Showing posts with label Project Based Learning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Project Based Learning. Show all posts

Sunday, January 1, 2017

Ongoing assessment and feedback - another IB webinar


About a week before the end of school, I took part in another IB webinar, this time on assessment. The graphic above was really helpful in focusing in on the topic of this webinar and the cycle we should be going through as IB teachers.  I really wish I'd had the time to blog immediately after the webinar, since quite a lot of what was discussed has now retreated from my mind, but thankfully I did manage to jot down a few thoughts on Twitter at the time.  Here are some of the questions that emerged from this webinar:

  • Tools and strategies for assessment - are we over-relying on just one or two?  One suggestion would be to map this out to see what patterns emerge.
  • Authentic summative assessment - Could students do the assessment at the beginning, before even starting the unit? And if so, how would it look like compared with summative?
  • Impact of assessment on teaching and learning - are we designing assessments that support good teaching and learning?  And alongside this, is the feedback that we give students helping to reduce the gap between where they are now and where they need to go next.
  • Is assessment a scrapbook or a snapshot?  We need to think about more holistic ways of viewing and assessing learning, for example combining observations and dialogue along with the products that students create.
There was a great graphic shared about the stages of assessment.  Again I really like the assess - record - report cycle indicated here.  


Assessment is a really huge topic.  It has come up several times as a topic for the #pypchats on Twitter and I know that whenever I lead a Making the PYP Happen workshop it's something that the participants want to know more about.

I really love this series of webinars as it gives me the opportunity to dig a little deeper into my understanding of various aspects of the IB programmes.  I also appreciate the opportunity to learn more about the other IB programmes that I don't actually teach.  I really hope that these webinars continue in 2017.

Tuesday, May 31, 2016

When learning drives the use of technology

A little over a year ago, I looked at John Hattie's meta-analysis about the impact of technology on achievement.  As mentioned in that post about the value of technology, I used to work in a school where the Director told parents that there was no evidence that technology improves learning.  He brought in a consultant, Aric Sigman, to tell parents and students that using technology would make them sad and isolated - in fact one claim to fame Dr Sigman had was to publish an article in the Daily Mail about how Facebook can cause cancer! Thankfully I don't have to deal with this nonsense any more, but I'm always curious to read studies that look at the results of research about the impact that technology does have on learning.

This week, following a discussion of Facebook, I read the article Learning in One-to-One Laptop Environments: A Meta-Analysis and Research Synthesis that was published in February this year by Binbin Zheng, Mark Warschauer, Chin-Hsi Lin and Chi Chang from Michigan State University and the University of California, Irvine.  The conclusions of this analysis were that the role of computers is marginal when they are scattered in small numbers throughout schools, but that when each student has access to an individual laptop, the effects of technology on learning are likely to be felt.  As well as this, the report concluded that teachers' attitudes and beliefs, school leadership, classroom management strategies, technical support and ongoing PD all play an important role in the success of a 1:1 laptop programme.

The meta-analysis looks at studies in 5 different subject areas:  English, reading, writing, maths and science.  Several of these studies show that the impact of laptops on student scores occurs after the second year of implementation.  Often in the first year teachers and students need to adapt to a new style of teaching and learning.  The following results were shown:

  • English Language Arts scores were improved among students in both a partial and full laptop programme, compared with non-laptop peers.  Interestingly students who use their computers at home for recreation tend to have higher scores (though this effect diminished when socio-economic status was included in the analysis).
  • In reading, the use of technology for home learning strongly predicted students' reading achievement.  Those who use computers more frequently at home have higher scores.
  • There was a significant impact on students' writing performance when using laptops, both in the area of ideas and content, and organization and style.  There was no impact on writing conventions.  Some studies showed that at-risk students using laptops experienced significantly higher writing score gains than those students who were not at risk.
  • In maths laptop students outperformed non-laptop students on computer based assessments, though there was no difference on paper-based assessments.  More frequent laptop use in the classroom tends to result in higher maths scores for students. 
  • In science laptops were shown to have a positive effect on middle school students' achievements.  Both girls and boys benefitted from this, though the impact on girls was smaller. Again, a more frequent use of laptops was shown to have a greater impact on science test scores than students who reported less frequent use.
The analysis also looked at teaching and learning processes.  In general writing and editing, and gathering information from the Internet were the most common uses of laptops.  Other frequent uses included taking notes, organizing information, completing assignments and homework, reading on electronic textbooks and conducting research.  Many studies reported a change towards a more student centred or individualized learning environment, and that students had more control over their learning paths.  Several studies also showed that laptops fostered more project-based learning.

