PBL- The Main Course... Not Dessert
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I. Driving Question:
How can we design effective PBL for our classroom? II. Inquiry:
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Project-Based Learning Steps
- Beginner to Projects- Go to Buck Institute and sample planning forms and templates
- PBL Design Elements
- Craft a great driving question using the Tubric
- What does it look like in an elementary school?
Project Ideas and Inspirations
- Great searchable project index
- Begin with the end in mind-- end products
- Don't know where to start with Project-Based Learning (PBL)- start here with already made ones
- Stuck trying to find ideas- search here
- Intel's Unit Plan Index has a great listing of ideas divided by grade levels.
Tools I Can't Live Without:
Great resource that supports all essentials of PBL with tech.
Taking Notes
- Notability- App for iPad that combines handwriting, photos and typing to bring your projects to life.
- Evernote – Capture, index and remember information using a computer, phone, and web. Students can take notes, capture favorite videos, save webpages, and collaborate on projects using Evernote. It is the notebook of the 21st century.
Collaboration and Brainstorming
- Padlet – Virtual post-it note board. Students can post pictures and text.
- Lino.it – Multimedia post-it note canvas. Great way to engage students in brainstorming online. Provide a topic and allow them to generate ideas and/or ask questions before they begin prewriting. Students can post comments, images, and video. Teachers can create groups and make canvases private or public.
- Google Drive – Make collaborative writing & group work online easy. Engage many students on one document. Use the Google forms for peer editing, creating a digital rubric and collecting feedback.
Research and Curation
- Diigo – All-in-one research tool. Highlight, annotate, and archive digital resources. Download the toolbar and actively read/engage any digital resource on the Internet. Students can collect and share their digital annotations!
- Pinterest- Best online bulletin board out there. Make a board, pin stuff, share. Very visual.
URL Shorteners and QR Code Readers/Creators
- Goo.gl - Google’s URL shortener and automatic QR code generator.
- Tinyurl.com- URL shortener that allows you to create a custom alias. Easy to remember and share.
- QR Stuff – Design colorful QR codes and choose from a variety of printing formats. Quizlet – Make flashcards, make quizzes, share them with students.
- i-Nigma- Best and most accurate QR code reader I have found. It works on most any mobile device.
Creative Ways to Get Your Point Across
- Wordle – Create colorful word clouds from text you provide. This is an easy way to highlight the main points from an online conversation, speech, article, etc.
- WordItOut- Word Cloud generator that works in Chrome
- Jing- Downloadable screen capture program that allows annotation on images as well as video creation.
- Educreations – Record lectures to flip your teaching. Upload images and use drawing tools to record a tutorial for students!
- Animoto – “Automatically produces beautifully orchestrated, completely unique video pieces from your photos, video clips, and music.” Add photos and music to create free 30 seconds (for free lite version). Paid versions available. Syncs with Facebook, Flickr, Picasa, Photobucket, and SmugMug!
- Fotoflexer- Easy and free online photo editing software. It has ads that are annoying, but this requires no sign up or sign in. Go there and start using.
Communication
Remind 101 – Send text mes
sage reminders to students, stay connected to parents. One way communication from teacher to students and parent