Follow-up Discussion: Project-Based Learning in ABE and ESL with Kristi Reyes

Hello colleagues, First of all, I want to thank the wonderful Kristi Reyes for sharing so many great ideas -- many of which are available on Kristi's handout below--- with us for project-based learning (PBL). We all learned so much from this incredibly rich event! THANK YOU, KRISTI!

At the outset, Kristi provided an overview of PBL. She explained ...

  • "Projects are an integral part of today’s workplaces. 
  • They are relevant by being meaningful to students’ lives and futures. 
  • In PBL, students gain knowledge by engaging in tasks that result in the creation of a product that demonstrates their skills and content knowledge. 
  • Projects take language learning to a different dimension with deeper learning and give students personal agency. 
  • In addition to traditional literacy, when technology is integrated and students use it to gather information and create an end product, project-based learning lends itself to opportunities for teachers to develop students’ digital, visual, data, information, and tool literacy (13 Literacies, Kathy Shrock, 2015). 
  • Through carefully-designed projects, teachers can meet the rigor of standards-based instruction outlined in the CCRS (2013) and the ELPS (2016).
  • Students develop language skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing) in an integrated way around a topic or theme that builds background knowledge."

As Bob Lenz, the Executive Director of the Buck Institute for Education, put it, We live in "a project-based world."

Kristi shared examples of the many projects she has implemented in her own classroom including ...

  • Folk Story Project
  • Bento Box Project
  • "College" Topics focused on Art, Environmental Science, Biology
  • Persuasive Techniques in Advertising
  • My Name Project
  • National Symbols
  • Create a Personal Logo Project
  • Civil Rights Leaders Project
  • Home Remedies
  • My Hero Project

And many more!

Here's the link to Kristi's handout with includes links to most of the resources she shared during this event. 

Please feel free to share our experience with PBL and to post questions here in our community

Thanks again, Kristi!

Cheers, Susan Finn Miller

Moderator, English Language Acquisition Group