Project-Based Learning

The classroom needs to be fun and exciting to the students. I always felt that this needed to be, but I could not figure out a way to make this happen without something horrible happening. Project-based learning had been talked about in my classes, but to see this in action was something new for me--and I liked it!

Our students had to do a project (skit) that required them to incorporate all of the material (articles, speeches, poems, etc.) in their dialogue. They had to show that they mastered the material and understood how that material worked with the essential questions.

I had my doubts about this. I could not believe that my students would work on this and actually complete the assignment while incorporating the needed information. To my amazement, my students proved me wrong. Each group worked extremely hard and very few groups fell short of the mark we had placed. Every group addressed the unit's material, some not as fully as others.

This really inspired me to try to incorporate project-based learning in my classroom. It never hurts to let the students have fun with the classroom material and actually learn the stuff!