In classes where all students had laptops, students were found to write more, receive more feedback on their writing, edit and revise their work more often, and draw on a wider range of resources to write, publish and share their work with others more often.  It was also noticed that there were improvements in teacher-student and home-school relationships through the use of communication tools such as email and Google Docs.  Parents were reported as having more involvement with their children's schoolwork and homework after 1 year of implementing of a 1:1 laptop programme.

Students had positive attitudes regarding the effects of laptop programmes on their learning, with a high percentage of students indicating they preferred learning with laptops.  Many studies report higher student engagement, motivation and persistence in 1:1 environments.

Teachers beliefs and approaches are of course crucial to the effective integration of technology in teaching and learning.  Although many teachers expressed initial concerns, these were mostly about their own limited technology skills, lack of tech support, or fear of losing control of the classroom.  Some teachers do experience difficulties creating an environment where the learning drives the use of technology.  The meta-analysis shows that teachers who reacted negatively to the introduction of 1:1 programmes were those who had ill-planned PD.  When training and support were provided teachers became more confident of their ability to solve technical issues and integrate technology into their instruction.  Most studies showed that after a year of use, teachers generally had very positive attitudes towards laptop programmes.

Many studies showed laptop environments promoted learning autonomy, improved collaboration skills and the ability to independently organize their schoolwork.  They also showed that laptops were used extensively for problem-solving tasks, leading to enhanced problem-solving abilities in students.  The reason for this was an increase in research and project-based activities where students used technology to find information, identify approaches to solve problems and present their results to others.  There was wide consensus that the use of laptops promotes 21st century learning skills.

The conclusion of this meta-analysis is that laptops are leading to significantly increased academic achievements in science, writing, math and English, and that they lead to more student-centred and individualized instruction.   The really important thing is that the biggest gains happen when it is the learning that drives the use of technology - and not the other way round.

Photo Credit: ~ l i t t l e F I R E ~ via Compfight cc

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Making and the Learner Profile

Over the past couple of years I've written several posts about the Maker Movement at ASB.  I attended an ISTE pre-conference workshop in 2013 on Maker with Gary Stager and Sylvia Martinez, and both Gary and Sylvia came to ASB to help us empower students through making.    We launched Maker Faires and Maker Saturdays at ASB and currently have these every month.  We have also incorporated Maker into a number of PYP units of inquiry, for example in Grade 4.  In Kindergarten we have an entire unit of making.  In their How the World Works unit, KG students explore the central idea "The way materials behave and interact can determine how people use them."  This is a PBL unit with the driving question "What do makers need to know?"  Our key concepts are form, function and change and our lines of inquiry are the behaviour and uses of materials, the changing properties of materials and manipulation of materials for specific purposes.  Students are assessed on their understanding through the creation of a Maker Studio - they explore the materials and create an end product that shows their understanding of the types of materials used and how they functions in their new state/version.

Yesterday at our faculty meeting it was time for the teachers to have a hands-on experience of Maker - our task was to design ScribbleBots.  Scot Hoffman, our R&D Coordinator, then shared several ways teachers could take this further.  The idea is not that the Re.D Studio team come into classrooms and lead Maker activities, but that they provide professional development, consultation and guidance so that teachers are supported to empower their own students to become makers.  Scot shared several other ideas (PrimeTime and the Curiosity Project which will the be subject of an upcoming blog post).  However one of the things that I found really interesting is how our Re.D Studio has looked at making together with the IB Learner Profile, making it a perfect fit for several of our PYP units of inquiry.  Here are a few examples of what teachers can look for in maker activities that support the Learner Profile:

Risk-Takers
  • tries something new
  • approaches uncertainty with forethought and determination
  • takes intellectual risks
  • transforms failure into new insights or approaches
  • offers explanation(s) for a strategy, tool, or making outcome
  • displays motivation or investment in learning through making


Reflective
  • shares experiences and insights from making
  • reflects on learning strengths and needs during making

Inquirers
  • strives to understand
  • persists to achieve goals
  • expresses and uses curiosity
  • inspired by new ideas or approaches
  • inspires others with their making

Are you teaching at a PYP school?  Have you started to include Maker in any of your units of inquiry?  If so please leave me a comment as I'd love to learn more.

