Creating the Culture

Recently, I had the opportunity to attend PBL Academies in Nashville, Tennessee. I must say, this was one of those conferences that reminded me of why I do what I do and added fuel to my already burning fire for PBL. One of the topics that hit home with me that week was PBL as a culture.

In PBL meetings, I’m sure you have been hearing a great deal about establishing a PBL culture in your classrooms and schools. It’s not just something you do. It’s a way of being as it pertains to teaching and learning. Our first keynote speaker at the conference made several points that resonated with my thinking and beliefs about PBL and how to create that culture in your classroom and ultimately in your school.

Bob Lenz, Executive Director at the Buck Institute, shared a few reminders for helping us create a culture of PBL. He reminded us that PBL is a journey, a mindset, and the combination of pedagogy and philosophy. My interpretation and take-aways from his presentation are shared below:

1) PBL is a journey.

We must remember in our classrooms that PBL is a journey; it’s not a destination. Our goal is not just the completion of a project. As effective teachers, we know our goal for our students is acquisition of knowledge and skill development (to include character and citizenship skills as well). When we see PBL as a journey, not a destination, or a marathon, not a sprint, it becomes more a way of being rather than something you do with your students.

   2) PBL is a mindset, not a method.

In our classrooms, PBL must become a mindset. PBL is not a strategy or a technique. It’s best practice. As Chuck mentioned in last week’s blog, the teaching practices of PBL should be employed during PBL projects as well as during instructional times not focused on PBL projects. When we see PBL as a mindset and not a method, we will begin to see the PBL teaching practices as a part of our day to day instruction - PBL project in progress or not.

  3) PBL is pedagogy and philosophy.

PBL is not pedagogy alone. PBL is not philosophy alone. PBL is the integration of pedagogy and philosophy and one informing the other in our classrooms. As teachers, our beliefs about students, student learning, student achievement, and student success all inform our practices. We can’t look at PBL in a box labeled strategies or philosophy. It’s a framework where best practices and beliefs are interwoven. When we take PBL out of the box, we will begin to see how the integration of our philosophy along with best practices and pedagogy can indeed impact the culture in our classrooms.

In thinking over these take-aways and remembering Chuck’s blog from last week, I gained greater clarity on establishing PBL as a culture. Take it out of the box, use the practices daily, and enjoy the journey. Then we will begin to see PBL become a way of being and not just a way of doing in our classrooms.