The Student-Centered Shift: Empowered International Schools and Classrooms Through Project-Based Learning

What do learner-centered classrooms look like? 15 years ago, as a rookie PBL teacher, I wouldn't be able to answer that question. But after leading and teaching in some of the most renowned PBL schools in the world, I can confidently answer that question. Learner-centered classrooms require 12 key shifts. Making these shifts will tranform a teacher-led classroom, into one that creates student self-managers, leaders, and 21st century socially, globally and emotionally aware citizens. With the help of my dear friend, mentor and co-founder of High Tech High Rob Riordan, we have outlined each of the 12 shifts, and the necessary steps to get there.  In this episode, I detail each shift and how you can make them in your classroom, school or own learning environment.  Take the 12 Shifts Scorecard: www.transformschool.com/12shiftsmastermind

Being an innovative and imaginative Project-Based teacher can be lonely. Sometimes we are the only ones doing this work in the corner classroom of a large school. What if there was a way to expand the audience and find collaborators for our project-based experiences? Might we feel less isolated? In this short episode, Kelly Pfeiffer, human network architect, dedicated PBL educator, author, blogger and presenter shares how she accomplished this through the 'Dark Sky' Project. She shares how she connected her project to NGOs, other schools, 60+ industry experts, and even the ministry of education. She also shares how we can: Build community collaborators by starting PBL with a real, authentic problem Leverage social media and other channels to find project mentors within minutes  Find your PBL 'tribe,' and build capacity for PBL across your entire school Build meaningful projects in the metaverse with your students as co-creators  Use PBL to transform formerly passive students into active, engaged problem-solvers and global citizens  Connect with Kelly: LinkedIn Twitter (@kelmade5) 'Dark Sky' Project Website (free resources): https://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/About-Us/Our-Programs/Dark-Sky/Dark-Sky-education Kelly's Bio: A human network architect, dedicated educator, author, blogger and presenter, Kelly is the point person for PBL Global in Australia and an innovator in distance education PBL. Kelly co-created the widely-adopted Dark Sky PBL unit, nominated for the Dark Sky Defender award through the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA). In 2019, she won the Australasian Association of Distance Education Schools (AADES) for Teaching Excellence. In addition, her Dubbo School of Distance Learning Futures Team received the New South Wales Department of Education Technology 4 Learning (T4L) award for Leader in Developing Digital Collaborative Communities.

What does a theater director and the coordinator of a wall-to-wall PBL program have in common? They are both experts in facilitating several projects at once. Whether that's script writing and set design in preparation for a major performance, or student-designed health apps and meal plans in response to the obesity crisis in their community. In this short interview, Kim Flintoff, coordinator of TIDES (Technology, Innovation, Design, Enterprise, Sustainability), a year 7-10 micro-PBL program, shares with us how to: Use a few simple frameworks to help generate and facilitate multiple student project ideas  Partner with and frame project-based experiences around REAL issues in the community Use a repeatable process to help students self-assess project work and become self-directed learners Build 'future ready skills' and still cover our curriculum Build momentum for learner-centered PBL across the whole school  Connect with Kim: LinkedIn (@kimflintoff), Twitter (@kimbowa), Facebook (@kimfutures)  Kim's Website: http://www.stem4innovation.org/ TIDES Program Overview Kim's Bio: Kim has traversed many roles in forty-odd years since he left school. Studying in a range of disciplines across the arts and sciences, and working in many areas including theatre, circus and media before settling into education where his combined experience seemed to find a home. Formerly an internationally recognised high school Drama teacher and teacher educator, then inaugural Learning Futures Advisor at Curtin University in Perth, Western Australia, in 2021 Kim returned to a role in school leadership (TIDES Coordinator) and his work continues to engage him in global advisory and consultation roles in all education sectors. As well as establishing and coordinating the Learning Futures Network, Innovative Schools Consortium and shared development of STEM4Innovation, Kim is also a founding member of the ShapingEDU community and continues as Lifelong Change Maker, advisory board member to Consortium of Schools Networking Driving K-12 Innovation initiative, FutureWe, NetEDU, OneHE and other projects around the world. Kim's ongoing research interest is considering the impact of educational collaborative networks on school innovation and transformation.

