Project- Based Learning

This year my classes fell into a project where they brainstormed a business that would make our local community of Manchester better. This started with a list and then students were assigned to write an advertisement using verbals: infinitives, participles, and gerunds--the grammar skill we had just learned. This paragraph was written individually, but then students met in groups to discuss and agree upon one idea that they would like to make into an actual business. I gave them my example HERE. Their first task was to create the business website and assign roles. Here's the quick lesson I created to introduce the marketing teams. I was not sure what to expect as this was more of a last minute assignment, but when I saw how engaged the students were, I thought, well, at the very least I will do mini-lessons on grammar skills and have them apply the grammar to their websites.

That's what I did. I used the project as the over-arching purpose and incorporated mini-lessons each day. Some of the writing moves I modeled were the use of a colon, repetition for effect (anaphora), and the one word strategy.

After a week of this structure, a student suggested presenting like a Shark Tank pitch. I responded, yes, we definitely should.

In my mind, though, I was nervous about hitting the standards. Usually around this time I really dive into TDA essays. I couldn't, though, stop the student engagement piece I was observing in my class. It was rare--something I honestly did not have all year. Instead, I brainstormed how I could combine TDA skills with the students' natural engagement. I created a lesson to teach intro paragraphs using their business plans. Instead of explicitly teaching intro paragraph for a TDA essay, I focused more on audience and purpose. What types of hooks work for best for different modalities of writing? How does a claim/purpose differ based on the purpose and task? Click HERE for the slides.

In retrospect, this lesson was more effective than what I had done in the past because it forced students to look beyond a typical type of writing and recognize that these writing skills will help them in life.

The students were excited about a "Shark Tank" day and we worked together to make it happen. One group was done before the other groups, so they emailed teachers and local business leaders inviting them to come to our "program." Another group communicated with the maintenance crew to set up the auditorium like a business expo--and they helped with the setup, too.

One of our digital artists offered to compile all the student websites into one "Virtual Business Expo" website. Click HERE for my hybrid class (half online learners; half in person) and HERE for another class. I put together a Program using Canva that mirrors my daily agenda. The beauty in the project was that it was student-led and it felt like we were learning together. It felt like we were actually that educational buzz word people use, "A community of learners."

We did reserve the auditorium. We did have a few people posing as Sharks--the superintendent, the janitor, the principal, the technology specialist, and three students from another class pretending to be local entrepreneurs.

The Shark Tank pitches were not perfect. The presentations were not perfect, but the students learned and reflected and evaluated each other. Here are the evaluation sheets. I shared my personal reflection with the students below to model the importance of growing and learning, and then they wrote their own.

Melhorn’s Reflection:

What did you learn? What could be better?

• An ELA/Tech skill

• A group skill

• An understanding about self

Through the marketing project, I learned the power of giving students space to create. I learned that students can create far more with less guidelines put on them. For some students, this is difficult (wait, but it’s not graded?), but that’s usually for students who care more about the grade than the learning process.

I have learned that project based learning is the best way–so far–to maximize the 90 minutes of ELA. 90 minutes can be long, as many of my students will say, yet because of the project the time went faster. I am curious as to whether the students learned how to write an intro paragraph to the same degree as my students last year. The PSSA and future assessments will determine that, but for now, in a year where we are all trying to find some normalcy in the realm of school, having an interactive project is more important. The project allowed for creativity and collaboration–two skills that are needed in almost any career.

What I learned about myself—I can handle structured chaos. I actually like it because it means students are working. I did have to remind myself of that a few times–that just because students were laughing did not mean they were off task. In fact, so many times the creative images and ideas they came up with were downright hysterical–and I’m glad.

I also learned that I love being part of a creative team. I like having a big goal and then all working towards it individually, yet together.

Finally, I learned that the best projects happen organically. You can’t really force it or else there’s pushback. Last year the virtual class embarked on a podcast–it was their idea. They wanted to do it. In a way, this project was similar. It was originally going to be a one day activity, but when students started dishing out idea after idea, I couldn’t stop their thinking.