PBL Simplified by Magnify Learning
PBL Simplified Podcast helps innovative principals and teachers like you bring Project Based Learning to your classrooms. PBL Simplified is in the top 5% of over 2 million global podcasts.
Hosted by Ryan Steuer, of Magnify Learning, we strive to empower school leaders and teachers with examples from Project Based Learning classrooms, leadership inspiration, and practical PBL resources.
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Whether you are a teacher or school leader, there is something for you on PBL Simplified:
1st Wednesday: PBL Leadership Episode
2nd Wednesday: PBL Showcase - a PBL facilitator shares a PBL Unit
3rd Wednesday: PBL Leadership Episode
4th Wednesday: PBL Interview.
Subscribe and listen to real educators like yourself, who are innovating in the classroom to help their learners become part of an inspiring story. For more Project Based Learning resources, visit www.magnifypbl.com
PBL Simplified by Magnify Learning
PBL Model District - Large District Implementation Case Study | E195
Transform your school's approach to learning by mastering the art of Project Based Learning (PBL). Discover how schools and districts are leveraging their unique strengths to implement PBL, creating engaging and sustainable educational environments. We spotlight Calvert County, Maryland, where PBL has been successfully integrated into the district's culture. Calvert County is a larger district with 15,000+ students. Calvert County has use PBL to increase student engagement by addressing real-world problems, like tackling vaping in school bathrooms, and how you can replicate these successes in your own educational setting.
Join us as we unpack the essential strategies for creating a lasting PBL movement within your school or district. From appointing dedicated district coaches and recruiting innovative educators to providing comprehensive training during contract time, Calvert County's approach offers a blueprint for PBL success. By showcasing achievements through infographics and inviting stakeholders to witness PBL in action, they have built a strong support system for continued growth. Discover the power of Design Days in crafting a three-year vision and how developing internal experts can ensure the longevity of your PBL initiatives. Don't miss this chance to learn how to foster a culture of collaboration and innovation in education.
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Welcome to the PBL Simplified Podcast where we're continuing a series on asset-based school development. We're spending almost two months showcasing PBL model schools or districts and we're looking at their implementation model. So if you're wondering how do I get PBL started at my school or district, you came at the perfect time, because we look at a case study of the school and then we talk to a movement maker that is keeping this movement going. So not only do you get kind of an overview so you can see if it's going to fit your school, but you're also talking to the people that are in the middle of the work. You can ask questions by going to pblsharecom. You can listen, need to know or give a comment and as you're listening, I think you're going to hear different ways to implement that could work for you. There is no one implementation model that works for every school in the world. It just doesn't happen. People ask me all the time and it's like the answer is always it depends. Tell me your story, you know where do you want to go. So I need to hear like three years back and then what you think three years forward is going to look like. Then we can start talking about implementation. So this is a way for you to listen, worked for other movement makers just like you. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm your host, ryan Stoyer, here with Magnify Learning, and here we call it asset-based school development, because we want to build on the bright spots, the strengths, the things that are working in your school district already and then build a movement out of it. Our goal with this podcast is to inspire leaders just like you, because whether you're leading a classroom, a school or a district, your leadership matters. Leaders just like you, because whether you're leading a classroom, a school or a district, your leadership matters, and we know that inspired leaders inspire others. So thank you for joining us.
Ryan Steuer:Your free resource for today is to go to whatispblcom. If you go to whatispblcom, you can sign up as an administrator or a teacher and you will get resources based on what you choose. If you're a teacher, you're going to get some resources that work directly for your classroom. If you're an administrator, you're going to get resources you can give to your teachers, but also some leadership-specific resources. We'll also sign you up for our weekly newsletter when you do that. So you get in the weekly newsletter. You get three resources. You always get a blog, a podcast, this podcast and one of the PBL Simplified video series or some other video that goes along with that newsletter to help you move your leadership along, to move your movement right.
