Impactful PBL Podcast

Season 2 of the Impactful PBL Podcast ended in May which marked two years of this podcast. The podcast started as a “learn in public” project so that I can document my professional journey and share insights about what I’m learning about project-based learning. In this episode, I’m sharing a progress update on my 2021-2022 goals and why I'm pausing the podcast.

Tune in to...

• Explore what it means to learn in public and why I started this podcast
• Hear why I'm shifting to building in public
• Examine successes & failures with my 2021-2022 professional growth goals
• Hear about my professional growth goals for the 2022-2023 school year and what it means for this podcast

Are you ready to become a high-impact project-based educator?

1. [FREE] Download the Impactful PBL Roadmap™  planning document to craft your next project-based learning unit + receive weekly tips to enhance your facilitation skills via email.
2. [FREE] Check out The Impactful PBL Roadmap™: 9 Steps to PBL Success e-guide which covers the nine phases you need to design a memorable, authentic, and rigorous learning experience for K-8 students via project-based learning.
3. [PAID] Join our Impactful PBL Roadmap™: Launch program, an online course, coach, and community of educators exploring and implementing research-backed project-based instructional practices.

Phase 2 of the Impactful PBL Roadmap™ is to map the scenario and write a driving question. The initial scenario structure will involve first determining what students will learn (i.e. standards), thinking of a theme or topic second, and then writing the driving question. The next step is to draft a scenario. I've noticed that most teachers can select standards, a theme, and compose a driving question but some struggle with writing the scenario in its entirety. In this episode, we will explore how to write a compelling scenario for a PBL unit.

Are you ready to become a high-impact project-based educator?

1. [FREE] Download the Impactful PBL Roadmap™  planning document to craft your next project-based learning unit + receive weekly tips to enhance your facilitation skills via email.
2. [FREE]  Review the Impactful PBL™ Toolkit, which provides proven strategies and invaluable tips for building a sustainable project-based learning culture at your school without overwhelming the instructional leaders, teachers, and students.

As I support teachers to design project-based learning experiences, I notice confusion often arises during phase 5 of the Impactful PBL Roadmap™ planning process. Phase 5 is about creating students' daily learning experiences or lessons. Teachers are usually excited about exploring project-based learning as an instructional method. However, when asked why they haven't implemented project-based learning in their classroom as of yet or why they don't facilitate a project-based learning unit often, teachers typically state that time is a factor.

I generally hear, "I don't have time for projects because I have to teach the standards or follow the district-provided curriculum." When I hear these sentiments, I immediately know that the teacher is unclear about how to draft a PBL unit plan. This episode is for you if you have uttered these statements before.  In this episode, we will explore how to write a PBL unit plan.

Are you ready to become a high-impact project-based educator?

1. [FREE] Download the Impactful PBL Roadmap™  planning document to craft your next project-based learning unit + receive weekly tips to enhance your facilitation skills via email.
2. [FREE]  Review the Impactful PBL™ Toolkit, which provides proven strategies and invaluable tips for building a sustainable project-based learning culture at your school without overwhelming the instructional leaders, teachers, and students.

An essential part of the project-based learning experience is producing a public product or artifact to showcase knowledge for an authentic audience. Depending on the PBL topic and driving questions, the audience could be peers, parents, or community members.

Teachers often wonder what students can create for projects besides designing a poster or presentation. Students may also struggle to come up with ideas without seeing examples or without being given a list of example public products. This episode will explore how to utilize the driving question to help students brainstorm public products to share their knowledge. The goal is to create learning experiences that apply to the real world by connecting what students are taught in school to real-world issues, challenges, or problems.

Are you ready to become a high-impact project-based educator?

1. [FREE] Download the Impactful PBL Roadmap™  planning document to craft your next project-based learning unit + receive weekly tips to enhance your facilitation skills via email.
2. [FREE]  Review the Impactful PBL™ Toolkit, which provides proven strategies and invaluable tips for building a sustainable project-based learning culture at your school without overwhelming the instructional leaders, teachers, and students.

It is essential students buy into their project since they will be exploring their complex question or challenge over an extended time. While hooks for traditional lessons are typically short, less than ten minutes, project-based learning hooks may vary in length to sustain students' interest over a more extended period. A PBL hook typically occurs at the start of the unit, although it is not uncommon for teachers to integrate several ways to cultivate students' interest throughout the project. In this episode, we will explore how to get students excited about the project-based learning topic.

