Dear Colleagues:

The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List is pleased
to host a guest discussion next week on Project-Based Learning as
Professional Development (http://tinyurl.com/2eum64). Please see below
for details.

 

 - Sound interesting? We're happy to have you join us! Visit:

 

http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Professionaldevelopment

 

Best wishes, Jackie Taylor

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Title:   Project-Based Learning as Professional Development

Date:   September 4 - 11, 2007

Guest: Heide Spruck Wrigley, Senior Researcher, LiteracyWork
International

Resources for Discussion: http://tinyurl.com/2eum64 

To participate, subscribe:
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Professionaldevelopment

To submit questions for discussion, email: jataylor at utk.edu 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

I. Description:

Join the Adult Literacy Professional Development List to explore and
share innovative practices in Project-Based Learning (PBL) as
Professional Development. Guest participant Heide Spruck Wrigley will
share her experiences with successful professional development models
focused on PBL. A team of teachers who have facilitated student-projects
in their classes will actively participate, share their professional
development experiences, and offer practical advice on implementing
projects. We hope you will join us and share your work.

 

Discussion topics include:

*	Essential elements of project-based learning 
*	Exploring the value added of project-based learning in ESOL and
ABE 
*	Examples of successful professional development models focused
on project-based learning 
*	Myths and realities: Is project-based learning time well-spent? 
*	Evidence from research and practice 
*	Assessments in project-based learning and student performance 
*	How to get started in project-based learning 

 

This discussion introduces the PD List's Topic-of-the-Month: Keys to
Communities of Practice.

 

 

II. Guest Discussion Biography

 

Heide Spruck Wrigley has been involved in all aspects of adult literacy,
including family literacy, workplace literacy, adult ESL, EL civic and
transition to higher education. Her work focuses on the intersection of
policy, research, professional development, and classroom practice. She
is currently a (non-resident) fellow with the Migration Policy
Institute, a non-partisan Think Tank in Washington, D.C.  and is
finishing up a research and materials development project for
Youth-at-Risk outside of Vancouver, British Columbia. 

 

Her staff development work around project-based learning includes a 3
year consultancy with Project IDEA, a Texas state wide Master Teacher
project focused on PBL and a five year ongoing professional development
project with teachers in Socorro, Texas. Her PBL work includes an
emphasis on putting low and high end technology in the hands of learners
(tape recorders, PowerPoint, digital cameras, video cameras) and
creating learner showcases for the demonstration of these projects to a
wider community of parents, teachers, and learners. 

 

Heide has been key in a number of U.S. national research studies focused
on ESL literacy, but she has also been involved with ABE programs, youth
literacy programs and with the Adult Literacy Media Alliance (TV 411).
Her international work includes evaluations of teacher training programs
in Poland and in Egypt, staff development in China, and presentations in
Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and in the UK.  When she's home, Heide
lives in Mesilla, a small town in Southern New Mexico, an hour from the
US Mexico border.

 

 

III. Preparation for Discussion

 

Project-Based Learning and Professional Development

Practical Ideas

Research to Practice

(a) ; (d)

(c); (f); (e)

(a); (b); (g); (h)

 

 

 

 

 

 

(a)     Research in Action: Teachers, Projects, and Technology

http://www-tcall.tamu.edu/newsletr/june04/june04a.htm

-- Project-Based Learning and Professional Development

 

(b)     Knowledge in Action: The Promise of Project-Based Learning

http://www.ncsall.net/?id=384

Focus on Basics, v.2 Issue D

-- From Research to Practice

 

(c)     Border Program Develops Model for State 

Socorro Independent School District implements three-year demonstration
project 

www.bordercivics.org <http://www.bordercivics.org/> 

-- Examples of lesson plans and projects from Socorro, TX

 

(d)     From Low-Tech to High-Tech: Promising Practices in Integrating
New Media into Adult Literacy and ESL

http://www.literacynewyork.org/publications/LNYPract_June04.pdf

-- Examples of Projects that Integrate Technology  

 

(e)     Teachers Writing about Their Experience with PBL

 

Project-Based Learning: Don't Dictate, Collaborate!

http://www-tcall.tamu.edu/newsletr/sum00/sum00a.htm

 

Lights, Camera, Active Learning! Enhancing ESL Instruction Through Video
Projects

http://www-tcall.tamu.edu/newsletr/june04/june04b.htm 

 

(f)      Less Teaching and More Learning: Turning from traditional
methods to project-based instruction, the author found that her students
learned more

-- Susan Gaer's article and the terrific website for both interactive
computer-based learning and student web projects

 

*         Article

http://www.ncsall.net/?id=385

 

*         Website for E-Mail Projects

http://www.otan.dni.us/webfarm/emailproject/email.htm

 

 

(g)     Problem-Based or Project-Based: Is there a big difference and
what's appropriate for my class? 

 

Project-Based and Problem-Based: The same or different?

http://pblmm.k12.ca.us/PBLGuide/PBL&PBL.htm

 

Problem-based Learning and Adult English Language Learners

http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/briefs/Problem-based.pdf

 

(h)     Project-Based Learning

http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Project_Based_Learning

-- A Compendium of Ideas and Reports on the Adult Literacy Education
Wiki

 

 

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