Applying the Doreen Nelson Method of Design-Based Learning Alma Montaño-Manzo Vineland Elementary School BPUSD Baldwin

1. Applying the Doreen Nelson Method of Design-Based Learning Alma Montaño-Manzo Vineland Elementary School BPUSD Baldwin Park, California KidsVille

2. My name is Alma Montaño-Manzo. My 16 years of experience in education include pre-school, kindergarten, and first grade. I am currently teaching kindergarten in Baldwin Park Unified School District. Throughout my experience of teaching young children, I’ve looked for ways to teach them critical thinking, reasoning, and oral language skills. Not all students can retain information or learn the basic skills in the same manner. I needed a method that would allow me to assist all my students no matter their academic level. For that reason I sought alternative teaching strategies that would help me meet all the learners’ needs. This is one of the reasons why I made the commitment to learn the Design-Based Learning method. Introduction 2

3. Vineland Elementary is in the city of Baldwin Park, California and is one of twelve12 Elementary schools in Baldwin Park School District. Vineland Elementary is considered a Title I school. More than 70% of the students qualify for free or reduce lunch. Of the total 860 students, over 450 students are classified as English Language Learners (ELL). In 2009, the majority of students, 87.33% that attended Vineland were of Hispanic/Latino heritage. The remainder of the students were a mix of Asian, Caucasian, and African-American. The With this type of demographics academic skills vary significantly through out the school. In my class there were students at different academic and language levels. Vineland Elementary 3

4. Design-Based Learning • Design-Based Learning (DBL) is a method of learning by constructing projects to discover creative solutions to a theme within the required curriculum and to increase higher level thinking skills. • DBL challenges facilitate the learning of abstract concepts in a fun and significant way, which motivates the students. • A DBL challenge is presented where students construct a 3-D Never-Before-Seen (NBS) object, as a solution to a challenge. • Through constructing and providing hands-on experiences students learned to solve problems at a higher cognitive level and able to apply those skills to real-life situations. • DBL presented my students with an intergraded curriculum that comes from the challenges. • DBL works well for all types of learners especially with my English Language Learners. It is rich in vocabulary and language. 4

5. Step one: What do I need to teach? (themes, concepts, standards) Example: Location is the concept. In social studies kindergarteners compare & contrast the location of people, places, and environment & describe their characteristics. Step two: Identify a Problem (from the curriculum) Example: How can we become familiar with our surrounding landmarks. Step 1/2: State as a “Never-Before-Seen” Design Challenge Example: If students select a location in order to l earn to identify geographic features on landscapes then they will decide on the landmarks to enlarge on their maps. Step three: Set Criteria for assessment Backward Thinking™ The Doreen Nelson Method of Design-Based Learning™Backwards Thinking Process Don’t Want * same locations * get out of groups * one student do all the work Need * look at map * pick an area to develop * must include school * group needs to agree * other landmarks

6. Step four:Let students “give it a try.” Example: Here is where the students design their NBS location using recyclables materials or any available materials in the classroom. Step five: Teach Guided Lessons Example: Students compared & contrasted the location of people, places and environment using vocabulary already introduced. With this new information the students discussed the length of boundaries of their locations. In addition they constructed a map of their neighborhood incorporating important landmarks such as police and fire stations, schools, homes and transportation lines. Step six: Students Revise Designs Example: Students discover their design could have been better if they had added more land marks. It is here where students synthesize what they have learned from their design and from participating in the guided lessons. They assess their design. Backward Thinking™(continued) The Doreen Nelson Method of Design-Based Learning™Backwards Thinking Process

7. Curriculum Integration Chart The teacher designed challenges that were based on the California standards for all subject areas of that particular grade level. In DBL students were given a problem, called a challenge. This challenge frontloaded them with information for the guided lesson that followed. For example, in the NBS Introduction challenge they introduced themselves in a symbolic manner. At the end of the challenge they talked and wrote about it to achieve curriculum requirements. Challenge After each challenge there were Guided Lessons that were integrated into five disciplines: Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies and Visual Arts. I tried to relate as many as I could to each challenge. 7

8. Ex: Curriculum Integration Chart This an example of an Integration Chart. This particular one is for the Design Challenge of NBS Land Division in the KidsVille project.