Are you ready to become a high-impact project-based educator?

1. [FREE] Download the Impactful PBL Roadmap™  planning document to craft your next project-based learning unit + receive weekly tips to enhance your facilitation skills via email.
2. [FREE]  Review the Impactful PBL™ Toolkit, which provides proven strategies and invaluable tips for building a sustainable project-based learning culture at your school without overwhelming the instructional leaders, teachers, and students.

In traditional learning experiences, subject areas are taught in silos, and teaching often focuses on the "what" of a subject area. Students do not synthesize the material when they memorize parts of a cell in isolation or memorize the steps to solve a math problem without understanding why the process works. Educators know that knowledge should not be measured by simple content regurgitation. It is often encouraged to connect multiple content areas within lessons. In this episode, we will explore how to promote STEM education during PBL?

Are you ready to become a high-impact project-based educator?

1. [FREE] Download the Impactful PBL Roadmap™  planning document to craft your next project-based learning unit + receive weekly tips to enhance your facilitation skills via email.
2. [FREE]  Review the Impactful PBL™ Toolkit, which provides proven strategies and invaluable tips for building a sustainable project-based learning culture at your school without overwhelming the instructional leaders, teachers, and students.

We've all participated in a fundraiser at some point in our life, especially as a student. It seems kids bring home items to sell every year to support a team, club, or school. Although many students do not necessarily think about whether or not their fundraising efforts are supporting a cause, they gain some valuable skills during the process. You may be excited (or at least interested) in incorporating a fundraising component into your PBL curriculum but wonder how to get started. As you can imagine, executing a successful fundraiser takes planning. In this episode, we will explore how students can support a cause via project-based learning?

Are you ready to become a high-impact project-based educator?

1. [FREE] Download the Impactful PBL Roadmap™  planning document to craft your next project-based learning unit + receive weekly tips to enhance your facilitation skills via email.
2. [FREE]  Review the Impactful PBL™ Toolkit, which provides proven strategies and invaluable tips for building a sustainable project-based learning culture at your school without overwhelming the instructional leaders, teachers, and students.

Project-based learning is an effective way to help students foster their social-emotional learning skills, especially during group collaboration. During phase eight of the Impactful PBL Roadmap™ planning guide, we focus on uniting students and building a collaborative culture. It’s easy to assume that all students enjoy collaborating, possess the skills to handle conflict effectively, and understand how to interact with feedback. However, as educators, we must teach students how to contribute as effective group members. In this episode, we will explore how to create a dynamic group culture during project-based learning.


Are you ready to become a high-impact project-based educator?

1. [FREE] Download the Impactful PBL Roadmap™  planning document to craft your next project-based learning unit + receive weekly tips to enhance your facilitation skills via email.
2. [FREE]  Review the Impactful PBL™ Toolkit, which provides proven strategies and invaluable tips for building a sustainable project-based learning culture at your school without overwhelming the instructional leaders, teachers, and students.

Recently I’ve heard from many of you that listen to the podcast, attend my workshops, or communicate with me on LinkedIn that you're finishing up a project-based learning unit.  I've been checking in with past and current members of the Impactful PBL Network to hear updates.  I love to listen to what's working, what's not working, and what you're learning.  

I know it can be easy to wrap up a project-based learning unit and immediately move on without really having closure.  When this happens, it can lead to a feeling that PBL was just "a thing we did that one time."

But if we want to build a robust project-based learning culture in classrooms, we must do some practices consistently. Reflection is a critical practice to implement. I often hear from teachers that they skip the reflection process due to timing, but trust me, making time for reflection is essential. 

In this episode, we will explore the role reflection play in the project-based learning process.

Are you ready to become a high-impact project-based educator?

1. [FREE] Download the Impactful PBL Roadmap™  planning document to craft your next project-based learning unit + receive weekly tips to enhance your facilitation skills via email.
2. [FREE]  Review the Impactful PBL™ Toolkit, which provides proven strategies and invaluable tips for building a sustainable project-based learning culture at your school without overwhelming the instructional leaders, teachers, and students.

