PBL News @SDUSD

Big thanks to everyone for continuing the pursuit of educating students in these difficult times.

Hopefully, all of you and your loved ones are healthy, happy, and making the best of shelter-in-place and distance learning.

This year's showcase which was planned for held at the Town and Country Convention Center is shifting to a virtual event with a live kickoff and project judging on June 4 at 2pm. To learn more about the event and view projects, go to the CCTE Innovation Showcase Website. To enter a project that is finalized or was in-progress as of March, review the Project Entry Information and complete an entry form by May 18th.

This summer we will host two PBL Institutes (Institute 1 - June 15-26 and Institute 2 - August 10-21). Interested in attending? Please review the PBL Institute Overview and Expectations, talk with your principal about sending a team, and have your principal reach out to Reuben Hoffman at rhoffman@sandi.net.

The sixteen teachers in this year's Leader's of Innovation developed and implemented at least one innovative challenge with the goal of transforming student experiences and learning either in their classes, at their school site, or district-wide.

On Day 3 of the program, the teachers were able to share their learning during the Leaders of Innovation Exhibition at the Kearny E2E Lab. During the morning, teachers prepared for the exhibition. When the audience arrived the Leaders of Innovation shined as they shared how their innovative challenges had transformed student experiences and learning in their classrooms.

In the afternoon, teachers participated in an exhibition workshop with guest speakers Michelle Pledger and Mari Jones, from Share Your Learning where teachers designed a blueprint for their own student exhibition. We are looking forward to the exhibitions next school year.

If you are interested in participating Leaders of Innovation 2020-21, please complete the interest form and share with colleagues.

There is a new school opening in the fall in San Diego Unified, the Logan Memorial Education Campus (LMEC). As the LMEC Staff prepares for a new school, they are also exploring school innovation. Twenty-five plus staff members volunteered to participate in a design thinking workshop led by Michelle Irwin (Principal), Kyle Kupper (Vice Principal), and Reuben Hoffman (PBL Resource Teacher). The purpose of the design thinking professional learning was to consider how LMEC might use design thinking, a creative problem solving process, in their school community. Throughout the week, staff engaged in three design challenges. The first, a quick and fun challenge, "The 5 Chair Challenge", introduced staff members to rapid ideation and prototyping. In the second challenge, "Shelter in Place", staff members conducted a one-on-one empathy interview to uncover needs their partner has during the current coronavirus pandemic and to design a solution for their colleague. The third challenge, "Caring for Our New School", focused on the question - "How might we design solutions to care for our new school?" During this challenge, LMEC students were invited to participate in teams with staff members. From this challenge came ideas for connecting students across grade levels, creating positive school culture through teacher and student skits and testimonials, using student voice in establishing norms for clubs and sports teams, and a proposed design for the LMEC Showcase Exhibition.

Having had no experience with design thinking, the LMEC staff and student modeled what it means to be a lifelong learner and risk-taker with their willingness to learn by diving in. Now they have a better understanding of an innovative framework for creative problem-solving that they can use in their school community and integrate into their classrooms.

To engage students in learning is the ultimate challenge for all teachers. During this pandemic and in our shift to distance learning, teachers no longer have a captive audience. Relevant, real world, and engaging projects are the hook that will light the fire for learning. Why not tap into learning about what is currently impacting our students, their families, our communities, and the world?

The idea of an interdisciplinary COVID-19 project began with a blog post “A School Principal’s Ponderings during a Pandemic.” Over the next 10 days, 140 educators joined a shared document and built this resource. Links, videos, and even sample project plans were added. Don't miss out on being inspired by this project - Connecting Across The Distance: An Interdisciplinary Project #COVID19PBL

SDCOE's College and Career Readiness Team has a new website, which features resources for educators, employers, and students, including a database of regional internships and jobs.

Project Based Learning

Interested in getting started with PBL? Let's customize an experience for your site or team. Contact Reuben Hoffman at rhoffman@sandi.net.

Design Thinking

Interested in getting started with Design Thinking? Let's customize an experience for your site or team. Contact Reuben Hoffman at rhoffman@sandi.net.

Donors Choose

Great option for all types of funding related to student learning. Create an account at www.donorschoose.org

Follow @sdschools on Twitter for daily highlights from schools throughout SDUSD.

For some indepth stories, you can checkout the weekly updates on the Office of School Innovation Blog. This is news from TK-12 focused on students in action and teachers learning innovative practices to implement in the classroom.

For more information regarding PBL at SDUSD, please contact Reuben Hoffman at rhoffman@sandi.net, visit the SDUSD PBL Website, follow #sdusdpbl & @reubenhoffman on Twitter.

Please invite me to see your students in action, so I can share more of the great things happening in SD Unified.

If you would like to submit something for a future newsletter, please contact Reuben Hoffman at rhoffman@sandi.net.

Email: rhoffman@sandi.net
Website: https://sites.google.com/sandi.net/pbl/home
Phone: 8584142557