University of Mary

When: March 22, 2018

Where: Lumen Vitae Center, University of Mary

Who: University of Mary, Dickinson State University, & Bismarck Public Schools

Symposium Highlights

Media Coverage

With support from the University of Mary's communications office, the team sent out a press release in the days before the event. A local TV reporter came to the event and recorded this news story. <<Click the image to see the story>>

Presentation Rounds

Shaylynn Mack and Shawna Grubb share their project.

Out of the Gate participants in Bismarck presented in rounds, rather than as an exhibition or poster style event were everyone is presenting at the same time. Each group got the chance to share their project and their learning with an interested audience in one of several 10-minute rounds. The room was set up with several presentation stations. Each student teacher and cooperating teacher team was assigned to a station and to a specific round. Each round consisted of 7 minutes of presentation, 2 minutes of questions and discussion, and 1 minute to rotate to the next station. With the presentations preloaded on the computer at the appropriate presentation station, the transitions went smoothly and the evening ran on time. A few strengths of this format include the audience getting a deeper understanding of several projects and the implementation experience of the presenting team, teams preparing and presenting their learning in detail one time, and teams having the opportunity to listen to and engage in other teams' presentations which generated dialogue around shared learning and experiences.

The Exhibition

Danielle Lucier, Alison Kaubisch, Samantha Bold, and Sydney Arman

Leah Wheeling and Brennan Doan

Sheyna Jensen and MiKayla Fuerstenberg

Ashley Wanner and Susan Mock

Reflection

Kendall Bergrud

Cooperating Teacher of Fourth Grade at Lincoln Elementary

Kendall (l) with his student teacher, Alex Cournoyer, at the PBL Symposium

Out of the Gate has been one of the best professional developments I have been able to be a part of to grow professionally as an educator. Project Based Learning has been a part of my school district for several years, but I have always wondered the “why” behind implementing it in my classroom. Being able to attend Project Slice as a learner opened my eyes in realizing the importance of Project Based Learning within my classroom. Throughout Project Slice, I was able to endure the experiences students would receive if this was in their classroom. I appreciated the joys of learning and being challenged to answer the driving question in order to share my ideas with an audience. The main component which stands out to me was the ability for my group members to work collaboratively to produce a blueprint and models which were realistic for the space. As eager as I was to participate and collaborate within the project, I can only imagine what excitement students will have in their own learning. Project Slice answered the why behind implementing Project Based Learning into my classroom.