When Ayesha Inam moved her co-designed project online, something unfortunate happened. She watched 100% engagement in class dwindle to less than 50% online. Half of her kids weren't even showing up to lessons.  And then she tried something magical. She gamified it.  Suddenly ALL of her students were engaged. In this short podcast episode, Ayesha Inam, Head Facilitator at micro-school LEO's Workshop by Beaconhouse, describes how to 'gamify' our PBL experiences to increase engagement and how to: Co-design your projects with student input 🎮 Set up the gamified experience and NEVER have to teach again. 🎮 Improve quality of student work by 'badging it.'  🎮 Make seemingly dry subjects come to life with the right challenges. 🎮 Have students self-organize and organize team meetings on their own well beyond online lesson time. Connect with Ayesha: Instagram (@thestemlabpakistan), LinkedIn, Twitter (@ayeshainam036) Website: www.Leosworkshop.net The Gamified Unit: https://transformschool.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SLOP-The-Game-Plan.pdf  Sample Gamified Leaderboard (from Andres Joubert of Park Maitland School): https://docs.google.com/a/parkmaitland.org/spreadsheets/d/15VHH21d6jvr9p3Z7WwOhp49RAY1Z1PcBtw5C_2_OpeI/edit?usp=drive_web  Ayesha's Bio:  Ayesha Inam is a Computer Software Engineer by her degree, a K-5 STEM Education Specialist and Project-Based Learning Practitioner by passion. She co-founded a small educational organisation - the STEM Lab of Pakistan in 2016 with a friend. The SLOP (The STEM Lab of Pakistan) is an after-school club that promotes and inculcates the love for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics in young children, especially young girls through play-based and game-based educational activities. She started her PBL Journey at TNS Beaconhouse in 2017, as a Grades 2-5 PBL Practitioner & later as a PBL Coordinator for 4.5 years, where she fell in love with Project Based Learning instantly because of the amazing things students were doing during their projects. Apart from many other valuable certifications in education, she holds a Distinction in a rigorous certification course of Teaching and Learning with Digital Technologies by the University of Cambridge. Using PBL Methodologies she has facilitated more than 150 students in creating products such as useful gadgets by using electric circuits for their families, blogging about the helping staff of their school and making their stories visible(https://fan.school/spaces?spaceId=8vok7hkqgikp1l2ljz0x7m56k), redesigning their school spaces and their suggestions taken in account by their new school's architect, Rosan Bosch; creating an Urdu rap song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5WbxUeUeyc) to make the learning easier for novice Urdu learners, analysed the impacts of people in history, setting up small slime and cookies businesses, hosted discussion panels with International space scientists and Pakistani children to raise awareness about space sciences amongst children(https://fb.watch/asQnhzTyyf/) and many other such innovative ventures. Currently working as the Head Facilitator of an innovative private K-5 micro-school, Leo's Workshop by Beaconhouse for implementing the best PBL Practices at the school. She also serves as the Creative Director at the STEM Lab Pakistan so the love for STEM subjects keeps growing in the hearts of little children. She loves investigating the science of learning; learning about the things that drive and motivate children to be interested in their own learning processes. Ayesha dreams of making academic learning as fun and addictive as the gaming industry some day. She loves interacting and engaging with children, helping them learn how the world works; through gamification, game-based and play-based activities. In her leisure time, she likes to read books, perform crazy science experiments with her two biological kids and meditate whenever she can.

How can play therapy help elementary students cope with the trauma caused by the pandemic? This was the BIG question facing Emily Burk's (MakerSpace and Technology Integration Specialist) high school students in Anna, Texas.  Their task- design play therapy toys for their younger peers to use in the newly constructed social + emotional well-being rooms. This was real PBL. There were real users. And the stakes were high.   In this short podcast episode, Emily unpacks this dynamic PBL experience, and how she used the design process to transform students from apathetic teenagers, into empathetic and engaged toy designers. We learn how to: ❤️  Use a simple 5- step design process to guide our projects ❤️  Make our socially distanced environments more 'hands-on' ❤️  Connect our projects to real users and real audiences ❤️  Improve social and emotional well-being through hands-on PBL Connect with Emily: Twitter (@tech_edu_burk), Instagram (@annaisd_makerspace) Emily's Bio: Emily Burk is a Maker Integration Technology Specialist in a 3,744 square foot public high school makerspace in the North Texas area. Emily has had 22 years of experience in the classroom varying from fine arts, English-Language Arts, career and technical education, and media and technology integration. She has a passion for project-based learning, making learning applicable and relevant to all learners, and providing all students equitable access to maker education.

