Our kids (and their teachers!) are feeling overwhelmed. They are currently facing challenges that are so big they can seem impossible to impact. In addition, school is no longer “what it has always been…” Remote learning, blended learning, online, face-to-face – school transformed in ways no one could have imagined. 

An understandable response in such confused situations can be to revert “back to the basics.” For K-12 this can mean packets of worksheets (paper or digital) and well planned assignments that support foundational learning. Learning happens in these cases, yes, but such models understandably can’t deliver the innovative problem-solving experiences that we know future generations will need to have had to prepare them for our collective future.

PBL and CBL offer proven ways to increase engagement and depth of learning. In this session Jim will suggest some “profoundly simple” ways for teachers to bring real projects, projects that matter to the learners, to their communities, and to the world into the reality of Maine schools.

So… no matter what model your school is using this fall, this session will provide opportunities to support all learners in critically important ways.

And oh, yes, as an educator, Project-Based/Challenge-Based Learning will help you know that you are making significant contributions to not only meeting curricular goals, but to making the future a better one for your learners. 

Because  that is what teachers do. Yes, you can! Please see this blog post for rationale behind this session.

Speaker Bio: Jim Moulton is both father and  grandfather, and always an educator. Now 65 years old, he is spending his last 2 or 3 years of full time work with a singular focus on his pedagogical roots, using the things learned through his unique experience set to help all K-12 students be best prepared to become the leaders our communities need going forward.

Jim taught Grade Three at Bowdoin Central School before leaving the classroom to become the Staff Developer in the Community of Learners  program as the graphical internet was born in the mid-1990s. His work has included involvement in the Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI) from the very beginning,  the SEED Program, writing for Edutopia on the Spiral Notebook Blog, being a member of the Buck Institute for Education’s national faculty (now PBLWorks.org), a decade of  independent consulting at JimMoulton.org, and a decade as a K-12 Development Executive at Apple.