(I joked with a Cohort 21 member during our last session at B.S.S. that my action plan may need to be an action plan for having an action plan. I think I have moved beyond that, but perhaps only just…)
At Trafalgar Castle School, our Experiential Learning Coordinator, Christina Schindler, recently initiated a fabulous school-wide programme based on The Rotman School of Management’s iThink methodology for problem solving. For students in Grades 11 and 12, the methodology forms the basis for a cross-curricular independent research project. Students were to find curricular connections for their ideas to at least two courses that they’re currently taking. This proved more difficult than we’d all thought.
I wondered if skills-based assessments were the magic bullet for making interdisciplinary PBL projects truly cross-curricular?
Students easily discovered that their ideas related well to, say, math and bio–but not necessarily to Calc and Grade 12 Bio. Connections to disciplines were abundant. Not so connections to specific courses.
As a potential solution, I suggested that students ask their English teachers if they’d be willing to assess their projects from a communication perspective, either oral, written, or media. This “catch-all” expedient was possible because of English’s unique position of having an entirely skills-based curriculum. (I’ll let you know how this works out!)
Based on this experience, I wondered if skills-based assessments were the magic bullet for making interdisciplinary PBL projects truly cross-curricular, so as to not stress over the content as much?
Can English contribute more to PBL assessments than solely communication skills? If so, how?
And, as an English teacher, I wondered if there could be more for English to contribute to PBL assessments than communication skills (and obvious thematic overlaps)? (I don’t for a second suggest that strong communication skills aren’t essential. I’m merely curious if we as teachers and our kids as students of English can offer more?)
So that’s the kernel of an idea for a potential action plan for developing an action plan.
Should I uncover other usefulness for we English folk in the PBL/cross-curricular arena, I’ll certainly proliferate. If not, I’d like to focus on how best communication skills should be employed in 21st-century learning.
This is a great question…and one that I had never really thought of until now! I love that about this kind of collaboration: I would never have thought to think about this until you posted it. Thank you.
Some initial ideas about possible English PBL tie-ins:
– Taking on different perspectives with a topic / issue / project (how would another person see this project)
– Who is your audience for this project (who are you making it for): how well are you showing you understand your audience and how are tailoring your message for them (maybe more useful with authentic assessments with audiences outside of the classroom).
– What resources are you reading to build your knowledge. How did you read them? What reading strategies helped you develop understanding?
– English is all about connections: how well are you able to connect your topic with various curriculum strands?
I think it is so easy to fall into the communication trap…so easy I didn’t even realize I was there. I’m really excited to see how your research develops, as this is going to be hugely helpful to our broader community.
Be sure to post findings to the #Engchat on Twitter!
Celeste,
Your thoughtful comment was an oasis in a desert of spam!
I, too, thought of the human side of the equation–perhaps “empathy” may be a key ingredient.
Love the suggestion on research! What are they reading? Is it credible? How well are they reading it? Have they approached it critically?
Alan,
I did one of the Ithink workshop weekends and found it really interesting and thought provoking. Happy to share what I learned at our next F2F.