9. Legend I developed a series of 10 Long-Range Planning Boards to represent a integrated curriculum for the entire school year. Each board displayed the design challenges that were organized in pathways, curricular areas, lessons and standards used for each lesson. The different colors symbolized the channels of the curricular areas and standardized lessons. From top to bottom, every board displayed a month in light green, each was broken into four weeks. The design challenge followed in yellow. It usually took two to four weeks to complete. Month Design Challenges Languages Arts Mathematics Science Social Studies Visual Arts Meetings 9

10. The Long-Range Planning Boards displayed the year long KidsVille project and provided me with a pacing guide for teaching California standards and served as a visual guide for parents, visitors, and my students. Visitors saw what design challenges, lessons and state standard had been completed or were being taught and would follow. I taught the students to look at the boards so they knew what design challenge was taking place and what came next. This motivated them to start the next challenge. Long-Range Planning Boards 10

11. The History Wall was a place where artifacts were displayed from each challenge. This History Wall followed a specific sequence that connected each challenge to one another. As students completed their work they collaborated to determine which artifacts were displayed. The display consisted of 10 sections each with a design challenge that worked as the foundation of the sequence. Information was displayed as the challenges were completed. The History Wall was a review and reminded the students of what they had accomplished all year long. History Wall 11

12. Criteria List A criteria list made for each challenge was based on the California standards and required vocabulary for kindergarten. The list was used to coach students on what was expected from them and was a form of assessment for the teacher. The first step in every challenge was to set the criteria with the assistance of the students so they had instructions for their challenge. The list consisted of a red part, which represented the Don’t Wants,what was not needed. The green section was the Needs, which represented the California standards that were required and necessary as they developed their design. The above is a sample of the criteria list for the NBS neighborhood. California standard Social Studies K.4, 4.4,4.5. Compare and contrast the locations of people places and environments and describe their characteristics. Construct models of neighborhoods, incorporate structures as police & fire stations, hospitals, homes, schools, banks. 12

13. Reason for my project My project developed a year-long kindergarten integrated curriculum based on the state standards using the Doreen Nelson method of Design- Based Learning™ (DBL). DBL provided strategies needed to promote critical thinking, problem solving and oral language skills for my students. The project provided my students the opportunity to develop their vocabulary, thinking and oral language skills. The example of Arturo explained why I decided to develop my project (see side caption). Arturo was a great example of the benefits of my project. Since he was an ELL student it was difficult for him to communicate in English. When called on him to share his thoughts, before the KidsVille project he stared at me with a look of uncertainty. My project gave him opportunities to be creative and to feel confident in sharing his thoughts in front of the class. 13

14. DBL in my classroom! When I started implementing Design-Based Learning, I was not sure if it was a good method to use on kindergarteners. I thought the concept of Never-Before-Seen would be difficult for them to comprehend. As I used it I noticed that students responded in a positive manner. They began to pay close attention to what was being taught. I noticed they worked harder on their class assignments in order to have time to design. Wow! a sense of motivation was developing within my students. At this point, I was eager to continue applying DBL with my kindergartners. After three weeks not only did I notice attendance in my class had improve, but also noticed that my ELL students oral language skills were developing. At the end of the year, some students expressed themselves at a higher language level that displayed their higher level of thinking. At that moment, I knew I had made the right choice to develop a DBL project in my classroom. This is what a day of DBL in my classroom looked like. Students engaged and motivated in creating. 14

15. The Story began… I developed a story to tell my students how each NBS design challenge was connected. On the first day, they did not know much about each other. They introduced themselves using an object they liked. Once they familiarized themselves with each other, they dressed up as that object and developed a new identity. They pretended to be that object and found out more details about themselves and their friends. They discovered different and similar points of views and found they had friends and enemies. The story progressed as the students learned about their surroundings. They discovered their new skin needed a location to call home. After identifying a location, they realized it was large and needed to be divided equally among themselves into individual land parcels. At this point of the story students needed to develop their land parcel since it was empty and they needed certain things to survive. They were so excited to share their creations with each other and saw that once they put it together they had developed a neighborhood. Here they compared and contrasted their contributions. After more people had settled nearby, they discovered they must build more 15

16. The story continues… shelters for protection. They thought of themselves as their “New Skin” throughout the story. Their “New Skin” had brought to fulfillment a neighborhood and place to call home. They identified the need to move resources from one place to another and created a movement system. They became so excited with the fact that their “New Skin” had discovered so much in this journey, they became eager to learn more about their surrounding area. This resulted in the development of places to learn. Bearing in mind that their “New Skin” had accomplished so much in this journey, they learned they needed a symbol that would mark their territory and would prevent outsiders from taking control of their neighborhood. This symbol symbolized the ending of this wonderful journey. 16

