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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1st Wednesday: PBL Leadership Episode
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3rd Wednesday: PBL Leadership Episode
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PBL Simplified by Magnify Learning
Three Types of Learners Whose Lives are Transformed by Project Based Learning | E205
Can Project Based Learning (PBL) truly change the trajectory of a student's life? Join Ryan Steuer, CIO of Magnify Learning as we explore the answer through inspiring stories on the PBL Simplified Podcast. Meet Skyler, whose journey from disengagement to discovery highlights the profound impact PBL can have on students. Raised in a low socioeconomic background, Skyler found his education transformed when it connected to real-world applications. Hear how meaningful projects, like aiding parents with genetic disease awareness, ignited his passion for learning and photography, leading to accolades from Time Magazine and a flourishing freelance career.
But what about students who thrive in traditional academic settings? We delve into the story of Matt, a "point-getter" who excels in conventional environments yet struggles with collaboration and employability skills. Discover how PBL helped Matt and his peers develop essential workforce skills by revolutionizing grading systems to emphasize collaboration, agency, and presentation. Listen in as we share an insightful encounter with Matt's mother, revealing both the challenges and triumphs of implementing PBL. This episode showcases how PBL not only transforms individual students but also paves the way for reshaping educational systems and cultures.
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Welcome to the PBL Simplified Podcast.
Ryan Steuer:I'm your host, ryan Stoyer, chief Inspiration Officer here at Magnify Learning, and our goal is to inspire you, because we know that inspired leaders create inspired schools, inspired teachers create inspired classrooms and inspired learners change the world. If you're looking to start a PBL movement, you are in the right place. Can I give you a free resource? Go to pblsimplifiedcom. Pblsimplifiedcom. It's going to take you to a YouTube series and if you're a teacher, sign up for the teacher side. If you're an administrator, sign up for the administrator side. We've got videos for both of you and they are absolutely customized, differentiated for what it is. You need to be inspired to create your PBL vision. Today, we're talking about three types of learners that are transformed by project-based learning. Three types of learners that are transformed by project-based learning. That's what we're aiming for. We're not looking for an incremental shift in the educational culture. We're not looking for a blip. We're looking for transformation and we're looking for movements Now. At the same time, we're in it for the longip. We're looking for transformation and we're looking for movements now. At the same time, we're in it for the long haul.
Ryan Steuer:Movements don't happen overnight. They start small and they grow. That means we've got to be thinking about succession planning, we've got to think about training and systems and structures and processes all to create structure for creativity. Creativity thrives in structure sometimes, sometimes we think, oh, those rules they push back. I mean I can't be as creative. But the best creative thinkers have some kind of structure. The best painters have a canvas on which to paint from right. The best boxer has a ring from which he or she works within right the school system. There's a system in there. But there's so many places for you to be creative. There are places where you have to fall in line and you've got structures and processes and policies. Those are important. But there's so much room for you to be creative if you really look around, if you really kind of try to flex your creativity muscles. So that's what we're looking to do.
Ryan Steuer:We're looking to start a movement. We're looking to transform schools. That's what we're obsessed about at Magnified Learning. That's what we talk about all the time. How do we help transform schools? That's our job. We're the guide to help you fulfill your vision for your school and your classroom.
Ryan Steuer:And today I want to paint what that looks like for three types of learners. The first type of learner is Skyler. Skyler comes from a low socioeconomic background. He did really well in school the first couple years and then he realized that if you don't do any work, you actually still get two meals a day and you can hang out with your friends and if you're quiet you can kind of scoot along. That's Skyler.
Ryan Steuer:What happens when you give Skyler project-based learning? What happens is that you suddenly have a why for his learning. He does not inherently appreciate education. He doesn't see the value. His family didn't see the value. And when we say, hey, this is important for you to go to college, he's not real sure he's going to college. And even if he is, he's got an inkling that that'd be a good idea and be good for his future, but it's way too far away for him to see, so he doesn't really care about the grades and all those pieces.