As a project-based learning coach, I'm often asked if it's possible to design a PBL unit that integrates standards. Teachers wonder how they will find time to teach content standards and allow students to create public products. Identifying the learning objectives for your project-based learning unit is phase one of the Impactful PBL Roadmap, the planning framework that I created to help educators craft a high-quality project-based learning unit for students. In this episode, I will share the audio version of a short training that I led to help educators select purposeful learning objectives for their PBL unit. If you are struggling with this phase, perhaps this training will help you move forward in your planning process.

Tune in to...

• [1:50] Discover the nine phases of the Impactful PBL Roadmap
• [4:17] Identify how to select academic standards for a PBL unit
• [5:23] Explore ways to make a PBL experience interdisciplinary
• [8:54] Hear how it’s possible to collaborate with colleagues when designing a PBL unit

Are you ready to become a high-impact project-based educator?

1. [FREE] Download the Impactful PBL Roadmap™  planning document to craft your next project-based learning unit + receive weekly tips to enhance your facilitation skills via email.
2. [FREE]   Review the Impactful PBL™ Toolkit, which provides proven strategies and invaluable tips for building a sustainable project-based learning culture at your school without overwhelming the instructional leaders, teachers, and students.

Support the show

Thank you for listening! If you find this podcast useful and would like to support the show, please rate, review, and follow using your favorite podcasting app. Sharing is caring. When you leave a review, you are helping fellow educators find this podcast enabling them to design impactful project-based learning experiences for their students.

I enjoyed college because most of the learning activities that professors used would be considered active learning strategies. We engaged in many case studies or projects, and the professor would utilize relevant current events to lead class discussions. I can share specific learning activities that I experienced during undergraduate and graduate school which occurred over 15 years ago. We want students to remember their learning experiences two decades later as well.

In a previous episode, I shared the 6 A's of project design that Adria Steinberg developed: authenticity, academic rigor, applied learning, active exploration, adult connections, and assessment practices. In Episode 34, we discuss how to incorporate adult connections or relationships in a project-based learning unit. This episode will explore how to ensure that your PBL unit includes active exploration and applied learning opportunities so that students can experience academic-related content beyond the classroom.

Tune in to...

• [2:19] Hear the common concerns teachers express when incorporating active learning strategies during project-based learning units
• [2:45 Discover the benefits of active exploration and how to integrate it within your unit
• [4:50] Explore how applied learning leads to long term mastery and creates memorable experiences
• [7:19] Identify ways to enhance students’ learning experiences and how to reflect on a previous project-based learning unit 

Are you ready to become a high-impact project-based educator?

1. [FREE] Download the Impactful PBL Roadmap™  planning document to craft your next project-based learning unit + receive weekly tips to enhance your facilitation skills via email.
2. [FREE]   Review the Impactful PBL™ Toolkit, which provides proven strategies and invaluable tips for building a sustainable project-based learning culture at your school without overwhelming the instructional leaders, teachers, and students.

Support the show

Thank you for listening! If you find this podcast useful and would like to support the show, please rate, review and follow using your favorite podcasting app. Sharing is caring. When you leave a review, you are helping fellow educators find this podcast enabling them to design impactful project-based learning experiences for their students.

When researching the components of a quality project-based learning unit, you will find several frameworks stating what PBL should look sound, and feel like. Depending on the source, the actual vocabulary may vary, but they all share the same concepts. In Adria Steinberg's Connected Learning Communities: A Toolkit for Reinventing High School, written in 2001, she shares the 6 A's of instructional or project design.

 One instructional design component is to include adult connections/relationships when designing learning experiences. Integrating adult connections or relationships means providing students with adult mentors and coaches from the wider community. This episode will explore how incorporating community partners can positively impact your students' project-based learning experience and ways to prepare adult partners for collaboration.

Tune in to...

• [0:45]  Discover the 6 A’s of instructional design 
• [2:14]  Analyze the benefits of incorporating community partners
• [3:30]  Identify the various roles that community partners can hold
• [5:34]  Hear why it’s important to have a real community partner
• [6:08]  Explore how to prepare community partners to support your PBL unit

Are you ready to become a high-impact project-based educator?

