Teacher Reflections: Year 1 (2015)PurposeThis is a page dedicated to sharing the experiences of a teacher implementing Challenged Based Learning for the first time. I will share my process, victories, lessons learned, and overall experience.
StudentsIn February I was asked to take over a ELA support class of 12th graders who were on the path to graduate but needed to be placed somewhere to stay on campus because of district policy. Students were accustomed to having a full hour of freedom while being on a high school campus.
In the Beginning- Life in the DayThe first project I choose to have students create was a Day in the Life. I wanted students to learn how to work as a team, each learning different roles and to choose a topic that interested them. Most students picked up the planning and storyboard fairly quickly. I had one group that was slow to start and slow to produce. I sat down with this group and helped them through the process. Once we got through the hurdle of writing their storyboard, they quickly picked up how to film.
Presenting and Reflecting on Day in the LifeAfter students completed their films, I reserved Spartan Hall to project them on a large screen. Students were given popcorn and scoring sheets. Each student introduced their movie using a prompted they completed the previous day. After each movie was shown, we applauded and scored. The following week, i tabulated all of the scores so each team could reflect on their movies effectiveness using data.
Students had to choose an iPAD app to reflect. Several groups choose SockPuppets. The only obstacle I found was exporting them. You are limited to linking them to Facebook or YouTube but with LAUSD blocks this became a big obstacles Challenged Based Learned !???Challenged Based Learning was a new teaching tool for me. I have heard about and have friends who are very knowledge but I never actually tried it, so I was nervous. I used Apple's CBL classroom guide which was very helpful.
First steps- CBLOur first steps for CBL was brainstorming. Students where given post its to write problems on. I created a poster for World Issues/ CA Issues, and Sylmar Issues. Once students wrote 2-3 problems on each post it, they posted them on the right poster.
Next students choose a poster to stand next to and discuss each problem. They had to identify similarities and what type of issue it was- resource, environmental, social, etc CBL ProcessLastly, students had to decide on a problem they wanted to solve. They formed their own groups and started working on the project packet I gave them, Some of the last included identifying the issue, guiding questions, challenge, guiding activities, etc.
Students started doing online research to ensure they truly understood the problem. Then they created a storyboard for their CBL Problem video. This time we used iMovie on the Macbook which was a challenge for some. CBL ObstaclesMaking a video was a challenge for a couple groups which led to them missing deadlines. Another obstacle was research. I assumed they knew how to research and find information, which was not the case. At one point, we had to step away from the technology and review how to research. I picked a topic and as a class we brainstormed questions we had using Who, What, When, Where, How, Why, etc. We worked through each section step by step sharing questions, paraphrasing questions, and identifying the most effective questions.
Students then got back into their groups to create questions for their topic, to eventually guide their research. This intervention or pausing moment, really made a huge difference in our process and the progress of videos and research. CBL- ProductsWhen students submitted their projects, I noticed that photo quality had not been monitored. So I decided to make it a learning lesson. I projected everyone videos on the screen and had students identify what worked and what could be improved for each movie. By doing this the problem was apparent enough for students to recognize instead of the teacher pointing it out. Students were given a couple more days to improve their videos.
When students turned in their improved products they were of a higher quality. Once again as a class we watched each video and rated its effectiveness. CBL- Last Minute ChangesI realized in hindsight that students needed to write a brief intro to their problem. Students answered several basic questions to form their informational paragraphs such as What is it about? Who is involved? Why should we care? What was your process?
These paragraphs were they posted next to their videos. CBL Reflections |
Students were asked once again to reflect on their victories, the lessons they learned, and the effectiveness of their videos. Students filmed their response, used sock puppets, show me, etc. During the process, I created how to's to try to increase our time effectiveness. In hind sight, I should have recruited students to do it though I learned a lot in the process.
Teacher Examples
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Teacher Reflection
Teacher Created Resources
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All materials were created by Ms. Angelina Garcia.