I didn't stick to the the standards that I chose from the beginning...and I think I added more. But that is the beauty of this process. It should be growing, changing, and FOCUSING as you construct the task.
I went to Childersburg's Innovation Showcase the other day and one of the teachers I was talking to said above all...there must be voice and choice. The students chose their Driving Question because it meant something to them and were guided from there. Nothing creates motivation better than VOICE AND CHOICE! All the students were very passionate, thorough, and organized! I loved it.
Edutopia has a great article about keeping your focus during a PBL activity. I am still in the middle of filming and doing the voice-over for the process of creating the culminating performance task. As I am doing it--a hundred other ideas are flowing into my brain. I wanted everyone to know that this method should allow a lot of room for the free flow of ideas. If you want to change or add...do it! It may end up in a very different place than you intended--but most likely, it will be a better place that you are more excited about. For example, I had no idea that I would end up with the driving question of, "How can I make the world more aware of our effect on ecosystems and animals...thus ourselves." Even further than that--I think I changed from habitats to ecosystems unintentionally. They are both on the course of study for fourth grade, but you will see by the end that the standard may have changed, narrowed, or broadened...AND THAT IS OKAY!
Also, I highly recommend that you do this with a team of people at a big table with a giant piece of white paper. Don't be afraid to ex things out and connect across the paper. Don't just brainstorm what they need to learn but HOW...throw in technology, literature connections, and any place you think a student can have choice--give it to them. While teaching creative thinking to my students I began to see a trend. A lot of creative thinking stems from showing them how to find connections that other people can't see. There are many tools out there to strengthen your creativity. Some of these tools such as Morphological Forced Connections, SCAMPER, and Remote Associations help fire off the connectivity that your brain is capable of but may not know how to do yet. I am using this type of creative thinking strategy to create a culminating performance task by forcing standards together that one may not have thought to do...this in turn sparks the brain to force connections and create a thought provoking, real-world, and cross-curricular project that is fresh.
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AuthorMollie Bounds Archives
July 2015
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