17. What are Pathways? The KidsVille project consisted of ten challenges that were organized as pathways. Each pathway contained the making of a three dimensional object and, guided lessons, linked to state standards from the kindergarten curriculum. The pathways were arranged in a manner of a story which built on each other. Students reviewed prior lessons before continuing to the next pathway. The ten pathways that created KidsVille were as follows: 1. NBS Introduction 2. NBS New Skin NBS Location NBS Land Division NBS Land Parcel NBS Neighborhood NBS Shelter NBS Movement 9. NBS Place to Learn 10. NBS Symbol 17

18. Pathway1NBSIntroductionOur story began in late summer in Room 3. For most students, this was their first time attending school and did not know much about each other. They introduced themselves by using an inanimate 3-D object that symbolized who they were… Having students look at an object in a different manner taught them to make the object come to life and look at objects, people, and themselves differently. I collected different objects from the classroom and brought them to the circle. I asked them, “to take a few minutes and look at the objects I had just placed in the center of the circle. Now try to find something that is like you. However, before we begin we need rules”, I said. Together we developed a criteria list. After they analyzed their object they shared their thoughts orally in front of the class. NBS INTRODUCTION I discovered that when students used a 3-D object to represent themselves in order to learn symbolism, then they were able to compare and share information using symbolic meaning. 18

19. Some of my favorite descriptions were, “I am bubble bath because bubbles make me feel happy” or “I am a boat.” Why I said. “It has windows to see outside…just like my eyes.” I discovered the more I listened, the more they wanted to share. Even my ELL students were eager to share their thoughts. This was unusual, I normally have to push and prod them to share their thoughts. As a form of assessment, I had them draw and tell me about their object. I was not expecting detailed drawing this early in the year. To my surprise, some drawings were very detailed and students were able to identify each part of their drawing. He was so proud to express the reason why he choose the boat, “I am a boat. It has window to see outside…just like my eyes,” he said with a smile. Pathway 1 (continued) 19

20. Pathway2NBSNewSkin Once they familiarized themselves with others. They developed a new identity. They pretended to be that object and found out more details about themselves and their friends. They discovered different and similar points of view… NBS NEW SKIN I discovered that when students created a costume to learn to personify character traits of an object, they were able to identify and communicate other points of view easily. Bryan made a deep connection with his “blue” skateboard. (read below) Since it was the beginning of the school year and the students hardly knew each other it was difficult for them to communicate and understand each others feelings (points of view). In this challenge, students learned to identify themselves using different points of view. As an introduction I asked them to grab their favorite crayon. “Let’s pretend we are our favorite crayon,” I told them. Some of them smiled and others had a look of confusion. 20

21. Pathway 2 (continued) Emily the shyest student in the classroom, raised her hand. Of course, I was surprised. She told me, “How can we be a crayon?” “We are just pretending,” I replied. I continued the lesson, by asking them to bring their objects from the previous challenge. They began to design their NBS New Skin. I walked around and approached Emily again and asked her, “How did you feel when you put on your new skin?” “I felt pretty and smell good”, she replied. It became obvious that she understood the point of view of a flower. When Bryan, who was in my lowest group, was done he immediately put on his new skin and made it a point to share his thoughts with me. “My skin is blue and I can run fast,” he said. At first, I did not understand why his skin turned blue…his skateboard was blue. I could not believe what I had just experienced! Bryan had connected with the object in a deeper manner…he truly believed he was a skateboard. He obviously demonstrated an understanding of the concept of symbolism that I had just taught. This challenge taught Emily, Bryan, and others to identify, communicate orally, and to write about what happened as they put themselves in the shoes of their object. 21

22. As kindergarteners, my students did not have experience reading maps but when I had them design their NBS Location, they easily learned to identify many segments of their community. This challenge was done in a period of days. I introduced it by displaying an aerial map on the smart board (large technology screen). I located the school and pointed out our classroom and playground. I identified some houses with swimming pools. Many students were surprised to see the pool so clearly. One of them stated, “When I walk on the sidewalk I can’t see the pool and here I can.” I explained how the aerial map allows us to see things in detail. I divided the class into five groups of four. I gave them a clip board with a copy of the neighborhood map surrounding our school. They focused on the needs from the criteria list (emphasizing on the need to select a location that included the school). Pathway3NBSLocationOnce they had developed their new skin they realized their new skin needed a location to call home… NBS LOCATION I discovered that when students selected a location in order to learn to identify geographic features of a landscape they were able to enlarge it in order to interpret details. 22