Ryan Steuer:Now, what actually happened to Skylar? Because Skylar's a real learner that I had in eighth grade. We did give him project-based learning and we did give him PBL units like hey, eighth graders, parents are going to find out that their child has a genetic disease today and they're going to want to know two things. Number one is my child going to be okay. Number two they want to know everything there is to know about that genetic disease. Hey, eighth graders, will you help us with that? That brought Skyler's head up and he paid attention. He said, actually, yeah, I would actually do that. That seems worthwhile. It seems like it would change the world. I'm in Awesome. Skyler, you've got to learn the Punnett Square in order to do this. I don't know what the Punnett Square is. Well, do you want to help these parents? Yes, I do. Sounds meaningful. All right, then you've got to learn the Punnett Square. And Skylar said okay, teach me what? Teach you? Hold on now.
Ryan Steuer:If you're thinking of the Skylar that you have in class, because you have a Skyler in class, you have that learner who has a ton of potential but is not using it right. Yes, or yes? You have that learner that can point out where you messed up on a test, like there's a logical error, but they're also going to fail that test, probably on purpose. You have that learner I know you do and what happens is Skyler puts his head up and he starts to try and he becomes a learner. And if you do it just right, if you've got the right culture and you bring PBL consistently, he becomes a lifelong learner.
Ryan Steuer:So his sophomore year he starts taking pictures and putting them on Instagram just like every other high schooler. But his get picked up by Time Magazine and suddenly he is the Indiana representative for Time Magazine's Instagram account. They look at two Instagram accounts in every state in the country and if you look at most states it's a photojournalist, but in Indiana, for a couple years in a row it was a kid in generational poverty on the southwest side of Indianapolis who took pictures of his buddies at state parks and self-taught himself how to do photography. And now he's a freelance photographer. He has sponsors like monster, energy drink, coleman, camping gear, valvoline oil, like places you've heard of, and he will shoot your portraits for you, assuming you're in la and you're way cooler than I am and you need such things. Maybe you're a rapper rapper or maybe you are some kind of a personality. That's what Skyler does now.
Ryan Steuer:Kid from the southwest side of Indianapolis. He grew up in generational poverty. Project-based learning literally changed his life, transformed his life from. His early ambitions were to just skate. That's all he wanted to do. Now he's building a business and if you got him quiet enough he'd probably say I'm building an empire. He sees the vision, he sees the way out. And better yet, it helps his brother see the way out because he's got a younger brother. So project-based learning can transform the Skylar that you have in your classroom, the one that you're like ah, how do I reach him or her? Project-based learning can do it.
Ryan Steuer:The second type of learner transformed by project-based learning is Dalton. Let's move up just a little bit. Dalton is a leader. He's loud, he's likable, he's funny. People like him, people want to follow him. He's a C student because his mom said if you want to wrestle you have to get at least Cs in your report card. So what did he get? Well Cs least C's in your report card. So what did he get? Well C's. If she would have said B's, he probably would have got B's Again, totally capable of A's. He just didn't see the value in it. He just wanted to wrestle and he wouldn't say he wanted to be popular, but he liked being that kid that people liked. Teachers like him, kids like him. He would lead groups. Right, if you put kids in groups, he's the one that says, okay, let's just get all this done. And he might do it all just to make sure it gets done Well.
Ryan Steuer:In project-based learning, we get to have these awesome conversations around what's leadership 2.0. What's that look like to not just do it all for your group, but what's it look like to enhance the strengths of your group so that they're all doing the work and they're starting to shine and you, as the leader, are kind of actually in the background. You're a servant leader. You're reading books like Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek, and you're turning into a learner. So what happens to a learner like Dalton? Because you have a Dalton, don't you? Don't you have a C student that you know could be an A, that could be a leader. That is a leader not always for good, but could be. You're like you could lead. So well, you've got that learner. Well, what happens to Dalton in high school is he starts to organize political rallies appropriately, by the way, and he brought in political candidates to his high school. He set up all the dining options, he set up all the invitees and he brought in big names Now state senators, but he brought in big names. He organized everything Now senators, but he brought in big names. He organized everything. Now what's he want to do? He wants to create security teams for missionaries. I didn't even know that was a thing until he said it, but he just created it because it was needed. He went from the average leader to living up to his potential with project-based learning and he also would point back to that time in his educational career.
