Teacher Learning Community

Fall 2018 TLC: Connecting Key Ideas Across Content Areas - Activity 4 Optional Resources

Course leader:
SEED Team

Teacher Quality Standards

  • QS I: Teachers demonstrate mastery of and pedagogical expertise in the content they teach.
    • Element B: Teachers develop and implement lessons that connect to a variety of content areas/disciplines and emphasize literacy and mathematical practices.

Review any of these based on interest. Keep in mind that the target of this activity is for you to help students transfer their learning to other contexts, including real-world situations. With that in mind we’ve highlighted some models of how a teacher might do that. We are not promoting one specific model, simply providing examples of what teaching for transfer might look like.

Resources

Project-Based Learning vs. Problem-Based Learning vs. X-BL

The many different types of  "_____- based learning" teachers are exposed to could make one’s head spin. This article discusses the similarities and differences of all these, in particular project vs. problem-based learning.

Getting Started with Project Based Learning (Hint: Don't Go Crazy)

Great tips for getting started with Project Based Learning.

Gold Standard PBL: Essential Project Design Elements

This blog, from the Buck Institute for Education (BIE) and adapted from the book Setting the Standard for Project Based Learning: A Proven Approach to Rigorous Classroom Instruction, details the critical aspects of PBL that lead to meaningful student learning. 

Teaching for Transfer as Students Move Between Persuasive Speeches and Petitions

This video show whole class instruction in opinion writing for grades 3-5.  

Energy & Matter Across Science Disciplines

This is a 9th grade Science video where students make connections between physical and life science concepts.  

Project-Based Math: Beyond the Textbook

"See what a difference project-based learning makes for middle school math students as part of a federal i3 project using ConnectEd's hands-on math curriculum."

Prioritizing Evidence to Address a Document-Based Question

"Tenth-grade students in Claire Wolff's humanities class at Metropolitan Expeditionary Learning School in New York City think like historians to curate a collection of primary source documents that are the best match for a Document-Based Question similar to what they will encounter on New York State's global history and geography Regents exam."

Performance-Based Assessment: Making Math Relevant

"In Hampton High's Disaster Mission Relief, math students role-play air traffic controllers and pilots to assess their skills in a performance-based simulation."

Performance-Based Assessment: Engaging Students in Chemistry

"In Hampton High's PBA Chemistry Research Project, students create a model of their compound, produce a video about it, and defend it in a debate."

Authentic Assessment Toolbox

This website contains information about authentic assessment including an overview of how to create it and some examples of authentic assessment tasks and rubrics for all grade levels.

CDE Example Performance Assessments

This Colorado Professional Learning Network webpage houses an assessment resource bank that align with Colorado Academic Standards. 

Authentic Learning for the 21st Century: An Overview

"This white paper explores what constitutes authentic learning, how technology supports it, what makes it effective, and why it is important."  An excerpt of this overview is used in the Connecting Key Ideas TLC and is listed as an additional resource within this resource.  The section of text “explores what constitutes authentic learning.”