Click here for more posts about Maker at ASB

Photo Credit: The Bakken Museum via Compfight cc

Monday, April 7, 2014

Approaches to teaching and learning part 2: integrated -v- interdisciplinaray

I'm reading a recent IBO publication about approaches to learning and thinking in a little more depth about student-centred learning.  Over the past year and a half I've been part of many conversations about learning, and about inquiry, project based learning and collaboration.  The publication by Na Li discusses these different approaches.

Inquiry - students solve real problems by asking questions, analysing problems, conducting investigations, gathering and analyzing data, making interpretations, creating explanations and drawing conclusions.  The skills that are addressed through inquiry are critical and creative thinking, self-regulatory skills, metacognition and communication.  Studies show that there are challenges to designing good inquiry based learning units:
  • motivating students
  • the mastery of inquiry strategies
  • covering enough content knowledge
  • the management of complex activities and resources
  • practical constraints (class size, technology etc)
I think that many teachers who do not use inquiry are confused about what it involves and worry that students don't learn enough facts.  Actually content knowledge is very important for inquiry and teachers often front-load the content that students will need for their inquiries.  In addition more scaffolding and more teacher questions are needed for younger students who engage in inquiry.  Another very important aspect is formative assessment - which should be used by teachers to guide the planning of the inquiry units.  Both content knowledge and skills should be formatively assessed, and teachers need to be able to observe and identify students' abilities to use inquiry strategies.  These shifts in pedagogy generally require teachers to have additional training in order for the effective implementation of inquiry-based learning.

Problem-based learning (PBL) - similar to inquiry, PBL is often done in small groups with the teacher as facilitator.  Knowledge and skills are developed by solving authentic problems.  There is similarity between inquiry and PBL because PBL involves inquiry strategies.  Studies that have looked at the impact of PBL on knowledge and skills have shown that:
  • PBL has a positive effect on skills, however PBL has a different impact on content knowledge depending on students' expertise levels and knowledge base - in particular students with a low level of prior knowledge may be overwhelmed when applying new knowledge.
  • Students may learn fewer facts and less content in PBL, however they acquire a more elaborate knowledge and may perform better in retention and transfer of this knowledge.
  • Diversified assessment is needed to get a clear picture of students' knowledge and skills achievement in PBL.
Collaborative learning - both inquiry and PBL rely on collaboration as students come together to solve problems and construct knowledge through interacting with others.  The effectiveness of collaborative learning depends on factors such as the composition of the group and the prior knowledge of its members.  Without enough prior knowledge students do not come up with high quality explanations, nor do they construct deep understanding through considering the multiple perspectives of the group members.

How do these various approaches to learning match with either an integrated or an interdisciplinary curriculum?  An integrated curriculum starts from authentic real-life problems and then brings in content knowledge from different disciplines.  This sounds to me more like the PYP transdisciplinary approach.  An interdisciplinary curriculum, however, is designed around the content knowledge of one discipline with relevant content knowledge from other disciplines being aligned and mapped.  This to me seems more similar to the MYP.

Photo Credit: Lori Greig via Compfight cc

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

My 18 months of Superstruct

I've been at the American School of Bombay for about 18 months now, and I've recently started to reflect on just how far I've come in that time.  This thinking was provoked by reading Chapter 4 of Heidi Hayes Jacobs new book Leading the New Literacies - a chapter written by colleagues at ASB about the journey the school has taken in the 21st century.  This journey started long before I ever arrived at the school, so it was interesting for me to read about the history of these initiatives in changing ASB into probably the most innovative, cutting-edge school in the world, with a culture of innovation and using technology to transform teaching and learning.

ASB started this journey in 2000 with the introduction of a 1:1 laptop programme.  While at the time this was very innovative, the real move to excellence came in 2006 with the development of a new vision for educational technology for enriching student learning.  In those days this vision was supported by the creation of a Tech Leadership Team of teachers from across the elementary, middle and high schools, parents and students who prototyped new technologies for learning.

ASB is a school that believes in sharing, so in 2008 the first ASB Un-Plugged Conference took place where the school opened up its classrooms to show participants its experiences with technology integration.  At this time I was still working in Thailand and I can remember the buzz about this conference from friends who attended.  It was a school I knew I wanted to keep an eye on!

