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EEND678 Artifact 2 -- Designing a PBL Unit

The second artifact that I chose to reflect one was the UBD assignment in which one of my PBL ideas was elaborated on and planned for. Similar to my first artifact, I chose this artifact because it challenged me in a new way. While I am familiar with the UBD construct and principle, I have never utilized that framework to plan for a unit of this nature. For this assignment, I utilized my PBL outlines to choose a project I felt could be realistically implemented in an environment where I had the ability to manipulate the curriculum purposefully. The project I chose to further develop was about school start times. I chose this because it has been a hot topic in our school over the last couple of years. This year, students have late arrival one day a week which provided a launching point to discuss the topic. When thinking about PBLs it is important for students to have an investment in what they are learning, and I felt like this topic would provide a high level of investment for my students. In addition, because they have practical connections to the topic, it seemed to be a good fit. Dr. Michael J Martirano says this is a key in how PBLs can be implemented effectively: “PBL is a main driver in making real-life, relevant and practical connections to problem solving and critical thinking experiences.”

Here is a copy of my UBD:


Some challenges in creating this assignment was figuring out how to make it standards based, interesting, and authentic. This definitely took the longest to figure out. The next hardest element was the assessments. I had to rethink about how to assess the standards through authentic design. While this was challenging, I do think I was able to navigate both of those elements. It did take time to figure out, however, I felt that it was time well spent in that not only would I be able to evaluate the standards, but students could have tangible evidence of why they are assessed on those standards through an authentic experience. A last challenge was planning activities that would guide my students, but still allow them exploration in the topic. I chose to provide them with the final summative assignment (the proposal), but I also think it would be interesting to see what they could come up with given the standards and the essential question. 

This assignment fits perfectly into implementation in the classroom. While creating this assignment took time and more long term planning than I typically do, I could definitely see the benefit in it. Utilizing this structure through the PLC process also seems like a good guide and helps determine when the essential standards will be taught and assessed. I can see this framework being an easy addition to any classroom!

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