an example that illustrates its implementation. The examples are shown in boxes. 1. Identify a critical competency. In other words, what important skills should be taught through PBL? A cosmetology teacher, let's call her Helen Smith, believes that her students need to practice communicating with clients in the reception area. 2. Identify content standards. What specific cosmetology competencies should be taught and/or practiced through this project? For Ohio cosmetology teachers, these competencies can be found in the Ohio Competency Analysis Profile (OCAP) for cosmetology or the Ohio Integrated Technical and Academic Competencies (ITAC) for cosmetology (not completed at the time this book was published). 49 o a 0 0 0 o Helen Smith reviews the cosmetology competencies and identifies several that give more details about the skills needed to succeed in this critical competency. She organizes them into this list: Reception Duties: Communicate with clients Demonstrate telephone etiquette Converse with clients Schedule and confirm appointments Demonstrate suggestive selling Process client payments Calculate charges, including tax and gratuity Operate computer Operate cash register Process credit card and check transactions Make change Close out cash drawer each day Maintain and file records _ Maintain sales area Display and maintain retail items Clean and maintain waiting area Inventory retail products To identify which content standards will be addressed in her project, Helen: a. Reviews the competency list. b. Examines the curriculum to identify skills already being taught (by traditional methods or other projects). c. Determines which skills can best be taught using PBL. Based on this information, Helen decides to develop a project that will help students develop telephone etiquette skills. 3. Identify cross-curricular standards, including English, math, and science, as appropriate. The competencies for these subject areas can be found in the respective national and/or state standards. In addition, a list of employability skills needed for success in cosmetology-related careers can be found in the ITACs. Helen reviews the Ohio Language Arts model and identifies several competencies that are involved in employing telephone etiquette. They are: The student will demonstrate appropriate listening skills by identifying and analyzing themes when listening. The student will use logical steps for developing a point when speaking. The student will analyze and synthesize information for speaking. 4. Identify each subject area's involvement. Helen asks the English teacher who works with cosmetology students, Jim Alonzo, to collaborate on a project that teaches telephone etiquette skills. One of the first things they do together is review the competencies to make sure they are appropriate and complete. Then Helen and Jim decide to give students time and guidance to do preliminary research, review their research, and write roleplay scripts in their English class. They decide to have students do additional research and "perform" their role-plays in the cosmetology class. 5. Decide what the final product will be. Helen and Jim brainstorm different final products, and decide that the students would benefit from writing scenarios that require the use of effective telephone etiquette in a salon, and role playing them for the class. 6. Decide how to assess the final product. Helen and Jim develop a rubric to assess the salon role-plays. The rubric contains the criteria of topic, content, and delivery (which are three of the four criteria used in Oral Presentation Rubric I on p. 19). Once developed, they share the rubric with the students, asking for their input. This helps assure that the students know what is expected of them. It also gives students a way to have an impact on how they are graded. They also decide that assessing students' work as team members is important. They plan to use evaluation forms similar to those on pp. 24-26. 51 0 0 0 o 7. Identify student roles and responsibilities. This is difficult for Helen and Jim. They are accustomed to giving students step-by-step instructions for the work they assign. So, instead of listing the specific things that the teachers expect students to do, they have a discussion with students about the nature of the project and the fact that students have primary responsibility for accomplishing the project goals. Then they guide students to develop a list of their responsibilities in completing the project. The student discussion also gives Helen and Jim an opportunity to clarify their roles as "guides on the side" instead of "sages on the stage." They explain their roles of coaching, reflecting, and being resources for student teams. Helen and Jim also discuss with students that they will go outside the classroom to locate resources (e.g., books, Internet,