their project. If they find out that they don’t have the money to gather their materials, they need to find another project to work on.

I have my own project that I work on at the same time. This way I can model the learning process for them. Sometimes when I hit a snag, the students help me figure out a solution. This is a great way to also model collaboration.

Every summer I would think about a new project that I would like to do during the school year. One year I wanted to learn how to juggle. Another year I wanted to learn how to crochet. I had one student who wanted to learn how to mat and frame pictures and open up his own framing store some day. Many times my students want to get involved in my project or each other’s projects. It is really fun to watch them do this.

This “Project” project is so relevant to the student’s learning. They improve their reading skills as well as math. Sometimes I ask questions about the project that make them look up the history or the science involved in the project. Using internet and Skype for their research helps the students improve their technology skills. Students are learning something they are interested in and are more motivated to learn. They also feel they have control over their learning.

Have you done this with your class? If so, how has it worked out? Do you do it differently? If so, please share.

Posted on the Successful Teaching Blog by loonyhiker (successfulteaching at gmail dot com).

Original image: 'Made From Scratch - Model Airplane'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/18288598@N00/841596864 by: Erik (HASH) Hersman