1. [FREE] Download the Impactful PBL Roadmap™  planning document to craft your next project-based learning unit + receive weekly tips to enhance your facilitation skills via email.
2. [FREE]  Review the Impactful PBL™ Toolkit, which provides proven strategies and invaluable tips for building a sustainable project-based learning culture at your school without overwhelming the instructional leaders, teachers, and students.

Support the show

Thank you for listening! If you find this podcast useful and would like to support the show, please rate, review, and follow using your favorite podcasting app. Sharing is caring. When you leave a review, you are helping fellow educators find this podcast enabling them to design impactful project-based learning experiences for their students.

Every school year, I explore a new professional learning growth project. Some of my past explorations included in-depth research on virtual coaching, program design, curriculum writing, designing after-school programming, and project-based learning. This year, I'm examining how to utilize portfolios effectively to improve practice. There are several types of portfolios. Before collecting artifacts, it's essential to determine the purpose and intended outcome of your portfolio. Let's discuss how creating a portfolio as a project-based educator can help you document your learning journey. This episode will examine how to use portfolios to enhance educators' teaching practice and how I plan to incorporate portfolios in my work.

Tune in to...

• [1:16]  Explore the various types of portfolios and why it’s important to choose the correct one based on your goals
• [3:22]  Examine the purpose of a teaching portfolio
• [5:12]  Discover how I plan to support project-based teachers in developing a portfolio to document their learning journey
• [6:57] Hear how I plan to incorporate portfolios to document my learning journey

Are you ready to become a high-impact project-based educator?

1. [FREE] Download the Impactful PBL Roadmap™  planning document to craft your next project-based learning unit + receive weekly tips to enhance your facilitation skills via email.
2. [FREE]   Review the Impactful PBL™ Toolkit, which provides proven strategies and invaluable tips for building a sustainable project-based learning culture at your school without overwhelming the instructional leaders, teachers, and students.

Support the show

Thank you for listening! If you find this podcast useful and would like to support the show, please rate, review, and follow using your favorite podcasting app. Sharing is caring. When you leave a review, you are helping fellow educators find this podcast enabling them to design impactful project-based learning experiences for their students.

Project-based learning is not an instructional method where teachers can attend one workshop and master it. As you know, project-based educators continuously enhance their instructional skills by learning from implementation and being lifelong learners. Effective project-based educators focus on student academic and personal growth and their own growth as well. 

They understand that it's a journey; however, some teachers find it challenging to identify the next steps on their professional learning path. After supporting hundreds of teachers in executing PBL, I've noticed several factors that impact their ability to implement PBL successfully. In this episode, we will explore the steps to becoming an impactful project-based educator.

Tune in to...

• [0:45]  Explore the importance of continuous PBL professional development for teachers
• [2:48]  Discover the characteristics of a “wanderer” and determine if you resonate with this stage of the PBL journey
• [3:50]  Discover the characteristics of an “explorer” and determine if you resonate with this stage of the PBL journey
• [5:07] Discover the characteristics of an “adventurer” and determine if you resonate with this stage of the PBL journey
• [6:25]   Discover the characteristics of a “navigator” and determine if you resonate with this stage of the PBL journey
• [7:43]  Determine where you are on your PBL journey and how to create a professional learning goal 

Are you ready to become a high-impact project-based educator?

1. [FREE] Download the Impactful PBL Roadmap™  planning document to craft your next project-based learning unit + receive weekly tips to enhance your facilitation skills via email.
2. [FREE]  Review the Impactful PBL™ Toolkit, which provides proven strategies and invaluable tips for building a sustainable project-based learning culture at your school without overwhelming the instructional leaders, teachers, and students.

Support the show

Thank you for listening! If you find this podcast useful and would like to support the show, please rate, review, and follow using your favorite podcasting app. Sharing is caring. When you leave a review, you are helping fellow educators find this podcast enabling them to design impactful project-based learning experiences for their students.

Season 1 of the Impactful PBL Podcast is coming to an end. It’s officially been a year since I started this podcast. The podcast started as a “learn in public” project so that I can document my professional journey and share insights about what I’m learning about project-based learning. In this episode, I’m sharing why I decided to create a “learn in public” project, how teachers can do the same, and what to expect during season 2 of the podcast.

Tune in to...