For me the most impressive thing I heard about ASB in the years between the first Un-Plugged Conference in 2008 and the year I started working at ASB in 2012 was the way that technology was simply ubiquitous and was completely focused on good teaching practice and student learning.  In 2011, when I was at my school in Switzerland, I asked if I could use my PD money to go to ASB Un-Plugged to learn more about tech integration, but this request was turned down because I was told the school was not intending to adopt a 1:1 policy.  More than anything else, this decision led me to decide that my days were numbered there, as there was a complete mis-match between my vision and the vision of the management of the school about technology.  Little did I imagine, however, that within weeks of being turned down for my PD request to attend Un-Plugged that I would actually be offered a job there!

In my previous job I'd spent 3 years working with teachers to move away from a one-size fits all approach to technology where all classes in the same grade were using the same tool, to one where students had more choice.  ASB had already made this shift towards more 21st century thinking and through a very intentional programme of parent education, had got parents on-board too about the need for change to prepare students for a future that we couldn't yet imagine.  Over the previous few years at ASB courses had been designed for parents so that they could learn the same tools that their children were using at school.  This evolved into the ASB Online Academy which now offers courses for parents, teachers and students.

The ASB Online Academy is a wonderful way of getting anytime, anyplace PD, and educators from around the world have designed courses for it.  As well as this in-house PD, teachers have been encouraged to attend and to present at global conferences and have led PD sessions at school.  Consultants have also been brought in to work with faculty on whole school initiatives such as project based learning, digital storytelling and the establishment of Critical Friends Groups as learning communities to reflect on changing practice.

In 2011 ASB started Superstructing.  This was not a term I'd heard before I came to ASB, but it is based on the ideas of Jane McGonigal for reorganizing systems and structures by building on the foundations that already exist.  The first thing to be Superstructed was the teaming structure, where two new teams were established:  Teaching and Learning (T&L) and Research and Development (R&D).  The T&L team's focus is on implementing research-based best practices, in particular personalized learning and 21st century skills, while the R&D team studies and prototypes new practices for the future.  The teams are open to anyone who is interested in being on them and many teachers volunteer.  I am a member of the R&D Core Team, which is further divided into a number of smaller task forces.  Over the past 18 months I have worked on task forces involved in studying and prototyping mobile devices, internships and new forms of PD.

As mentioned previously, one of the things that sets ASB apart is its focus on sharing.  This is a real contrast from some institutions who see other schools as "competition" and don't encourage the sharing of any ideas!  As well as opening our doors to hundreds of educators from around the world each year, ASB has also established an International Research Collaborative to study topics and share experiences such as 1:1 technology across international schools around the world.

I can hardly believe my good fortune at ending up in an amazing school like ASB.   Having accepted the job the school flew me out to India for a week for induction.  This happened 5 months before I even started there.  The rest of the new staff were flown out in the April for a week long 1:1 institute to get them ready for working at ASB.  I truly don't know of another school in the world that does this.  Teachers who are already at ASB are encouraged to share their expertise by become coaches - we bring in trainee teachers from overseas, mentor local teachers through a 2 year teacher training programme, and employ novice teachers to work alongside our master teachers as co-teachers, giving those new to the profession valuable overseas experience at an international school.  ASB really values its teachers and it's interesting to know what they are looking for when hiring:  the top qualities that are important are being innovative, collaborative and reflective, being open to embrace change and of course to have excellent skills in integrating technology.  In turn, ASB's new model of teaching and learning is attracting teachers from around the world.

I have grown and developed in so many ways over the past 18 months I've been at ASB.  It has been inspiring to be part of a teaching community that embraces change and where my colleagues are constantly thinking of better ways to enhance teaching and learning.  I love the whole ethos of collaboration and sharing and the way that the school invites feedback by listening to and respecting everyone's ideas.  And this year I'm so looking forward to being a part of the upcoming ASB Un-Plugged - and to sharing what I have learned with others who are coming to see what we do and how we do it.

Would you like to know more?  Here is a link to where you can purchase Leading the new Literacies.

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Future Forwards

I'm pleased to be able to share with you ASB's new eBook entitled Future Forwards:  Exploring the Frontiers in Education at the American School of Bombay.  This book is a collection of thoughts, hypotheses, discussions, and reflections on practices, research and ideas that are relevant to emerging new paradigms of teaching and learning.  This is the first volume of Future Forwards, the second volume will be coming out in the Spring.

