Welcome to the PBL Simplified podcast for teachers brought to you by Magnified Learning, your customized PBL partner. From over a decade of experience with you in the trenches, we are bringing you the top rated educational podcast designed for inspired classroom teachers seeking to transform their classrooms with project-based learning. Live your why, transform your classroom, teach inspired. Here's your host, Ryan Steuer. Today we're talking about everybody's favorite topic, state testing. Woo.
Unless you're in a state that's done something really innovative or maybe you've got a a pass or a waiver, state testing is not typically awesome. Uh you can typically find if you go to your Department of Ed's website, you can find what the test is actually on. There's usually a pretty good document that most people don't find, but if you can find it, uh it's really helpful in helping your kids prepare for the test. Uh but even if you do have a waiver and maybe you're testing more on employability skills and critical thinking and problem solving, you still need to know what is it that we are testing for. And the reason state tests get a really bad wrap is because you take the test, it's really high stress and you don't get the results for like another six or eight months. So you can't really use the results at all. Right? So I understand why there's a bad rap, but it's also part of our reality. Right? So a lot of it if we look at what your power standards are, if you figure out what your state test is really looking at, assessing a lot of times it really is around the topics that we want to assess and some of you might be going Ryan you're absolutely wrong and you know what that might be but what what we found in bringing project-based learning professional development to schools around the country like rural urban small in all kinds of different states from California to Florida to Missouri Kentucky New York wherever you're at state testing is in the conversation So we can't really take our PBL work outside of the conversation state testing. So we start every workshop with standards, right? So you're going to build your PBL projects around standards. They need to be standards based.
Just because you're doing PBL doesn't mean that you get a free pass, right? So we've got to be talking about state testing. So that's what we're talking about today. Today we're talking about PBL and state testing. So let's let's do it. Before we jump in, I do want to throw out to you just this simple simple task. Go follow us on Instagram or Facebook. We're doing we're trying to work pretty hard at Instagram. Follow Magnify Learning at Instagram and or Facebook and we're putting out some content. We're putting out, you know, if it's the beginning of the year for you, beginning of the semester, it's like, "Hey, let's start your first 30 days." Right. Right. And we get around November, we start saying, "Hey, what can we be grateful for?" Like, we're trying to really interact with you. We're trying to give you resources if you ask us a question or maybe we just want to, you know, kind of amplify the work that you're doing. Maybe you've got an awesome PBL unit. Tag us in it. We would love to get that out to our network as well, and we'd love to see how we can help interact with the work that you're doing. So, connect with us on Instagram and Facebook, and we can stay connected. Sound good? Yeah. All right. Well, let's jump in. Let's start with a few myths about PBL and state testing because they do abound. Uh, so the first myth is that PBL doesn't prepare students for state tests. It is this idea that PBL we sacrifice rigor or there's got to be a dip of some kind, some implementation dip.
We at Magnified Learning are fighting that idea. Like that's not what we see and that's why we're not just fighting against the idea, but that's not what we see. We see schools like Dixie Magnet Elementary or Southport Title One schools that are achieving success on standardized tests and using project-based learning to do it.
Or we're leaning on the research that shows that when you're using project-based learning to get your learners up to speed and and you're in uh an environment where you have diverse learners and they've got some pretty hefty needs or maybe there's some ELLL students that you're working with that PBL the context for that actually helps them achieve growth on these state tests and growth is a big portion of your letter grade. So PBL does inherently uh help you out on state tests and we're going to go over a couple things in this episode that can really help you you know prepare for the test if you will. I know we don't like that term teaching to the test, but there are some things our learners really need to know like how to write a five paragraph essay, how to restate the question. Some of those ideas they should know those things. They're just skills and tactics that will help them on the test. And the other idea is that PBL emphasizes critical thinking, problem solving, and those are things that when you get into a state testing situation and your learners are by themselves and they're throwing a curveball in some kind of a word problem, they need to be able to think through those critically or they need to see what's happening to define the problem and then come up with possible solutions and solve it. So what we find is that whether it's an AP test or a state test, PBL is actually helping. It's not hindering.