• Explore what it means to learn in public
•  Analyze the benefits of learning in public
• Discover the challenging part about learning in public  
• Examine ways teachers can learn in public
• Hear about my experience with learning in public
•  Identify the steps teachers can take to start learning in public
•  Hear what to expect for future episodes of the Impactful PBL Podcast

Are you ready to become a high-impact project-based educator?

1. [FREE] Download the Impactful PBL Roadmap™  planning document to craft your next project-based learning unit + receive weekly tips to enhance your facilitation skills via email.
2. [FREE] Check out The Impactful PBL Roadmap™: 9 Steps to PBL Success e-guide which covers the nine phases you need to design a memorable, authentic, and rigorous learning experience for K-8 students via project-based learning.
3. [PAID] Join our Impactful PBL Roadmap™: Launch program, an online course, coach, and community of educators exploring and implementing research-backed project-based instructional practices.

Support the show

Thank you for listening! If you find this podcast useful and would like to support the show, please rate, review and subscribe using your favorite podcasting app. Sharing is caring. When you leave a review, you are helping fellow educators find this podcast enabling them to design impactful project-based learning experiences for their students.

Let’s explore how teachers can enhance their project-based learning unit culminating event. In episode 26, we examined how to plan a showcase to help students share their knowledge with an authentic audience.  Many teachers are able to plan creative ways for students to share their knowledge, and their students can create great solutions to their projects' driving question. However, some teachers experience difficulty fostering an environment where students are equipped to share their learning journey. In this episode, we will examine how to shift students from delivering presentations to presentations of learning.

Tune in to...

• Identify the benefits of students sharing their knowledge publicly
• Discover the difference between presentations versus presentations of learning
• Explore how a STEM school designed a showcase where students shifted from delivering presentations to presentations of learning
• Determine the teachers' role during presentations of learning
• [Learn how to help students transition from delivering presentations to presentations of learning

Are you ready to become a high-impact project-based educator?

1. [FREE] Download the Impactful PBL Roadmap™  planning document to craft your next project-based learning unit + receive weekly tips to enhance your facilitation skills via email.
2. [FREE]    Review the Impactful PBL™ Toolkit, which provides proven strategies and invaluable tips for building a sustainable project-based learning culture at your school without overwhelming the instructional leaders, teachers, and students.

Support the show

Thank you for listening! If you find this podcast useful and would like to support the show, please rate, review, and follow using your favorite podcasting app. Sharing is caring. When you leave a review, you are helping fellow educators find this podcast enabling them to design impactful project-based learning experiences for their students.

Let’s explore how teachers can improve their project-based learning experience by creating a reflection process. Many of the teachers inside the Impactful PBL Network are wrapping up their project-based learning unit. I'm so thrilled to hear about what students and teachers are learning during their PBL experience. Educators often discuss the importance of providing space for students to reflect, but self-reflection is essential for them as well. In this episode, we will examine a protocol that teachers can use to reflect on their project-based learning experience.

Tune in to...

•  Learn the definition of reflective thought and how it impacts learning
• Discover how I created a reflection process as a math teacher and now as a professional development facilitator
• Examine how teachers can use the framework for high-quality PBL to reflect on their project-based learning unit
•  Explore how teachers can reflect on their thoughts, emotions, decisions, and behaviors to improve a project-based learning unit using eight guiding questions

Are you ready to become a high-impact project-based educator?

1. [FREE] Download the Impactful PBL Roadmap™  planning document to craft your next project-based learning unit + receive weekly tips to enhance your facilitation skills via email.
2. [FREE]  Review the Impactful PBL™ Toolkit, which provides proven strategies and invaluable tips for building a sustainable project-based learning culture at your school without overwhelming the instructional leaders, teachers, and students.

Support the show

Thank you for listening! If you find this podcast useful and would like to support the show, please rate, review, and follow using your favorite podcasting app. Sharing is caring. When you leave a review, you are helping fellow educators find this podcast enabling them to design impactful project-based learning experiences for their students.

Let's explore how to use feedback to improve students' work during project-based learning by giving quality feedback. Feedback is an essential component of the formative assessment process. The challenge is that sometimes students receive inadequate feedback during the project-based learning unit, preventing them from producing their highest level of work. There are some strategies that teachers can utilize to ensure that they are fostering a culture of feedback in their classroom. This episode will examine how teachers can enhance students’ public products using effective feedback strategies.