Inside Volume 1 of Future Forwards you will find three sections:


Paradigms - “Looking to the Future”
These chapters deal with paradigm shifts - different approaches that radically challenge established conventions about traditional subjects.   Here you will read about leading innovation, multi-age classrooms and designing a balanced school calendar.

Ideas - "The Next Step"
This section examines how current research is changing or impacting existing practices or established norms. Here you will find chapters about the maker movement, social entrepreneurship, action research and the International Research Collaborative (IRC) that ASB has established with other leading schools. The IRC is currently examining and evaluating 1:1 computing.

Practices - "Innovating in the Now"
These chapters describe the application of an instructional practice in a completely novel way or the successful mash-up of different practices. In this section you will read about our Day 9 initiatives, Project Based Learning and ASB's Intersessions.

The eBook is completely free - enjoy and please consider sharing it with others in your professional network.

Click here to read Volume 1 of Future Forwards

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Digital Tools for Project-Based Learning in Primary

Suzie Boss and Jane Krauss's book Reinventing Project Based Learning is a wealth of information about digital tools, the internet and Web 2.0 and how these tools can be used to meet the essential learning needs of 21st century students.  Here are some ideas taken from Chapter 3 of the book, all of which I've used with primary students and which I have tried to align with the new ICT in the PYP strands.

The need for ubiquity - ICT in the PYP strand:  Investigate, Communicate
Today's students want to be able to learn any time and anywhere.  They access information on mobile devices and want to be connected to the web wherever they are.  Tools that support this learning include using Google Docs and virtual desktops such as NetVibes.

The need for deep learning - ICT in the PYP strands:  Investigate and Organize, 
Students can be encouraged to find primary sources online.  Once they have found the material they need they need to be able to sort and organize it, analyze it and be able to communicate it in order to express their learning.  Great tools for keeping track of sources are Delicious and Diigo.

Making learning visible - ICT in the PYP strands: Create and Communicate
Students want to be able to show their learning in many different ways, for example using mind-maps, photographs, multimedia, graphs, models, animations and digital art.  Good visual tools include Google Earth, Flickr, Thinkmap and Visuwords (graphical dictionaries and thesaurus) and Mindmeister.

Expressing and sharing ideas, building communities - ICT in the PYP strand:  Collaborate and Communicate
Students want learning to be social.  They like being able to use Web 2.0 tools to express their ideas and to connect with others.  Good tools I've used with students for this include Wikispaces, Micromobs and Skype.  Some teachers have successfully used Twitter to connect their class with others.

Teaching and learning with others - ICT in the PYP strand:  Collaborate
Great examples of collaborative tools include Wikispaces, VoiceThread, Google Docs and WeVideo.  Students really like the chat and comments features of Google Docs.  For large videos that we have made in collaboration with other schools we've used Dropbox.

Research - ICT in the PYP strands:  Investigate, Organize and Be Responsible Digital Citizens
Although we don't encourage our students to simply search on Google, we do teach them information literacy and search strategies.  At the same time we teach students how important it is to bookmark and tag their findings using Delicious and to cite their sources.  With our younger students I've found setting up a Google Custom Search to be a great way for students to safely search among a number of pre-selected resources.

Project Management - ICT in the PYP strand:  Organize
It's vital to teach students how to mange their time and their work during projects.  In the PYP these skills are very much in demand during the PYP Exhibition in Grade 5.  In the past we've used Google Calendar and Netvibes to help students organize their time well.  We have set up a Learning Platform for students using Google Sites so that students can quickly access everything they need from a single home page.

Reflection - ICT in the PYP strand:  Communicate
The best projects are those that encourage a variety of opinions and perspectives and that allow students to reflect on their progress.  The best tool I've found for this is blogging - we use both Blogger and Posterous and we teach our students how to write quality comments on each other's posts.

What are your favorite digital tools for project-based learning with primary students?

