PBL

Hey Digital World! My name is Steve Thomaschefsky, I am a veteran teacher of 16 years. For the first 15 years I taught Technology Engineering in the same district. This past fall I decided to try my hand as a Technology Integrator while still teaching a few hours in a new district.

The title what is my why is a very important phrase to me. I have 2 very important reasons I am stepping out of the shadows to voice what I know. They are my children I do not want to see them "play school" I want them to be active learners in their environment. Everyday I ask them the same questions when I pick them up. What is one thing you learned today? How often were you up moving around? What did you do well today? and What do you want to learn?

Since I have a Technology Engineering background PBL is easy for me. That is how I learn by seeing, touching and examining the real world. The age old question of when will I ever use this....... show them when and how! I promise they will remember the material, learn with them.

Project Based Learning has been around since man first stepped out of the cave. The problem we now have in education is that there are a lot in education that still view "Teaching" the same as it was years ago. Our role is changing into more of a "Coach". This is a difficult topic and one that is not all that popular in many circle. If we are going to truly embrace different learning styles we have to incorporate PBL for those students.

I have always tried to find a way to effectively explain PBL.....checkout the link below. Heather Wolpert-Gawron does a great job. Let me know what you think.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/what-heck-project-based-learning-heather-wolpert-gawron

Thanks,

Steve