Project Foundry Summer Conference

Join us in Janesville, WI July 21-22, 2009 for the first annual 'How to better leverage Project Foundry' conference. Network with innovative schools from Maine to California and everywhere in between. Excited to have Peter Pappas keynote the conference and just as excited that Suzie Boss (co-author of 'Reinventing PBL') will be attending.

http://www.projectfoundry.org/news/summerWorkshop2009.html

Project-based Learning management done right.

Buck Institute for Education PBL Handbook

Anyone who wants to knows anything about the actual 'how to' of project-based learning needs to have the Buck Institute for Education PBL Handbook (http://www.bie.org).

I appreciate the handbook's practical framing and real examples.  In addition, the handbook articulates the requirement that doing PBL demands a paradigm shift, not just an adjustment to a classroom. As scary as this may sound, the handbook provides guidance and concrete ideas on how to frame, scaffold and model such a change.

Too often I see people with the best intentions try to create better learning environments by keeping the same structure and people. It's not only education, but any organization systemically making a fundamental change requires a certain level of autonomy  and distance from the existing system. Otherwise, the new system will have to conform to the old incrementally undermining the hopes and discernment of the new system. Ultimately, this is how many project-based schools are undermined... "We want something different, but wait it needs to look the same."

The Buck Institute of Education Handbook is one of those transformational resources that can take the theory and make it real.

 

The World of PBL Best Practices

Hello World!

Over the course of the last four years, I have met some truly passionate (and effective) educators; I've witnessed best and worst practices in secondary education and realized more than ever the power of engaging students in projects.

This blog is an attempt to share many of the insights I come across. Admittingly, I am an advocate for Project Foundry (http://www.projectfoundry.org) so don't be surprized if I refer to this often.