Reflections
Curriculum Objectives
The students, for the most part, met my objectives. If anything,
they were weak on the analysis. I wanted them to return to the overall
driving question during their presentations. We re-worked their
projects after they shared them the first time, and this was one of the
areas I made sure they addressed during the second round of presentations.
Materials and Resources
It was my intention that the students would read the stories and poems
that I selected and consider those pieces of literature for themes of a
possible presentation. Not one student chose to do so. In
fact, many students had not read the literature until right before their
projects were due, and many did not see the connection to
conformity. If I had to do it all over again, I would either discuss
the works of literature at length, or not offer them as reading material
at all.
I was very happy when two of the groups used digital cameras and made
videos of teenagers commenting on conformity. Also, I was very
pleased that one group looked at peer pressure as a direct example of
conformity and interviewed two popular students with some pretty tough
questions about cliques.
Investigations and Other Activities
An important aspect of keeping students on task was the journal
writing. I did not have students turn in their journals each day. I
should have. Because I didn't, some students waited until the day their
projects were due and wrote several days' worth of journal entries in one
sitting. This was exactly what I did NOT want to happen.
Also, I did not explain problem-based learning very well. I was limited
in the amount of time that the students would have access to the
computers, and, as a result, rushed the students through the preliminary
activities.
Some of the investigations that the students created concentrated on a
person (Douglas MacArthur, Bob Marley, Madonna, Malcolm X, Aretha
Franklin). Others focused on a group (teenagers, Heaven's
Gate). They basically looked these names up and created a
report.
Students relied heavily on the Internet. They became very adept at
searching for a particular image or subject.
They worked in small groups. Five groups of 3 and one group of 2. This
helped to make classroom management less of a problem. Some students
worked exclusively in the media center even when the rest of us were in
the Laptop Lab.
Follow up activities included discussing the projects and then
subsequently re-working them to address the driving question better.
Assessment
As I stated earlier, the journal writing could have been improved if
the students had turned them in each day.
However, the evaluation forms worked very well. All but one
student appreciated the chance to evaluate their group members.
Miscellaneous
I wish I had completed a list of procedures for the students as is
found on the Student Page link. Since I didn't, there was some
down time while I explained Problem-Based Learning over and over.
I guess I can sum up my feelings about the unit through a series of
questions:
- Was this unit a success in my classroom? The answer is not a
simple yes or no. "Sort of" is a better
answer.
- Did the students learn a lot? Yes.
- Were their projects good? Yes.
- Were their final projects above and beyond? No.
- Would I do this unit again? Yes, but I would definitely make
the changes that I mentioned.
My advice to anyone that would want to attempt teaching this
particular unit would be to learn from my mistakes. This includes:
- Know more about Problem-Based Learning
- Don't discount the preliminary activities
- Use the Student Page to give students actual STEPS to follow
Good Luck!!! Happy teaching!!
Student Page
 Sample
Project 1 Sample Project 2
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