Ok. I’ve allowed myself 30 minutes to blog (I’ve got the timer going)! If you are like me, then the hardest part isn’t always starting, but in all the editing you do afterwards 🙂

This year, I have joined St. Clement’s School and it has been a great change. The growth and learning is exponential. Though, to be transparent, this year has really challenged and stretched me. I may have had a couple serious, though thankfully short-lived existential crises where I question whether I can simultaneously be a “good” parent and teacher.

In our last face to face session, we were reminded that sometimes our action plans are ones we know cannot be achieved in a single year. Our HMW questions are often those that are changing, evolving and achieved over the long-term. And I find myself going back to the HMW that I posed back when I was a season 8 participant–HMW effectively implement problem-based learning?

As I reflect, I see how I was laying some important groundwork as a season 8 participant to implement problem-based learning more comprehensively. Some of what that looked like included:
-doing the research on PBL
-taking in the wisdom and knowledge of my colleagues and other Cohorters
-doing the small- and large-scale testing in the classroom
-and collecting data from students and teachers on what’s been working and what can be adjusted

This year at St. Clement’s, with the amazing support of our department leader and administration, I have had the opportunity to implement problem-based learning full scale. And wow. There are rich math conversations occurring, students collaborating with one another, students co-constructing and taking ownership of their learning, and of course, problem solving. And this is all happening while social-distancing within the classroom. I’m excited for all the possibilities when movement and physical spaces are more flexible!

There is so much that can be optimized yet, and that perhaps is a post for the future. But for now, it has been very rewarding to know that the path you started out on a few years back is still a solid one.