PBL News @ SDUSD

We hope that you are finding some bright spots and moments of joy in what continues to be a challenging school year. Within this newsletter, we highlight some of these bright spots and moments of joy that are occurring throughout SDUSD, as well as some ideas for integration & upcoming opportunities to grow your PBL practice. These include:

• SDUSD One-Stop Shop for Educators
  
• Critique & Revision: Tips from Hoover AoIT
• PROJECTshort: A PBL highlight from Lincoln High School
• Illumina's "DNA Day": Free DNA Kits & Guest Speakers
  
• Careers in Public Service (CiPS) & Exploring Community Engagement Careers (ECEC)
  
• Black Excellence Speaker Series - February 2022
• CCTE Innovation Showcase - May 2022
  
• Project-Based Learning Institute - June & August 2022
• Deeper Learning Conference - March 2022

As always, if you have any questions, would like support, or have something to include in an upcoming newsletter, please reach out to Christopher Millow, cmillow@sandi.net.

The SDUSD One-Stop Shop for Educators is a fantastic resource to support teaching and learning in your classroom and includes Weekly Educator Updates as well as information on Critical Concepts, Standards-Based Grading and Guaranteed & Viable Curriculum.

Our content area teams have created and/or selected quality curricular resources that you, as educators, can use as a foundational material to ensure that students have access to Guaranteed & Viable Curriculum. K-12 sequenced learning units exist for all core content areas (ELA, HSS, Science, Math & ELD), with daily lesson plans and embedded assessments.

Hoover AoIT students are currently producing original podcasts that will be submitted to the NPR Student Podcast Challenge. Ellen Towers & Lorena Gastelum are leading this project work.

I was recently invited to critique AoIT student podcasts and, naturally, I was curious to learn more about why they felt this process was essential in PBL. Here are some themes that emerged from my conversation with Ellen about why we should bother leading students through the drafting, critique and revision process.

• Authenticity: The project itself and the audience critiquing the work must both be authentic. When students share drafts of their work with clients, adults, and peers, it ups the stakes. When you invite new people to see your work, you allow different ideas and worldviews to challenge your thinking and deepen your research, which results in a more refined end product. For this project, AoIT students are consulting with San Diego podcast expert Adam Greenfield, and winning submissions will receive national recognition and college scholarships. Most importantly, however, this project allows AoIT students to share their stories.

• Ignoring Biases: Students, like those at AoIT, feel invested in their work when they choose topics important to them. With PBL, student agency is essential in maintaining momentum and ensuring pride. Curiosity drives the research, then critique serves as the forum for the product to be refined. When critiquing, ask yourself: Am I trying to make the work what I want it to be, or what the student wants it to be? As teachers, we must help our students focus their work, while allowing their voice to shine.

• Do Not Wait: It's never too early to start the critique process, and the more you do it, the better! Prioritize this process, and it will guarantee that the students (and you!) feel confident about the final product.

Want help integrating the critique process into your PBL? Contact cmillow@sandi.net.

Lincoln High School students in the Media Arts Production Pathway explored identity through the creation of original short films. PROJECTshort is a collaborative project led by Eb Harvey (Video Production) and Chris Dier (English). The objectives were for students to conceptualize, develop, and refine artistic work that synthesized and translated personal experiences into art. Students were also asked to analyze each other's and their own work through interpreting intent and significance.

Check out one of their featured student short films, "The Last Cup."

Join SDCOE & NAACP (San Diego Branch) for three FREE online sessions honoring Black excellence in San Diego. This assets-based celebration of diverse leadership includes local educators and researchers from regional universities who will share their journey and their research. Conversations will be facilitated by college students and the final panel will feature youth voices.

Feb. 10th: 3:30 - 4:30 - register here

Guest: Dr. Joi Spencer

Feb. 17th: 3:30 - 4:30 - register here

Guests: Dr. J. Luke Wood & Dr. Frank Harris III

Feb. 24th: 3:30 - 4:30 - register here

Student panel made up of young people from local community colleges and high schools.

How Are You Teaching Black History? This February and year-round, Learning for Justice (formerly Teaching Tolerance) wants you to join them in teaching Black history beyond trauma and helping students recognize the brilliance, strength and love this history represents. To learn why this is important, as well as access curriculum resources, visit https://www.learningforjustice.org/the-moment/january-25-2022-how-are-you-teaching-black-history.

Illumina is excited to celebrate DNA Day with K-12 classrooms throughout the month of April through The Future is Bright campaign.

