Differentiated Instruction through the 8 Elements of Project Based Learning

Project Based Learning (PBL) is an efficient structure for Differentiated Instruction (DI). Here is a breakdown of suggested means to differentiate within the 8 elements of PBL. Additional references are at the end of this document.

1.     Significant Content
Scaffolding content and skills based on students’ readiness is important when differentiating content. The Project Teaching and Learning Guide is a necessary tool for breaking down the concepts and skills learners must acquire. Based on this analysis, teachers design scaffolded lessons for supporting learning in case students do not succeed with the 1^st or 2^nd attempt.
Suggested strategies:
Tiered activities, Think Dots, Graphic Organizers, media that represents content differently, RAFTs, Homogenous study groups, Guided Reading, Mini-Workshops, Multiple Intelligences (such as Robert Sternberg), Readers Apprenticeship

2.     21^st Century Skills
Skills such as Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, and Innovation are important learning tools as well as global skills. Effective teams help each other grasp content and think critically in a thoughtful manner. Assessment should be a varied mix of approaches such as written, oral, and media-based. Evaluations should include feedback from the students about themselves and each other. These practices support development of 21^st Century Skills, learning content, and foster more accurate outcomes.
Suggested strategies:
Teaming heterogeneously and homogeneously  jigsaw, fishbowl, tiered activities, learning contracts, learning profile cards, Critique groups, Writer’s Workshop

3.     Driving Question
The DQ is a focus for the PBL unit. Students must answer the question by the end of the project to demonstrate understanding of the key concepts. Students find content purposeful when a DQ is targeted for an audience beyond the classroom or building. Often generated by teachers, students can generate their own so as to focus on their interests within the unit. DQs can be framed to address different levels of content complexity.
Suggested strategies:
Tiered composition, RAFTs, Self-generated, Mentors

4.     In-Depth Inquiry
Deep research and understanding of content is essential to critical thinking and analysis. We coach students, sometimes with scaffolds, to help them practice thinking tools. Metacognitive skills help learners make sense of targeted outcomes.
Suggested strategies:
Mini-workshops, Tiered activities, RAFTs, Fishbowl, Socratic Seminars, Graphic Organizers, Jigsaws, Multiple Intelligences (such as Robert Sternberg)

5.     Need to Know
Relevance and purpose are critical factors to learn something. How we connect the concepts and skills to students’ schema for what is important or related to them leads to deeper roots of comprehension. Entry events and entry documents when combined help build the initial buzz for a unit when strong relevance is made apparent. Relating the DQ to daily lessons helps students to understand how what is work today connect to the final product or presentation at the end of the unit.
Suggested strategies:
Multi-media, Field Trips, Guest speaker, simulation, team-based activity, on-going connections to contemporary world of students, multiple intelligence (such as Robert Sternberg)

6.     Voice and Choice
Students build interest when they have choices. They have buy-in when they have voice in their learning. The “Need to Know” activity fosters buy-in because students determine when content is sufficiently addressed. Having an open-ended product, aligned to clear criteria, encourages students to express themselves in whatever medium that allows them to best demonstrate understanding. Choices are good when teachers need to maintain a narrow scope for student responses. Voice promotes deeper understanding, driven by the curiosity and interest of the learner.
Suggested strategies:
Frayer Model, Think Dots, RAFTs, multiple intelligence (such as Robert Sternberg)

7.     Revision and Reflection
Learning how to review, reflect, and revise work and thinking helps students to make deeper connections with content. Coaching students on how to have constructive conversations ties neatly with developing 21^st Century Skills and In-Depth Inquiry. These PBL elements work together seamlessly.
Suggested strategies:
Critique groups, Writer’s Workshop, Reading Circle, fishbowl, Socratic Seminar, gallery walks

8.     Public Audience
Having an authentic audience builds meaning and context for learning. Sharing their understanding helps students more deeply root the content and critical thinking. As with 21^st Century Skills, students communicating their learning in an engaged session with others is an effective way for them to get what they need in achieving academic goals.
Suggested strategies:
Multiple intelligence (such as Robert Sternberg), multi-media, mentors, gallery walks, mentors

References
Buck Institute for Education. Differentiated Instruction through Project Based Learning. http://www.youtube.com/user/BIEPBL#p/c/A7998A9B543876E2/10/Grd_ozJQE_E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Grd_ozJQE_E

Carol AnnTomlinson. Fulfilling the Promise of the Differentiated Classroom: Strategies and Tools for Responsive Teaching. ASCD (2003)

John McCarthy. The Learning Classrooms. http://learningclassrooms.pbworks.com

Stirred, a thriller that also represents a "different" way of publishing

I had the opportunity to read the novel Stirred by J.A. Konrath and Blake Crouch. It's a great thriller that brings to culmination two series by these two exceptional authors.

View Stirred on Amazon

These authors are pioneers on what epublishing can be for the masses through 21st Century Skills. There are many traditional publishing organizations, as well as hybrid where 3rd parties handle your work for a fee. And then there are the kind of mad innovative minds of these authors who make a successful living tackling the process themselves and make it look easy. In many ways the process can be easy once explored and with a good guide. A Newbie's Guide to Publishing is a great place to start.

Steve Jobs - Living the life of our future

Wednesday, October 5, 2011, a man died but his visions and ideas remain. He gave a commencement speech in 2005 for Standford University that, listening to it on NPR, moved me deeply. A message of hope and promise, mixed with an American ideas of independence and collaboration, is a gift of wisdom for all ages, besides the new college graduates. A recent Washington Post shared the them of that speech: Steve Jobs: Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish

It's with honor that I introduce Steve Job's speech, given in 2005:


Speech link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc

Stay hungry, stay foolish,...How do we help our students experience such a rich opportunity?