Tune in to hear how to:

• Identify the purpose of providing feedback and how it impacts someone's performance
•  Discover the reasons why some teachers give students feedback that doesn't help them improve their skills
• Explore five strategies to ensure that teachers are providing quality feedback to students
•  Examine the various ways to use written and oral feedback to enhance students' public products

Are you ready to become a high-impact project-based educator?

1. [FREE] Download the Impactful PBL Roadmap™  planning document to craft your next project-based learning unit + receive weekly tips to enhance your facilitation skills via email.
2. [FREE]   Review the Impactful PBL™ Toolkit, which provides proven strategies and invaluable tips for building a sustainable project-based learning culture at your school without overwhelming the instructional leaders, teachers, and students.

Support the show

Thank you for listening! If you find this podcast useful and would like to support the show, please rate, review, and follow using your favorite podcasting app. Sharing is caring. When you leave a review, you are helping fellow educators find this podcast enabling them to design impactful project-based learning experiences for their students.

Let's discuss how to plan a showcase to help students share their knowledge with an authentic audience. During phase 7 of the Impactful PBL Roadmap, we explore how to finalize students’ showcase agenda to determine how students will share what they learned during the PBL unit with an authentic audience. At this stage, you may be excited for students to share their public products but may feel a little overwhelmed as you begin to think about the actions needed to execute the showcase. This episode will examine how to plan a project showcase with less overwhelm using two planning templates.

Tune in to hear:

• The benefits of allowing students to share their knowledge publicly
•  The types of public products that students can create to share the solution to their challenge or problem
•  How to create a timeline using a spreadsheet to track and manage the tasks for the event
• How to use a run of show document to map out what will happen before the event, during the event, and after the event, whether you are hosting an in-person or virtual showcase
•  Why it's important to have a communication method for all adults involved with the showcase execution

Are you ready to become a high-impact project-based educator?

1. [FREE] Download the Impactful PBL Roadmap™  planning document to craft your next project-based learning unit + receive weekly tips to enhance your facilitation skills via email.
2. [FREE]  Review the Impactful PBL™ Toolkit, which provides proven strategies and invaluable tips for building a sustainable project-based learning culture at your school without overwhelming the instructional leaders, teachers, and students.

Support the show

Thank you for listening! If you find this podcast useful and would like to support the show, please rate, review, and follow using your favorite podcasting app. Sharing is caring. When you leave a review, you are helping fellow educators find this podcast enabling them to design impactful project-based learning experiences for their students.

Let's discuss the teachers' role during project-based learning experiences. Last month, I led an "introduction to PBL" workshop, and a teacher asked the following questions: What is the teachers' role during project-based learning? Is it possible to offer too much voice and choice? How much should students contribute to the project? How much should teachers contribute to the project? I know the responses to the questions shared is debatable because depending on who you listen to or what you read, the answer will vary. Some education researchers believe that students should design all aspects of the project. Whereas, some education researchers believe that teachers should take the leading role during PBL. In this episode, we will explore the teachers' role during project-based learning.

Tune in to hear:

• Where the idea of project-based learning originated and how the concept evolved over time
• The common misconceptions about the teachers' role during PBL
•  Why the role of the teacher during project-based learning can be confusing
• What it means to be the facilitator, guide, or coach during project-based learning experiences
•  What to do when a student asks a question, and you don't know the answer
•  How does the teachers' mindset about project-based learning impact student outcomes
• The teachers' role in designing project-based learning experiences

Are you ready to become a high-impact project-based educator?

1. [FREE] Download the Impactful PBL Roadmap™  planning document to craft your next project-based learning unit + receive weekly tips to enhance your facilitation skills via email.
2. [FREE]  Review the Impactful PBL™ Toolkit, which provides proven strategies and invaluable tips for building a sustainable project-based learning culture at your school without overwhelming the instructional leaders, teachers, and students.

Support the show

Thank you for listening! If you find this podcast useful and would like to support the show, please rate, review, and subscribe using your favorite podcasting app. Sharing is caring. When you leave a review, you are helping fellow educators find this podcast enabling them to design impactful project-based learning experiences for their students.