23. Pathway 3 (continued) As they worked on their challenge, these 5 year-olds shared, “Here is Vineland. I could go over here but not here because Vineland is not there.” This student had identified a geographic landscape from an aerial map. I put Lucine, a very quiet boy, in charge of a group. He did not hesitate to take charge of his group. He asked his peer questions, “Is the school in here?” “Is it big?” At the end of the challenge, it was his groups transparency that the class voted as their location to enlarge. Lucine turned to me and smiled; he was proud of himself. Following this challenge, students learned to use skills of measurement and geometry, and they practiced their listening and speaking skills as they interacted among their group. This was the transparency of the aerial view of the school and surrounding neighborhood. This was the location the class voted to enlarge. 23

24. I gathered them in a circle and told them we had a problem. “We have this humongous piece of land and we each need to have a piece of it so we can develop it.” A student asked, “What is land?” Of course, I should not expect kindergarteners to know what land is without showing them. I took them outside sat on the grass and explained that we were sitting on a piece of land. I gave them other examples and went inside to continue with the challenge. I developed the criteria list with them and they began to discuss ways to divide the land into 20 equal pieces among their groups. As they were done, we reviewed the criteria list to see if all needs were met. One group came close in creating what I asked for, 20 equal pieces. This was a difficult concept for Kindergarteners since many of them could not count to twenty yet. NBS LAND DIVISION I found when students selected a piece of land that was represented on a map they learned to divided the whole landsite into individual land parcels then they were able to reconstruct their land parcel in order to enhance details. Pathway4NBSLandDivisionAs they established their location. They discovered their location was humongous and needed to be divided equally… 24

25. Pathway 4 (continued) Next, I pulled out an enlarged copy of our actual location. I asked them, “How can we create the same division of 20 pieces from this small map onto this large Copy?” One student suggested cutting it. After cutting it, they found that was not the best suggestion as the land had changed into unequal pieces. The discussion continued. Finally one of my ELL student, with no previous exposure to school, proposed using the red tape to show the boundaries of the location. Once the tape was set she was determined to fix the problem. She grabbed the yarn and created squares. At that moment, I knew she was getting somewhere. Before the KidsVille project, I would have showed them how to get 20 equal pieces. Now, I let them problem solve and discover the answer for themselves. Laysha was showing everyone how to can enlarge our small location on the transparency onto a bigger piece of paper and divide it into 20 equal pieces. 25

26. Pathway 4 (continued) In this challenge, I found myself implementing many guided lessons at the same time as the challenge. I gave them plenty opportunities to listen and speak. They shared information and ideas on how to divide their location equally, which covered Reading comprehension and Mathematics standards. As they came up with a solution to the problem of the pathway, I modeled and taught vocabulary such as near/far and below/above. I was surprised at the level of problem solving skills these kindergarteners demonstrated in this challenge. Although it took some time to complete the challenge, I knew I had to be patient and direct them to continue to problem solve instead giving them the answer. At the end, this is what Laysha’s final design looked like. It had 20 equal pieces of 12” by 6” each piece. 26

27. Since the school is not far from a shopping center, I decided to take the students on a walking field trip. As we walked, I had them identify nearby land parcels found in a real city. When we returned, they were eager to begin to Design their land. It was important to review the criteria listand to remind them of what was expected. I continued to emphasize the word NBS, as I felt they might want to build something that had already been seen. Since this would be their initial reaction, I made sure the list contained: places to eat, places to feel better, places to shop, and place for protection (from bad weather or bad people). When they began to design their NBS Land Parcel, I looked around and every student was involved. It was an astonishing sight to see! I approached Karla who as an ELL student lacked vocabulary skills. I asked her about her land parcel. She did not hesitate to respond. She went on and on describing her design. She had a fork, which I found interesting. I asked her what the fork was for and right away she said, Pathway5NBSLandParcelNow that everyone had a piece of land they needed to design their piece of land for their future community… NBS LAND PARCEL I discovered when students identified a land parcel in a “real location” to learn mapping skills i.e. directions, legends, then they were able to compare and contrast land parcels to see what they had left off or had plenty of in their land parcels. 27

28. Pathway 5 (continued) “This is the playground of the school and this goes up when I sit here and this goes down (as she moved the fork) when my friend sits.” I was expecting her to tell me it was a place to eat. At that moment, I realized she had mastered the meaning of symbolism from the NBS Introduction challenge. This NBS Land Parcel challenge was followed by guided lessons in Social Studies, Math, Writing and Oral Presentations. By this time, they began to write. They wrote one or two sentences describing their land parcel. They were able to identify different types of geometric shapes on their land parcel and compare it with that of a peer. I used the criteria list as a form of assessing the students. I created a rubric that goes along with the amount of needs they fulfilled on their challenge from the criteria list. This was Karla’s land parcel. The feather represented the park. On the feather one could see the fork that symbolized a seesaw. 28