Ryan Steuer:The third type of learner transformed by project-based learning is Matt. Matt I know you have. You have many Matts. Matt was a part of a group that was self-described the nerd herd. That's what they called themselves, boys and girls, and they were the gate kids or the honors kids. The kids were at the top of the class and they always got A's. They always did what they were supposed to do as long as you were looking right. There was always a little bit of finickiness in there, a little bit of cockiness too right, and Matt was a point getter. Matt was a point getter. I know you have point getters and they're winning at school because they're getting all the points, because they know how to play the game. It does not mean they're learning, it does not mean that they have employability skills. It does not mean that they're going to be successful post-high school, post-college, because no industry in the world is asking someone to sit in a room with 30 people, retain information and then regurgitate it back. But if you need somebody to take a highlighted word from a textbook and put it onto a worksheet, matt is your guy.
Ryan Steuer:Except that project-based learning intercepted his path and, let's be honest, he wasn't real happy about it at first. He was not real happy about it at first. He said, well, how do I get my points? He said, well, you're going to interact with your group. You're going to collaborate, you're going to present to this community partner. You're going to use some skills that you don't have before. Wait a minute, where's my rubric? Where do I get my points? Here's your rubric. And he would start to go through there and start to dissect your rubric. You have that learner, don't you? That figures out the path of least resistance to get the best grade Drives you nuts, because then you're spending an extra three hours in your rubric to make sure it's fair. Matt's going to break it and that's what Matt would do.
Ryan Steuer:So eventually the nerd herd gets together and says gets the teachers together and they say, hey, we're glad to be in this team, we're glad to be a part of the culture, do a lot of neat things, but we want to get points. We want to get points. We want to get points. No-transcript, we're not really digging that. And what's with all these presentations? So we went through and we said here are the benefits of project-based learning when you get in the workforce, you're going to be able to collaborate and work with team members. And we showed them all the data, we showed them the industry partners that said these are the top five things that we need our learners to know when they come into the workforce. And they didn't care. They were good at school, they wanted to be good at school, but it's our job to push them to what's going to be best for them and that is adopting employability skills or your portrait of a graduate skills, however you frame that in your school or your district.
Ryan Steuer:So this all kind of came to a head because we broke out our grading and you can see this system in my book, pbl Simplified. There's a grading chapter in here and we broke out our grading and you can see this system in my book, pbl simplified. There's a grading chapter in here and we broke out our grading where it was 85 content, five percent collaboration, five percent agency participation and five percent presentation, and hopefully that adds up to a hundred for our math teachers that are out there. But so we separated the grades that way. So if you turned something in late it didn't count against your content grade, right, because you might know the content but you might have used some very poor agency skills and you were essentially lazy. If you will, or if you had a bad group collaboration grade because you didn't like working with other people, but you knew the content, you could still get a B plus or an A in my language arts class. So it was set up where the content was heaviest. But we also got to track and grade these employability skills, because you get back what you grade and you can't grade unless you teach it. So we would teach presentation, collaboration skills, agency skills, so that we could grade them and they would actually show up on your report card. We kind of had to hack Skyward a little bit, and so it was all color coded and this was your content grade, this was your agency grade.
Ryan Steuer:Well, our friend Matt knew he was smart enough that he didn't have to study, he didn't have to do the homework, he could just take the test, which is fine, right, that he aced his content grade. But it didn't fulfill what we were asking him to do for agency, to show that he knew study skills and that he knew how to turn things in, he knew how to use an agenda. So he got an F. He got an F in agency, not in the class. He still got an A in the class. On his report card it showed up as an F.
