Week 9: Brian Crosby's Classroom

Brian Crosby's presentation of his classroom was refreshing. A lot of the ideas we have explored this semester are exciting to me, but many seem so far out of reach. For instance, watching the video about the Project-Based Learning school in Minnesota was exciting. I have to admit I'm envious of the whole program. What an excellent way to learn! I wish I had gone to a high school like that, and I would love to be able to teach in that sort of environment, but the reality is I don't.

It is easy to get lost in a sea of possibilities when studying education, and that's not always a bad thing. Nonetheless, I have to focus on the ways I can improve my instruction for my current students in the school where I currently teach. Having said that, a curriculum based on students choosing projects is not going to happen anytime soon at my school, and frankly I have my doubts that it would work well with our student population. That's not to say our students cannot benefit from project-based learning, but most of them do not have the motivation or character to take responsibility for their learning. I see this frequently while teaching Wood Shop. I have very few students who are willing to own their work. Project-based learning at my school would have to be more teacher-driven, I believe, at least in most cases.

Brian's presentation was encouraging because I can actually see a lot of his ideas being possible for me to implement in my current situation. Granted, everything he did with his class must have required an extraordinary amount of planning. I seem to find myself struggling to keep up with planning as it is. Each semester I have taught, I have taken on another course I have never taught before. I like the change, but it's hard to come up with a semester worth of curriculum in the middle of the year. At the moment, finding the time to plan far enough ahead to complete a project like that one Brian presented seems unlikely, but summer will come eventually.

For this semester, I think I will find small ways in which to introduce project-based learning. I would like to do it with all of my students, but I might start with the more advanced students. Again, I think all students can gain equally from PBL, but I think I would have a very hard time getting most of my students to design their own projects and an equally hard time getting them to buy-in to any project I present to them.