How Do I Lead Project Based Learning? – Model Best Practice #RealPBL (part 3 of 4)

The following is the third of four excerpts from the eBook, How Do I Lead Project Based Learning?, which provides a concrete framework for leading the implementation of project based learning. Although this eBook was written through the lens of project based learning, everything can be applied to all professional learning and instructional shifts, no matter the content. Originally, the eBook’s content was the final chapter of the book, Project Based Learning: Real Questions. Real Answers.

The four drivers of instructional shifts serve as the basis for the eBook: establish relationships and trust, begin with the end in mind, model best practice, evaluate professional learning.

Model Best Practice

Professional learning is always an opportunity to model the types of learning we want to see taking place in classrooms. Whenever we lead professional learning, as a starting point we think about how we’d theoretically teach the information to our students. Because time is limited, we can’t exactly simulate an entire project based learning experience. But we can model best practice by leveraging inquiry, which serves as the basis for project based learning.

Professional learning is always an opportunity to model the types of learning we want to see taking place in classrooms. #RealPBL Share on X

Zooming out a bit, it’s critical for us to be aware of the differences between professional learning (or professional development), professional training, and professional discussions.

Professional learning is the process of building capacity in participants, while professional training generally follows more of a rigid approach with several rights and wrongs (think, using a program with fidelity). Overall, we believe both have a place in education as long as more of an emphasis is placed on the learning.

While the line between professional learning and professional training is quite clear, there is a third category, which can be triggered when we mistakenly believe we are providing deep professional learning, but in actuality we are barely scratching the surface with not much more than conversations and examples related to a specific topic. This third category, which falls somewhere in between the other two on the “autonomy spectrum,” is professional discussion.

Since the line between professional discussion and professional learning can easily be blurred, let’s take a look at how each of these categories applies to educators being introduced to Umbrella Questions, a vital component of project based learning.

Professional Discussion on Umbrella Questions

1. Participants watch a short video on the significance of Umbrella Questions.
2. The facilitator spends a few minutes talking about what an Umbrella Question is and isn’t, how they can be used to drive project based learning and/or higher-order thinking, and how she has seen them used in classrooms.
3. Everyone discusses how they already may be using Umbrella Questions, or how they may aspire to use them in the future.
4. The facilitator directs participants to a few resources on Umbrella Questions, and they have time to look through them while discussing their favorites.

While the discussion may look good on paper, and I have been guilty of leading these types of sessions, I can now say with confidence they generally don’t produce sustainable results. In reality, participants are engaging in a bloated conversation (disguised as professional learning), and then they leave with a vague idea of how what they have learned could be applied to their particular classrooms and contexts.

Two questions to think about: Do these steps model the type of instruction we want to be seeing in classrooms? If we want participants to embrace a new practice, should they be told why it’s meaningful, or should they uncover why it’s meaningful?

Professional Learning on Umbrella Questions

1. Participants are provided a bunch of questions, one per index card, which they are asked to separate and categorize into two piles. (Some are Umbrella Questions, some are not.)
2. Everyone talks about the piles, and the discussion leads to why some questions are Umbrella and some are non-Umbrella.
3. Based on the previous discussion, everyone works together to create a list of defining characteristics for Umbrella Questions.
4. Everyone discusses how they may already be using Umbrella Questions, or how they may aspire to use them in the future.
5. The facilitator directs participants to a few resources on Umbrella Questions, and they have time to look through them while discussing their favorites.

What makes this professional learning powerful is the way in which it mimics inquiry-based learning. The heart of this inquiry involves participants uncovering not all questions are created equal, and then they use this information to once again uncover and define what an Umbrella Question entails. Then, the remaining two steps can be left the same as before.

Three questions to think about: As a result of these steps, are participants more likely to remember and understand the significance of Umbrella Questions? As a result of these steps, are participants more likely to be skilled at creating their own Umbrella Questions to apply to their particular classrooms and contexts? Could this formula for professional learning be applied to other topics and not just Umbrella Questions?

When comparing the above examples, inquiry is the main difference between the discussion and the professional learning. Because we want educator learning to model what we want to see taking place in classrooms, inquiry-based professional learning should always be an approach we consider.

Next, because students should be learning from students, educators should be learning from educators. Some ways in which educators can learn from one another include: getting into each other’s classrooms, possibly with specific look-fors in mind to drive feedback; site visits to model schools; bringing in outside experts; attending conferences; reading books and blogs; and exchanging ideas on social media.

Finally, I’m sure many of us can recall instances in which we were forced to sit through professional learning even though we were already well-versed on the featured topic, or we were so well-versed we could have led the session ourselves and possibly done a better job than the facilitator. As administrators, when we force our people into these types of situations (which sometimes feels unavoidable), we build resentment. It’s up to us to realize that sometimes our very own people are the ones with the answers. And, if we’re not calling upon our own people to lead, we can acknowledge what they bring to the table and then possibly differentiate by embedding opportunities for participant choice.

In Empower (2017) John Spencer and A.J. Juliani pose the question, “What decisions am I making for students that they could make for themselves” (p. 55)? Because we want educator learning to mimic student learning, we should also be working on continually transferring ownership of professional learning to educators by posing the question: “What decisions am I making for educators that they could make for themselves?”