Discussion Board

Katherine says:  Our students come on a drop-in basis.  How do we keep the group engaged.  We have a varying group of 260.

Doing PBL will be a challenge if you have different students every day.  You can approach in different ways.  You could provide shorter sessions…some complete projects in a week.  While I don’t believe this is all that impactful, it is a way to get started and get your feet wet.  I am going to make an assumption that you have a core group of students who come on a fairly regular basis.  I would start with that group.  Let them be you pilot group.  What often happens is when other students see the level of engagement students involved with PBL are experiencing, they want to be a part of it.  PBL is a strategy to increase attendance.

Is attendance something you want to improve or is your program designed to encourage students to drop in when they want because they have other obligations?

Kathleen

Terrica asks:  How do I get high schoolers more involved. 

While getting High School students into afterschool can be challenging because of competing offers, giving them voice and choice is often what does it.  See thread on voice and choice for more information.  It must be something that is relevant to them, something they believe is important or they won’t engage. 

Kathleen