News Sources = Source for PBL Ideas and activities

How do you turn an ordinary Project-Based Learning unit into something extraordinary? 

This is one driving question that I'm often exploring, as there is so much at stake for a successful learning experience that leads to academic achievement and development of global skills that are necessary to adult success. And...there is not just 1 answer.

Although, I would suggest that if the end result of a PBL unit is that students use what they learn to help or change the "world" outside of their classroom, that is a very good start. News articles can help us find ideas for inspiring students to make meaningful connections between content and the global community. Through such connections, students alongside students can develop or design meaningful ways to impact or influence others through their academic understandings.

For example, consider these articles from today's news:

Tourists despise tiny fish but anglers love them

From MI news about strange silver creatures washing up ashore of MI beaches. Where did they come from and what impact might they have on our environment and tourism?

Is default deadline truly Aug 2? Analysts say no

As the debt ceiling debate continues, how does time management influence or effect our decisions, and what are effective ways to organize timelines for project efficiency? (project is a metaphor for all kinds of work and tasks)

Morgan Admits Dodgy Practices

With greater scrutiny on the press, there is much to explore from effective research practices (online and traditional), ethical practices, and truth telling. How best can we get accurate information when media sources express conflicting reports? Should ever the "end justify the means" in the workplace?

U.S. likely to lose top rating: economists

With the congressional deadline looming about the US debt ceiling, there those who speculate that the US is already negatively affected. What would happen if the US lost it's AAA credit rating, and what would it take to regain it? How could leader's convictions of beliefs be rigid and flexible?

News from the serious, to humorous, to fluff can generate ways for students to find their voice in a PBL unit. They and educators uncover connections between content and community context. I invite you to find articles and post them as used here for connections to PBL ideas.

RSA Animate - Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us

Results-Only Learning Environment

Much of the focus of the Education world for achievement is on what the adult stakeholders can or should do to improve the system. There are some innovative ideas generated, tested, and implemented. How can we help students be successful. How do we hold accountability to standards based on practice that is evidenced-based. What will schools of the future look like?

These are only some of the challenges that educators grapple with in seeking what is best for students. Through all of the work that's done, few include a missing element. One that may, in its simplicity, be the most difficult and critical element for success...

YouTube - Results-Only Learning Environment PechaKucha Style

Rigor, Relevance, and Relationships are touted as critical to education. Yet few school cultures incorporate students as an equal member, much less the driving member of the learning team. Students can best determine the what and how of learning. For proof, look at adults regarding our learning. Give me the deadline and learning targets, and I will take the pathways that works for me. Reading, talking to others, watching videos...varying location from walks, cafes, desk, floor...with music or silence depending on "my" mood. It doesn't matter how or what I do, so long as the deadlines are met and the outcome produce is of high quality.

Shouldn't that be what's best for students?

Coach students on how to work in this format. Believe that they are capable if given the opportunity and guidance. Trust that they can succeed. When they fail, it's the best opportunity for them to learn and grow. It's our responsibility to teach them how to learn from mistakes.

Shouldn't that be what's best for students?

23 Things for Teachers and 23 Things for Administrators

Learning is in part a cyclical process. I will be reengaging 23 Things for Teachers to analyze, what I hope to discover, that my understanding has deepened from a year ago. Also, I want to support my colleagues as we dialogue on supporting 21st Century Skills that students need to develop and refine. 23 Things for Administrators is an opportunity to study the nuances for how Web 2.0, and by extension 21st Century Skills, can be used to support their work as leaders. For administrators who live up to or aspire to become Instructional Leaders, or Servant Leaders, to foster growth in their staff, Web 2.0 tools are means to forward student learning-centered agendas.

I will continue to post about educational contexts, other than Web 2.0 tools. The vision is not abandoned or remotely set aside. While we strive for What's Best for All, this forum will continue to further that cause.

21st Century Skills in Action

I read an article that illustrated how 21st Century Skills with current technology skills are important to hone by our students.
Warcraft Helps Catch a Crook tells a tale of detective work that went beyond just calling Blizzard and getting account information. All the tools needed were in one paragraph of the article. I've linked the relevant tools.

"Blizzard [WoW] played ball, giving up Hightower's account history, IP address [Lookup], screen name, billing address and preferred game server. One Google Earth search later, and Canadian authorities had apprehended Hightower in Ottowa, Ontario."

http://videogames.yahoo.com/events/plugged-in/warcraft-helps-catch-a-crook/1383804

Deductive reasoning, among other critical thinking skills, combined with using such tools make for valuable experiences that students can apply to their lives. This article shows a great job-embedded example of 21st Century Skills.

Resources
Route 21
A good resource and reference on 21st Century Skills. It's part of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills.

One valuable format for this type of instruction is Project-Based Learning. It addresses critical thinking, across curriculum areas, embedding 21st century skills, and student directed learning.

• Leading Project-Based Learning
  Online tutorial that educators are using to learn about and develop their own projects.
  Check out their resource library.
  
  
• Buck Institute (BIE)
  This non-profit organization is having a tremendous influence on how PBL is approached. Many successful educational organizations such as High Tech High and New Tech Network have their PBL roots through BIE. The organization works with educational institutions at state and local levels. Their influence is being felt in the business world and internationally.
  Youtube Site | Tools

Videos are great learning tools. This sampling may help further explain and support 21st Century Skills.

A Vision of K-12 Students Today

 

 Partnership for 21st Century Skills: Teaching 21st Century Learners

Learning to Change/Changing to Learn: Student Voices