I was originally concerned that I would not have additional resources or examples for completed projects. I like to have models to work from and compare my work to. What I discovered is that I have a wealth of resources and that I am not alone in this. There are MANY more resources than I thought.

Some important "ah ha's" I learned from the PBL sites are that learning is group oriented. Students are required to utilize 21st century learning skills in order to accomplish taks and projects. Students are required and encouraged to ask questions and seek answers. I also found some neat project ideas as well to utilize in the future for my classes.

After viewing the projects on the various sites, I have found that my project is too broad. When I am finished implementing my project there were a few projects on other sites that I would like to try.

The resources provided will help me to develop future projects and to utilize the samples for developing this 1st project by comparing my ideas to help me stay on track.

On PBL Exemplary Projects site the Uncommercial project has students making a 60 second "uncommercial" that informs about a topic of societal concern of their choice. For The Human Disease Project, students choose a disease specific to humans that they want to research. I realized that the projects needs to be of specific interest to the learners, but also broad enough to be completed in a number of different ways.

•Explain how a concern you may have about doing PBL was addressed by previewing the project based learning sites.
A major concern that I had was how can I can make a shift in my delivery of instruction so that the students take on a more active role-and I don't have to plan/structure/assess every daily classroom period. PBL is inquiry based and allows for students to have choice and allows for student involvement-and creativity! I love that I have the opportunity to explore other PBL units.

Describe how a project you found helped your understanding of how Standards Focused PBL is productively different than traditional units.
I'm still having trouble finding something science based and at the high school level that is related to biology or earth science. The science stuff I found seems to be geared toward middle school. I'm struggling to figure out how to do this in the unique environment I'm in and frankly I'm feeling really overwhelmed.

*What important "ah ha's"…
I’m noticing that having a good driving question and a good entry event is going to be pretty important in hooking the students into whatever project you want them to do. The units that somehow catch something that is important to kids (content or process of the project) and then provide the necessary support, seem like they are the most likely to be successful.

Important a-ha: I looked through many projects in the PBL Co-Lab. I found myself thinking repeatedly that this all seems very do-able. That was an "ah-ha" for me. These projects made the whole process seem less vague. We are really trying to bring the world into the classroom but it looks, from these project plans, like a different approach to lesson planning instead of reinventing the wheel. It seems that having a specific goal in mind is really the key.
Describe how a project you found helped your understanding of how Standards Focused PBL is productively different than traditional units.
I like this project called "World Travelers" on the Co-Lab website. It looks similar to a popular traditional project (making travel brochure and/ or planning a trip). This project is different, though, in that it incorporates math, geography, language arts, technology and collaborative communication skills. These are not "bonus" outcomes, but instead critical pieces that are all planned and intentionally embedded into the project. It really is an efficient way to teach once I can get it up and running.

PBL has this mystique about it. As I was reading I found myself thinking, "I can do this. This isn't so frightening." The examples provided helped to put things in perspective. Having never taught this way before, I took away from these resources the importance of a terrific driving question. Many of the examples were more narrow in scope than I expected. This is comforting. iLEARN was very interesting. I can use it with my capstone projects too.

The important ah ha.
With the PBL encompassing so much, I was unsure as to how it would be introduced to the students and draw them in. After viewing several examples, I noticed how the various senarios will peak their interest and make them want to learn more.

•Explain how a concern you may have about doing PBL was addressed by previewing the project based learning sites.
One of my concerns is keeping students on task and working toward the project goal throughout the entire project. Some ideas I saw while previewing sites were:
-asking students to keep a log to chart their progress and make them accountable for their progress on the project
-choosing project with real-world application, such as the Nuclear Power project by Rice and Houston where students study Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, or in Gas Crunch by Rice and Strachan
-involving the community in the project, such as the community hospital's involvement in Hispanic Diabetes Education by Ross
-using technology to create products in the projects as in Creating Multimedia to Help 1st Graders Become Better Readers by Eid

An ah ha moment while reviewing this site is that these projects are much narrower and smaller that the one I am considering. I may need to narrow the focus of my project.

An ah ha that was addressed was just the wide variety of resources that is already out there. There are things out there on so many topics that cover so many topics in so many grade levels. That broadens the community of people to talk to and get resources and suggestions from which makes it nice to not feel all alone.

Describe how a project you found helped your understanding of how Standards Focused PBL is productively different than traditional units.

I have been experiencing many different PBL environments. I have seen many videos showcasing PBL best practices and really what has helped me get a solid understanding about PBL and how it differs from traditional units is that their is a certain teaching practice and pedagogy that is demonstrated in the PBL units. Alluding back to my comments in reflection 1 how is it that we lost this connection with what the students need to help them better their learning. Somewhere down the road we have followed this educational road that is not meeting the needs of all of our students. I am not saying that every student can be successful in PBL (at least not at first - our students are so used to the traditional units some struggle to adapt to the PBL style of learning) some will still prefer the traditional style but I am saying in a PBL structured classroom you are providing an opportunity for students to demonstrate knowledge and make connections that we have not seen in a traditional classroom approach. I am saying that in a PBL environment we have a new opportunity to differentiate instruction for all students so that we can make the most connections with the most students in our classrooms and I feel that the videos I have seen and the PBL schools that I have visited this is extremely evident.

What I noticed that is the main difference is the willingness to go cross curricular with a project. For example I reviewed the Social Studies project on Gun Control. The facilitator of that project is having students involve the arts in their campaign against gun violence and this really makes sense. If many musicians can promote gun violence through the music and lyrics of their songs then why not encourage students to do the opposite thing (rally against gun violence) using the same medium? As educators we shouldn't be afraid to incorporate other content areas if they will help students achieve success and engage them in the project.

The ah ah... It came when I saw all the models that are in the Co-Lab. The "World Traveler," A Virtual Museum of Pennsylvania Workers" and "Where Should I Go This Summer" provide lots of ideas for studying Michigan. Those projects describes many resources for me to model and left me not fealing "alone."