Welcome to the PBL Playbook, brought to you by Magnify Learning – where we put teachers back in their sweet spot. Make sure you follow us on Twitter: @magnifylearning, @askgiebs, @MissB103, #PBLPlaybook.
In this episode, Josh and Andrea launch a new multi-part series focused on administrators in PBL, addressing the question, “What does it look like for an administrator to be supportive in their role when they have teachers using PBL as their primary instructional practice?” This episode features two interviews that address two different PBL scenarios for an administrator. They dive into the first interview with Jeff Spencer (@jefftspencer) and Brittany Tinkler (@btink89) from Southport Elementary School in Southport, IN, a school that is wall-to-wall project-based learning. Jeff talks from a principal’s perspective about why he wanted to emphasize PBL as the primary instructional tool in his elementary building. Then they discuss how to create buy-in from staff to move towards PBL, and the types of support teachers in a PBL environment need from their administrators to be successful. This includes a quick conversation about the culture within a PBL staff and how it gets reflected by the students. Then they dive into an interview with Natalie Brazeal from West Plains High School in Missouri. Natalie starts off by describing some of the challenges that come with being a PBL “lone wolf’ in her building, and what administrators can do to provide support in this situation. She offers some advice for administrators who have teachers asking about and interested in PBL, as well as teachers who are thinking about approaching their administrators about implementing PBL.
Stay tuned for the rest of the administrator series, coming to you soon!
Music from https://filmmusic.io
"Cheery Monday" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
*For more PBL Resources and PBL professional development opportunities check out the Magnify Learning Website: https://www.magnifylearningin.org/