Ryan Steuer:A movement doesn't happen with just one person. You need to include others and to do that you need resources. So go to whatispblcom and get your free resource today, as we talk to movement makers and how their PBL implementation got started and how it's going now, you're gonna hear that in some form they had a vision to start with. The way that we help you do that is we have design days where we bring you to one of these model schools that we're talking to you and your leadership team. Again, you don't even start a movement by yourself. You want to start with some kind of a grassroots movement. We help you do that over two days. We help you build out your plan for your school over the next three years. We do that at one of our model schools so that you can ask questions of the leaders that are there, of the students that are there, the teachers, the coaches everyone that's there. You can walk around during a live school day, see pbl in action, be inspired by the environment, the structures, the people, all the things that you see. But then we bring you back to your home base and say how is this going to work for you and your? Be inspired by the environment, the structures, the people, all the things that you see. But then we bring you back to your home base and say how is this going to work for you and your team If you are the leader of your building and you bring your leadership team in and you're not the only one carrying the vision. Now you have a leadership team. You're going to bring your APs, you're going to bring coaches, you're going to bring lead teachers so that you can start implementing PBL in classrooms and start to get your own wins, your own bright spots to keep the movement going and schedule design days anytime. We'd love to do them in the fall, because we want you to be there when school's in action and you can see the work happening. So this is a training for leadership teams. It really happens before the summer and then it sets you up for continual work for the summer. You can train your teachers. That can be part of your plan.
Ryan Steuer:As you listen to this episode, as we get into the main part of the episode and the next episode you're going to hear of a district that really has a strategic plan for sustainability, that started from the very beginning, and that's what we want like. We want you to have a sustainable plan of action and eventually, an ecosystem. After three years years we think you should be out on your own. You and I are going to be friends at that point. We're going to be partners. Our relationship changes. You're training your teachers because you have PBL certified teachers on your team. That's the plan, but it all starts with a three-year vision that comes from the leader and the leadership team. We help you do that through Design Days. They've been a ridiculously awesome addition to our supports for our partners and we'd love to have you join us. Take a look in the show notes under Design Days and you can see how to get started there.
Ryan Steuer:Today we're talking about a large district implementation. That's right, not just a large school, but a large district implementation. So Calvert County out in Maryland has about 15,000 plus students, so we would consider that a large district. And you said well, how did they implement project-based learning? Great question, did they say everyone's doing project-based learning? Starting next semester, we expect to see your PBL units and we expect you to turn them in. Thankfully they did not. It was much more strategic, it was much more grassroots, it was much more bring the willing in to start and let them shine and let others jump on board.
Ryan Steuer:So most of these model schools that you're going to see I'm trying to think really quickly. I don't think any of them are top-down mandates. I don't think top-down mandates work. If they do, that's great. I just haven't seen it. What I see is super thoughtful people at central office, at leaders of school buildings, inviting people into an educational experience. That's a little different. That is the way we've always wanted to teach and the adults get fired up and inspired, and then the kids get fired up and inspired and amazing things happen.
Ryan Steuer:So here at Calvert County again a large district and the way they brought this in to multiple schools at this point, multiple schools across their district is they actually started in social studies. So their movement starts not at a school level but at a content level, which is a really interesting way to start. And it started with a central office director who was super supportive of the work, and there was a grant in Maryland to look at some innovative practices. So you got a grant for two years and this grant was looking at student engagement how do you increase student engagement and PBL was not the only initiative that they had, so they had a couple of different models. Pbl has flourished, but it started out as a way to look at student engagement. To say how can we get our learners engaged in social studies really, specifically at the secondary level is where it started, and I keep saying that's where it started, because it is absolutely spread and it truly is a movement at Calvert County and it's super authentic. But it started with a two-year grant from the state.
Ryan Steuer:So when you hear that, what's the first thing that comes to mind? It's like what happens in year three. That's immediately what you should think of. And you think about the design days I just talked about. It's like maybe that's why we have a three-year plan right. Part of it is that it's actually a little bit difficult for most of us, even as leaders, to see past the three-year mark. But three years is a great way to cast the vision and then, once you implement for a year, start another three-year plan right, Keep some kind of a vision three years out. But because they had a three-year plan.
Ryan Steuer:From the very beginning they could figure out how to make this two-year grant really stick, because they actually created some positions out of a two-year grant, right, which can be a little risky, right? Because you say, hey, come be this district coach for two years. What's going to happen in year three, boss? It's like, well, ideally we figured it out by then. You know, and I'm sure we've all seen initiatives where it didn't work out and that person goes back into the classroom or some piece like that.
