The Fresh Classroom by @PaulKelba

This years weekly 'outdoor labs' with the grade 9 science class has lead to countless unexpected discoveries and local connections. We spend between an hour and two hours walking from the school to a local park outside the classroom, once there I use every possible teachable moment to visit the core curriculum in science and math. Every year I see the same awful trend: if my activity I deliver is prescriptive, such as a lesson on environmental chemistry (for example, a textbook lab measuring PH of compounds with a variety of tools), the students demonstrate little to low retention of content. Students are inherently interested in the activity due to the introduction of a tool that directly connects with the curriculum but drop interest in minutes as they have little connection with the learning, extrinsic motivation. If the activity is non-prescriptive: take an assignment where students must design a brief survey for another grade 9 class on pollution in their community (...

As a reflection for Edcampyyc I wove the three conversations I attended with my enthusiasm for Project Based Learning (PBL in this post). Session 1 Moving Beyond Grades PBL is a key activity in respect to moving beyond grades or as  @joe_bower  puts it: "grades are an artificial inducement for teachers to get students to do what they want them to do."  Standardized test preparation does not need to appear to go "out the window." It can be formative assessment embedded effectively into the PBL itself. Use the stems to create your own and as Bower simply put it (quotes from my tweets): "Formative assessment tells us sts should not judge successes/fail BUT use it as information" @ joe_bower now lobbing grade grenades @ # edcampyyc Session 2 Open and Connected Learning @courosa  supplied the youtube eye candy, leading us to conclude open and connected learning can easily transcend a classroom to a level it can never return back to. This d...

The Urban School of San Francisco  on the corner of Haight and Ashbury street is such an impressive locale and structure, one could easily settle that its location is the focal point of the school's vision. It was anything but that. There is a mindful edge, to what seems, everything about this place. Sitting through classes and bearing witness to a feel of the school, it is fair to say 'Urban', as referred to by the faculty is a glimpse of everything hopeful in education. What constitutes a feel of a school? Some highlights: It's a simple concept, they walk their talk . Administrator Kristen Bailey explains at Urban, high school is an important experience in its own right, not merely a stepping stone to college. By far a concept that is so easily diluted in marketing paraphernalia; however, one can easily conclude this school embraces the moment within students. Their core values  are apparent in the air of self-motivation within a regular class. "...

My classroom is not as fun as is used to be. I am keenly aware of the reason why, alternating two content delivery styles this year in my grade 9 science/math classes: Project-based for a month, then clearly defined activities and quiz's for another. This begs the question: Does a classroom where enjoyment is not readily apparent, correlate to the level of student learning? I have found (as many do) when I cover the curriculum with textbook work and online activities/reports, I can be entirely accountable to covering all expectations in the curriculum. The downfall is the classroom becomes less enjoyable when sacrificing the carnival-like atmosphere of experiential learning...it's a case of messy (experiential) vs. smooth (coverage). Time for a head shake and forward-thinking. I presently find myself in the cog of our mechanic schooling system, fraught with a student-teacher disconnect, lack of engagement and a culture of 'tough love'. Meaning the cruel...