It's been about 2.5 weeks. The largest change is that two of the people who used to be the most disruptive in class are happier. This affects the mood of the entire group, and it's been much easier to teach during the days I do frontal teaching.
Three of the girls who preferred frontal learning are not learning as much as they were the other way. I often feel bad about that. I feel like I'm juggling different types of learners and at any given time, 2 - 4 of them are not learning optimally.
One of the girls is not learning much, but I don't know how much she was learning the previous way, either.
I have no idea how to construct a rubric for grading. I have no idea how to have them participate in constructing a grading rubric. I feel like they would shrug if I ask for input.
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Monday, April 20, 2015
Update
So the project based learning has some complications.
Of the 4 people for whom it is designed:
Of the 4 people for whom it is designed:
- 2 are working beautifully
- 1 says she is enjoying it. She is a quick worker and I'm concerned she'll run out of motivation and energy since she's been very productive and may need a new challenge
- 1 this learning platform is not good for her at all. She is unmotivated and has difficulty working on her own and loses interest working with others
of the other 6 students:
- 2 are working beautifully
- 2 are working well at independent work but don't want to do a wiki
- 2 require frontal teaching, which I am doing with them.
I've been alternating days where I am available to help the independent learners and days where I teach frontally.
However, on the days where I am available to help the independent learners, the 2 who require frontal teaching don't know what to do with themselves.
Tomorrow I will see if they can summarize what we've been learning as a wiki.
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
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.
_________
*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.
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.
_________
*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.
Monday, April 13, 2015
Two Concerns
1) I miss the benefit of group discussion. There is a lot of learning that comes about when the students discuss an idea together.
2) Although this seems like a good platform for promoting general knowledge and for encouraging independent learning, I am not sure this approach would be useful for increasing text skills.
2) Although this seems like a good platform for promoting general knowledge and for encouraging independent learning, I am not sure this approach would be useful for increasing text skills.
First day of PBL
Today I showed them the wikispaces.
Out of the four girls for whom I switched to PBL:
Some of the students were nervous. What is their page supposed to look like? How will I grade it? What are they supposed to do? They are very focused on being told how to learn and how to get good grades, and feel rudderless without more specifics.
Some of the students were excited at the freedom.
The one who hates projects and wants to be taught did find some pesukim that intrigued her. She does not want to make a wiki page. But she's learning happily.
We still haven't discussed assessment criteria.
Two of the students do not have the stamina to work on their own for an hour. One of them was confused about the layout of the website and felt stumped. She ended up working with someone else, but the two of them didn't know what to do after choosing a topic and putting the pesukim and translations on their page.
I think for those students, I might need to create specific assignments for them so they can direct and focus their learning.
Out of the four girls for whom I switched to PBL:
- 2 were not there.
- One was delighted and took to it immediately.
- One got busy and immersed immediately.
Some of the students were nervous. What is their page supposed to look like? How will I grade it? What are they supposed to do? They are very focused on being told how to learn and how to get good grades, and feel rudderless without more specifics.
Some of the students were excited at the freedom.
The one who hates projects and wants to be taught did find some pesukim that intrigued her. She does not want to make a wiki page. But she's learning happily.
We still haven't discussed assessment criteria.
Two of the students do not have the stamina to work on their own for an hour. One of them was confused about the layout of the website and felt stumped. She ended up working with someone else, but the two of them didn't know what to do after choosing a topic and putting the pesukim and translations on their page.
I think for those students, I might need to create specific assignments for them so they can direct and focus their learning.
Beginning the PBL on wikispaces
I decided to start Project Based Learning with my class after Pesach. I teach 11th grade Chumash nonhonors in an all girls Yeshiva High School. This year I have only 10 students. Some of the class have been enjoying it very much how I've been running it until now (combination of pesukim translation and analysis, discussion, and review b'chevrusa work). But some of the students are bored and dissatisfied and talking a lot.
Right now the breakdown is:
2 eager to learn
2 talk or leave or sleep
1 extremely vocal about dissatisfaction and causing a negative vibe in classroom
1 very talkative but also participatory when interested
+4 fairly satisfied with status quo
----
10 students
Although the majority of girls (6) are happy with the way the class has been going, the other 4 have been disruptive or talkative. I've been increasingly frustrated trying to teach people who don't want to learn.
I have been thinking a lot about the concept of handing them a Devarim and saying, "Go learn. I'm here for questions."
To do this, I've decided to use wikispaces. I created a classroom called Devarim and assigned each student a username and password.
I made a page with a list of suggested topics, and a page with a link to pesukim and translations, and a page with a link to mefarshim (daat and sefaria).
When I told them we were going to do this after Pesach, the people who are disruptive were very excited about it. One or two others expressed dismay. They don't like projects and they like being taught. I figured maybe we would do some days of the week I focus on guiding the PBL, and some days a week I would do frontal teaching for those who prefer that.
Right now the breakdown is:
2 eager to learn
2 talk or leave or sleep
1 extremely vocal about dissatisfaction and causing a negative vibe in classroom
1 very talkative but also participatory when interested
+4 fairly satisfied with status quo
----
10 students
Although the majority of girls (6) are happy with the way the class has been going, the other 4 have been disruptive or talkative. I've been increasingly frustrated trying to teach people who don't want to learn.
I have been thinking a lot about the concept of handing them a Devarim and saying, "Go learn. I'm here for questions."
To do this, I've decided to use wikispaces. I created a classroom called Devarim and assigned each student a username and password.
I made a page with a list of suggested topics, and a page with a link to pesukim and translations, and a page with a link to mefarshim (daat and sefaria).
When I told them we were going to do this after Pesach, the people who are disruptive were very excited about it. One or two others expressed dismay. They don't like projects and they like being taught. I figured maybe we would do some days of the week I focus on guiding the PBL, and some days a week I would do frontal teaching for those who prefer that.
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