Build a PBL Culture by Incorporating Gold Standard Practices into non-PBL Units.

As PBL capacity builders we often hear from teachers practicing PBL about "How can I make my PBL units more successful?" or "when I am in the middle of PBL unit it, we have a hard time getting the students to do the things we need them to do for a successful project. It's like they don't know how to do a project." When students work on PBL units, they are asked to use and rely on skills which are oftentimes not utilized in a traditional classroom environment. Students need the opportunities to practice and develop these skills. If you are not implementing PBL units regularly in your classroom, then as a teacher you will need to scaffold the learning of these skills for your students.  One of the best ways to do this is to incorporate gold Standard Design Elements and Teaching Practices into your non-PBL units.

By implementing these gold standard design elements and teaching practices into your everyday lessons you are providing students the opportunity to practice and develop the skills necessary for successful projects. Using resources such as the Essential Elements checklist and the Project Based Teaching Rubric from BIE, take one of your upcoming non-PBL units or lessons and see where you can fit in some of the Gold Standard best practices into your lessons.

So go ahead pull out one of your lesson plans and see where can you allow for critique and revision or where can you allow students the opportunity for sustained inquiry.  See where you can implement any of the deign elements or teaching practices into your units. The more times you provide your students time to practice and develop these skills the more likely it is you will see success with your PBL projects.