Another myth is that PBL takes away too much time from test prep. So when we look at a PBL unit that's well designed and standards are at the heart of it, you've got power standards and really embedded in your PBL standards. You are preparing for the test if you will or mastering these standards within in your project-based learning unit. So, unless you're taking 184 days to just prepare for the test, which I don't really think you should do, uh I don't think that PVL is getting in the way of your test prep. In fact, we're going to again, we're going to talk about it here in just a second, like the next section on how you can integrate these things. This is the myth that the next myth number three, the last one. This is the one that gets me pretty fired up actually.
This is where PBL is only for advanced students. This is the myth that I talk against any chance I get because what happens is PBL really engages all learners. It provides scaffolds to de to meet the diverse needs while meeting your testing goals. Like it's exactly what you actually need to meet the needs of all of your learners, not just the advanced learners. Sometimes it's like, well, we'll try PBL in our high ability classes and then if it works, we'll try to trickle it down. And it should almost be the opposite. Although your advanced learners need it, too, because they're really a lot of times they're really just good at getting points, right? They know what they need to do to win the game of school. And that is not what it takes to win the game of college and the workforce. Well, maybe college sometimes, but the when you get into the workforce, there is no industry where they put 30 people in a room, shoot some information at them, and then ask them to regurgitate that information. Like, it doesn't happen. Your high ability learners can really get hurt once they get to the workforce. And suddenly, they need critical thinking and problem solving, and they need agency, and they have to collaborate. Well, I don't want to work with people. I mean, it it's just a real thing that you do have to do that in the real world. And I'm not sure that that's the best reason to give your learners in your classroom. Like, give them the reason that you need to collaborate so that you can create the best possible solution, right? In like bring that why really close to them.
But we do need to give our advanced learners and any of our learners, whether they're really great at school or not, PBL is good for them. And what the research shows from the Lucas Foundation is that especially those learners that are not scoring well on our state test scores or are not picking up what we're putting down as far as our standards. They need the additional context that PBL brings in order to be successful to master those numeracy and literacy skills. So, those are three myths that we want to bust right off the bat. And obviously, the third one I get pretty fired up about. I address it often because it comes up with well-meaning teachers.
Like, it's teachers just like you that love their kids. And you might you might have somebody next door who's like, "I'd love to do PBL, but my kids just aren't ready for it and it's like that's actually a sign that they are ready for PBL that that when you think they don't have the skills that's how we get them. So what what does PBL really do for state testing is it does support state testing success. So when we see our PBL model schools doing well on these state tests and we see that they're operating with PBL at a very high level we don't think that's an accident. We know it's not. So you've got this idea of deeper conceptual understanding that you're learners don't just know the skill and drill portion where if the problem looks like what you've drilled them on, they'll ace it, but as soon as you give it like a quarter twist, suddenly have no idea what to do. But if your students can master the content in a real world application where it's kind of messy or it's a wicked problem, that actually leads to better retention and then better performance on tests because now the tests are, you know, they're all about that quarter twist of changing it. There's going to be an answer on there that looks like it could be the skill and drill one. on, but really there's a quarter t twist they need to think about to get to the right answer. And you can still work in these test ready skills, whatever you might call them. There's a skill to taking a standardized test, right? Like there are things that test takers or test makers want our kids to do. Like we should help our learners restate the question, give evidence along with their reasoning in order to get the full credit on that test. So PBL can integrate some of these skills because you've got like we love to analyze data. We want to be curious. You can add in your structured writing responses. We're already looking at solving complex problems and you can work in, you know, some examples from your state test. And usually if you go to your DOE, they've got some examples from the test that you can work in so that your kids can actually pra practice taking the test. And you can do that in workshop format, right? So it can be a part of your PVL unit.
And we've got some teachers that even in their reflection and the the last step in step six, uh, Some language arts teachers will use a five paragraph essay right there. So they've either taught the five paragraph essay before or they use it during that time to reflect on that PBL time. So that might be their driving question. They might answer the driving question in a five paragraph essay. And again, a five paragraph essay probably not going to win the Pulitzer Prize, but it's going to be on your state test. So we've got to help our kids figure out how to do an intro, write a thesis statement, right? Have your three body paragraphs and a conclusion, right? Make a stance. They need need these skills and you can work that into the PBL process. So, just like PBL should not be an extra or an add-on. You're practicing for state testing. It's just a skill that they're going to learn, right? So, we're not teaching to the test. We're giving them a skill set that's going to help them.
