PBL: A Reflection

This past week I created my first PBL project in Google Sites.  Over the past few weeks I came up with a project idea, formed an outline, created a proposal, and finally created a project for my 7th graders-to-be.  I must admit after coming up with a project idea the next few steps weren't too difficult to complete.  They took a little bit of time but were doable.  Creating the Google Site on the other hand was definitely more of a challenge than I thought it would be.  I had a pretty difficult time creating the site.  I couldn't quite get the pages to look right, I had issues with reordering pages with embedding other pages that I had created and editing my content.   However, in the end I am really happy with how the final site turned out.  It was a really good learning experience for me even though I was pretty frustrated during the process.  I am really looking forward to using this project in my future classroom.

As for the use of PBL itself I think it is the most practical way to teach.  I have always found that applying concepts to real situations has helped me to retain information.  Memorizing formulas does not make any math concept meaningful, applying a math concept makes the formula useful.  Looking back at math classes I took, it seems like I was taught to take tests.  Concepts were never really applied to real life situations.  I think students would have been more enthusiastic about learning had they been given opportunities like this.  I am sure I would have been.  I think it also important to note that I was in junior high school way before the internet so PBL was probably a little more difficult to implement but I still think it could have been done to some extent.

As far as the CCSS are concerned I think that they serve as a great guide that really helped me develop my project.  Having a specific set of skills that I am required to teach helped me to really shape my project.  The standards gave me great ideas to incorporate and the confidence to know that I will be teaching my students what they need to know but in a way that will help them retain the concepts.

I feel lucky that I am going to be going into junior high to teach.  By this time students should be very used to using the internet for research purposes.  I think that PBL might be harder to implement in the younger elementary school level simply because they don't have the skills yet.  As a future educator I look forward to implementing PBL into my classroom.  I feel teaching in this way is a great benefit to students as it will enable them to become problem-solvers.