Ryan Steuer:Well, matt's mom had never seen an F before and she nef. Well, matt's mom had never seen enough before and she wasn't real pleased, right, she was a teacher in a neighboring district. So we were going to meet, like let's talk about this and of course you know this and if you don't here, you go. It's a freebie. When you're meeting with a parent, you're always meeting with the student too, the learner's there. So there's matt, there's mom, there's me, and mom says why did matt get nef? And I say, hey, matt, why did Matt get an F? And I say, hey, matt, why did you get an F? Right, I'm not answering that question, it's a loaded question. So mom had never seen grades done like this and Matt had maybe never experienced how to cover up grades like this, right? So Matt had to explain how our grading system worked and he broke it out. And so mom says well, did you get an F in this class? He says no, I got an A, I'm just fine. I got an A. Well, why is there an F on your report card? Ah, let's have the discussion, mom. So now I jump in.
Ryan Steuer:It turns out that Matt's really bad at studying. He does not study. Well, that's great, as long as he knows all the content ahead of time, which was fine. Fine, he knew that in eighth grade. But what happens when he gets to upper-level high school classes? What happens when he gets into college? And now he's suddenly on his own and he has to study because things are actually hard for him? I don't know, it seems bad. That's right, mom, let's talk about it. That's why we break out our grades, so we can see things that Matt needs to work on to get better. It's not bad for Matt Growth mindset. We want to get Matt better at all these different things. Mom basically understands. We work it out, the nerd herd. Eventually they understand, like they see that the work we do is actually affecting the community. There's a why behind it. Again, even they like the why, whether you're Skyler at the F end of the spectrum, if you will, or you're Matt, at the top A end. We want to know that our work is worthwhile and we want to know the why behind it.
Ryan Steuer:Fast forward, what does Matt do right now? He's a history teacher. He teaches project-based learning. Was it worth butting heads? Yes, yes, it was. That was the learning that those point-getters needed. They needed to figure out that winning the points at school were not going to help them win at life. That's a huge lesson. I don't know if he knows compound complex sentences still, but I know that he's figured out that, what lifelong learning does and what it can do for him and for his learners.
Ryan Steuer:So who are the three types of learners that can have their lives transformed by project-based learning? You've got the underachiever, skyler, at the far end of hey, school's not important. You've got Dalton, the underachiever, in the middle, really right, and he knows how to play the game so that he can play sports and do what he wants to do. And you've got Matt at what we would call the top end, the winning at school to get points. I'm not saying he's winning at life, though those to get points. I'm not saying he's winning at life, though. Those three can all be transformed and I know that you have those learners in your school and when you go to implement project-based learning, they will all react differently.
Ryan Steuer:It may be surprising that your point-getters, your top learners, if you will that's in quotes, top learners because they might not be learning, they're going to have some of the roughest trouble in the transition and you, they'll get it. They're like, oh, a reason for doing school. Awesome, finally, right. And it's not that we haven't had it before, it's not that you're doing a bad job, they've just never seen it before, right. And project-based learning makes it so obvious. It brings it right into the classroom. Industry partners are talking to them. Community partners are making them feel like their work's important, sometimes for the first time. All of that context is super important for our learners to understand why they're at school and why they should be learning.
Ryan Steuer:So take these three types and I want you to get fired up about those. Go into your classrooms and see where you have those. Put some names to your stories. What are your stories? Who's your Skyler that's a success story. Who's a Dalton or a Matt that you've been able to reach and start to share those stories? I'd love to hear it. If you go to pblsharecom, pblsharecom, you can share that story with me and I'll share it here on the podcast. You can also go into wherever you're listening to this too, and there's a text feature you can just text me. So if you go in there and you just text, and you can text a message and it comes right to our podcast friends, so my editing team will get that and we can get that on the podcast as well. Thank you so much for listening. Thank you so much for looking up and saying hey, this work isn't super easy, but I love it, I'm passionate about it and I think we could do it just a little bit better. Let's get together and start that movement. Go lead inspired.
Ryan Steuer:Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the PBL simplified podcast. 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.