Ryan Steuer:But I think really, from day one, this Calvert County initiative was really thinking how are we going to get to year three where this is sustainable, it's part of our work, it's part of our budget, it's part of our culture throughout the district and the places where we've trained, and because they started that from the very beginning, I think that's one of the reasons they were successful, and so they've got a two-year grant to make this work to increase student engagement. So some things they did super well is they started tracking data right off the bat teachers trained, students trained, or going through the program, going through PBL and looking at those successes. And I'll try to get through some of that as well and give you some very concrete examples. But on the vision side, here are some things I think were super strong that if you're a large district and I really think I really think if you're a middle to small size district, I think these ideas are still something that should be in your plan. We tie them into design days as well. So they started with coaching. So, out of this two-year grant, they started with a coaching position, a district coaching position that was going to be able to support teachers across the district, and it's super strong because then when you have teachers that come in and let me jump to that too they also brought teachers in that were willing, that were excited about something new, to engage learners that are in again, in this case, the social studies content area, and they tapped people on the shoulders like, hey, I think that you're going to love this, I think you're going to thrive in this environment. I think these helps are going to be something that you'll appreciate in your classroom.
Ryan Steuer:I think it's a great way to get a movement started, like you know, in your school or your district, like who it is that's doing something innovative, who it is that's doing something outside of the box, and just because you send out a mass email that says, hey, we're doing this training over the summer and you hope those people jump in. Hope's not a strategy, right? You want to go and just tap those people on the shoulder hey, ryan, I think you might like this. Do you have any questions? And let that innovative teacher start to ask questions and start to get bought into this process. You know we like that as humans, like it's honoring to come and say, hey, I think you'd like that, uh, I think you'd like this. Why don't you come in? Because when you're doing that, you're saying, hey, I noticed the great work you're doing and I think that you'd appreciate this, and we're like, oh, you did notice that, thank you, right. And now you've got the right people in the training to get things started and to show that it's successful. So that's a few of the things they did.
Ryan Steuer:A few other things that they did that were super strong and there are a lot of them is their training that they had was built into contract time. So in the grant they built into their budget time for teachers to be trained during their contract time. So there were subs that were put in there. They included monthly district collaboration time, which is super strong, by the way, no matter the size of your district. I think you should be considering that. So then they looked at the grant. They said how can we best spend this money? How can we best invest this? What's the return on investment? And they built in collaboration time for teachers.
Ryan Steuer:Like, we want our learners to be collaborating, but then we don't trust our teachers to collaborate, right? Do we see the disconnect there? Right? Some of us might need to say, ouch, ouch. I think you're right, ryan, right Like you. Look at your faculty meeting. And it's sit and get, because if I give the teachers time, they just won't use it. That's exactly what we're telling teachers to do in the classroom. We're asking them to get away from sit and get and to let kids collaborate. And their first thought is well, what if they don't use the time? Right? And so, at a leadership level, we need to be demonstrating collaboration if we want to see it in the classroom, and Calvert did this really well by building into the system of ongoing supports.
Ryan Steuer:Right off the bat, they knew that they wanted teachers collaborating and they trusted their teachers. I think that's the right word. I think trusting the expertise of our teachers is really important. They're professionals and they want to do amazing things. That's why we're all here, and when we give them time to collaborate, amazing things do happen. In this case, they're collaborating across the district, which is super strong. So let me give you some examples of some of the things that they're doing.
Ryan Steuer:So, right off the bat, they had some very sustainable structures built into their grant. They're thinking long-term, they're thinking into year three after their grant has ended, and, to that end, they start to create some marketing materials and I don't know if marketing materials is even the right word. They had some infographics showing some of the successes, so there were some printed things that people could see. That's important. But they also invited board members into their PBL units to get eyes on it. They invited principals teachers that were maybe not in a training to come see what PBL is doing in their classrooms and how learners are experiencing and relating to project-based learning as their environment. So some of the examples. I guess what I would say is, as you're listening, what you need to pull away from that is, in order to show people, you need to be doing things that are amazing, and they did that. Their PBL units are super authentic.
