NEIT16+Open+Space+3B+-+Study+(off+Lake)

@ Marymount, with HS Latin, students have been learning how to do notes (fairly new skill), but taking notes in punctuated bursts (5-10 minutes), have to write it down but can also take pictures, etc to supplement. 1:1 - typing is discouraged but allowed, also use personal whiteboard at their desks. Try to keep the students the do-ers, by having them teach the class, do projects, make iBooks (which they hated due to saturation), creating with a purpose, making grammar videos. Works well in mixed-grade settings.

When students teach, it's on material that they have seen before/had instruction in from faculty. "Coding an essay" using Scratch (12th graders, tutorial assigned) or MaKey MaKey (demo'd in class): use these platforms to have students make a concept interactive to teach their classmates/demonstrate a concept. To help students with these PBL/open-format projects, they receive project sheets with the grading rubric, checklists, due dates, milestones, considerations, and space for feedback from the teacher after the project is complete. Having students self-asses and provide feedback on the project is also extremely useful.

Research (source needed - Buck's Institute of Education/bie.org) shows that you can only stand ~10 minutes of note-taking or lecture.

CHOICE IS POWERFUL. Allow choices of topic, medium, due date. Tailor the choices towards the learning goals, both for skills and topics.

Do we believe that we should be teaching all students the same things? That is, should we assess on the material or the methods/skills learned in pursuit of the material? Should we bother spiraling back on the same material again and again in different grades?

Lack of PBL in elementary is perhaps because the most basic foundational skills are formed then, and are needed for PBL later in the year.

Are students really just having a harder time with curriculum or learning objectives now than the same grades did a few years ago, or perhaps....

....Teachers are teaching the same thing, year over year, not recognizing that the students of today are different from yesteryear - are they failing to see why they are different? Perhaps those teachers need to come to meet them on their turf, do some amateur sociology and find out what matters to them and then tailor the learning objectives to the medium/practices that have currency for the students.