Do you set New Year's Resolutions? I used to. Until I broke nearly all of them by February. Sound familiar?  Vision Boarding is a FAR more effective way to reach milestones you never dreamed possible, and improve your life- both as an educator, and human. I've been using them since 2016, and I now have a life I could have never imagined if I stuck with boring resolutions.   In this short bonus episode, I teach you how to create yours and: Set in motion a new, improved you Manifest your dream day, life and new habits  Show up as the authentic educator your students se desperately need    Get the Vision Boarding Template - -> https://bit.ly/3pv0JMI 

Do you have a hard time letting go of control in the classroom?  Letting go isn't easy. It requires trust and confidence in our learners, while we take a backstage role in the classroom. But when we do, we unlock unlimited student potential. Yvette Larson, a PYP teacher and future mindset guru, has a classroom full of unlocked potential; with 30+ self-directed students, and 30+ projects happening at the same time. In this short episode, Yvette teaches us how she creates this kind of magic, and builds future mindsets through the story of her Winter Fair Project and how to: Trust in the process. Ask the right questions, rather than providing all the answers. Wait....and then wait some more. Lead learning with WONDER. Turn over control of our classroom to students, and still maintain our sanity. Build future mindsets in students by starting with what they care about. STILL COVER OUR CURRICULUM STANDARDS! Connect with Yvette: LinkedIN Yvette: https://yvettelarssoncom.wordpress.com/ AHA!: https://ahaacceleratingeducation.org/ Yvette's Bio: Yvette is an international Swede, born above the Arctic Circle, in Swedish Lapland, by Sami ancestry, with over 20 years of international experience, a polyglot, a nature lover who inspires others to live their best lives and take care of the earth. She is a very open-minded and informal person. Yvette is the co-founder of AHA! Accelerating Education, a science-based platform that seeks to boost human potential with the help of applied neuroscience, and provide tools for learners in the 21st century. AHA! Seeks to explore questions like: “What does it mean to be human in a global age of technology” and “What happens if we educate the heart first and foremost?”. AHA!  encompasses Learning and Education Innovation and Foresight.  Yvette is the country LEAD Sweden for LearnLife, a global hub for innovators in education.  She is also an IB Educator at the International School of Helsingborg, Sweden.  Yvette’s recent works revolve around being a member of the Hundred Advisory Board for the Social-Emotional Spotlight in partnership with Lego. She also co-founded a PBL-based global Hackathon for youth, where young people have a say on what education in the 21st century should be. She co-created The Future Mindset Program © with a focus on the upskilling of competencies to become more resilient and adapt to the fast-paced world we live in, she co-developed The AHA! Wellbeing Program that promotes Youth Health, Social-Emotional Learning, and Educator Well-being. Yvette is passionate about many things that start with a C: courage, curiosity, collaboration, communication, care, community, and creativity.

You know that buzz you hear when you walk into a classroom that is completely learner-owned? That's world renowned Ron Berger's classroom... And his students are ALWAYS working on something meaningful. Whether it's completing a field guide on local amphibians; or drafting plans for a new playground; they behave in the same way professionals would in the REAL WORLD- and they are only 10.  I sat down with Ron, veteran teacher and senior advisor for EL Education to uncover his secrets for creating this 'ethic of excellence,' and how we can create it in our students as well. We learn: The power of public exhibition. How to transform static units of study into dynamic 'expeditions' of learning. How to build a positive classroom culture of feedback, critique + reflection. How to improve work quality without ever awarding a grade. To unleash curiosity and wonder in our most reluctant learners.    Connect with Ron: Twitter @RonBergerEL, Website (eleducation.org), LinkedIN Get Project Ideas: 'Models of Excellence' from EL Education PBL Starter Kit: www.transformschool.com/pblstarterkit  Ron's Bio:  Ron Berger is Senior Advisor at EL Education, a nonprofit school improvement organization that partners with public schools and districts across America, leads professional learning, and creates open educational resources. He is a well-known keynote speaker nationally and internationally on inspiring a commitment to quality, character and citizenship in students. Ron is the author of best-selling education books, including: An Ethic of Excellence, and A Culture of Quality; and co-author of Leaders of Their Own Learning, Transformational Literacy, Management in the Active Classroom, Learning that Lasts, and We Are Crew: A Teamwork Approach to School Culture. He also teaches at Harvard Graduate School of Education, where he did his graduate work. He founded the website Models of Excellence: The Center for High-Quality Student Work, which houses the world’s largest collection of beautiful student work. Ron was a member of the U.S. National Commission on Social, Emotional and Academic Development. In his prior work, Ron was a public school teacher and master carpenter in rural Massachusetts for over 25 years, and received the Autodesk Foundation National Teacher of the Year award.

