Megan+Fletcher's+PBL+Page

Problem-Based Learning Lesson

Megan- Nice job on your lesson plan. I was wondering where you teach and what content are your content standards from? From the lesson I would guess that it is social studies. Is there any way that you can conect this lesson to other content areas? I don't think that it is entirely critical, but it might help to develop more connections. I love the fact that you have 80 minute periods! Do you have 80 minutes every day? ~Erin

Hi Erin, AVID (Advancement via Individual Determination) is an 8th grade class that centers around college preparation, collaboration, study skills, and much more. All students in the class have to be enrolled in a class of rigor or high school-credited course and have standardized test scores at the 50th percentile or above. (It sounds scary, huh?) The class actually has its own set of content standards, as well. Sorry for the confusion...I need to fix that. Yes, we do have 80 minute class periods a day. A particular class will meet every other day at different times due to a rotating block schedule. It can get crazy, but I like it. Also, I teach for DoDDS in Okinawa, Japan on a Marine base. ~Megan F.

Hi Megan, Coming from Elementary math your lesson is so different than what I do. Interesting! I really enjoyed reading about the instructional methods and strategies you will use with your students. Very detailed. I saw a typo you can fix. In the during class section under #1 change rainstorm to **__b__**rainstorm. Just some clarification or things to think about - together you are only doing the K-W part of the lesson, right? Is the H-L part independent? If so, are you going to have some differentiation ready for students who need it? How about posting some sites (with perhaps easier reading levels) on a delicious account for students to access? Will students all be working independently on the research or will they have the option to work in pairs or small groups? Good job! Lynne

Hi Lynne, These are great questions and they are important for me to think about. Also, thanks for letting me know about the typo.I was thinking that we would do the K-W part together and the H-L part either independently or cooperatively with a partner or small group since one of the class content standards is to enhance students' collaboration skills. I also like the idea of posting some sites to help students narrow their searches. I can post links to sites on my school home page/Share Point site for students to access. I am still working with my delicious account...it is not smooth running for me yet. Maybe I will have a student look at it and give me some feedback on the tool.~Megan F.