Those who know me know that I’m not afraid of change–particularly when I think it meets a need. And when I approach change, I rarely tip toe into the shallow end. Rather, I do my homework, and then I dive into the deep end, confident that I have the skills to pull myself and others to shore. This time? I think I have moved beyond a simple dive. I’ve grabbed my knees, tucked my chin, and plunged into the water, making as big a splash as I possibly can.
The question is why? What’s different this time? I think it’s the convergence of many things.
For the last several years, I have been committed to exposing students to inquiry-based instruction. I have worked with practicing teachers, helping them design inquiry-based lessons–and I’ve seen it make huge impacts on students and their learning. I have also worked with preservice teachers modeling inquiry approaches and asking them to imagine what it might look like in their own classrooms. And while my preservice teachers almost always find it interesting, very few are convinced that it can work as a cornerstone of their instruction.
During the fall semester, I found myself struggling to help a handful of students envision what inquiry might look like during the two class periods we focused on the concept. As I was puzzling through this challenge, I was also having conversations with colleagues and other teachers about the lack of innovation we were seeing in our students. I realized that one of the reasons our preservice teachers were uncertain about inquiry’s role in their teaching was that very few of them were actually seeing it in their clinical experiences–or even in their own experiences as middle or high school students. Upon this realization, I decided I needed to rework my own course design so that preservice teachers could experience a course that paired content learning with inquiry-based instruction. This was the seed for redesigning my middle level disciplinary literacy course as a PBL-driven course.
At the same time, I was also working alongside a group of teachers at the Regional Alternative School (RAS). Their goal, guided by the principal, was to reimagine their own instruction through a PBL lens. Through conversations with the principal about my visions for my college course, he invited me to hold the class in his building. As I thought about the offer, I realized it just made sense. I had already determined that our class would focus on the question, “How can we impact hunger in the community?” The answer to this question could directly impact some of the students in the school. The school is located in the middle of downtown Bloomington, near a community impacted by hunger. And the school itself has a food pantry to aid students, their families, and others in the community. So, situating our inquiry in this space seemed more logical than holding class on campus.
The human capital at RAS also makes shifting our course to the school appealing. Because the teachers are interested in learning more about PBL and using the approach with their students, they are willing to join forces. This means that while my students, the preservice teachers, are learning about PBL, they can also work as mentors and teachers alongside high school students who are also learning content through PBL. Content-focused PBL becomes a concrete experience rather than an abstract theory. And rather than learning about PBL only through me, both groups of students can learn how to structure their inquiries from teachers at the school. It seems like too good an opportunity to pass up, doesn’t it?
So here I go. Here WE go. I’m excited, but also a bit nervous. I like change. This change is needed. But can we pull it off? I know students can learn about science, math, ELA, and social studies through this framework. But will they make the connections to literacy? Will they learn how to use technology authentically and effectively–another goal of this course–through this approach? Will using PBL in this manner help preservice teachers imagine teaching differently? How will the partnership between the high school students and preservice teachers play out? Will the teachers get what they want out of the experience? As we begin the semester, there are so many unknowns. I’m interested in finding out what happens. I hope those of you reading this are interested, too. So get ready to jump high and make a big splash.
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