Students Need Vision? Try PBL.

The satisfaction of making something that was not there before is what makes me if not everyone motivated to work. My 18 years as a band director has taught me that the amount of work is directly proportionate to quality of the product. This is something that young students have hard time understanding but by the time they are Juniors or Seniors they understand. This causes what I call a “work ethic gap” within an ensemble that includes grades 9-12. This gap is also evident within a class that includes a variety of intelligences and socio-economic students.

Frank Lloyd Wright, the great American Architect once said: “I know the price of success: dedication, hard work, and an unremitting devotion to the things you want to see happen.” This is what really motivates me. If there is something I really want to see happen I work hard to get it done. This is called vision. The problem with the cookie-cutter education system is that we try to force what we want to see happen, a standardized vision, on to our students. Then we are faced with trying to sell these standards so they too can see the worth of the project.

So how can teachers get these students who appreciate and understand this work ethic to share in the vision of the project? I suggest the student be involved in creating their own vision while solving a problem, designing a solution or product. I challenge all of my peers to get away from the duldrom that is the lecture and learn this approach. Here are some resources:

http://pbl-online.org/

http://www.edutopia.org/project-learning-introduction

http://pblchecklist.4teachers.org/

http://pblmm.k12.ca.us/PBLGuide/WhyPBL.html

“What work I have done I have done because it has been play. If it had been work I shouldn't have done it.” – Mark Twain.