“Whether you’re starting with the standards and then finding the authentic need or starting with the authentic need and aligning your standards to it, you’re able to plan an effective project.”

— Josh Giebel, High School Math Facilitator & PBL Playbook Host, CSA New Tech High School | Columbus, IN

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.

The task of planning a project can feel daunting and overwhelming for PBL rookies. So where do we start?

Josh and Andrea break down the project planning process by tackling frequently asked questions from teachers who are new to PBL, discussing their own approaches to planning a project, and talking through project examples and where those ideas came from. In this episode, Josh and Andrea dive into a conversation about the project planning process. They start out discussing where to start with the daunting task of planning a project. They discuss a standards-first approach and how to build authentic need out of content standards. Then they get into specifics about standards – how many standards go into a project? How long do we spend covering our standards? Josh talks about some of the essential questions to answer when planning a project. They discuss project ideas and where to get them starting. Finally, they wrap up the discussion and talk about getting feedback from colleagues on project ideas, including using the tuning protocol.

Check out Episode 3 now to hear their conversation about the project planning process!