All right. What else do we have? We've got this idea that when you first start your PBL unit, it needs to be aligned to state standards. It's just that's what we do. It's on the field of play, right? It's the game that we play. It's where we're at. So, we all have different wise. Like my why has always been because I started in at a Fortune50 company as an engineer. Like I started an industry and I could see those engineers that excelled and those that didn't. They all had the same degree, but I could see those that could work with people that could talk, could collaborate, could solve problems, and those that couldn't. They could run a spreadsheet, they could run a database, but they couldn't talk to people. And they just couldn't get as far as someone that could talk to people. So, So for me, PBL is a way for us to teach the employability skills, to teach the future ready skills. And how do we do that? We do that through standards because that's the game that we play. We're in school. We teach these standards. You might be a facilitator that loves your content area, right? You just love biology and you want everybody to know what a m about mitochondria and different molds that are in the world. Awesome. Like use that.
You start at your state standards and then grow from there. But e whatever direction you take. We're still going to start with our state standards. And I've used the term power standards. You might have essential standards. Whatever the really beefy standards are. So I like to say argumentative writing versus haikus. They're both state standards, but argumentative writing is going to get you a whole lot farther on both the states testing and critical thinking and problem solving skills. So you really want to spend more time in argumentative writing. This could be a big beefy power standard that you put into your PBL unit. and maybe your learners are going to argue one side or another about a debate. Uh versus if you spend six weeks on h high coups, you're not really spending your time that well. You're not spending your time wisely to prepare your learners for the state test or for the world, right? So, we're really trying to achieve both of these goals. We're going for a both end here of hitting future ready skills and our state testing.
And one of my other points is just the idea of embedding test practices into your PBL. So, you can incorporate practice questions, data analysis, short writing assignments into project phases. So, in your different workshops, and I think you can do this across subject areas. It depends on what where your subject is or what your grade level is. But if you're teaching in a team, for instance, and you're a social studies teacher, you can still work in some some writing prompts from the test that will get you your content mastery from your students. So, you might need to tap your language arts friend on the shoulder and say, "Hey, I'd love to help with some of this test prep, right? Can you help me get some of these state questions that I can use? So, you're still achieving your your testing of uh state standards, your content standards, and you're helping kids build those skills. So, look for places where you can embed those, right? So, and that's really going to be a very localized answer for you, but I don't know if it sounds impossible, but it's not, right? So, you need to go to DOE, find some practice problems, and then kind of mimic those.
problems or those those prompts for what you're giving an assessment on for your content area. And you can actually embed those. So you're the the two two birds and one stone, which I don't know, I don't really like that metaphor, but you're you're achieving both. You're getting your both and as far as you're getting both your standards uh assessed and you're helping to achieve some test prep. All right, let me give you some examples of PBL projects that are aligned with state testing. So I want you to know it's a real thing. Again, we do This this is what we do over the summer. If you get into a level one and even a level two, um you know, we've got three days that we take you through the PBL process. You literally live it. You go through an entry event. We take your need to knows. We build workshops out of that. You collaborate. You might work in groups. And then at some point, you're going to present your work to an authentic audience, right? So you walk through all the steps of a PBL unit because you need to feel the learning just like your learners are going to. But it all starts with your standards. So as you're building these over the summer. U this is what they might look like. If you're in elementary school, you might design a lemonade stand. You're going to have a budget, so you're going to practice addition, subtraction, data visualization. You can work in some marketing pieces depending on what classes or you're you're looking at. And if you go to episode 164, episode 164, this is going to be on the PBL Simplified for Administrators podcast because it's one of our older episodes. 164, Britney Pascal walks you through how she took uh the lemonade Ian project and just took it to another level and she to put a ton of voice and choice in it so our learners were engaged and they were doing real world work through this lemonade stand project.
What about language arts? You could create a class book like your kids can write a book. Uh we had a a school in Kentucky kindergarten, first grade, they actually wrote a book, got it published. Well, how many standards are in there? Like a bazillion of your language arts standards are in there. Like everyone is in there somewhere. Right?