Register to receive a free Strawberry DNA Extraction kit.

• Option A: Contains materials for 32 experiments that can be done in a classroom or sent home for a distance learning environment. If a teacher is planning to run this activity with multiple classrooms/periods, they will need to complete a request for each kit they need.
• Option B: A single demo kit to do the experiment in front of your students.

Sign up for a guest speaker presentation from an Illumina STEM professional to learn about their career.

Supplies are limited, so register ASAP!

If you register, please review the extended FAQs here.

For more information, visit www.dnaday.org or contact Vanessa Light at vlight@illumina.com.

March 7th – 11th: 6th Annual Careers in Public Service (CiPS)

CiPS is a cross-sector event that highlights the in-demand careers in Public Service, including health, biotechnology, information and communications technology, and more! In-person sessions for grades 11 & 12; online sessions for grades 8-14 (San Diego County students and educators only). Free - register here

March 22nd – 24th: 2nd Annual Exploring Community Engagement Careers (ECEC). The ECEC student event (formerly Careers in Community Service) features employers and breakout sessions focused on careers within nonprofit organizations and community-based agencies and other topics in the community service sector. Students and educators, grades 8 – 14 (San Diego County students and educators only). Free - registration info coming soon

For questions, please contact Bryan Glasrud at bryan.glasrud@sdcoe.net or Sonia Lira at sonia.lira@sdcoe.net.

Receive access to the San Diego County Office of Education's Work-Based Learning opportunities, as they are made available, by completing the Work-Based Learning Training (30 minutes). After completing the training, the SDCOE College and Career Readiness Team will provide you the information to access their programs and events.

Wednesday May 25, 2022

The SDUSD CCTE Innovation Showcase is the culminating event to exhibit an interdisciplinary project attempting to address an outside the classroom problem in collaboration with at least one adult from the business or local community. We are excited to announce that this year we will convene in-person!

We have received feedback from a number of you about ways to improve this experience for students and are excited to share the new format this year. More details will be provided to you in the coming weeks. Please reach out to Tom Antl, CCTE Program Specialist, with any questions or requests for support.

CCTE Innovation Showcase Website

Session 1: Tuesday, June 21 - Friday, July 1 and Friday, August 12*

Session 2: Monday, August 1 - Thursday, August 11 and Friday, August 12*

The PBL Institute will be offered twice in 2022. It is a two-week institute hosted by SDUSD to support secondary school teachers in the development of rigorous, interdisciplinary projects for implementation in the upcoming school year. Institutes will be mostly virtual, with opportunities for in-person job shadows and team collaboration.

*Both Sessions 1 & 2 will be 9 days total with an optional, yet highly encouraged, 10th day on Friday, August 12th. This day will be an opportunity for all PBL teachers from Sessions 1 & 2 to participate in an Exhibition where they formally share their newly developed projects with fellow educators, their administration team, and students.

Registration information will be sent to principals in March. Sessions do not occur on weekends. For additional information, please visit the PBL Institute Website.

Tuesday, 3/29 - Thursday 3/31

Since 2013, Deeper Learning has been more than just a conference. The depth of dialogue, reflection, and inspiration is focused on building a movement that catalyzes educators toward collective and transformative action. DL22 is a collective experience rooted in radical joy where our community can gather to define a vision for amplifying deeper learning and transformative liberation in schools and communities across the globe.

With virtual and in-person options, DL22 launches Tuesday @ 1pm and concludes Thursday @ 1pm. Whether you want to dive into workshop sessions, engage with educational luminaries in the den talks, or be inspired by dynamic keynotes, DL22 offers you voice and choice in how you spend your time.

Register here: https://hthgse.edu/events/deeper-learning-san-diego-2022/

If you'd like support, guidance, or a thought partner in developing/enhancing PBL at your school, building connections between schools/with industry, or integrating any of the resources within this newsletter, use this form or email Christopher Millow, PBL Resource Teacher.

To find out more about curriculum, instruction, and assessment resources, as well as professional learning opportunities, visit us at SDUSD Instructional Innovation.

This monthly newsletter shares Project-Based Learning within and beyond SDUSD. If you would like to submit something for a future newsletter, or if you have PBL-related suggestions, questions, highlights, or shout-outs of staff and/or students, please email Christopher Millow, PBL Resource Teacher.

SDUSD PBL Website | SDUSD One-Stop-Shop for Educators

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