Oh my goodness!  This was just tremendous project.  It was a great demonstration of how to make a difference in this world.  I was so upset that I was unable to attend when the principal spoke to a group in Louisville, Kentucky.  I share the video with several instructors.  One was so impressed that she went to visit the town on her vacation and then shared the experience with her adult class.

Meryl Becker-Prezocki
Kentucky

-----Original Message-----
From: professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Barbara Garner
Sent: Wednesday, September 05, 2007 8:49 AM
To: jeffrey A fantine; The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List
Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 1530] Re: best practice resources

The Paperclip Project is one of my favorite films. I've seen it a few times, with and without my kids. A few elements stand out in terms of the project's educational role. One was that the theme that the teachers wanted to get across came before the activity. The other was that the project was wholeheartedly supported by the principal. In addition, I liked how it grew organically. 

What have folks' experiences been with offshoots of projects?

Barb Garner
Massachusetts
=====================
From: jeffrey A fantine <fantine at ohio.edu>
Date: 2007/09/04 Tue PM 03:00:04 CDT
To: 
	The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List <professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov>
Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 1520] Re: best practice resources

Has anyone seen the documentary about the Paper-clip Project? 
<http://www.marionschools.org/holocaust/>

This is not adult education and it doesn't mean we need to make a movie 
about it in order for it to be a success, but I think this demonstrates 
more than any other I've seen or read about how truly relevant and 
transformative PBL should/can be.

-J

--On Tuesday, September 04, 2007 3:44 PM -0400 "Wrigley, Heide" 
<heide at literacywork.com> wrote:


>

>

> Hi, Lee and others

>

>

>

> Thanks for identifying what it takes to make projects work (and we'll

> talk about structuring projects as well as planning and execution a bit

> later). I agree that listening to where the passion lies as students do

> their work is critical, and just because the teacher decides that it's

> time to do a project doesn't mean that adult students are eager to do

> one.

>

>

>

> Lee mentioned that she moved into PBL after a PD Institute and her first

> attempt was a failure. I wonder what propelled others to make the jump

> and how their first project worked out.

>

>

>

> Was it more difficult at first or did students jump at the chance to do a

> project?

>

>

>

> Heide

>

>

>

>

> __________________________________________________

>

> From: professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov

> [mailto:professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Lee

> Williams

> Sent: Tuesday, September 04, 2007 1:02 PM

> To: professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov

> Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 1518] Difficulties and Successes with

> PBL

>

>

>

> I began working on PBL with a cadre of teachers in Barbara Baird's

> Project Forward initiative. Although we studied successful student

> projects across the state (TX) and knew the many benefits of PBL, I

> didn't have a clue about how to recreate that success in my classroom. I

> naively thought that the students could choose a project from a list of

> suggestions and go with it. I assumed that once they knew what the end

> product was, they would start working to make it happen. Key pieces were

> missing like organization, teamwork, initiative and desire.

>

> The projects I've been successful with 1) have risen out of existing

> curriculum and

>

> 2) the student's passion is visibly obvious. I expand the lessons to

> further delve into those passionate topics and then make suggestion of

> possible projects--ideas where students return what they have learned to

> the community.  Once the product is identified, we create a list of steps

> to make it happen and order them. Students need see these steps so they

> can choose the areas where they fit and then they can take off.  This

> scaffolding then becomes the basis of future lessons and culminates in a

> final project.

>

> For me, student-centered projects take several months to identify and

> create and are more likely a true product of the students. I have also

> done small projects that I suggest, which are finished in a much shorter

> time, but often result in more work for me. This is an area I am still

> refining at this time.

>

>

>

> Lee Williams

>

> ELL II Teacher at the Kyle Learning Center

>

> Kyle, Texas

>

>




Jeffrey A. Fantine
Director, Literacy Center
College of Education
Ohio University
340 McCracken Hall
Athens, OH  45701
800-753-1519
Fax: 740-593-2834
www.ohio.edu/literacy

“You must be the change you want to see in the world.” - Mahatma Gandhi
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