29. My kindergarten students did not have the comprehension of what composes a neighborhood. However, when I had them design a NBS Instant Neighborhood they were able to identify many segments of their community. They automatically knew where to place certain building and land marks. I noticed that one of my new students, who had arrived three months prior to California from Mexico, was holding a toilet paper roll and had it covered with tape. He looked up at me and stated, “hospital,” as he pointed to his design. I asked him to tell me more, but that was all he was able to articulate. Either way, I hugged him to show him to show him I was proud of his accomplishment and he throughout the day. He became more involved in the lessons after this challenge. From this challenge on, through guided lessons, the students compared and contrasted their Pathway6NBSInstantNeighborhoodOnce their land parcels were placed together students saw that they had developed a neighborhood. Here they compared and contrasted their contributions to their real neighborhood… NBS NEIGHBORHOOD I discovered when students built a 3-D Instant Neighborhood to learn to identify the various parts of their neighborhood, then they were able to compare their designs to parts of their “real” neighborhood. 29

30. Pathway 6 (continued) NBS Neighborhood to their actual community. In Language Arts, they sorted objects in a neighborhood by categories. In Social Studies, they used their design to identify a location of objects using vocabulary such as near & far and left & right. Students learned Algebra concepts. They classified objects by attributes and functions. They sorted and classified the number of houses, places to feel better, places to shop, etc.on a graph then found what their neighborhood lacked. My assessment rubric was as followed: 50 pts ----- All needs from criteria list. In addition, briefly explain how and why their neighborhoods have those needs. 40 pts ----- Only shows four out of the six needs from the criteria list. 30 pts------ Only shows three out of the six needs from the criteria list. 15 pts------ Only shows two out the six needs from the list. Overall the students scored between 40 to 50 points; I was pleased with the results. Students used various materials from home and classroom to construct their NBS Neighborhood. 30

31. Pathway7NBSShelterNow that they had a neighborhood and more people had settled nearby they discovered they needed more shelters for protection… This challenge spurred the student’s creativity. I had them work in groups of two. They were able to put themselves in the shoes of the shelter they pretended to be (a skill learned from NBS New Skin challenge). They created a place that was protection from bad weather, bad people, and other dangers. One of the groups stated that their shelter had three floors. Their strongest floor was the bottom because it is built underground. They went on to say, “In order to survive any danger they needed to build a strong place.” They constructed an elevator in their shelter in case they needed to get to the top quickly. NBS SHELTER I discovered when students created a shelter to learn to identify protection from bad weather and attack, then they were able to evaluate if their neighborhood had enough shelters to keep them safe. This shows the shelter with the three floors. The plastic bottle was underground and the elevator took them to the top. 31

32. Pathway 7 (continued) Guided lessons that followed this challenges were in Physical Science, Math, and Social Studies. Students learned that different homes are built for different purposes. They learned that the environment determined how and where shelters are built. Students were shown different homes, dwellings, and shelters from the internet. From that they were asked to choose one to compare and contrast to their own NBS Shelter. As a form of assessment, I created a sheet with different types of scenarios on one side and different types of shelters on the other. The students matched the scenario with the type of shelter that protected them the best. Then gave an explanation in two complete sentences. 32

33. Karen designed a movement system that used air for motion. She decided to use an accessible resource in her area. She described it like this, “The plastic bottle is filled with air when the icicle (in side the bottle) turns a different color. I know it is filled with air. The air then moves up the straw into the feather and pops out the cork. When the cork is popped the straw then takes people or things anywhere they want.” This was one of the best description I received. She was very articulate in explaining how her movement system works. Pathway8NBSMovementSystemNow that they had identified completely with their New Skin, which brought to fulfillment a neighborhood and a place to call home, they identified the need to take resources to different places, hence a movement system was created… NBS MOVEMENT SYSTEM I discovered when students built a movement system to learn about balance and motion, they were able to establish that properties of materials can be measured. Karen’s creation of a NBS Movement System. She said, “It is moved by air.” 33