And you use that realw world application and then you make sure all of your standards are embedded in there and you show mastery. Have your kids show mastery as they go through middle school. You could in a science class, you can investigate environmental issues and create solutions while practicing scientific reasoning and data analysis. Right? So if if you've got a standardized test in there, like again, pull some of those examples and work them into your workshops. If you're an ELA class or a humanities class, You're you could be registering people to vote depending on the the voting cycle and you can have your learners write a five paragraph essay on the importance of voting. Are they do they have to write this five paragraph essay? They probably do for a state test. But when you wrap it into your PBL unit, it has context and has more meaning. It's way more exciting, way more engaging than, hey kids, we got to practice a five paragraph essay because it's coming up for your state test. I want you to do well. The why is not as strong, right, as I get to I get to put in my opinions of why voting is important and then they can get a little fired up and they're still practicing the process and the structure of a bipap essay. In high school, let's say biology, you're going to conduct experiments on genetics or create pre presentations around addressing scientific methods and standards. And we had uh one facilitator that they went out into their local community and they were looking for molds, right? So, and they actually found this mold that had never been found in North America before. And it was bunch of high school kids, right? But while the are doing that. It's super standards based, right? So, they're going through and they're creating these data analysis pieces. They're going through the scientific method and it's prepping them for the different courses that they need, whether it be AP or state testing. Uh, as far as math, you could analyze uh the health records. You could do this in any grade level, actually. Go to the nurs's office and look to see why kids at least say that they're going to the nurse and then figure out how you can help fight the main causes of those visits. Why are kids getting sick?
Are there some things that maybe Kids can make a PSA or they can make posters of trying to get kids to be healthier. And then you can track that data over time and see if the solutions were effective. It's engaging, but it's also standards based. Right? So every PBL unit that you create is going to be standards based. When you're looking at state testing, you might tie in some of the skills that you need to do well on a state test. Make sense? I hope so. I hope so. So some of the key key takeaways for today is that PBL and state test ing. They're not mutually exclusive. Hopefully, we bashed some of the myths. We show we showed you how they can intertwine because if you do some intentional planning, it allows you to meet both goals. It's this both and. I love the both and and it's totally possible here. So, if you've got projects that are aligned with standards, they're going to prepare your students for the test content-wise, and they're going to keep the learning engaging and meaningful. So, they're actually kind of leaning in and learning this this work in a a new way, right? And we've got a real world application. that that wicked problem that has a whole bunch of different variables that they're messing with. Then when they get on the state test and they're by themselves and they're throwing a curveball, they're used to that and they can figure it out.
All right, if you want to continue this conversation or if you just need more resources, skills building courses, why don't you join us in the PBL movement online community? The POC is where we get together. So, we've got some brand new facilitators in there that just started PBL. We've got some veterans in in there that have been doing this for 15 years, right? They've started schools. They're crushing it at all levels, elementary through high school and you can ask any question that you want and you're going to get an answer, right? So, we've actually got our PBL certified facilitators in there moderating. So, we're putting content out there for you engage in. You get all the resources. You can take a group contract uh course and then you get a whole set of group contracts that you can download and edit.
Uh you can look at entry events or end products and after you go through the course, you get all of those resources that you can download and use in your class right away. So, we've got some teachers that take their personal funds and they jump in. You can pay monthly or they might look at their principal and say, "Hey, principal, instead of sending me to a conference, would you put me in the POC instead of two days of support or one day of support, I get a whole year of support?" And by the way, there's three conferences involved in that. There's one in person and two virtual in the POC. So, you're not just getting one day of support, you get a whole year of support. It's a no-brainer. If you go to our our website, go to magnifyp.com. At the very bottom, there's actually a freebie on the five reasons that your principal should send you into the PMOC. So, we're trying to help you get in there. We'd love to see you in there. We need your experience and your local contacts. Just help us get better. You're part of the movement, right? This is a movement. We by 201, we want 51% of schools using project-based learning. And then we think the world's going to be a much better place.
Tune in to our Next episode, we're going to have Ashley Green on as our guest. She has specifically been working with turnaround schools, and she's got some great literacy tips for us to bring PBL and some really great learning together. So, make sure you subscribe to this podcast so that you make sure that you get that notification when she's going to be on. Until then, my friends, let's teach inspired. That's just what I needed to bring PBL to my classroom. If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing. doing the show. It only takes 2 minutes to scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select write a review. Then be sure to let us know what was most helpful about that episode. Your review helps the next inspired teacher just like you find their why and teach inspired.