Ryan Steuer:They got the right people in the room in the social studies area and they started creating some, some neat pieces. There was one group that the high schoolers were concerned about vaping in the bathroom so they wanted to get vape detectors in the bathrooms. Like, okay, I have to admit that when I heard that pbl, you know, I didn't know that was a thing. But the kids did so. They researched all the companies that could possibly install vape detectors and then they went to the board and presented one the problem of vaping in schools and then the vendors and what they thought could be a budget for installing these vape detectors. So it wasn't an argumentative paper that just went on a teacher's desk where they got a grade and then we all moved on. Those pieces are still involved. There's still some heavy content happening. Desk where they got a grade and then we all moved on. Those pieces are still involved. There's still some heavy content happening, but then at the end of the day they're presenting to someone that can do something about that problem and there's such a difference.
Ryan Steuer:And next week I'm going to tease next week's episode because we're going to have Ashley Curtin on and she's going to walk through two more of these PBL units in depth and every one of them creates some kind of an end and it goes into a public space, right. So at the end of the day they learned a bunch of content standards, they mastered those standards and at the end of the day they could walk home or walk with their parents and say, hey, see that thing right there, my class helped create that Boom. Like that's one of the ways you can tell if your PBL is authentic. At the end of the day, can your learners point to something and say, hey, that's something that is different in the community? Because my class made a difference and Calvert County, the very, I think really from day one, like they get it that it needs to be authentic. That's where the engagement came from, if you remember. That's where their grant started. Is how do we increase engagement with our learners? And they saw that authenticity not scenario projects is going to get them there and they've lived that. They really have lived that and I really want you to tune in next week to hear Ashley talk about how she, as the district coach, brings in community partners, connects teachers with community partners that are amazing, amazing people that are doing the work on the front lines and connecting them to teenagers or to third graders in a way that's super authentic and it makes the PBL work.
Ryan Steuer:So then, when you are sharing let's say, marketing materials is what the business world would say it. We don't say it enough in education, but you do need to market your PBL movement, meaning other people need to know about it. Right? Coca-cola is marketing to you so that you'll buy their pop. You need to market the amazing thing your learners are doing in the classroom so that people will buy into PBL. And when it comes up and there's a budget concern, pbl doesn't get an ax because they're like well, we can't do without PBL. That'd be ridiculous. Or you say, hey, I want to bring on a district coach or a STEM coach, or we want to do some additional PBL training.
Ryan Steuer:The board knows what that means. They know that it means that learners are out in the community doing authentic work and they say yes to those things. Right, but if they don't know about it, then they can't talk about it. It's not that the board's unfair, it's not that they don't get it. We need to do a really good job of showing them that education can look different, because when we grew up, we were sitting in rows and regurgitating information and everybody said, good job, I got a 4.2 in high school. Everybody said, good job, I didn't learn anything. I went to go be an engineer at Purdue and I didn't know what an engineer did. I just knew I was good at math and science. That's what people told me to do did. I just knew I was good at math and science. That's what people told me to do. That's kind of insane right To make this huge bet on. You know you're going to go, pay for and attend Purdue to be an engineer. You don't even know what they are. It turns out it wasn't where I was supposed to be. So here I am right. But what if our learners were getting those experiences during their K-12 education? Guess what Every adult is for that as well.
Ryan Steuer:So if your board's not supporting project-based learning, I would say that they don't understand it yet. If they don't understand it yet, that's on us as leaders. It's on us as leaders. We cannot pass the buck. We need to create expos where they can come. We need to invite them. You say well, ryan, I invited them. They didn't come. Invite them again and again and again. It might take two years to get some people on board. And that's okay, that's where they're at. That's the work that needs to be done.
Ryan Steuer:So part of your PBL movement initiative and we talk about this in Design Days is you need to be marketing, you need to be displaying the work that you're doing because it's amazing, but if nobody knows it, it doesn't count. It does count, but it could count for more. You're not going to get a movement if you're hiding it right. You need to get it public so that more people can join. And Calvert County has done a great job of that, just a fantastic job. So they've got board support to keep the PBL work going again, because they have advocates on the board. They have board members that have been to a ton of PBL expos, that have been community partners. So then when things are discussed at a board meeting, again they know what they're talking about because they've been equipped with the right language, they've experienced it and they say, yes, we want more of this for all of our learners in our district. So they're for it.
