Greetings everyone. The whole idea of being learner-directed (whether in
terms of a project or even in terms of single teaching episodes) is an
interesting challenge for us. My experience here in New Zealand is that a
lot of people are absolutely convinced by the notion of being
learner-directed (usually prompted by looking at Malcolm Knowles and/or
Paulo Freire), but they have real problems when it comes to putting the
principles into practice. This can be for a variety of reasons, not least of
which is usually the pressure to follow some form of set curriculum, but
also I believe that a lot of us balk when it comes to handing the power of
direction over to our learners.

An example: I was observing a teacher (one of 15 in a study we were doing)
in a class of young unemployed who were minimally engaged in what the
teacher was doing. She had chosen the Olympic Games (just about to start) as
the topic around which she was teaching various literacy skills. It was hard
work to get her learners interested and involved in her planned activities,
even though the topic was both current and adult-appropriate.  At one point,
one of the young people asked the rest of the class if they had seen the TV
news item the previous evening about Michael Jackson, which erupted the
class into considerable spontaneous debate about his merits as a singer,
plastic surgery etc. An animated series of exchanges went on for some time,
before the teacher 'reined them in' and brought them back to her Olympics
activities. At which point the class went back to being subdued and hard
work for the teacher...

In this case, I think it would have taken a brave and skilled teacher to
have taken up the challenge of changing direction (and giving up her
previously planned activities) and using the obvious interest in Michael
Jackson as a springboard for the day's activities. At the very least though,
she could have gone home and planned the next days' work around Michael
Jackson.

This was not an isolated example in our study; we saw it happen a number of
times. For me sorts of events underlined the fact that while we may have
come some way in ensuring that our teaching and resources are current and
adult-appropriate, this only takes us so far. Being able to truly listen to
what learners are interested in is a skill worth developing. But we also
need to be able to respond spontaneously to what happens in our classrooms
(a 'curriculum teaching moment'?) to utilise these factors as springboards
for our teaching. Not easy, but very worthwhile when we get it right.

Regards, John

John Benseman 
 
Principal Researcher
Upskilling Partnerships Project
Auckland, New Zealand 
 
*john.benseman at criticalinsight.co.nz
Cell  027 454 0683

-----Original Message-----
From: professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Wrigley,
Heide
Sent: Thursday, 6 September 2007 3:34 a.m.
To: The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List
Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 1533] letting the students take the lead

Hi, Steve and Lauri and others 

Re: being aware of where students' interests lie and being able to go
with what floats their boats. 

A quick anecdote: Years ago Ann Whiteside in San Francisco told me about
her efforts to implement participatory education with an eye on
socio-economic issues and social change. She had prepared questions to
pose and materials to read and discuss  - all around dealing with
landlord and not being taken advantage of. Her students, confident
enough to challenge her, told her that they had figured out how to get
apartments and deal with landlords through their own informal networks,
thank you very much - and how about studying something that they didn't
know anything about? 

Ann, game as always, asked what that might be and her students
deliberated a bit among themselves and then said:  "the Avon catalogue"
- Ann, never having opened an Avon catalogue (or wanted to) then started
asking questions. The women wanted to know about ordering, buying, price
comparisons (Avon vs. drugstore)and much was learned as they all
investigated burning questions. 

So Lauri's project would have fit right in :) 

Anyone else have the experience of making certain assumptions about
projects that students might like to do only to have the class take it
in a new direction? 

Heide

-----Original Message-----
From: professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Steve
Quann
Sent: Tuesday, September 04, 2007 6:13 PM
To: The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List
Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 1527] Re: bumpy starts with PBL

Lauri,
I love your description and was stuck by how it seemed to flow naturally
out of a teachable moment and not an intentional plan. You really were
aware of what was bubbling up. So often I felt like I had to plan when a
project would be appropriate and try to generate enthusiasm out of their
interests on cue, so to speak. (And I know there are forces out there
that make us feel like we should have lessons all planned out ahead
months before!) 

You also spent a lot of time allowing for background knowledge to build.
Was that intentional or did you find that as you went through the beauty
products etc. you just saw an opening for a project. I ask because I
think what Lee Williams said about passion is key, and you capitalized
on it. (Needless to say, it can be generated when we bring up issues of
interest to learners.)  

This turned out to be a wonderful project partly because you were so
nimble.  Did you ever try to replicate it? And if so,  were you able to
generate the same enthusiasm? 

Thanks,



Steve Quann
World Education
44 Farnsworth Street
Boston, MA 
617.482.9485



>>> <JLNAJCherian at aol.com> 9/4/2007 6:37 PM >>>

Hi all, 
I was introduced to PBL during the first Master Teacher institute with
Heide.  I was so excited because that really is my style of teaching,
perhaps because of my elementary teaching background. I always taught
thematically and felt the students were more vested in the learning when
they could produce something and share it with their parents or peers.

My first adult ESL Project just naturally unfolded when I was teaching
my Even Start ESL classes and a young girl was wearing a "I Love Lucy"
T-shirt.  She didn't know who Lucy was so I brought in a clip of Lucy
trying to "sell" a beauty or health product on TV.  It was so funny, we
all just cracked up! 

Then I realized that a majority of my students were not able to label
common houshold or beauty products in English. I assumed that when they
went to the store they would see and internalize words like
"toothpaste". Much to my surprise, they hadn't. 

So, I began asking them to bring in their favorite beauty products and
we started talking about them and surveying each other about which we
liked and used.  This turned into a major production where they had to
watch advertisements in English and Spanish  TV and discuss sales
pitches and slogans.  Then they chose their own product to promote,
wrote their own script, slogan, and I video taped them doing their own
commericals.  

I did this with all four of my ESL classes. It took about three weeks. I
was able to take one of the classes to the Brazosport College video
recording room where they got to experience being  "professionally"
taped.  It was a great experience for all of us!  It even made the local
paper...front page!  
The beautiful thing about it was how much confidence the students gained
and how proud they felt of themselves and of each other. 

They came up with some funny slogans, too! "Use a Maiden Form  Corset,
it will make your waist look 2 inches smaller.  You won't even need
liposuction and your husband will fall in love with you all over again!"

Lauri Cherian
Brazosport College Community Education
Lake Jackson, TX


message dated 9/4/2007 3:44:49 PM Eastern Daylight Time, "Wrigley,
Heide" <heide at literacywork.com> writes:


>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

>

>



-- 
Lauri Cherian

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