Photo Credit: Rubik Apps by  César Poyatos, 2011 AttributionNoncommercialShare Alike 

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Project Based Learning and the PYP



Over the past week or so I've thought a lot about Project Based Learning (PBL) as a way of having students focus on the core concepts and central ideas of a Unit of Inquiry.  The PYP is a curriculum framework, therefore it's up to the teachers to meet together in collaborative planning sessions and decide what the important things are that students should know and understand after studying the unit.  This is very different from the traditional curriculum taught in many countries based on national content standards.  In the ISTE book Reinventing Project-Based Learning by Suzie Boss and Jane Krauss the difference between a project-based and a traditional curriculum are explained:
When you teach from published curriculum, judgments about what is important have been made for you.  This can be an efficient system, but students learn no more than what the textbook publisher imagined for them.  The results are predictable and, often, generic.  Published curriculum and content standards dive straightaway into a sequence of learning objectives.  In textbooks the material is broken into digestible bits.  Synthesis for understanding important, overarching "big ideas" is left to the masterful teacher and very insightful learner.  Projects on the other hand are highly contextual .... designed for students by their teachers  ...  Good projects connect directly to the students' frames of reference, interests and experiences. Teachers who use the project approach might also use textbooks.  But instead of being the foundation of a course, the textbook becomes a reference book rich with illustrations and supplying information written at the reading and conceptual level of students.
There are a lot of links between PBL and the PYP and this week I read a tweet from Cristina Milos (@sureallyno) that I think sums it up in a nutshell:
The main difference between the PBL approach and PYP is the focus- not on the product,but on the process. A lot of conceptual thinking, too.
Just as PBL needs to be rigorous, When teachers meet for their weekly planning meetings they constantly discuss the rigor of the programme.  The Written Curriculum of the PYP makes sure that each unit of inquiry has to be:
At these collaborative planning meetings I'm also very conscious of the need to discuss how the units will be developing 21st century skills.  Skills are already included as one of the five essential elements of the PYP, and are further defined by the 5 sets of transdisciplinary skills (thinking, social, communication, self-management and research).  The new document from the IBO on the role of ICT in the PYP also defines strands that students should be developing in each unit of inquiry:  investigate, organize, communicate, collaborate, create and emphasizes the importance of becoming responsible digital citizens.  From my point of view there are many Web 2.0 tools that can be used to transform the learning in both PBL and the PYP units of inquiry.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Sharing the Passion

In the past few days I've started reading a new book:  Reinventing Project Based Learning by Suzie Boss and Jane Krauss.  Chapter 2 is about creating a professional learning community/network (PLC/PLN).  I've often taken these terms to mean slightly different things, for example a PLC I take to mean members of my school community, perhaps also including other teachers in local schools with whom it's possible to meet face-to-face.  A good example of this would be the Project Zero cohort I worked with while at the International School of Amsterdam, where a group of us met for lunch biweekly for a year to discuss things we read and how we implemented new ideas in our classes.  A PLN, on the other hand,  I tend to think of in terms of a group of online educators that I don't meet with face-to-face (many of whom I've never actually met at all) but with whom I communicate on a daily basis.  However the important thing about both a PLC or a PLN is that working together in this way brings immeasurable benefits, yet it costs us nothing at all except for our time.

One of the best things about being a member of a PLC or PLN is that as an individual I can draw on the wisdom of the group.  Any question I have is answered (usually within hours) by someone in my online community who knows more than me.  For example yesterday I got really frustrated with TweetDeck which crashed constantly.  Fortunately I received 2 suggestions for other apps that would work well (Tweetbot for the iPhone, Hootsuite for the iPad) from my PLN (one suggestion was from someone who does actually know me as I used to work with her at a previous school, another is from someone whom I have never met as she lives in Australia).  Everyone is happy to help - it's free to share the passion.

Advantages of having a PLN/PLC:

  • No cost (except time)
  • Learning how to learn together - the focus is shifted from what you teach to what you learn
  • The focus can be on improving what you are already doing rather than adding on something new
  • Valuable peer review for your new ideas - before you try them out at school
  • Professional development - you want to learn something new, someone can always help you
  • Your professional life becomes more satisfying - even if you are working in a place that doesn't value change you can be part of the change that is happening elsewhere.  You (and your ideas) don't have to stand still.
  • Your PLN can improve your self-esteem and support you during tough times when it might be hard for one of your face-to-face colleagues to go "out on a limb" for you.
  • The joy of sharing the passion.
Now, if we see how many advantages can come from being part of a PLN/PLC ourselves as teachers, surely we can see the same advantages of students being part of such a group.  Suzie Boss and Jane Krauss write, "A project-based learning collaboration among students is a lot like a professional learning community among teachers." If we are passionate about learning and collaborating with our peers, it's a sure bet that our students will be too.

Photo Credit:  Sharing by Josh Harper AttributionNoncommercialNo Derivative Works