Day 2 of PBL

In the office before class, one of my students came up to me, excited, and asked if we were going to continue the wikis today.  I told her I was planning to do frontal learning today, and to actually discuss the Rashi she showed me yesterday.

Three of the students who weren't here yesterday came in today without the longer introduction that I gave yesterday.  Of those three, one of them dislikes projects, one of them took to it nicely,* and one of them needed more direction than I was able to give her.  She chose to join frontal learning today, even though she dislikes frontal learning.

We discussed the pasuk and Rashi, and it went well.  Only 3 girls chose to work on the wikis, and the other 7 chose frontal learning.  Frontal learning went generally well, since those who were there were choosing to be there.  The one girl who dislikes my class but chose to be there anyway, was disruptive, but somewhat less disruptive than usual.

Next class the plan is to work on wikis.  5 girls are happy to work on wikis.
of the other 5:
2 are happy to learn independently but don't want to do a wiki
1 asked if she could summarize today's class on a wiki. (She is the student who needs more direct instruction, so this works out well.)
1 said she just has no idea what to do.  (She needs more direction)
1 (the one who dislikes my class but doesn't want to do a wiki) said she will come up with a topic by speaking to her grandfather or she will work with the two who want to learn independently.

I need to figure out what to do about the two girls who are not finding the wiki a good medium and who don't have the inclination to find a topic that interests them and to research it.

One of them I know well enough to try to devise an approach for her or to work it out with her.

For the other one, I will consult a colleague who appreciates her learning style for advice.  She is an auditory learner, but I have not been successfully engaging her with the discussions we've been having in class.

We also have not formulated a clear rubric of expectations and assessment.  I find this difficult because each one is working on her level.




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*She went to a Torah discussion group she is part of on facebook to ask for topic ideas and got some suggestions that interested her.  As yet, she has not posted anything on the wiki.  I can only trust that she was working independently and not wasting time, because I was doing frontal teaching today.  She did participate here and there from across the room, and she did not disrupt.