How do you take the first steps into project-based learning, and  help others across your school take theirs? How do you get the critical 'buy-in' from parents, students, teachers to really help PBL fly?   I explored these BIG questions with Catriona Woodard, Director of Community Outreach and Partnerships at Bloom Academy in Hong Kong. Through discussing 2 of her projects, Catriona shares how she took her first steps into the PBL pool, and how she is empowering others across the school to take theirs. You will learn how to: Keep your best teaching materials, just look at them in a new way. Make 1-2 simple tweaks to transform teacher-centered units, into learner-centered magic.  Use the power of exhibition to turn the biggest PBL skeptics into believers. Run meaningful project-based experiences and still cover your curriculum.  Help parents, students and other stakeholders become comfortable with the 'organized chaos' that is PBL. Connect with Catriona: LinkedIn,   Learn more about Bloom Academy Get the PBL 'Roadmap': Building Capacity for PBL at Your School Catriona's Bio:  Catriona is an educator and school leader who is trying to bridge the gap between creativity and education. Looking at the similarities between how designers approach creative tasks and how learners can approach problems in class and bringing this to the classroom in the every day. She specializes in start-up schools and embraces these opportunities to offer young people a dynamic and fresh educational outlook. Catriona is supporting with the Project Based Learning roll-out in Bloom KKCA Academy, brought the importance of outdoor learning to many HK parents during her leadership at Malven College Pre-School. She's an advocate for creative chaos both in and out of the classroom!

Imagine a classroom full of students who move seamlessly from project task to project task; self-directed, self-managed, and self-empowered...  While the teacher facilitates seamlessly in the background. That's what it looks like in veteran teacher Roslynn Jackson's 7th grade 'agile' classroom. In this episode Roslynn uncovers the secrets behind her 'agile' classroom, and how we can develop the mindsets in students to allow for it. Through her 'Gamifying the Weather' and 'Simplifying Science Concepts' Projects, we learn how to:   Gently facilitate reflective conversations in project work Use positive peer pressure to elevate student work quality Lower stress and save time by getting out of our students' way Use simple processes to help students direct their own learning   Connect with Ros: Twitter- @RoslynnJackson, LinkedIn Resources on building 'Agile Classrooms:' Ros' Website.  Youtube Channel.  Roslynn's Bio:  Roslynn (Ros) is an educator with over 17 year of experience teaching. She has taught Kindergarten and 1st Grade, but her passion is for Middle School. She practiced environmental law before transitioning to teaching. Ros is a self-proclaimed "science geek", so teaching middle school science was a perfect fit. She has taught all middle grades (6th-8th grades), but currently teaches 7th Grade Earth and Space Science. She believes that the best part of science is the organized chaos of the inquiry process: asking questions, getting your hands dirty, hypothesizing, experimenting, proving and disproving hypotheses, experimenting again, etc. Through these steps students (and teachers) learn that there is not just THE answer, there is AN answer that could solve a given set of parameters. This is why Ros is a practitioner and advocate for Agile in the classroom. She believes that this framework instills a mindset in teachers and students of collaboration, communication, teamwork, experimentation, and reflection that can help us solve problems while learning content with minimally wasted time. As a Co-Founder of the The Agile Mind, she hopes to help other educators make the transformation to an Agile framework and see the power of becoming a facilitator of student agency and empowerment every day.