The ABCS and SPDs
Knowledge is more than fact recall.
Knowledge involves structures, processes, and discourse. It involves
understanding concepts, allowing students to “do” the disciplines, and being
able to communicate. When I think back to when I was in high school and
college, I remember studying or cramming the night before an exam trying to
remember every single fact that I could. I do recall ever being given an
authentic problem to try to solve or work with a group to try to create a
solution. In high school physics we had to design a bridge out of sticks and
glue to see whose bridge could hold the most weight. Sure it was fun, we could
design our bridge however we wanted… buuuut it wasn’t authentic. Most of my
schooling was working out of textbooks, reading books, writing reports,
memorizing facts. I struggled when I went off to college because I had no idea
what I wanted to do. Many of the skills I developed on my own- through
observation and trial and error.
I wish my all of my teachers growing up had read about Lesson Design, The ABC’s, and PICKLE. I think about how different my school career could’ve been. But there’s nothing I can do about the past. What I can do is implement these best practices into my own lessons. Take a step back from the planning and dive into the design. Move away from only giving my students the opportunity to work through more than 1 or 2 PBL’s a year (because that’s what's required). Apply the ABCs when designing: Allow them to work through authentic problems, build their knowledge, allow students to construct something- whether it be building, creating, or producing. Lastly, students have the opportunity to share their understanding so they may receive feedback.
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ReplyDeleteI am with you totally here...my schooling was very traditional. In college, I got more authentic experience because I was a business major with professors who tried to get us out into real businesses to solve authentic problems. The PBL thing is a hang-up for me. It shouldn't be a special project we do with kids to meet a minimum requirement set up by administration. In my opinion we really need to restructure the way we think about planning and learning so PBL-type skills are just integrated into what we do with kids on a daily basis.
DeleteI think we all can agree that the better teaching practice revolves around a solid lesson design that allows students to take the lead in building their own knowledge while using future ready skills.
DeleteWhat's missing?
First of all public school systems need to understand that designing lessons and giving students time to learn in a student centered environment takes time, space and tools. When school systems set the standards, time to teach, the state implements a law that students need two 15-20 minute recess breaks a day and you can't access the tools you need (computers, math manipulatives, trade books, etc...) Teachers are having to take time to beg, barrow, and steal these tools to use during their lesson designs. It makes the job very stressful. We have schedules that have no transition times built in for restroom breaks or travel time. Student behavior is also never acknowledged as a time that takes away from instructional time. Classrooms have up to 29 students, I would say 10-25% have IEPs or 504's, which you as a classroom teacher need to plan for their instructional time and additional coaching time. There are days I feel like the county or school board presents us with new initiatives, but never takes anything away. It is left to the classroom teacher to protect student learning.