34. Pathway 8 (continued) Through the progression of challenges the students became more detailed in their description of their designs. In the guided lessons they learned that early settlers did not have a transportation system, they were creative in the way they moved objects. For example, I taught them that long ago water from rivers created motion and would transport logs from place to place. I took a long container with some width and poured some water into it to demonstrate the motion of the river. I used pencils as the logs. After this demonstration, the students were ready to design ways to balance and move (Science standard) heavy objects around their neighborhood. I taught them The Scientific Method and they learned to predict, observe, record, and re-evaluate their movement systems. 34

35. After completing eight challenges, I decided to take a different approach with this challenge. I gathered the students around our future neighborhood, not only for review, but as a way for them to see the neighborhood as a whole. Maybe they would identify some of the items missing. As soon as they sat down, I heard many of them talking amongst themselves about their land parcel, which had been developed four weeks prior. By looking at the future neighborhood, I wanted them to noticed that we did not have, a school. This did not occur. So, I brought up an aerial map of a surrounding neighborhood. I told them, “Let’s find out what this neighborhood has that our future neighborhood is lacking. They created a checklist of what our future neighborhood had and what the aerial map neighborhood had. For example, when they saw the hospital on the aerial may, they marked off a place to get Pathway9NBSPlaceToLearnThey became so excited, at the fact, that their New Skin had discovered so much in this journey, that they became eager to learn more as they explored their surrounding area in their movement system… NBS PLACE TO LEARN I discovered when students built a NBS Place to Learn they were able to identify different learning activities that take place in a learning environment they compared and contrasted between schools of long ago and schools of today. 35

36. Pathway9(continued) better on our future neighborhood.When they came to our school, they looked and looked for a place to learn in our future neighborhood, but they could not find one. This was the perfect opportunity to ask them if they felt they needed a place to learn in the future neighborhood. Emily raised her hand and said, “Yes we do, so we can get smarter.” Another student stated, “If we don’t have a school, we can’t go to college.” I told them they were right. Our future neighborhood needed a place to learn. I shared with them that maybe in the future those places will be very different from our school. Now it was their turn to design a NBS place to learn as they wanted it to look like. They began their design of a place to learn. Student was focused in her design of a place to learn (she is not aware of the teacher taking her photo).

37. After completing this challenge, guided lessons were given on cooperation, working together, teamwork and citizenship were taught. The students learned that having pride was important and teamwork was a must! The students worked in teams and learned to cooperate and took much pride in helping one another. The KidsVille project was more effective then the teacher imagined. Now the neighborhood was completed and the established community would bloomed. NBS SYMBOL I discovered when students created a 3-D symbol to represent their neighborhood they learned about being a good citizen, then were able to understand public virtue and the role of a good citizen. Pathway10Bearing in mind, that their New Skin had accomplished so much in this journey, students learned that they needed a symbol to mark establish their presence and prevent outsiders from taking control and disrupting their established neighborhood. The students were working as a team to create their NBS symbol. 37

38. Pathway 10 (continued) Jonathan was proud to show his symbol he said, “It is tall so everyone can see it and it will make them feel good about being part of our neighborhood. 38

39. Reflection I started the project with doubts that kindergarteners could not comprehend what was expected of them. I recall, in several occasions, sitting in class doubting if the Design-Based Learning was a learning method I wanted to implement in my classroom. Today, I know it was the best thing I could have offered my students. I saw a significant grow in my students vocabulary and way of thinking. I found changes in my thinking too. When I began DBL I thought the students were not going to understand the concept of symbolism, so I decided to combine both the first and the second challenge…NBS Intro and NBS New Skin. However, after implementing DBL for a whole year and discovering that students were able to make connections and demonstrate higher-level thinking skills. I changed my mind and decided to separate the NBS Intro and NBS New Skin. The results were significant. I started to see a difference in my teaching. I became more confident with my teaching. I learned to take a back seat and allow myself to listen to my students and not jump up and give them the answer. I learned to challenge my students with higher-level thinking questions and allow the time for them to respond. They could do it. I saw it done over and over in the 39

40. Reflection(continued) process of my project.In the past students often lacked interest on what was being taught. I had always tried to find strategies that would get the students excited about the curriculum and making it come to life. Well, I accomplished this with my project! My students made connections with the curriculum. So much so, that after three challenges they continued to apply the concept of symbolism. Starting out as a teacher I transformed myself from using a textbook as a only resource and teaching by themes, to an educator who presents a comprehensive year long curriculum that weaves across all subjects. I learned to guide and motivate my students to take control of their learning and management of the class. I learned to listen to them as they develop their problem-solving skills. I now look at the whole school year as beautiful puzzle where parts fit together to make learning jump off the page. 40