March is always the longest month of the year for me. Since my life revolves around a school schedule, this is the time when I can see the end of the year but it’s still fairly far away, the start of the year seems eons ago, and the realization that the ambitions I held to do this, this and that are not going to come to pass before the 2010/2011 school year turns its last page.

But if I step on the gas, I know I can make sure I at least do this… or that.

Or something. So March is when I MAKE A PROJECT.

Look, March is a 5 week month. At least there are 5 Tuesdays, 5 Wednesdays, and 5 Thursdays in this month and ostensibly, those should be the most productive work days of my week. Point is, the time is there. Additionally, I always feel it’s great to ensure that I have something tangible in my hand that I have really done after long slogs of time if for no other reason than the sense of actual accomplishment. March is a month where minutes can all-too-easily slip into hours, hours into days and days into an entire month. Doubt me? Just where-oh-where did February go?

It’s that sense which drives me to advocate for making a project in the month of March. It can be a personal project for my life outside of work lines (like exercise, build a tree swing, read a really thick by James Joyce) or it can be a work thing (like bringing Project-Based Learning into the classroom, locking down an outline for my next book or following up with that long lost uncle in Ghana who has all this gold bullion waiting for me once I give him my social security number).

But have something to show by April Fool’s Day because on 4-1-2011, the first third of this year will be over… and the question of what will I have to show for my time will be on my mind.

As many of you know, I put a heck of lot of effort into demonstrating that standards-based education does not need to devolve into drill-n-kill worksheet classroom assignments highlighted by a bubble test for summative student assessment.

I believe kids should – and want to – DO and PROVE they have multi-dimensional interests and capacities.

Have them demonstrate their knowledge of the ELA content standards by exhibiting their comprehension of the content standards (such as plot, tone, characterization, and so on. Really, SO MUCH is at our fingertips these days.)

To that end I put together a free digital book report contest and WOW! the entries are in from all over the country. (We even had some international contributions.)

It’s down to five finalists in each of the following categories with over $20,000 in prizes being handed out once the people have their say.

• Grades 5-8
• Grades 9-12

The polls are now open… please vote for your winner.

BTW, I can’t tell you how many teachers have written to me THRILLED that they participated. It really is the “Teach a person to fish” parable because so many of them said that now that they have tasted how Project-Based Learning could be meaningfully married to standards-based classroom assignments, the win/win/win scenario crafted between the kids, the curriculum and the teachers made the whole process of teaching and learning a challenging and exciting joy.

Teaching rocks! And when your kids are excited about the work – and the work is demanding and purposeful – it’s just incredible what can be done.

Like I said, check out the finalists and vote. Clearly, these students have all kinds of skills that we, in this loony NCLB world, are all-too-often are never asking them to tap.

Congrats again to the finalists! Clearly, a ton of hard, good work went into these projects.

I’m participating in a Web Institute for Teachers today over at the English Companion Ning. Almost 600 folks signed up already.

It’s free. It’s cutting edge. It’s our first time for this but we are working on a way to reinvent professional development for educators everywhere.

As for my part, it should be fun, energized, a bit goofy but filled with a coupla gems.

Or at least a few lumps of coal.

True to form though, I will be bashing the bubble tests a wee bit and lobbying for more Project Based Learning in our classrooms with ideas as to how and why this can and should be done.

Click here to join in… hope to see you there!

I love using Project-Based Learning (PBL) in the classroom. There are about a zillion reasons why and a host of research exists on why using PBL is simply, well… good teaching. No need for me to really explain the sound theory behind it all right here. It would take too long.

PBL rocks! Let’s leave it at that.

On a practical level I find that using PBL as the cornerstone for ending the school year is especially effective in allowing me to achieve many of my objectives for this time of year.

Why? Because I want my students, in no particular order to…

• finish strong
• work hard
• demonstrate evidence of their learning
• have fun
• stretch themselves
• create something tangible
• collaborate and innovate
• feel as if their time is a valuable commodity in their lives, something not to be frittered away but rather be valued and respected.
• and on and on. (I fear I am about to digress into edu-babble, politically trite buzzword speak if I continue on.)

Of course, I want most of these things during the course of the year as well. However, having to bow at the altar of NCLB, ETS and their bubble tests while making sure to cover a host of “other things” that are not as PBL friendly for ELA teachers (like punctuating appositive phrases and teaching parallelism within sentences) well… as Mick Jagger once said, “You can’t always get what you want.”

So essentially, before my classes break for the summer, I ask my students to “step up” bigger than they ever have before through the creation of a “project”.

I preface my assignment with a little speech about how, at this very moment, my kids are most probably at the height of their aptitudes. They have never had more schooling, they’ve never been more worldly, they’ve never had more experiences, they’ve never been more ready to deliver something truly great. (Obviously, when dealing with 14-17 year olds, this can almost always be said; they are perpetually at their “height” in a way. Once you get old like me, however, you can’t always say you are “better” now than you ever were before because in 1986 I was a much better basketball player than I am today. However, as English students, they are often “better” than they were two, three or even five years ago. Thus this little warm-up speech.)

All in all it boils down to Envision, Plot, Refine, Build, Tinker, Reflect, Re-Tinker, Finalize, Present.

Ending the year with my students having created “SOMETHING” is my plan.

What is that SOMETHING? It’s really up to the teacher. From expository projects to poetry units to biographical studies and on and on and on, a host of truly great ideas are available.

PBL can be high tech… or not.
PBL can be assigned to both individuals or groups.
PBL can take the form of old school oratory or new wave multi-media.
PBL can be so, so, so many things.

All in all, when it comes to the end of the year, I want my students to have to climbed a final mountain, ascended to a new plateau, and really pushed it one last time before our moments together in my room have passed.

PBL offers me that opportunity. Showing fluffy movies, merely biding your time til the year is over, counting down the days is a freakin’ waste.

Use the time. It’s life’s true currency.

(FYI, I am going to host a free webinar on Finishing Strong next week (May 19th from 6:30 – 7:30 EST. If interested, you can sign up here.)