Meeting+Standards

How do I ensure that students meet standards--and meet enough of them to make the effort worthwhile--in open-ended activities and projects?

 * //**Concerns**// || //**Solutions**// ||
 * will they be able to apply them in different subject areas || if you can work with curriculum extensions/ specials/ itinerants (music, art, drama, gym, foreign language), you can enhance your curriculum and save a little time ||
 * will students be mature enough to handle this standard or the project || as a class or large group, the teacher can modify; if it's an individual or a few students who don't have the maturity, work with the group above, use parent volunteers, ask administrators to come in and give a hand, have a buddy from a different grade level ||
 * classroom management--will I spend more time managing groups instead of managing learning || in Responsive Classroom management, you spend time at the beginning of the year investing time in having successful classroom activities; ||
 * will all children be able to meet the standard? || they don't do it when you're not doing PBL, so why should PBL be any different? In PBL, they're more apt, and some who didn't get it in the traditional approach will actually get it via PBL ||
 * if the standards are split between groups and one group becomes expert in an area, will they really learn the information from the other groups and internalize it? (if one group teaches another group, does the other group learn it as well as when they teach) || if they learn 100% of their area in which they are expert and only 40% of the other areas that they learn from their peers, they are still learning a lot in the standards and probably more than from traditional approaches; students don't learn when they're stressed, PBL has the potential to reduce that stress ||
 * will I have access to enough computers (or will computers be available...someone else signs up for the cart/lab) when I need them? || sign up early, some days they don't work even if you have access; always have a non-technology backup (can you get something done with just one computer--switch to using the projector or doing stations/centers); a picture can bring closure to most anything so take a picture ||
 * multi-age classrooms--can I meet the standards for both grade levels at the same time? || have a "gallery" for all the grades to share accomplishments that are in the same "genre" of standard (pottery) but different implementations (canopic jar, pinch pot, coil, slab, . . . ) ||
 * will BESS (or other filtering/blocking software) allow students to access the sites you've selected? || some stuff can be saved to disk; unblock the teacher computer and have the site bookmarked; portaportal; find the same information on an allowable website (teachertube vs. youtube); get parent volunteers to try out the sites on BESS as well as find substitutes for those sites that won't go through ||
 * how do you prove to parents that students are meeting standards WITHOUT a standardized test score? || rubrics and checklists can "translate" the knowledge and skills that students are acquiring to more traditional methods that parents can understand/believe ||

If students are in charge of their own learning, how will we be sure they learn what is important?

 * **Concerns** || **Solutions** ||
 * how do you ensure students are really doing what they're supposed to be doing? || checklists, invite lots of visitors frequently ;-) ||
 * how do you ensure that each student is participating equally (no one is slacking, no one is taking over the group)? || pick a group monitor or make that one of the job assignments; some specific cooperative structure strategies can help ||
 * how do you find time to meet with each student to help each individual learn what s/he wants to learn? || stations and one station is the teacher station, special lunch, quiet time with music--everyone else is working and you can meet with one student; "exit tickets" or individualized KWL chart questions near the end of the unit ||
 * when they think they're done but you know they haven't gone in-depth enough, how do you motivate them to do more? || set expectations up front through a sample; praise a different group or individual for their extensive work in order to inspire the other groups (not just one); rubrics and checklists; acknowledge that they're "done" and then give the group a "new" assignment that will target the area that you feel they missed ||

How do I ensure accountability when students are working in groups?

 * **Concerns** || **Solutions** ||
 * (see concerns above) || (see corresponding solution above) ||
 * what do you do when special needs students don't have access to their accommodations (deaf child's interpreter doesn't show up that day,...) how do you still include them? ||  ||