Ryan Steuer:So what are the next steps for Calvert County? Because there's always next steps right, even for our model schools. So they've been through this process. They've been grant funded. The grant has run its cycle, so the grant money is gone. They've found a place to keep their district coach so they have training continuing. I'll talk a little bit more in the next episode with Ashley about how we at Magnified Learning are supporting that district.
Ryan Steuer:But they found some very creative ways to keep the work going and to keep it authentic. And a lot of that, honestly, at the end of the day, is that they're doing really great work. They're doing really great work at the classroom level, at the district level, of supporting those classroom teachers. So the teachers get it, they know that they're supported and their learners are doing amazing things, and that just speaks volumes. At the end of the day, they're doing really great work and that has to be where you have to get to. You have to know the work, you have to have the mindset and they do so.
Ryan Steuer:Their next steps is they're going to continue to build structure and growth and sustainability. And this has not stayed in the social studies content area. Right, it's spreading. English teachers are like, wait a minute, I want some of that. Elementary school teachers are like, wait a minute, that was awesome, I want some of that. So it's starting to spread and they're figuring out structures to continue to sustain that work and they're building a movement. So they're in the middle of their movement and I think that's really how it goes right. They've got some PBL certified teachers now. So that's the sustainability part is developing your own experts within your district. It's hugely important. If we look at our model schools, they have experts in their schools and in their districts to sustain this work. So you know that I'm going to advocate a school visit right at the end of the day. So if you're a large district this is a no brainer you need to go see how they implemented. If district this is a no brainer you need to go see how they implemented.
Ryan Steuer:If you have a STEM coach or some kind of a district coach, a PBL coach, and you're not sure how to use that coach like that happens all the time, right? Somebody just asked me a couple of weeks ago hey, ryan, are people still doing STEM coaches? And it's like, yes, and what do you want to do with your STEM coach? How are we going to utilize that STEM coach? Right, don't let them get sucked into testing. And right, doing some, some administrative work. That's not what that position's for. If you want to go see what that position's for, if you have a STEM coach or district coach of some kind, you need to go to Calvert County right, just done, like reach out. Pblsharecom is the easy way to do it. Pblsharecom, you can get ahold of me and we'll set you up with that visit. But you need to get out there. If you've got a title one elementary, or maybe you're a content area implementation, I think it's another. I think it's a great place to visit If you want to know more.
Ryan Steuer:If you're not convinced yet, listen to the next episode. The next episode is coming out next week, on Wednesday. I'm going to interview Ashley and she absolutely hits it out of the park. She's going to interview Ashley and she absolutely hits it out of the park. She's going to give you all the tips and tricks. She's going to give you the strategies, the sustainability model. She's going to give you a couple hurdles they had to overcome right. And when you listen to that next week, don't be driving right, don't be running Like save this one. Put it on your calendar so you can be at your desk because you're going to want to take notes. So if you're a large district, this one's for you. This is Calvert County, maryland, about 15,000 plus students. Again, I think I totally believe that this spills over into middle and small size districts. I think you're going to need to take notes next week as well.
Ryan Steuer:So in past episodes I've talked about this PBL culture study. I think you need to go get it. Still, pblculturecom. You can do a needs assessment to see where you're at and then, as you're listening to these districts implementation, you can figure out what you need. So to do that, go to PBLculturecom. We give you all the resources that we would use for a needs assessment they're totally yours, along with videos for me about how to implement them. Then you can, if you're all in, you need to schedule design days this fall, all right, so you'll look in the show notes. You and I will talk about getting some dates on the calendar and then we will customize an agenda specifically for you, based on size of district or school and the initiatives that you have already and then what you want to build to over the next three years. So make sure you tune in next week. Don't forget you are the leader, which means you are the lid to your movement. So raise your lid and go lead inspired.
Ryan Steuer:Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the PBL simplified podcast. I appreciate you and honor that you tune in each week. Would you please take two minutes to leave a rating and a review. When you leave a review, it lets the next person know that this is a podcast worth listening to. When they go into their player and search project-based learning, and PBL Simplified popped up, when they see those reviews, they know that high-quality, visionary leaders are listening, so they tune in too and they can find their way into the PBL journey. Thank you so much for leaving a review. Thank you so much for listening. I appreciate you. Their way into the PBL journey. Thank you so much for leaving a review. Thank you so much for listening. I appreciate you.
