Isn’t that what we are to be? As I looked around today during our first day back, I thought how much potential we have and influence with these students coming to us. In only one week, I will see an average of 120 students a day. I will spend more time with these kids than a parent. How can I prepare these kids for what the 21st century has for them? My plan…PBLs.
PBLs or Problem-Based Learning is nothing new. It has been around forever. I just need to figure out how to make it work for me.
I spent three days this summer at Goddard Space Center learning from real-life scientists. I walked away thinking that if science class had always been like that I would have been a scientist instead of an English teacher. Wow! What a jump, right? I know. We spent about an hour working on a PBL for where to land the Mars Rover on its next mission. I was so into it. I could not wait to hear where NASA had actually chosen to land it. When I did learn where it would be, I was extremely disappointed it was not the location I had determined to be the best. Like I know what I am really talking about, but whatever. I got into it.
Imagine the kids of today. They are our future. These kids will run the world someday, or they will run it into the ground. I would prefer not the latter. What, then, can I do to make these kids forward-thinkers? I really believe one way is to use PBLs in class, even in my English curriculum.
Here is the assignment: http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/classroom/roverquest/lesson01.html
Testin' Tech 